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Question: How to ski (deep) powder?

MissySki

Angel Diva
I really hope to find a pair to demo thanks to your praise of them. I’m 5’4, 150 lbs, a 164 would be the longest I’ve been on. Is that the length you’d recommend?

Awesome, I hope you get to try them!! I’m 5’4 ~135 lbs and ski the 164, so I think that’s a great starting point. They do ski short in general, but it’s definitely the right size for me.
 

Christina Pham

Certified Ski Diva
I really hope to find a pair to demo thanks to your praise of them. I’m 5’4, 150 lbs, a 164 would be the longest I’ve been on. Is that the length you’d recommend?

I just picked up the Sheeva 9 in a 164 too. I'm 5'3 / 125lbs and this is the longest I've skied. I took them out at Heavenly on ungroomed trails with about knee deep snow and had a blast! Snow was very heavy and piled up on some runs, but the Sheevas were super easy to maneuver. Didn't even notice the extra length after a couple runs, though I did notice myself able to go faster.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
So excited to see all of the Sheeva 9 love!! Really making me want to get out on mine. I’ve stuck with my rock skis so far this season being overly cautious, but I’m so excited to get back on my Sheevas soon!
 

Christina Pham

Certified Ski Diva
So excited to see all of the Sheeva 9 love!! Really making me want to get out on mine. I’ve stuck with my rock skis so far this season being overly cautious, but I’m so excited to get back on my Sheevas soon!

Your input on Sheevas helped a lot when I was deciding! Almost sized down, but I'm glad I didn't. So much more fun in soft bumps than my heavy Auras, but still super stable. I was nervous taking them out this early in the season, but Tahoe got an unexpected storm and it was awesome :smile:
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
For the OP @alison wong it appears you have a lot of good advice here. I agree on the turns.

However - People are saying slower turns, but you can do that two ways - with turn shape and with edging. In powder you never want to edge, you’ll be floating so like what was said before you’d want to use your feet as a platform and think of it as platform skiing, staying centered over your skis, neither leaning back, nor leaning forward - this is important bc you want to keep your ski tips up, and you don’t want to sink your tails. So the way to slow the turns down and exaggerate the turns? Use the turn shape - round out the turns or fully complete the turns. That will help you. And yes to no sudden movements in powder, it will kick you and your skis around.

Good luck! Agree that more time in powder will help but hopefully everyone’s tips here help you on day one!
 

asherz515

Certified Ski Diva
This is an old thread, but I wanted to say what has really helped me most in powder, upper lower body separation! I imagine my core is like a corkscrew, wound up tight. Shoulders and upper body pointing down the mountain in an athletic stance. Then just letting my legs absorb the floating. Steeper the better on a POW day. It does just take some practice to get use to the floating feeling. But its oh so fun!
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I skied about 2 feet of fresh yesterday which is a first for me and oh my, what a hoot! What I found is that finishing turns does not work. Point the chest down the hill and just shift from foot to foot. I have video and STILL wasn't doing it perfectly, but I was starting to get it!

Oh, and I was on my 88s. What FUN to be IN the snow. I do think that fatter skis are overall less fatiguing in powder BUT you lose that "in" the snow feeling. My husband was on his 100s (not a fat ski by powder standards) and was wishing he was on his 84s because he was too on top of the snow and wasn't getting face shots like he would if he was on narrower skis. I thought that was funny! I think the snow density was as hero as you can get--not total blower, but not dense at all. So, that didn't hurt my confidence at all. That being said, despite ongoing boot fit issues, I have worked very hard to learn to ski powder and it has taken me several years to get to where I was yesterday. I skied it better on my 88s than I ever did on my 100s. I admit I was exhausted by the time things were getting tracked out, and called it at that point as I survival skied to the bottom.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I skied about 2 feet of fresh yesterday which is a first for me and oh my, what a hoot! What I found is that finishing turns does not work. Point the chest down the hill and just shift from foot to foot. I have video and STILL wasn't doing it perfectly, but I was starting to get it!

Oh, and I was on my 88s. What FUN to be IN the snow. I do think that fatter skis are overall less fatiguing in powder BUT you lose that "in" the snow feeling. My husband was on his 100s (not a fat ski by powder standards) and was wishing he was on his 84s because he was too on top of the snow and wasn't getting face shots like he would if he was on narrower skis. I thought that was funny! I think the snow density was as hero as you can get--not total blower, but not dense at all. So, that didn't hurt my confidence at all. That being said, despite ongoing boot fit issues, I have worked very hard to learn to ski powder and it has taken me several years to get to where I was yesterday. I skied it better on my 88s than I ever did on my 100s. I admit I was exhausted by the time things were getting tracked out, and called it at that point as I survival skied to the bottom.
Oh but those new Black Pearl 97 or Black Diamond might even be better !
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh but those new Black Pearl 97 or Black Diamond might even be better !
I'm very intrigued by both Nordica and Blizzards updated 2021 offerings for sure. I want to fill that 100-ish under foot spot and I do like a ski in a 165 length. It just works perfectly for me.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I'm very intrigued by both Nordica and Blizzards updated 2021 offerings for sure. I want to fill that 100-ish under foot spot and I do like a ski in a 165 length. It just works perfectly for me.
Yea! I like a low-mid 150 ish ski...... no longer though except I did have Rossi Saffron 7 in 162 and that was fine.... but I'm thinking shorter as don't really want a groomer ski more for trees and bumps.....
 

angelaskis

Certified Ski Diva
I skied about 2 feet of fresh yesterday which is a first for me and oh my, what a hoot! What I found is that finishing turns does not work. Point the chest down the hill and just shift from foot to foot. I have video and STILL wasn't doing it perfectly, but I was starting to get it!

Woo, freshies :smile: Your powder skiing experience sounds so familiar. Any tips for overcoming fear of speed/pointing downhill in powder? I have a feeling it just comes down to practice, lessons, and building leg strength...but worth asking :smile:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Woo, freshies :smile: Your powder skiing experience sounds so familiar. Any tips for overcoming fear of speed/pointing downhill in powder? I have a feeling it just comes down to practice, lessons, and building leg strength...but worth asking :smile:
Yep, experience makes a difference. That's what Divas call "mileage." Hard to get because catching a powder storm is impossible to plan. For steeper terrain, I started by doing relatively short slopes, which are easy to find at Alta. Meaning slopes that take 10-20 turns to finish. Took me about 10 years of two trips a season out west to accumulate enough powder days to start to really have fun. Also made a difference that I was working on fundamental skills for most of that time. It's not really about leg strength, but more about patience waiting for a turn to happen.

Here's a couple of recent threads about powder skiing, in case you missed them. The second one turned into a discussion of what type of skis to use.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...-skied-powder-for-the-first-time-today.24025/

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/powder-hacks.24140/
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Woo, freshies :smile: Your powder skiing experience sounds so familiar. Any tips for overcoming fear of speed/pointing downhill in powder? I have a feeling it just comes down to practice, lessons, and building leg strength...but worth asking :smile:
It has taken me a few years to get comfortable with it. Powder slows you down SO much, I have finally learned it is actually easy to ski (although quite tiring!) Stand up, get forward and just float!
 

floatingyardsale

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I could use one! My powder game in steep terrain is... not great. I've only skiied it a handful of times, and I'm really not quite sure what to do with my skis, because if I get up on edge I am going for a ride across the slope. I think I force the turn too much, like I'm trying to hockey stop. (Part of this is that I'm subconsiously scared of steeps, I think, because I don't have any problems when I'm comfortable with the grade.) I make a ton of inefficient Z turns.

A few times I've tried consciously to slow the turn and that usually helps make it round but I'm not sure if that's good or bad? Any tips, especially cues for getting out of the backseat?
 

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