Tips for skiing powder?

[NoScoped]

I like to think that I'm an advanced intermediate skier...on groomers. Have only skied powder 2 times in my entire life and both times have been exhausting. Going to be (likely) heading into some powder this weekend. Can anyone give me some tips for skiing powder efficiently/effectively? Current skis are Blizzard Brahmas (88mm waist).

 

[Ken_R]

I like to think that I'm an advanced intermediate skier...on groomers. Have only skied powder 2 times in my entire life and both times have been exhausting. Going to be (likely) heading into some powder this weekend. Can anyone give me some tips for skiing powder efficiently/effectively? Current skis are Blizzard Brahmas (88mm waist).

Balance is key. Try not to pressure the outside ski heavily as you would on hard snow during the middle of a turn. Do that in powder and you will fall instantly! The Brahmas are not a good pow ski, you would need to be going quite fast for it to work.

 

[markojp]

And this....

 

[Superbman]

I just watched Jonathon Balllou's How To Ski: Powder installment on Projected videos, and that's a pretty great 10 minute tutorial....worth the 3.99 to rent on Vimeo .

Just remember, Powder skiing is playtime. Try to turn off the inner-coach chirping in your head a bit and realize the fun of powder is it's just damn fun to play in. Look for rolls to bounce off of or to jump. Pump your legs a little more to get a little 'joint pain free' bounce in your skiing. Make loud whooping noises and laugh a bit. Worry less about crashing (as it's more goofy embarrassing than painful as on hardier surfaces). Try to rooster tail spray your friends, even if you slide out while doing it. I learned to ski powder as an adult, and this was the best advice I ever got, it allowed me to relax, get off the parking brake, and make better, more athletic, flexible movements and get my head wrapped around the reasons why people like skiing powder so much..even folks who don't ski that well. It's fun.

I'll leave the technical advice to the much (much!) better skiers and instructors on this site than I. But, judging from your youthful picture and self description, you mostly need a viewpoint change to begin to get what powder or (any soft snow!) is all about.

 

[Josh Matta]

The reason why powder skiing is exhausting is because of something you do in your groomer skiing....

 

[François Pugh]

Make your two skis work together like a monoski.

 

[mister moose]

Make your two skis work together like a monoski.

Yes and no.

No in that you don't give up independent foot action. And certainly you don't have to have your feet together.

However -

One thing I don't see mentioned much is what I'll call proximity effect. As you bring your feet closer, you reach a point where the proximity of the other ski interrupts the side flow that occurs on the adjacent ski. You gain more float . This occurs when the skis are closer than approximately 2W, where W is the width. It's another tool for the tool box.

Tips up is a misnomer. It's in the title of the above video, but I notice he doesn't say it once. Thinking "tips up" gets you too far back.

In fact, you need to steer precisely with both feet,, and know where your tips are without seeing them. Your tips do not need to be visible. In most of Josh's video he isn't skiing powder at all, but watch his tips fully submerge at 1:50.

What you need to learn is how to manage the center of pressure under your feet. You need to let go of firm surface thinking, and realize that you are now in a fluid. When immersed, both skis are tracking every second. Both feet are always active, and both feet are weighted more even.

Third, more turns less across the fall line. Lower skilled powder skiers will trip over a skidded ski in deep snow.

Lastly, I'm willing to bet at 88 a Brahma will be just fine in powder. A wider ski will be easier to learn on, but there is also learning to surf vs how to water ski. I ski 80 and 85 underfoot in deep powder all the time, and last month hit some patches on 65mm and whadayaknow they floated too.

Float is a function of the square of the speed. It's a lot more about technique than equipment.

 

[Crank]

Start out gong straight down the fall line and gain some speed. Then bounce up an down a bit and then start turning on the up bounce. You do not want to sit back, however, with your tips floating floating you center will be a little more back than if you were skiing hard pack. The apparent angle of the slope becomes a bit less. Apparent wind is a concept in sailing where the angle and speed of the wind changes depending on your speed and direction relative to the wind . So does your COM change as tips float you - are effectively skiing a less steep slope and weight does not want to be quite as far forward as it wold on the same slope sans powder.

 

[markojp]

You guys realize you're saying everything demoed in the two vids above, just less concise and understandable?



(And Josh M is correct... And 'Tips Up' is part of the series name fwiw.)

 

[Mike Rogers]

Start out gong straight down

This.

The biggest mistake I see with skiers who are new to powder is attempting to turn with little speed, often of flat terrain.

With all mountain skis like the Brahma, speed is very important. Go straight and start to turn when you feel the skis start to plane.

This can be challenging because most people want to go slow and ski on easier terrain when learning.... but it just doesn't work very well....unless you are on Powder specific skis.

 

[Dave Marshak]

The reason why powder skiing is exhausting is because of something you do in your groomer skiing....

This reminded me of something I learned a long time ago.

I thought I was a pretty good skier when I skied one of my first powder days with a friend who was a top ski instructor. I was struggling, so he told me "Don't turn. Just point them down the hill and plant your pole."

As soon as I planted a pole, I stomped on the opposite ski and buried it (these were old school GS skis), and the other ski floated to the top and crashed me. I had to unlearn the habit of aggressively shifting weight to the outside ski. That worked on groomed trails, but it was a disaster in deep pow.

Before you can learn the skill of independent leg action on powder, you need to lose all the habits that work on groomers but not soft snow, and you need to develop excellent lateral balance skills.

The only two tips that ever helped me in powder were:

The first was "Keep your feet turning all the time." That was from a PSIA examiner, and we were skiing heavy Catskills pow. I think it worked because you need to be balanced in order to keep your feet turning, and because it got me focusing on doing something new instead of going back to habits that only work on groomers.

The other was from a guy who was a mostly intermediate skier, who told me "keep your knees together." That worked because my lateral balance skills weren't developed enough to use my feet independently, and keeping my knees together minimized independent foot action. Also, it distracted me from unfamiliar sensations that I did not have the skill to process adequately. Technically, that's probably not the most effective way to ski, but it doesn't matter because it worked for me at my skill level.

Finally, it's true that any ski will float on powder, even at reasonable or moderately high speed, but wider skis help you learn because they float at lower speeds, and mostly because they react more slowly to weight shifting between the two skis, which is the actual hardest skill in powder.

dm

 

[slowrider]

I ski/flex from the base or wherever my ski find a platform in soft snow.

 

[crgildart]

Start out skiing bigger turns with skis running more. Speed helps a LOT, especially with sub 100mm skis. Don't fight it, relax and enjoy the ride taking bigger turn lines that don't require short radius turns. It's pretty much like surfing the snow instead of pivoting under it..

 

[Rod9301]

Just don't bounce up and down like skiers in the 80s Warren Miller movies.

 

[PTskier]

Balance: Even left/right on both skis. Ignore the 60% or whatever that cannot be measured. Stay even on both. Feet close together makes things easier, close like the coaches in both videos.
Balance: Front to back--ski along on a straight section and pull your feet a few inches back, then push them a few inches forward. Find the position your skis feel best, find an indicator for yourself (feel against the boot tongue, or whatever you find that works for you) and return to this position every turn. You do not need to ever see your skis. You do not need to get the tips above the snow surface. If that's where they want to ride, OK, but you don't need to force it. You don't want to sit back. That just makes everything harder.

That jumping up is just hard work. Look at Josh's video at about 1:00. Note how he rolls his skis on edge, then the pressure of the snow against the bottoms curves the skis so the skis turn him. Do you know how to angulate & counter? This puts your skis on edge. Here's a photo:

Notice how he's a bit curved in his mid section (angulated), upper body turned to the outside of his turn (countered), and this caused his skis to roll up on edge. His skis are turning him.

Extending up as shown in the videos works to end the turn and start another. Easier and quicker is retracting. At the end of one turn just relax both legs, let the skis float, then angulate and counter the other way to put the skis on edge and turn the other way. Allow your legs to straighten as your skis travel away from your body. Don't squat down. That's tiring. Flex as needed to make the turns, but if you're getting tired, you're either sitting back and/or squatting too low. Kind'a tall like Josh is good.

Practice on some fresh snow on top of a groomer if you can find that. Or on a medium slope. You don't need much speed. You do need more pitch to the slope than you expect. You'll go slower due to the deep snow, so you need more pitch to get the speed you're comfortable with.

 

[LiquidFeet]

.... Going to be (likely) heading into some powder this weekend. Can anyone give me some tips for skiing powder efficiently/effectively? Current skis are Blizzard Brahmas (88mm waist).

Where ya goin?

 

[crgildart]

Just don't bounce up and down like skiers in the 80s Warren Miller movies.

Unless you're on old school GS skis hahahaha..

 

[Dave Marshak]

Balance: Even left/right on both skis. Ignore the 60% or whatever that cannot be measured. Stay even on both.

That's actually the hardest skill in powder skiing. It's an unnatural act. In almost everything you do, your body wants to commit to one foot or the other. If you don't believe it, try to stand on the flat side of one of those BOSU things. Most people constantly rock around trying to find a firm support for one foot then the other, until they learn better lateral balance skills.

OTOH it's impossible to ignore something by thinking about ignoring it. It's way easier to think about something else. That's why I like to think about keeping my knees together, rather than equal pressure on my feet.

The guy who gave me that tip told me my brain wasn't strong enough to reach my feet, so I had to think about my knees. I was gonna be insulted, but it worked so I let it pass. YMMV.

dm

 

[BoofHead]

My family and I are very fortunate in that skiing/boarding has been our norm for about a decade. My kids have grown up skiing it.
I would like to add to the convo a few tips/considerations that I’ve learned over the years enjoying pow with my kids.

As you transition from hard snow to pow, expect to spend time crashing out.
* it is much trickier getting back on to your skis so it’s worth practicing in ideal conditions. Particularly with those skinny skis.
* Ski with a buddy as it’s not fun having your face buried and struggling to get free
*. A buddy is also helpful when searching for a lost ski.
* carry a few safety items as a minimum. Ie whistle, face mask/balaclava, chocolate/trail mix. If you get injured and it’s puking, you can get covered fairly quickly. Bright clothing is helpful.
* learn about the various hazards associated with deeper snow eg avalanches, tree wells, glide cracks, terrain traps.

Enjoy.


My lad at 14.

.

 

[François Pugh]

The fatter your skis, the less you will have to adapt to powder skiing from groomer skiing. Just say'n.