 Poster: A snowHead
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Just trying to see what my next big thing can be... the next thing that really gets me grinning again.
I'm wondering... could big Skiboards in powder get me loving powder...?
At the moment powder just irritates me because either I'm just not good enough and it feels higgle-di-piddledy, or the powder's not fresh anyway.
I only go off a bit from the piste for safety's sake. Compare this to Snowboarders at the same level as me and they're having a whale of a time.
Gave ~65cm Skiboards a go for a couple of days and after that I had my turns much nicer, getting that smooth S curve feeling, with the weight fully into the turn for that feel good factor and scaled it up to full skis. Can't do that every time with full skis quite yet but at least I know what I'm looking for now, something of beauty to aim for.
Obviously in the powder though the things just sink... unless concentration is at the max to keep it flowing, which personally I didn't enjoy.
I wondered if I could use powder specialist skiboards for the same training purpose, only training for powder? Need to ask because I expect it to be effort in finding wide and long new skiboards either to rent or even buy and then sell on.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Skiboards are gay. Skis are a lot better off piste. If you're struggling then go faster to get more float. Practice makes better than you were before.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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oh jeez man....just get some skis....for pow you really need something longer!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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jago25_98, just get some lessons. For the skis, a bigger surface area will help in powder, but a lesson will help more in my view.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The guy asks a reasonable question and receives really useful answers such as
Come on snowHeads, you can do better than that.
jago25_98, skiboards aren't great in the powder as you've already experienced. I've done a wee bit of off-piste on them and they really are hopeless, although yes, you can get some specialist ones with more float (for trekking and touring I believe). If I were you I'd try the powder in a pair of midfat skis. I've a pair of Rossignol twintips, 170cm long, which provide the grin when messing around jumps, kickers etc., will cruise the groomed nicely but are fat enough underfoot (86mm) to be able to handle off-piste. I wouldn't go hugely long (contrary to much of the advice here) as you could lose some of the grin factor on-piste, but yes, use a proper pair of skis.
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| jago25_98 wrote: |
At the moment powder just irritates me because either I'm just not good enough and it feels higgle-di-piddledy, or the powder's not fresh anyway.
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You can have pretty good fun off piste without fresh powder, to me that is half the challenge (and fun) of skiing off piste....
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jago25_98, if you've got 20cm plus of powder rent some wide rockered skis. They will give you increased float and be easy to turn and stop. My wife who struggled for ages in the powder on some all mountain K2 skis was cruising like a pro on big rockered skis (Volkl Kuros) within 2 runs. Skiing powder on rockers is the best skiing sensation I have ever experienced.
Now, in mixed conditions it is a different story (and I concur with Kitenski) but you asked specifically about powder and for that a wide rockered ski will compensate significantly for less than perfect technique.
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| mfj197 wrote: |
The guy asks a reasonable question and receives really useful answers such as
Come on snowHeads, you can do better than that.
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"Skiboards" are utterly useless, and you'll look like a massive bender. On the plus side, you can essentially stand up and walk back to the piste, which is handy because you'll fall even more with them.
Better?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Yes, much better DaveC. Well done. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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the slopes are for the enjoyment of everyone, ride what you want
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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jago25_98, like stoatsbrother says, invest the money in to lessons, it will pay off in the long run.
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Hey Jago.
Great question I teach skiing and courses in western Canada for the last 18 yrs. I suggest you rent a pair of powder/heli-skis they are wider and softer, the length you want to start out on is somthing that comes to your chin. DONT LEAN BACK stand in the center of the ski in a good athletic stance and turn your legs slowly, and dont lean up hill, have the down hill pole in the snow, ski a S shape not a C shape.
What people stuggle with is the feeling on your feet, your feet are going to bounce around, sink so think light not hard.
I hope this helps good luck. Oh ya it's dumping here in Banff we were skiing knee to mid thigh deep yesterday and Lake Louise is getting hit as well. Take a lesson you dont need a powder day to have a powder lesson. if i can help more gordski9@hotmail.com
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You know it makes sense.
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| mfj197 wrote: |
| The guy asks a reasonable question and receives really useful answers such as
Come on snowHeads, you can do better than that. |
In fact Snowheads often does much worse than that with a whole stream of useless posts of people thinking they're the funniest person on earth. Obviously there is helpful info mixed in but it's the worst forum i know for it. Back on topic, Skiboards really are pointless for powder. And if you didn't notice, there was some perfectly useful advice written just after the gay comment. Going faster really does make a massive difference. Get some flow going and you can begin to work on technique without coming to a halt everytime you try and turn.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Yup, you're right there el nombre, on all points. Speed is definitely a friend off-piste.
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Poster: A snowHead
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The Natives are restless....they need snow!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| bobinch wrote: |
| Skiing powder on rockers is the best skiing sensation I have ever experienced. |
Really? I've skis with about 104 underfoot at the moment. If I was, for example, planning a ten day powder fest trip next season; are they that good it would be worth a punt?
Cheers
Marc
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| rungsp wrote: |
| The Natives are restless....they need snow! |
| Mosha Marc wrote: |
| bobinch wrote: |
| Skiing powder on rockers is the best skiing sensation I have ever experienced. |
Really? I've skis with about 104 underfoot at the moment. If I was, for example, planning a ten day powder fest trip next season; are they that good it would be worth a punt?
Cheers
Marc |
Yep. Adds a whole new dimension, especially stuff that's tip and tail rockered/full reverse cambered and fat. Powder is still fun on skinny skis obviously, but it does add that next level. On the same note, snowblades would be about as much fun as trying to boot-ski it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
Obviously there is helpful info mixed in but it's the worst forum i know for it
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You want to try tetongravity.com thats far worse for unhelpful answers and just plain abuse for innocent questions
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Mosha Marc, as DaveC has explained it's not just the underfoot width. It's also the flex and the reverse camber that takes away the risk of tip dive and allows you to get further forward on the skis and "Freeride". I skied Dynastar Legend Pros for most of last year, and don't get me wrong, I still think they are great skis - unbeatable for crashing through chopped up conditions and packed powder. But at the first sight of untracked powder I will take the Kuros. They're crap anywhere that you are edging on a solid surface (on piste, skied out off piste etc) but anywhere you can float - from 20cm of powder to breakable crust they are absolutely sensational. People rightly point out that they're only good in powder, and I totally agree. But oh baby... just how good!  If like me you live for that perfect powder day you need to try them out. It changes everything.
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jago25_98, actually, I think raising the red flag to the herd of bulls that mentioning snowblades obviously is on the internet caused a valid point to be missed.
The concept you picked up from them (the carved turn feeling) is very likely due to the fact you were centred on your skis. When your ski is only double the length of my ski boot, you really don't have much room for being off with your fore/aft balance. This is pretty key to your carved turns suddenly coming together. However, while fore/aft balance is a massive part of piste skiing, it's not the magic answer to powder skiing.
So, following the logic of the last breakthrough it's a clever thought, but not really the answer. Centred balance is an important factor, but so are a few other things - speed helps, as your skis plane easier (this is where width and length also help). Smooth flow also helps - you can wrench a ski around on 2d snow with little consequence, whereas in the 3d snow you find in ungroomed provides a new way to snag yourself and find resistance to trip you up. Hopefully that explained is helpful in putting the rest of the thread's comments in context!
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jago25_98, skiboards are not useless in powder. maybe its the numptys that cant use them correctly. i used summit customs (110cm's) in knee deep powder with no issues whatsoever. summit also do a 125cm version now, these are called the marauder. i used revel8 condors for a while, these where a 110 length, but wider than the summit customs, possibly the best powder skiboards out there. you will always get people saying that skiboards are useless, even though they have prob never used any of the boards that i have mentioned
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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graeme, it is good that they are realising longer ski boards might be more useful all round, almost like they are just going to evolve in to... never mind 
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Fri 20-11-09 20:39; edited 1 time in total
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graeme, I'm not doing this dance again, but I can't keep up with (very, very) high level skier collegues on my carvers with them on similar skis. I ski faster and more aggressively than them on my long, fat pow skis. There's just no argument under the laws of physics that a snowblade can outperform something double it's surface area, and unfortunately double it's surface area is barely a carving ski.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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DaveC, just as well i wasnt refering to snowblades then. but surely you cant slag of skiboards just cause you have bad technique.
arv, the 110's have been around for a while, 110cm is probably the longest i will use, after that i feel they just turn into a short ski feel, and wouldnt want that would i. would hate to be called a skier
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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graeme, collegues being ski instructors, myself also, in a town that averages 1000cm of snow a year. May as well be blunt - I've skied 50+ weeks there. May as well put that out there for the objective observer's opinion....
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You know it makes sense.
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graeme, well I'll leave it to you to explain how you know better than the conventional wisdom of the ski industry and scientists 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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DaveC, no i will bow out and admit defeat, obviously with your first hand (50+ weeks) experience, you know best
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Poster: A snowHead
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graeme, I know that you have ski instructor qualifications - and are passionate about skiboards.
But - if they are such fun in powder - why are 99.9% of people out on full-sized planks and trays in such conditions?
And knee-deep isn't really much of a test is it? You can still be safely on the surface of the snowpack under the powder..
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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stoatsbrother, i am not saying skiboards are better than skis in powder, infact i have never said that. but what i am saying is that skiboards are not useless in powder, which is what most people seem to think here. skiboards are actually damn good fun in powder, providing you can actually use them properly. as for 99.9% of people being on skis and trays, i think thats cool, different strokes for different folks. i chose skiboards because i find them to be fun, and surely thats what snowsports is about. most people who say they have tried skiboarding, and then slag it off have prob only tried snowblades. and i would agree with them, snowblades suck
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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graeme, so for the OP who's not comfortable in pow, you're advocating the "best powder skiboards", rather than skis. OP has already said he's not comfortable off-piste with proper skis. In this context, skiboards are useless?
Pow is "damn good fun" if you have the basic idea down, and I'm reasonably confident I could have a good crack and fun on two bin lids duct taped to my feet.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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DaveC, the op asked the following question, and i quote "I'm wondering... could big Skiboards in powder get me loving powder...? " so my answer to that is yes it could
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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This thread is FAF.
There are many of us that ski and board.
You really need to learn how to board for the big powder days. Boarding on deep powder is like surfing a 5000ft wave. Looking back and seeing a wall of rainbow snow crystals behind you is probably the most magical thing you can do on a mountain.
I've been doing both for years but mostly board now, especially when there is fresh stuff around.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Skiboards are not a snowboard. He's talking about snowblades.
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el nombre, I finally weakened and looked up what skiboards are - never having heard of them before. According to what I found, skiboards and snowblades are two different things (I think snowblades are smaller/narrower, but am not completely certain.)
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el nombre, I am well aware of that. Skis for racing down icy pistes, snowboards for fluffy stuff.
You would take your road bike up a bridle path.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| bar shaker wrote: |
el nombre, I am well aware of that. Skis for racing down icy pistes, snowboards for fluffy stuff.
You would take your road bike up a bridle path. |
Well i can understand that but is this topic not about skiboards as opposed to skis or snowboards?
And yes Hurtle i realise they're not quite the same thing but that's the best way of describing them seeing as they more or less just a fatter variant. Either way, they're certainly not going to be much use in the deep stuff.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Fri 20-11-09 22:24; edited 1 time in total
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bar shaker, are you sure you have got it
But agreed that boarding on a pow day must be great - will have another go one day.
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