# Powder Vs. Park Landing



## Vlaze (Nov 12, 2008)

Yes, that pretty much sums it up. I find you'd be more daring in a powder packed area doing maneuvers contrast to a park with the risk minimized of course. But then again the backcountry doesn't offer rails and jibs of the sort.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

Everything needs to be stomped when doing backcountry jumps. You can't get away with underrotating, or landing sloppy. The run-in is usually a bit more sketchy, the landing is more technical, and then there's the outrun. If you watch No Correct Way, Yan stomps the trick and then further down the outrun, he hooks, nails hard, and ends up with a concussion.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

I'm aware that it's more tricky and technical to land in powder. But say you flail on the take off and end up landing on your back or front (not landing standing up) it's going to hurt much more to land on a park landing like that then a powder landing isn't it?


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## X1n54n3x (Sep 28, 2007)

you my friend had never tumbled at a high speed in powder. i would rather take the slam off of a park jump than get fucked up (FUCKED up) in powder. consider this: what happens while riding in powder? the resistance of what youre riding through will slow down the bottom half of your body and your balance will keep your upper half at the same speed. now, when at high speeds and that balance isnt there to equalize the speed of the part of you in the powder and the part out, you get torqued really hard. ive almost broken my back a couple times in powder, luckily i didnt, but i was to a point where i have to lay there for a good 10 minutes. ive seen stars without hitting my head in powder (which has something to do with tweaking the back the wrong way and almost loosing conciousness). just cause its soft doesnt mean it cant fuck you up good. 
i probably gave a half assed explination as to how you get so messed up, so hopefully someone else will chime in.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

Yeah I forgot to mention in my original post that I have never slammed in powder before. But thank you, finally someone gives me an explanation that makes me realize that powder isn't as pvssy as I assume it to be, even if you consider it to be half-assed; and yeah, if anyone else can chime in and expand that would be great. But how about in the situation I posted before about landing not on your board standing up, like landing on your back, front, side whatever, like when the rider flails off the kicker and ends up landing in the powder on this back and basically like a canon-ball or burst of powder flies up and he doesn't tumble down the mountain. Wouldn't one rather fall like that in powder than on a park landing?


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## Snowjoe (Jul 3, 2007)

I've done both and to be honest with you they both suck. I landed on the knuckle of a kicker in the park, about 45 footer right to the top of my back. That felt like my heart and lungs had exploded and I could barely breathe, my back hurt for weeks after, but I would still rather crash out on a kicker than a big pow hit.

Powder is different, landings tend to be steeper so theres a couple of things that can happen. The fabled tomahawk, head over heels over and over until you end up in a heap a long way down the hill! If you tomahawk really bad you can be left the next day with blood blisters in your hands and feet from the blood being pushed to each end of your body!nOr the slam, which can feel like hitting a brick wall at times with how quickly you slow down. Plus the powder can lure people into a false sense of security which makes them go faster and bigger, which can come back to bite you.

Also another factor to take into account is what is hidden underneath the powder, a fresh dump and you could be landing right on a concealed rock or stump or anything that could fuck you up good. It pays to know the area or be with someone who knows the area when riding things like that.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

So landing not on your feet is going to hurt about the same in powder as on a park landing?


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## Snowjoe (Jul 3, 2007)

I don't know how to give a pain comparison as its obviously really dependent on how you fall. 

The best way to think about it is that its gonna suck either way! So land on your feet!

You can take a fall on either one and walk away not even scratched, or not be walking away at all, although I feel that the potential for mega injuries is higher in backcountry jumps for sure.

Another thing to bare in mind is the location of both. Terrain parks will tend to be close to patrol so have quick response times to any injuries in the park. Backcountry or powder hits tend to be more remote so if your hurt badly your gonna be waiting some time for help.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

Yeah, I was just wondering the pain comparison on if you fell the exact same way in both.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Having biffed in deep pow with my upper body buried, it was very disorienting...couldn't tell which way was up, not being able to see, breathing hard and inhaling pow is not fun. A couple of years ago an expert rider ended up head first in the deep and couldn't get out and suffocated...in bounds almost right under a lift.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

I'm aware of the hazards such as that, I still was just wondering the pain comparison of slamming say on your back the exact same way on a park landing or powder landing.


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## legallyillegal (Oct 6, 2008)

Free_Varg said:


> I'm aware of the hazards such as that, I still was just wondering the pain comparison of slamming say on your back the exact same way on a park landing or powder landing.


Then it's quite simple. Fall on your back onto carpet. Then fall onto concrete. Return with your results.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

So then landing in powder is pvssy?


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## X1n54n3x (Sep 28, 2007)

if you plop into the powder without speed then yeah, its like landing on a cloud. if you fall in it after doing anything worthwhile then it will hurt a lot. just like a kicker.
speed is proportional to how bad it will hurt regardless


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## X1n54n3x (Sep 28, 2007)

Snowolf said:


> Nothing beats a terrain park after about 3 or 4 inches of fresh pow that has been recently groomed to corduroy....:thumbsup:


oohhh yeeaahh so right


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

I went back country skiing once and i was flying down the hill and it was tough seeing in front of me, so I hit a bump not knowing rolled about 3 times and never felt an inch of pain.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

Thanks for the responses guys. I've never hit a kicker into powder so I was just wondering why it's so "gnarly" because I assumed that the landings were softer and relatively painless compared to landing on a park landing. I guess it hurts the same (in different ways)?


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

Man, I musta been doin' 80, at Sunshine, it wasn't hardpack, but not pow either and these posers were flossin' their threads right in a blind spot... by the time I saw him it was too late... just dove backside and tried to make sure i'd land on my back with my board off the ground... slid and spun a couple hundred feet at least, came to a stop, no pain at all, but if I couldn't bail in control the way I did, buddy woulda gotten a board in the ribcage... I got up, called on the whole crew, and they just b!tched out and rode away... didn't hurt one bit... got me pumped tho!


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## X1n54n3x (Sep 28, 2007)

aaaannnnd thats how people get killed ^


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2008)

X1n54n3x said:


> aaaannnnd thats how people get killed ^


You are right, but...

People get killed all sorts of ways doing all sorts of things in all kinds of extreme sports... speed is my game!


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## Snowjoe (Jul 3, 2007)

No-one has a problem with killing yourself, just gotta take into account that there might be gapers hidden under rollers or round corners, especially at sunshine it's heaven for one-pieces!


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## X1n54n3x (Sep 28, 2007)

yeah its the toys who like to camp out in the middle of runs you gotta worry about. they deserve a bitchslapping sometimes. (when they dont get plowed into by all sorts of snow-goers)


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2008)

Snowjoe said:


> No-one has a problem with killing yourself, just gotta take into account that there might be gapers hidden under rollers or round corners, especially at sunshine it's heaven for one-pieces!


yup... you betcha


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2008)

Snowolf said:


> The best comparison I can give with regard to powder crashes is water. You can jump off of a cliff and land in water softly as oppose to landing on concrete. Now, if you have a lot of speed such as in wake boarding, the drag created by plowing through the deep pow or water tends to pull you apart in many ways. Arms and legs get pulled is weird, unnatural directions when you tumble like this. On harder, packed runs, you slam, maybe tumble a couple of times then slide to a stop. In powder you rag doll all the way to a stop. Neither one is more "pvssy" than the other, they are unique in their effect and hard to compare. When I want to push the envelope for height off a feature, I prefer soft powder for the vertical slam. When wanting to go farther distance wise, requiring more speed, I prefer good groomed. No one likes hard ice for anything so there is a happy medium. Nothing beats a terrain park after about 3 or 4 inches of fresh pow that has been recently groomed to corduroy....:thumbsup:


Wait, so how does slamming in powder as in just landing on your back and not tumbling compare to landing on a park landing like that? Does it hurt significantly less? the same?


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2008)

so you're saying if you completely over shoot the landing on a powder landing and land more in the flats on powder its not gonna hurt as bad if you did it on a park landing?


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2008)

I apologize if I'm sounding like a huge idiot. I was just wondering cause like I always see in videos the pros over clearing the landings and just like canon balling into the powdery flats(like when they just thud and dont tumble) and I always ask myself "does that even hurt??"


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2008)

I meant 80 km/hr, not mph! Not yet anyways!


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## Perpetual3am (Nov 19, 2007)

Snowjoe said:


> If you tomahawk really bad you can be left the next day with blood blisters in your hands and feet from the blood being pushed to each end of your body!


Does that really happen? I've taken a few tumbles at speed and couldn't imagine how fast you'd have to go to produce blisters.


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## Snowjoe (Jul 3, 2007)

Your looking at slopes beyond what sane people would consider rideable for something like that! Serious serious speed down serious pitches. Although at that point you have way bigger worries than a few blisters on you!:laugh:


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