Skiing Powder

In recent years, it seems like the pistes have been fairly hard packed and off-piste completely tracked out. So I haven't really been on powder for quite some time.

I'm off next Saturday and with the recent snow falls, I presume there may still be some powder about.

My problem is, I don't really know what to do in the powder :oops:

From memory, I think I am supposed to have my weight slightly further back and not force turns but any ohter tips on what I should be doing?

There's more snow forecast for the end of this week so there's every chance you'll get to ski powder next week.
Main difference is that your skis need to be a little closer together so they ski the same track. Weight over the skis, very slightly back but no more than that or you'll struggle to control the skis.
Find a nice gentle gradient and have fun, follow the fall line and use rhythmic bouncy turns.
Stay relaxed so you can stay balanced when you encounter changing snow textures.
You'll eat a bit of snow before you get it right, but it's soft and fluffy so you're not going to hurt yourself.

Wanderer,
I am totally rubbish in powder, but the little I know about it is that when you turn you have to move both skis together, with the same weight on both of them. When I tried to turn like normal, in a ski lesson, one ski sank into the snow and I catapulted over the front of my skis and I lay there for a bit wondering if I'd bust a ligament in my knee (fortunately I hadn't).

So now I either turn by very gently pivoting both feet and skis together (for some reason I think of shuffleboard when I'm doing this) and ski with my knees extra bent in that funny duck position (you can see from the chair lift if people are ski-ing in powder because their legs are bent like this), or I jump both feet and skis out of the powder at each turn.

More advanced people manage to carve in powder but so far I have been too frightened to try this. Falling in powder is awful because the few times that it's happened to me the ski that has come off has become buried and even when I've found it I still have a terrible job to get it back on because it keeps sinking back into the snow, so I have to compact the snow around it before I can get it back on.

And if you're not careful, and you have your weight too far back, the front of the skis come up and you accelerate like a rocket, something like planing in a dinghy with the spinnaker up, and you get that nasty feeling where you can't turn or stop.

Oh, and according to the ski instructors, even snow-plough turns don't work in powder :shock:

I would much rather ski on ice than powder, but I think I am in the minority of one here. Maybe if there is lots of powder when I get to Meribel on Saturday I will just turn around and go back home ... :wink:

Ally

Edit
I am talking about deep powder - say a foot or more. I actually find it easier ski-ing in powder up to about 4 inches deep on the piste, because the powder acts as a brake and generally turns a black run into something more like a red one, or even a blue, and I can ski in the same way I normally do.

Another problem I have is ski-ing powder off piste, because of the rocks. I was in a lesson once, and the instructor hit a hidden rock and fell over (just before I hit another rock and also fell over). It's the only time I have ever seen an instructor fall over during a lesson. Luckily we were both okay.

Thanks ally for that, I was just about to start a thread asking all that.

One question though. How does one cope with the transition from piste to powder?
As soon as I go off the edge off the piste into the deeper stuff at the side it's like hitting toffee and I nearly face plant every time.

A foot of snow.....deep powder? Are you having a giraffe?

Ally, by what you've written I'd stick very carefully to skiing on perfectly groomed pistes love ;-)

Wanderer wrote:In recent years, it seems like the pistes have been fairly hard packed and off-piste completely tracked out. So I haven't really been on powder for quite some time.

I'm off next Saturday and with the recent snow falls, I presume there may still be some powder about.

My problem is, I don't really know what to do in the powder :oops:

From memory, I think I am supposed to have my weight slightly further back and not force turns but any ohter tips on what I should be doing?

I'm far from an expert but in the past 4 seasons I've developed this fascination with bobbing off the side of the piste or finding fresh snow. I think it comes to is all eventually as we improve and seek more thrills.
Everything I've done has been trial and error, listening to advice and taking tips from places like this forum.
All I'd say is get on it, have a go and try out what you feel works for you. You'll need to relax and keep the knees bent all the time and be much more up and down in the turns. Oh and use those poles!!!

Main thing; be safe and have fun. As Andy says you'll do plenty of eating snow but that's what spurs you on to get it right.

Enjoy

You still need to remain centred on your skis. The leaning back thing works to get you moving but you will be guaranteed to spin around at some point if you remain 'in the back seat'. The principles of powder skiing are exactly the same as skiing on piste, it's just that a lot of people have problems that become more pronounced when they begin to ski powder. The key is often movement. Powder exposes this common flaw in technique. Most people don't move enough when they ski (me too), which does not have major consequences when on-piste, but when you move to the powder you will not be able to turn properly. Powder puts much more importance into the 'up and down' movement. Timing and co-ordination go hand in hand with this more pronounced movement.

Begin on the piste and make short radius turns moving up and down much more that you would usually. Find a rhythm and get used to the feeling of smooth pressure control through each rounded turn. Think of the increases and decreases in pressure as a wave; the variation should be even and smooth like a sine wave, not jagged like a saw. To achieve this, you will need to move a lot more than you probably do normally.

A good way to practice this drill is to find a very steep section of piste (in a safe, unexposed area) and try to ski down it as slowly as possible within about a 4-5 meter imaginary corridor. You will be amazed at how much extra control you attain by moving up and down much more on each turn and thinking about pressure control (assuming you are centred on your skis).

Once you have got used to this, move into some powder and get used to the feeling of 'bouncing' up and down in the snow between each turn. It is an extension of the pressure variation you apply on piste, but it is more noticeable in the powder. start with short bouncy turns and then vary it and experiment with speed. Don't get too frustrated if you don't get it the first time. It is not as easy as the ski DVD's make it look.

Most of all, have fun.

Snapzzz wrote:Thanks ally for that, I was just about to start a thread asking all that.

One question though. How does one cope with the transition from piste to powder?
As soon as I go off the edge off the piste into the deeper stuff at the side it's like hitting toffee and I nearly face plant every time.

I have been threatning to have a powder lesson for some time but have not experienced good enough conditions ... so I wait .... maybe this season.... maybe next....who knows but I have a good feeling :wink: