How to Ski Powder
Those who come to ski and snowboard in Japan, visit here because they are chasing the world-renowned powder.
When you’re watching the locals and pros ski down powder, they make it look so effortless and natural. But really, it takes a lot of practice to perfect.
Powder skiing is completely different to skiing on piste. You basically have to throw all previous knowledge about skiing out of the window.
Advice
- For the skiers out there, create a large surface area to float on by bringing your skis close together.
When you’re skiing on piste, you usually use your downhill ski to begin to turn.
If you try doing that in powder skiing, you’re going to send each ski in a different direction, getting stuck in the snow and stacking it.
The key is to increase floatation so you don’t get stuck by bringing your skis closer together and spreading your weight over both skis evenly.
- Forget about edging and carving, steer with your body weight.
Edging and a freshly groomed trail are a match made in heaven for creating beautiful turns. The groomed trails providing the perfect surface for your skis to grip on.
However, that surface is non-existent when powder skiing so forget about edging.
Instead, you want to focus on steering with your body through weighting and unweighting on your skis.
To do this, when you’re in the apex of the turn, bend your knees and push the snow away from you. As you finish the turn, getting ready to start the next one, extend your legs to unweight the skis.
This unweighting makes it easier for your skis to change direction!
- Spend more time in the fall line as speed is your friend.
If you are speeding down a slope, your skis are on top of the snow and it feels like you’re floating. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.
If you go too slow, you and your skis will sink into the soft slow and you’ll likely stack it or come to a complete stop.
It can be scary getting speedy though, especially if you’re new to skiing on powder snow. I’d recommend starting on some powder terrain that isn’t as steep first. Practice pointing your skis down the slope into the fall line to get more speed.
- Make bigger turns
As you begin to feel comfortable in the previous three tips, it’s time to practice linking all your turns together.
If want to get a lesson on how to ski the powder from our knowledgeable English Speaking Instructors here is a link to book; Powder Lessons Nozawa
Good luck and have fun!
If you’re out skiing in the powder, make sure you’re skiing or riding with a friend so if one of you gets stuck, you can help each other out.