# Tips for riding powder?



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Mount your bindings all the way back on a pow day. It helps keep the nose up over the snow, you don't fight the board. I ride a pintail in the backcountry, so that it naturally pops the nose up. If I am going really slow, I do need to lean back a little though. Overall when riding pow it should be easy. Your board should stay above the snow, and you should be able to lay hard carving turns. Speed is generally not much of an issue because the powder slows you down. In tight trees of course you'll want to control it, but in wide open terrain big arcing turns should do the job for you.


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## BRsnow (Jan 26, 2008)

Killz knows for sure. I will only add as I battled this at first as well..mostly in the trees where you need to turn, you do do the opposite as you were taught and use your back leg to turn. Keep up the fight, as once you stop getting stuck and ride through the trees and head down steeps in powder, it is the greatest for sure....


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## PaoloSmythe (Aug 19, 2007)

if you get to ride on powder, you better be on the first lift til last or will come and _get you_!

it has been since 2003 since i last felt it bottomless.

gutted


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

PaoloSmythe said:


> if you get to ride on powder, you better be on the first lift til last or will come and _get you_!
> 
> it has been since 2003 since i last felt it bottomless.
> 
> gutted


It's been since last Saturday since I've felt bottomless pow...


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## PaoloSmythe (Aug 19, 2007)

rearrange this sentence KC:

big suck you balls hairy


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

i should hopefully feel some bottomless tomorrow. it's dumping up in the mountains right now. heading up tonight and breckenridge is reporting almost a foot with more on the way!


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

b_to_the_c said:


> i should hopefully feel some bottomless tomorrow. it's dumping up in the mountains right now. heading up tonight and breckenridge is reporting almost a foot with more on the way!


oh, and i'll for sure be one of the first in line at whichever mountain i choose to head to in the morning. i was almost feeling a little too sick to come into work today....*cough cough*


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## Suburban Blend (Feb 23, 2008)

*Just to be different - Rinse it out Proper*

I'm a junkie/glutton/whore/fiend/die-hard when it comes reveling in natures finest element. It is.... worth more than gold, and I'll do anything to get it. All that being said:

I've always ridden all the way forward and now (because the boards allow it) I ride perfectly centered. Setting your stance back for pow is a standard, but not an absolute rule. 

Once you know how to plane on the surface i.e. Keeping your tip up and letting gravity pull you squarely down the fall-line. You wait (weight he he) till your reach maximum velocity. Then you arc, or dump your speed in an effort to envelop yourself in "The Whiteroom" Why? Because that is bathing in water in it's purest form. Straight from the Heavens.

Up unweight out of that apex and into... the weight/wait for it turn. Rinse and Repeat


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## BRsnow (Jan 26, 2008)

I just got back from Mary Jane and there was 16 inches from last night and another 6-7 from this morning and it is still dumping. I think you only get a couple of days like this is CO a year, so I had to go. What an experience. I have ridden up to knee, at place waist deep before...but to have it super ass deep the whole run is awesome. Every once in awhile you feel your tail skip over a bit of solid pack. I am for sure moving my bindings back another notch for tomorrow morning. You can survive without it, but when it is this deep you will be leaning back a ton...I cannot wait to get back up there...sucks to have to work tonight....Ben


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

tomorrow should be a good day. hope it's dumping like that out in summit county as well.


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## Mr. Right (Sep 27, 2007)

b_to_the_c said:


> oh, and i'll for sure be one of the first in line at whichever mountain i choose to head to in the morning. i was almost feeling a little too sick to come into work today....*cough cough*


I've got that same condition with my eyes, I just can't see myself going to work :laugh:


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2008)

Snowolf said:


> I felt bottomless pow yesterday and I am headed to Mt. Hood Meadows where there is 14 inches more on top of the bottomless from yesterday and still snowing hard. The only part that sucks is I have to throw the chains on to get there.


I just got home from Meadows. Snow was great but the wind was murder. I spent the whole day enjoying the pow in the trees for the most part. As a result of that I am worn the f*ck out right about now.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2008)

i rode in powder for the 1st time last monday and i couldnt make a toeside turn if my life depended on it =(. 

i set my bindings back a bit and i had my weight shifted back. heelside turns were fine but whenever i would switch the toe edge would just sink and i'd go flying


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2008)

thanks snowolf, i'll keep your post in a text document in case i forget. my season is winding down cause i live in vegas, i probably wont see powder again til next winter =(

i tried that weighting/unweighting that you mentioned before - worked like a charm in the flats.:thumbsup: it helped that i waxed my board the night before too


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2008)

Ok so once again I have a question related to my stupid old board, first time in my life I rode real powder was this season in Colorado, last day snow boarding we went to Loveland on a 9" day it was sick. But the first couple of runs my board kept sinking its a 155", I did everything you mentioned , moved the bindings back and everything, but the board was still sinking. So I decided to rent a board and I rented a 153, I weight 143lbs and I am 5'9.5 ft tall, I wanted to try something shorter, i know, i know to short for powder. But the funny thing is that I floated on top of the snow like a feather, and the board handled incredibly smooth. The only thing I disliked of the board is it tired me a lot since I felt every single bump in the surface, but over all ill take that board over mine.

Whats wrong with my board? I know its old maybe 5 season or more but not sure I bought it used. I will be buying a new this season, and I am thinking a 154 should fit me fine, what do you think. I tend to like smaller boards I feel more in control, and when in the glades they are much better in my opinion. I love powder, carving and glades, not into park yet.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2008)

How was your weight distribution? I ride a 158 currently, about 5cm longer than a normal mountain board so I felt it'd be perfect for pow when I went to CO last week. I still ended up sinking a lot (even with my bindings set back) until I began putting more of my weight on my back foot, probably 70/30. After that it was smooth riding, felt much more like surfing. I think unless you're going pretty fast in pow, you need to shift your weight back enough to prevent sinking. At speed you can probably go with the normal 50/50 distribution.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2008)

that's what i've found...you have to get some speed before you can even think about shifting your weight a bit more forward in powder. even at speed though, you still have to be careful with your front side turns. that's just what i've found though. i actually learned a lot just watching the locals float through the pow when i was in whistler back in january, but i still need to work on it. the only problem is that the days when i get to ride powder are few and far between, even living in CO. i guess there's always the backcountry, but that still scares the crap out of me at this point.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2008)

I was shifting most of my weight to the back and still i was sinking. In the other board it can natural, no shifting, no nothing, just ride. It was kind of weird I have say, since this board was considerable shorter than mine. May it has to do with the construction of the board they look completely different, my board is very thin (not to many layers of materials) the one I rented was pretty thick like the thickness of my thumb, the weight was similar to my boards weight maybe a little less, but not much


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