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  • Skiboarding in Powder

    While skiboarding in powder I find my self falling a lot due the the tips of the skiboards getting caught in the snow. What is generally easier to use in powder longer or wider skiboards? I got my self Blunt XL's this year in hopes of the width being better in powder. I actually found that I like the narrower skiboards because they maneuver and carve easier for me. The pair I used last year were summit headwalls which are 13/9/12 and 95 long. I am thinking something with a similar width but longer would work better for me bit first wanted to hear if length helps in deeper snow. When I say powder i mean man made snow with some powder.




    Thanks,

    Adam

  • #2
    The more surface area you have, the greater the potential float will be; that can come in either length or width. Rocker will also help due to the shape of the ski providing lift. Some boards allow you to set back the bindings, which also raises the tips of the boards. Many riders, with young legs, sit back to get the tips up. If you pressure the front of the skis, they are destined to dive. Speed is also key, the faster you go, the greater the lift.

    The one tip that has transformed my success in powder is keeping my feet together. This effectively doubles your surface area and also helps prevent your edges from digging in.
    Just these, nothing else !

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    • #3
      I also found it harder to turn on the XL's. Could that be due to the riser used for release bindings opposed to bindings mounted directly to the skiboard?

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      • #4
        Hi Adam.. I have had a lot of experience on the blunt Xl . It certainly is a whole different kind of skiboard compared to the Summit Headwalls. The Blunt xls work great in pow but like Bad wolf says they need to be ridden together as one and in a balanced centered type of stance upright and not leaning forward ., the zero camber and rockered tips and tails just float like magic in pow and crud... if you ride like that they are magic in pow and will be much better then the Summit Headwall type design ... They are a very wide board and non cambered so will feel more difficult carving and getting on edge at first but once you get the idea , they have excellent edge hold and are nice carvers as well but certainly a bit different then a narrower cambered board which are easier to get on edge and carve ...
        hope that helps
        Boards :
        Blunt Xl, DLP, Spliff, Condor, Rockered Condor , Slingshot, Sherpa, Icelantic Shaman
        Boots
        K2 BFC 100 Grip walk sole , Dynafit CR Radical AT boot, Ride Insano Snowboard boots
        Bindings:
        Zero Pro Non release Binding
        Modified Receptor Backcountry Bindings (Bill Version and Slow Version)
        Spruce Riser with Attack 14 GW /AT binding
        Custom Risers with Fritschi Backcountry Bindings (Jeff Singer version 1, Bill version)
        Rocker and Sbol Soft Boot Bindings.

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        • #5
          I haven't ridden a board quite that wide or zero-cambered/rockered, or a releasable binding system but I'd suggest some deep carving exercises for turning, to get you used to the kind of force required to get that board on edge. Although the skiboards in the photo are not representative of what your riding, the stance pictured is the classic skiboard deep carve, body low leaning close to the ground, scrapping the hill with your hand, and letting that uphill edge really dig in. Then after you go all out getting some real fast, deep turns in, you can dial it back a bit and just try to "Slarve" something the XL's are good at, a slipperly carve, basically a hockey stop in slow motion. Hopefully your connection to the board is nice and solid.

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          • #6
            Can you clarify what you mean by your tips making you to fall in deeper snow? Are they sinking or are they not allowing you to turning?

            I'm not qualified to talk "deep powder" as I have virtually no experience with that allegedly good stuff . However, as a typical East Coast rider, I find two ways to effectively deal with deep snow: like the chopped-up fluffy and light stuff at the end of the day on poorly groomed slopes on cold days, as well as the heavy sticky slush on warmer days.

            The light, fluffy stuff is easier and more forgiving. I've ridden that with my Head Rod 94, which are similar to your Summit skiboards in dimensions, and had no issues at all turning and having fun in about 10" of that stuff over a packed groomed snow. In contrast, the beginner and early intermediate skiers around me had a lot of trouble there, falling because their skis would be caught in it and not able to turn. At the same time, the better skiers had no trouble bombing right through. So it is a matter of having the right technique for the conditions and equipment you got at hand.

            With both light fluffy stuff and heavy slushy stuff, I think one needs to adjust their technique. Not everything that works on a nicely groomed slope works in the deep too (some does, some doesn't). In the deep, I find two ways of riding work for me. Both avoid skidding sideways and pivoting, because deep stuff, especially the heavy slushy type, tends to very much resist attempts to skid sideways and pivot. And that gets worse the longer the skis. So, I either make wide carving-like turns (think water skiing) or the wide carved turns a giant slalom rider does (not so deep leaned, of course). Or make quick short energetic turns with unweighting the rear of my skis to allow me to pivot around the fronts while I'm up high. I think a wider board would be advantageous in both cases as it will float you higher. A shorter board will be easier to do quick short turns, a longer board will help with even better float for the wider turns and if you want to do it with more speed and still feel supported in the turns (where a smaller surface area board will give and not support you during your turns as well). For example, I was riding the fairly wide Romp Rigor boards last winter at the end of a cold day, where the groomed snow was chopped-up and deep. I could maneuver these easily because they are short. But I could feel they did not offer anywhere near as much support under my feet during turns as did the full-sized skis I also used that day (84mm underfoot, 176cm long). Sure the short skiboards were easier to zig-zag in small turns, but if I actually wanted to open-up and ski at higher speeds and get support under me, the longer skis were better. I've felt that similar experience riding my Head Rods 94cm vs. the wider and longer Sherpas, where the Sherpas felt more substantial and with better support, while the Heads tended to sink deeper and not support me in turns as well.

            In the deep, what maters is mainly the total area underfoot that you have against the snow. From there, you need to decide how you want to ride: short quick turns (get shorter boards) or large sweeping turns (get longer boards). I don't like the feel of overly wide boards on firm snow and ice - too much work. But they feel much better than short and narrow boards if the conditions are not the firmest.

            Edit: also, the short boards tend to be unstable and inconsistent in the amount of support they can offer during transitions from deep to not deep and ice to not ice, etc. Often part of the board will be supported and part won't and you feel that as either a bumpy ride or intermittent loss of support. Even a wide board can't deal well with that. On longer boards (and especially full-sized snowboards and skis) there is much less of that - so they ride smoother and more consistently though "inconsistent" snow conditions.

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            • #7
              Get wide rockered skiboards, set your bindings back, lean back and keep up speed. Feel the burn in your quads.
              Fox-Trotting - Thrifty Wanderlust & Adventures

              Skiboard Magazine

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