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How to ride the XLs in powder ?

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  • How to ride the XLs in powder ?

    I'm confused about how one should ride the Blunt XLs in powder, I finally got some today, but had a hard time with them, they were more like pounding through everything than floating "on top" of it - relatively speaking. They were gathering a lot of snow on top of them and I could not ride the tails to get the front higher up. I even face planted once going uphill on a smallish bump of sorts.

    In the same conditions I went on the LE 125 and it was much better, I could ride the tails and change direction only by weight shift, keeping the boards quite close to each other. I couldn't do the same on the XLs, the ride was much more bumpy somehow, surprisingly I was thrown off balance all the time ... On anything else but powder, the XLs were the opposite, not being affected much by anything, staying in balance and control all the time.

    What am I doing wrong here ?!?

    Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
    Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
    Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

  • #2
    What is your size?
    Boards/Bindings:
    2013 Spruce Sherpas w/Tyrolia Peak 11s
    2023 Spruce Stingers w/Tyrolia Peak 11s
    2015 RVL8 Blunt XLs w/Tyrolia Attack 13s
    2020 RVL8 Sticky Icky Ickys w/Tyrolia SX 10s


    Boots:
    Salomon X-Pro 80

    Past boards: Salomon Snowblades, Line MNPs 89 & 98 cm, Five-Os, Bullets, Jedis, Spruce 120s, LE 125s, Ospreys, Crossbows
    Summit 110s, Nomads, Jades, RVL8 ALPs, BWPs, KTPs, Tanshos, Rockets, DLPs, Blunts, Condors, RCs, Revolts, Spliffs

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by sempai View Post
      What is your size?
      178cm and about 75kg with ski clothing on
      Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
      Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
      Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by newbie2011 View Post

        178cm and about 75kg with ski clothing on
        You need to stay centered and not worry about what the tips are doing on this board. Just shift your weight with the boards together. You can't ride the tails on them. Find some of the videos that Courtney has posted from Shredfest and westfest. That might help.

        Sent from my P027 using Tapatalk

        Now: 08 Sherpa's (2), Atomic 120's, 2013 125 Protos, 125 LEs, 2014 Sherpas, Osprey protos, 2015 Blunt XL's, 2016 Ospreys, Ethan Too twintip skis,2017 Shredfest One of kind Spliffs, 2018 Crossbows
        Bindings: Spruce Risers and Tyrolia LD12's
        Boots: Full Tilt Booters, Tecnica Agent 110
        History: Atomic shorty's, Sporten, Groove Taxis, Head 94's, ALPs, Spruce 120 Blue boards, Custom Lacroixs, Rocker Condors, 08 Summit 110's, Hagan offlimits 133's, Rossi 130's, 2011 Summit Marauders

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by wjeong View Post
          You need to stay centered and not worry about what the tips are doing on this board. Just shift your weight with the boards together. You can't ride the tails on them.
          What do you mean by staying centered ? I was not leaning forward, not trying to pressure the tips in order to turn, but it was not enough. Not sure if that would be centered, actually I was trying to lean back a bit like on the LE125, to get the front tips out of the snow.

          I did try to keep the boards close to each other and do this weight shift turn, but somehow the boards were under the snow instead of on top of it.


          Originally posted by wjeong View Post
          Find some of the videos that Courtney has posted from Shredfest and westfest. That might help.
          Excellent suggestion, thank you !!! I've watched several and they are excellent, but to me it still looks like Courtney is riding the tails, the front is almost always out of the snow.
          ​​​
          Like in this one : ( see below, not sure how to put it right here instead of at the end )

          in the first 16 seconds the tips are not touching the snow, I would call it riding the tails , to me being centered would put the boards flat on the snow, but I'm probably mistaken about the proper vertical position.

          Courtney, what's your secret for those amazing rides in powder ?
          ​​​​​​


           
          Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
          Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
          Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

          Comment


          • #6
            I think this is one of those things that you eventually don't think about, it just comes naturally. I find that rockered boards take a bit of getting used on all various types of terrain. You may find that riding powder on the XLs feels more natural once you've put some miles on them on groomers, in the trees, etc.

            I definitely ride the tails in deep powder. A lot of people like to ride the XLs set back a little bit for deep powder days, but I haven't tried setting mine back yet.

            When it comes to skiboarding in powder you want it steep and deep. If your slope isn't steep enough and your powder is too deep, it gets really difficult to keep your momentum up.

            I think I also ski with my knees quite a bit. I've noticed some people tend to stand more upright, but when I'm in powder my knees are always bent and I'm in more of a crouching stance with my weight naturally back a bit on my tails.

            If you can get some video of you riding I may be able to provide some more feedback, but those are the things that come to mind immediately.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Courtney View Post
              I think this is one of those things that you eventually don't think about, it just comes naturally. I find that rockered boards take a bit of getting used on all various types of terrain. You may find that riding powder on the XLs feels more natural once you've put some miles on them on groomers, in the trees, etc.

              I definitely ride the tails in deep powder. A lot of people like to ride the XLs set back a little bit for deep powder days, but I haven't tried setting mine back yet.

              When it comes to skiboarding in powder you want it steep and deep. If your slope isn't steep enough and your powder is too deep, it gets really difficult to keep your momentum up.

              I think I also ski with my knees quite a bit. I've noticed some people tend to stand more upright, but when I'm in powder my knees are always bent and I'm in more of a crouching stance with my weight naturally back a bit on my tails.

              If you can get some video of you riding I may be able to provide some more feedback, but those are the things that come to mind immediately.
              That's excellent insight, thanks a lot Courtney !!!

              when I got to try them, there was about 20-30 cm of fresh snow, tried them first on an ungroomed and mostly untouched red run, because it was very foggy to go "real" off piste. Overall it should have been reasonably deep and steep , not comparable to what you're doing, but I was expecting to flow some instead of sinking so often.

              Very interesting that you mentioned the knees position, I was pretty upright, was feeling my legs to be almost straight, pushing somehow too hard on the tails, although it worked on the LE125 , it felt a bit too hard work, I thought I'm using too much leg muscle, it must be easier...

              I'll remember and try to setback the Xls next time, but bending the knees while getting the weight on the tails sounds like the most important part.

              ​​​How much of a bend/crouch do you feel you're getting ? Is there any leg muscle involved or it's mostly gravity doing its work ?
              Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
              Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
              Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by newbie2011 View Post
                How much of a bend/crouch do you feel you're getting ? Is there any leg muscle involved or it's mostly gravity doing its work ?
                Courtney has a very unique style. It's like she is sitting back in a chair. It's not humanly possible for most.

                Definitely give the setback a try on the XLs. I did for the first time last year. It kept me in the game when I thought I was going to have to retire.
                Boards/Bindings:
                2013 Spruce Sherpas w/Tyrolia Peak 11s
                2023 Spruce Stingers w/Tyrolia Peak 11s
                2015 RVL8 Blunt XLs w/Tyrolia Attack 13s
                2020 RVL8 Sticky Icky Ickys w/Tyrolia SX 10s


                Boots:
                Salomon X-Pro 80

                Past boards: Salomon Snowblades, Line MNPs 89 & 98 cm, Five-Os, Bullets, Jedis, Spruce 120s, LE 125s, Ospreys, Crossbows
                Summit 110s, Nomads, Jades, RVL8 ALPs, BWPs, KTPs, Tanshos, Rockets, DLPs, Blunts, Condors, RCs, Revolts, Spliffs

                Comment


                • #9
                  One of the perks of being shorter! I'm only 162cm, so I tend to be crouched more than most. Having strong quads is required no matter which skiboards you're riding in powder. I don't ride all that much at home in Minnesota so I mostly keep in shape by going to the gym. Leg extensions and leg presses help a ton.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by sempai View Post
                    Courtney has a very unique style. It's like she is sitting back in a chair. It's not humanly possible for most.
                    Exactly what it looked like to me, that low and that impossible :-)

                    Originally posted by Courtney View Post
                    One of the perks of being shorter! I'm only 162cm, so I tend to be crouched more than most.
                    That's good to know I don't have to go that low, I was thinking that if I can do half of that it will be quite ok :-)

                    Originally posted by sempai View Post
                    Definitely give the setback a try on the XLs. I did for the first time last year. It kept me in the game when I thought I was going to have to retire.
                    I'll do that, but the more I look at videos and think about it, the more I understand it's not about the XLs, I just had a bad position, not that I was doing something right on the 125... I was leaning too much back, not flexing my knees enough, almost not at all actually, no crouching... more tail support just compensated somehow and was hiding my mistakes.

                    Many thanks for the insights ! Back to study for me :-)

                    Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
                    Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
                    Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Courtney also skiboards fast, and keeps that speed up. The faster you go, the better XLs perform in powder.
                      Just these, nothing else !

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Bad Wolf View Post
                        Courtney also skiboards fast, and keeps that speed up. The faster you go, the better XLs perform in powder.
                        Her speed is even more impressive to me when she does it going between trees ... I realized that it worked better when I could keep it flowing, but due to my bad stance my legs were getting tired rather quickly ...
                        Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
                        Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
                        Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

                        Comment

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