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*** Official Snow Surfing Thread ***
- Thread starter 92122
- Start date
LOL I have zero idea what the stance angle stuff is. I know if it's icy I want a camber board, and if it's slushy or Goldilocks groomers (not scraped refreeze, not 6 degrees 9:10am rock hard) and kiddie park I can do a shorter/non-camber board. I forget if pow is all technique, mostly technique but set back stance and maybe slight directional camber with nose rocker, or what. I do know once I get my weight back and surf through turns it's incredible - that much I'm clear on.Such a good time to fuck with Sharkbiscuit by saying if 12/6 was good enough for Terje, it is good enough for me.
I spent most of my geeking out on reading Snow Science and Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain. I quickly came to the conclusion heavily gladed side-country was as far as I was going anytime soon, and way too far given my solo status and abilities (lack thereof), and basically started reading that stuff not with an eye for avoiding open alpine bowls with a massive dump on a layer of hoarfrost and a convex slope shape going from 35 to 45 degrees, but for identifying, on a trail map, north-facing gladed wind loader 9000 zones others might overlook, or soft groomers ideal for practicing donkey hops and kook fakie.
Also snowboarding wants a rich man's wallet and a young man's knees/ankles.
Unless you’re on something ancient, idk know about setting bindings back anymore bro. While you want to avoid porpoises you also really don’t want to encourage your boar to plow more than is absolutely necessary if at all.
Ive posted this before, I was curious to see if I could find anything online about what the pros binding set ups for pow was. The little I could find was not helpful except for one dude, a player. Bc he said start with the bindings all the way forward. Trick then is too find the sweet spot where you’re not porpoising all the time, just once in a while and when it happens you just weight the back foot a little more. So much faster. Only downside is you will go over the bars once in a while.
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I ride a 22.5 to 23 inch wide stance, +15, -5 (give or take) almost always on all boards in all conditions. I've tried all kinds of stances over the years and this is what feels and works best for me. I like the wide stable base and the control it gives as well as the ablilty to power through landings, chunder etc. I land and ride switch from time to time and I like the way the negative back foot feels in general and when pushing hard into a turn. I twist my back knee in toward the front knee when i'm turning and like the way that engages the back of my edge with the negative angle on the back foot. I feel it allows me to really push into and drive through the turn. To each his own though. I don't judge or give a sh!t what anyone else rides. Just have fun.
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It’s 100% subjective, no right or wrong way, whatever is most comfortable. I’ve tried posi-posi set ups for carving but always find myself reverting back to 0 and 15ish posi. Can’t take the old ramp/pool skater out of me.
Had the biggest snow in many years. Today I did this wild shred on my homemade snowskate
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For me I like forward angles on my back foot bc it lets me tuck the knee on turns along with helping square up my hips to the nose of the board/fall line.
As far as deep pow tech, in general the rules are
Dont fall.
Go fast/don’t stop, and if you’re gonna stop do it somewhere you can get going again.
Not finishing turns helps keep you speed up
A flat board/not putting it up on angle during turns will keep you from sinking during turns and consequently losing speed.
Foot steering is where it’s at vs kicking the back foot, along with aspiring to incorporate retraction turns into your repertoire
Ever since I was a youth one of my favorite things in the world to do is slay pow in the trees, but I know it’s hairball at first for a lot of folk. XV has some excellent tips along with demonstrating as always proper tech
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I have always tried to mimic my surfing stance/width - somewhere around +18 & 0, 22 - 23 width .....A couple seasons picked up a Korua Dart and Gentemstick Big Fish, watched the Korua vids and been riding both positive ever since, which feels sick when riding, especially carving, but it does suck trying to twist my back foot/knee to strap in after the lift....
Solid board choices. I’ve noticed the really cool kids strapping the back foot in before they got off the lift. I just try and not to sit down to do it no more.
Latest forecast, hopefully it means someone will score.
7 Day Powder Forecast- 2 moderate Sierra Storms-Scraps elsewhere with the PNW staying wet.
The week ahead features 2 moderate waves for the Sierra that will bring 2 periods of surfy snow to elevations above 7,000 feet. Peak surf will be on Saturday and again on Monday. You can chase from north to south, however neither system is a blockbuster. The PNW stays wet with high elevation...
powderchasers.com
First day of the season for me yesterday. Partly cloudy day in the 30s with intermittent wind. Happened to be up at the same time as Iceman, who was up with his family, and we got a bunch of runs, mostly just hauling ass down the steeper groomers, with a few side ventures of varying quality. That man can lay down some carves! 
Yeah, some of the locals judged the conditions harshly and it could have been better. The snow from last storm melted and then froze without really melting again. It must have been really warm because even the trees were a little crusty/heavy. There were some really fun pockets of snow along the sides of some of the runs or underneath features where the wind had loaded it up. I thought I could enjoy a nice sunnyish day on the deck as it was a pretty nice day, a little breezy, and then this gale gust just ripped my jacket off the table, and violently threw it in the air where thank god it wrapped around the next picnic table. Waitress was like: back inside so soon? A little cold and windy? Oh yeah.
Then an hour later, it was idyllic.
Oh yeah, that board. 90s boards are so much better. God.
Ha, right. The Black Snowboard of Death is insane. First run, I knew. My previous board, I always subconciously held back as I didn't have faith that it could handle a fast turn without 100 yards of skid/chatter. Talk about the ability to hold high speed long-radius turns on edge the whole way. So much fun opening that board up and just hauling ass. Need to put some muscle into it, found out towards end of day can't ride lackadaisical (no harm no foul), but that board will give you everything and more that you put into it. Comes down to my testicular upper limit on how fast I can make that board go. Such a fun day. Had prime parking, left the house at 4:50AM, got prime parking, plenty of time to take a nice leisurely dump, and still get on first lift at 9:02 or something, got last lift up at 4 on the dot, and a whole lot in between.
Stocked. Highly stocked.
Yeah, some of the locals judged the conditions harshly and it could have been better. The snow from last storm melted and then froze without really melting again. It must have been really warm because even the trees were a little crusty/heavy. There were some really fun pockets of snow along the sides of some of the runs or underneath features where the wind had loaded it up. I thought I could enjoy a nice sunnyish day on the deck as it was a pretty nice day, a little breezy, and then this gale gust just ripped my jacket off the table, and violently threw it in the air where thank god it wrapped around the next picnic table. Waitress was like: back inside so soon? A little cold and windy? Oh yeah.
Then an hour later, it was idyllic. Oh yeah, that board. 90s boards are so much better. God.
Ha, right. The Black Snowboard of Death is insane. First run, I knew. My previous board, I always subconciously held back as I didn't have faith that it could handle a fast turn without 100 yards of skid/chatter. Talk about the ability to hold high speed long-radius turns on edge the whole way. So much fun opening that board up and just hauling ass. Need to put some muscle into it, found out towards end of day can't ride lackadaisical (no harm no foul), but that board will give you everything and more that you put into it. Comes down to my testicular upper limit on how fast I can make that board go. Such a fun day. Had prime parking, left the house at 4:50AM, got prime parking, plenty of time to take a nice leisurely dump, and still get on first lift at 9:02 or something, got last lift up at 4 on the dot, and a whole lot in between.
Stocked. Highly stocked.
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Stocked for you, bro. It’s pretty wild when you feel like you’re about to make the jump to hyperspace and your boat has more gears left/says to you we can still go faster. Just be careful with that speed, I think I had the bindings fwd of reference and was locked in on the toe edge and headed for a lift tower fast enough that things looked wicked bad for a second or two until I hopped out of it and onto my heels this one time. At the end of a turn hopping from one edge to the other is a good (Malcom Moore lol) drill and a good way to learn to push a board like yoursFirst day of the season for me yesterday. Partly cloudy day in the 30s with intermittent wind. Happened to be up at the same time as Iceman, who was up with his family, and we got a bunch of runs, mostly just hauling ass down the steeper groomers, with a few side ventures of varying quality. That man can lay down some carves!
Yeah, some of the locals judged the conditions harshly and it could have been better. The snow from last storm melted and then froze without really melting again. It must have been really warm because even the trees were a little crusty/heavy. There were some really fun pockets of snow along the sides of some of the runs or underneath features where the wind had loaded it up. I thought I could enjoy a nice sunnyish day on the deck as it was a pretty nice day, a little breezy, and then this gale gust just ripped my jacket off the table, and violently threw it in the air where thank god it wrapped around the next picnic table. Waitress was like: back so soon? A little cold and windy? Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, that board. 90s boards are so much better. God.
Ha, right. The Black Snowboard of Death is insane. First run, I knew. My previous board, I always subconciously held back as I didn't have faith that it could handle a fast turn without 100 yards of skid/chatter. Talk about the ability to hold high speed long-radius turns on edge the whole way. So much fun opening that board up and just hauling ass. Need to put some muscle into it, found out towards end of day can't ride lackadaisical (no harm no foul), but that board will give you everything and more that you put into it. Comes down to my testicular upper limit on how fast I can make that board go. Such a fun day. Had prime parking, left the house at 4:50AM, got prime parking, plenty of time to take a nice leisurely dump, and still get on first lift at 9:02 or something, got last lift up at 4 on the dot, and a whole lot in between.
Stocked. Highly stocked.
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putting down a bunch of fresh tracks on wind sculpted powder in moderately spaced trees on a 40 degree slope leaves me in a luminous state of mind
i never hear people talking about wind sculpted powder. seems like most folks are all about the softest, and deepest
i prefer a bit of wind sculpture. still soft but easy to stay on top of at lower speeds and lots of fun little features to turn my skis for me
i never hear people talking about wind sculpted powder. seems like most folks are all about the softest, and deepest
i prefer a bit of wind sculpture. still soft but easy to stay on top of at lower speeds and lots of fun little features to turn my skis for me
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All I need is anything more than dust on crust, a cool buzz, and I’m fine.
Sounds like you had a good day on the mtn, I feel blessed ever time I get to go.
same and yeah it was a very good day. couple runs were so good that I just couldn't contain myself and started scream'n and hollering while sailing through the trees and unweighting off the backs of little drifts. usually I only hoot for other people
I should be finally getting out next week and yeah when everything clicks it’s as fun as it gets. The only conditions that aren’t chill imo are when it’s scratchy sounding. I was just thinking how much fun I’ve had riding chalky snow. I was also thinking tbh not much of a hooter, but you can count on me to yell you better send it bro at you from the chairlift if I see you paused before dropping in on somethingsame and yeah it was a very good day. couple runs were so good that I just couldn't contain myself and started scream'n and hollering while sailing through the trees and unweighting off the backs of little drifts. usually I only hoot for other people
I was also thinking how glad I am that I found a boar that absolutely decimates chunky snow and enduros over ruts. Not getting bucked around has substantially increased my enjoyment on many (most?) days
Birthday tomorrow and I'm in LA for a few days, so... should I blast up to Bear Mountain first thing in the morning? I'm not much on the weather reports, any intel I can get would be amazing...
I'm no expert but this is a pretty warm storm and the forecast is calling for mix of rain and snow which typically isn't good
Thanks. Yeah, it's fun as hell when you get in a good rhythm pivoting back and forth from edge to edge but keeping quiet upper body the entire time. Great flow when you have it going.
"It was a pleasure to burn" - Ray Bradbury's BSOD review. You can't get tentative on that board, it resists, which makes it a little challenging with flat light at the end of the day.
There's a stash I have in plain sight from the lift and has easy enough access from the right place but gets forgotten because of nearby features. There's a particular line in there I love where the end of it S-turns through some rocks and trees, banked so you spray the sh!t out of the rock face on the way out too - untouched yesterday even in afternoon. Whole area. Very suspicious. Took a tentative line in there from the top, immediately realized yeah, thick crust on top of cement "powder", good reason why it was and remained untouched. Quick opt out on that one.
Hopefully Kirkwood is high enough up that it's more snow than rain. Going up again shortly.