I hope this is a factual question because the topic seems to be thrown around like fact.
I am from the Deep South but I live in New England now. I have only been snow skiing three times in my life and they were all close to here with a mix of groomed trails with some ice. People always talk about how much better the skiing in the West is. I can believe that because the mountains are much bigger. However, they always talk about the joys of skiing “fresh powder” and making “first tracks”. That part confuses me because it seems like you would just sink right through the powder and it would blow all around. It also seems dangerous too because you couldn’t see big rocks and things.
Powder is… wonderful. It’s a lot more forgiving: rather than turns resulting in a fierce chattering of skis on ice, you glide effortlessly over and through the snow. Instead of hearing a grating noise like bad brakes on a car, it’s all about shooshing.
There is different consistencies of powder. If you walk on fine powder, you sink right in, but it’s not really that way on skis. I assume because one’s weight is distributed over the length of the skis, and because skis have that lovely little upturn on the tips, going downhill on skis can be visualized more like surfing on a wave, rather than jumping into a pool and sinking to the bottom. Although it is possible, hazards like rocks and branches usually are not as much a concern on bigger mountains because there is usually a base which would cover most of that junk, with the power laid on above.
I’m sure someone can jump in with a better description, since it’s been a heckofa long time since I’ve actually seen fresh powder.
Deep powder – the kind you sink into (which is still above a base of packed snow) – requires different skis and techniques than hard packed snow. Longer skis become a liability which make turning difficult. But a coating of 4-6 inches of fresh powder on top of hard packed base is heaven. Ravenman’s description is pretty much on the money.
Also, having learned how to ski in Vermont, I can tell you I’m never going back. Out West there are wider trails, it’s not a bitterly cold as Vermont tends to get, there’s much less ice on the slopes, and the snow is overall far superior.
Well, skiing is pretty much all about the aesthetics of the experience. Untouched, virginal powder is pretty. And it gives you that cool rooster tail effect. It’s forgiving if you fall. And a lot nicer to ski on than ice.
As an Easterner, though, I find it somewhat more difficult to ski on than packed powder or granular – it takes a different technique.
It’s not just freshly-fallen. Well, I guess maybe in the East they have freshly-fallen snow that they call powder, but it’s not what we are referring to when we refer to powder. Powder is also dry and light. It’s full of air, and so you get the “surfing” or floating sensation that Ravenman described. It’s cool stuff. I’m not a huge fan of TONS of powder, because you do tend to get lost in it, but some is definitely cool.
Here in central Oregon, we’ve been getting a ton of fresh powder lately. I intend to see some this weekend.
Personally, I’ve got mixed feelings about it- on skis, I actually prefer slush. I feel like I’ve got a lot more control.
On a snowboard, however, powder is where it’s at. It’s much more forgiving- trying to snowboard over ice is very hard to control, while on slush you just can’t keep up any speed.
On either, falling into powder is both good and bad. It’s good, in that it doesn’t hurt- it’s like falling into a cloud… and if it’s really dry, you don’t even get wet. However, once you DO fall in, you’re kinda stuck. I saw someone fall into deep powder last weekend, and his friends had to dig him out.
It’s also kind of embarassing when you don’t keep up enough speed over the powder, and just kind of… sink. Trust me, your friends just laugh at you as you come to a halt.
Powder is also awesome if you’re interested in trying out some jumps or other potentially injurious moves, because it cushions your fall. Personally, having hit my tailbone on ice before and been laid out for the rest of the day (and really sore for a week) because of it, I am much more adventurous when I know that I can hit the snow at 30 mph and not break anything.
Although you do have to spend 10 minutes digging yourself out sometimes.
I spent the week of New Years this year skiing Snowmass. Our group of 9 had just about a perfect vacation, aided greatly by fresh powder on 2 of our 5 skiing days.
In champagne powder, you get the sensation of floating on clouds. At a certain speed, your skis, previously hidden in the snow, glide to the surface of the snowcover. In a way, the snow is more like a fluid than a solid surface. It really must be experienced by any skier. All skiing is great but everyone I know rates fresh powder skiing the highest.
Powder skiing is amazing. I disagree that you need special equipment - I’ve skied in 60 cm of fresh powder with my regular old skis and had no problem.
I suppose the reason that it’s so much better is because you really get the feeling that you’re floating, or flying through the snow - it’s almost like you’re levetating down the hill.
Regarding hitting rocks and things, generally groomed runs don’t have big rocks in the middle of them. If 25 cm of powder falls on a groomed run, there are still no rocks underneath - just smooth snow. If you go off track, then all bets are off - I’ve run into the tops of trees that were buried in powder - but then you’re sort of asking for trouble, and if you’re a beginer (which I assume you are if you’ve only skiied 3 times), skiing off track would be an exceptionally stupid thing to do.
Further, powder is a much better workout - it takes more energy to turn so you can really start to feel a burn in your legs after a couple of hours.
Finally, even if you wipe out spectacularly, and do a total yard-sale, it doesn’t hurt. Just like landing in a big pillow.
I live i Utah for four years and skied thee all the time. (I think I did more skiing my first winter there than I had in the rest of my life up to that point combined). Skiing in the WEst is definitely better than in the East (where I learned)
But…
Despite what people tell you, it ain’t all champagne powder. In fact, I’ve had some truly rotten and icy skiing in Utah, as well as back East. Most of the time I did not ski on powder.
Of course, when I did, it was great. If you’re on marked trails you don’t have to worry about unexpected hidden obstacles.
In my experience, you don’t need different equipment to ski in powder than you do to ski on hard pack. I grew up skiing in the East and got used to really pressing into a turn while the skiis chattered over the surface. On my first trip to Colorado I realized that it’s actually easier to turn in powder- you just kind of gently lean on your outside ski and the bottom of the ski stays in contact with the soft powder underneath it, allowing you to make a nearly effortless, graceful turn, regardless of the type of ski.
Ski brakes are kind of useless in powder. In deep powder (knee-height or above), it’s a good idea to use ribbons. It’s just kind of a brightly-colored streamer that clips onto your binding and tucks into your ski pant leg or top of your boot. That way, if you fall and lose a ski, the streamer will pull out and lay on top of the snow, allowing you to locate your ski. Many a skiier has come down the mountain on one ski, having lost the other below a couple feet of powder.
And “first tracks”? There’s nothing like getting up early after an overnight snowfall, going to the top and finding a nice wide bowl, and getting down to the bottom and looking up to see your own beautiful “S”-turns wiggling their way down the mountain.
I was at Jay MLK weekend. -12, most of the mountain on windhold, and extreme hardpack. It was my first time on skis since recovering from Whooping Cough.
Hey, it was still skiing.
But my best days in recent years were at MRG with 20+" of fresh and more falling, and some killer backcountry glades near Camel’s Hump. Nothing like it. Western skiing is great too, I love it out there. But Eastern skiing builds character.
The other reason for first-tracks worship is that when fresh, loose snow falls it gets “skiied out” over the course of the day – the snow becomes rutted with ski tracks and the most favorable turns get dug in. Criss-crossing tracks of skiiers and snowboarders form trash moguls (I made that term up) – mounds and pyrimids of kicked up snow that make it hard for those of us with rotten knees to enjoy the slopes.
This never happens on hardpack and only very rarely on machine groomed trails, since the snow is pre-compacted, you can’t make ruts, or at least not as easily.
So, when fresh snow falls, the best ungroomed skiing is in the morning, and first tracks is the best of all. I have only experienced it once (Sunshine Village in Alberta, 10 fresh inches, made the first gondola) and it really was extremely cool.
True powder is… well, it’s what skiing ought to be.
In '97 I went to Utah with my dad for a week; we stayed at Alta. The week we were there we saw 125" of snowfall. No joke. On three separate mornings they locked everyone in the lodge while they blasted on the mountain.
Anyway, it was the most amazing experience ever. The first time I fell I had a brief moment of panic because I found myself completely submerged in snow. Once I got used to that it was great. Skiing was actually more painful than falling the snow was so soft.
I had to rent skis there though. I didn’t (don’t) have parabolic skiis at all; mine are hand-me-downs that are totally straight-edged, and they were too thin to hold me up above the snow.
I also bought little flourescent yellow cloth strips to tie to my bindings that tuck into your boots. That way, if/when you lose a ski you can find it under the snow from the yellow tail. We actually saw one guy digging in the snow trying to find his ski under the lift, and he was there looking while we went up and down the mountain three times. (ah, I see McNew has mentioned these)
But it was the most marvelous skiing I’ve ever done. It does take a bit more muscle, but is so worth it. Really, it’s a much more fluid experience, and I felt much more like I was experiencing the mountain, rather than fighting with it.
Honestly, since I got back from that trip I haven’t skied much. Spending 50 bucks to go up in the cold and ice is just not my idea of fun.
