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Floating on Powder?

slowrider

Trencher
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Dec 17, 2015
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The older I get,the more fun I have.
20230315_093201.jpg
 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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I'm old enough to remember skiing deep snow on long skinny skis. It wasn't powder, more like wet snow, but it was many feet deep. I also wasn't making powder eight turns with the rhythmic up-down porpoising motion; I was making SG turns down the steepest lines I could find. Typically on rented 215 cm long Dynastar GS skis; my 208 SGs were too stiff. I had enough float at 140 lbs.
I agree it is easier and faster with the wide rocker skis, but as to the OP's question, "What am I missing?" You are missing the fun of drifting sideways while zooming through deep snow in the trees. It's like when you were a teenager, drifting your dad's car around every corner.
 

DanoT

RVer-Skier
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On a powder day last season I shared a chair ride with a snowboarder and I told him that rather than Figure 8 another skiers track in powder, I much prefer to Dollar Sign a new schooler or snowboarder's straight line.

We departed the lift around 10:30, each on a different run but ended up at the lift mid-terminal at the same time.
Snowboarder asks me: "So, did you Dollar Sign anyone"?
"No", I replied with a big grin, "I couldn't find any other tracks on my run".
Snowboarder, also with a big grin: "Me either".
:ogbiggrin::ogbiggrin::ogbiggrin:
 

Rdputnam515

Getting off the lift
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Front Range, Colorado
Ive skied deep powder on both old school GS skis and now 112 width chargers. Both are fun, but IMO I like skiing powder faster.

In some ways 6in of powder is as good as 15in (as far as fun factor) on modern equipment. Also, who says you need to skid fat pow skis? You can easily go and but widths from 66mm to 140+ lol
 

pchewn

Skiing the powder
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Beaverton OR USA
On steeper slopes I prefer to powder ski on narrower skis. On shallower slopes I prefer to powder ski on wide skis. Deep snow, narrow skis does not allow enough speed to make turns.
 

Rdputnam515

Getting off the lift
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Ive skied deep powder on both old school GS skis and now 112 width chargers. Both are fun, but IMO I like skiing powder faster.

In some ways 6in of powder is as good as 15in (as far as fun factor) on modern equipment. Also, who says you need to skid fat pow skis? You can easily go and but widths from 66mm to 140+ lol
Sorry for the horrendous spelling above lol

skid=ski
but=buy
 
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François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Great White North (Eastern side currently)
On steeper slopes I prefer to powder ski on narrower skis. On shallower slopes I prefer to powder ski on wide skis. Deep snow, narrow skis does not allow enough speed to make turns.
Oh, you don't need to skid the fat skis, but it is fun. Weird how not skidding the skinny skis on groomers is more fun, but skidding the fat ones in the deep is more fun. :huh:
 

tomahawkins

Making fresh tracks
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Aside from float and crud plowing, wide skis help with traversing and navigating technical sections. Exploring Baker Libraries yesterday with some friends; took an exploratory wrong turn and ended up over a cliff. Was able to reverse and traverse back out with a few side steps across some scary sections. More secure footing and less work than if I were on my narrower skis.
 

1Turn2Many

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Aside from float and crud plowing, wide skis help with traversing and navigating technical sections. Exploring Baker Libraries yesterday with some friends; took an exploratory wrong turn and ended up over a cliff. Was able to reverse and traverse back out with a few side steps across some scary sections. More secure footing and less work than if I were on my narrower skis.
Sounds like you were on medium wides. If you were on wide wides, you could have just sent it.
 

AngryAnalyst

Out on the slopes
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I would be really happy if modern super fat skis made 6 inches feel indistinguishable from 3 feet, but sadly I can report this is not the case. I still remember a few truly bottomless days and they are not the same as the more routine pow days no matter what’s on your feet.

I think the advantage a lot of very wide modern pow skis offer over and above narrower modern all mountain skis is increased control in good pow (which supports higher speeds) as well as making weird crusts more manageable.

Someone mentioned not caring for the aesthetics of modern pow skiing on wide skis in films, so it does seem relevant to me to note that the Spatula was an innovation from a big mountain pro chasing progression. As much fun as complaining about wide skis dumbing down power skiing is, there is high performance function there too (albeit a niche one most users of wide skis will not experience).

The analogy with shaped skis and carving is apt IMO.
 

pchewn

Skiing the powder
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Beaverton OR USA
Oh, you don't need to skid the fat skis, but it is fun. Weird how not skidding the skinny skis on groomers is more fun, but skidding the fat ones in the deep is more fun. :huh:

I never said anything about skidding. I just find the depth control and speed generation of a wide ski better for shallow slopes vs a narrow ski on steep slopes (in powder).
 

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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Excuse my rant. Been too sick to so much as walk down my driveway, let alone ski, for two weeks, and it's affecting my attitude.

<execrable rant>
I call total BS on this thread and the many like it. What I see, on the rare occasions when I get to ski powder, is that the vast majority of skiers are either studiously avoiding the ungroomed, or else flailing hideously, in a way that aligns not at all with their accounts in the bar last night of long-past powder exploits. In short, they need all the help they can get. I know I, for one, am nothing but grateful for my modern powder skis. I am utterly uninterested in trading them in for my old Olin 195s. None of my ski buddies is, either.

Yes, I've been skiing for 55 years, so I know all about skinny skis. Compared to today's gear they sucked in every conceivable way. Getting back on a pair will NOT bring back that one day you vaguely remember from when you were 19 and there were only 20 other people skiing the back bowls. It's not the skis you're attached to; it's the context, with its accumulated patina from having been fondled in a pocket of your memory all those times, like Bilbo's ring. If you really were and really continued to be a skilled frequent practitioner of powder skiing, you'd be down at the bench waxing up for tomorrow, not talking about how good things were yesterday.
</execrable rant>

Photo from the recent Utah gathering, courtesy of Jim Kenny,

K-S Tony.jpeg
 

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