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I originally wrote this during my last snow trip, but a broad power outage prevented me from uploading it.
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Powder is this mythologized, fetishized special type of snow that skiers and snowboarders covet. Its rarity makes it special as it usually can only be found at absurdly early hours in the morning shortly after a massive snowstorm. The snowstorm of course makes it very hard to get to the powder without a big ordeal... and the powder is quickly ruined by the first few early bird skiers who touch it.
Apparently everything I know about snowboarding is wrong when facing powder. My first attempt ended up with me marooned in a large and nearly flat patch of fresh snow, unable to get moving again because the powder snow´s density was so low that my legs and snowboard sank in several feet every time I tried to stand up.
Realizing my mistake, I found a much steeper area full of powder. It´s a miracle it was still intact around 11am. The area is normally a practice area for ski slalom teams that is off limits to the general public. However, today it was unused and the other people at the resort seemed to be avoiding it out of habit.
Powder is weird stuff – if you are going slow you will sink into it, but if you are going fast you float over it and leave a beautiful wake around you. In that sense it´s like water. Well, it *is* water, but a strange sort of water that is extremely soft and extremely low density. I managed to get decently good at keeping the front end of my board up so that I could go straight down the powder slope without falling, but I found turning difficult as the front-board-up posture makes the board more difficult to control.
I´m guessing that if I knew how to surf, powder boarding would be more natural. The aspects of balance that come up seem like they would be similar.
Oh, and falling in powder is an incredible amount of fun... it doesn´t really hurt even if I end up flipping a couple of times. When the cost of failure is low, I´m more willing to take risks. It´s a good lesson for life in general. Off to sleep...
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Update: The next day, I took a free lesson. Since it was midweek, I was in a class of three, which was great for really getting real-time feedback. Having an instructor present to provide real-tiime feedback, even though I already had some grasp of what I was supposed to do, helped tremendously. He also knew the best parts of the mountain for practicing riding in powder.
--
Powder is this mythologized, fetishized special type of snow that skiers and snowboarders covet. Its rarity makes it special as it usually can only be found at absurdly early hours in the morning shortly after a massive snowstorm. The snowstorm of course makes it very hard to get to the powder without a big ordeal... and the powder is quickly ruined by the first few early bird skiers who touch it.
Apparently everything I know about snowboarding is wrong when facing powder. My first attempt ended up with me marooned in a large and nearly flat patch of fresh snow, unable to get moving again because the powder snow´s density was so low that my legs and snowboard sank in several feet every time I tried to stand up.
Realizing my mistake, I found a much steeper area full of powder. It´s a miracle it was still intact around 11am. The area is normally a practice area for ski slalom teams that is off limits to the general public. However, today it was unused and the other people at the resort seemed to be avoiding it out of habit.
Powder is weird stuff – if you are going slow you will sink into it, but if you are going fast you float over it and leave a beautiful wake around you. In that sense it´s like water. Well, it *is* water, but a strange sort of water that is extremely soft and extremely low density. I managed to get decently good at keeping the front end of my board up so that I could go straight down the powder slope without falling, but I found turning difficult as the front-board-up posture makes the board more difficult to control.
I´m guessing that if I knew how to surf, powder boarding would be more natural. The aspects of balance that come up seem like they would be similar.
Oh, and falling in powder is an incredible amount of fun... it doesn´t really hurt even if I end up flipping a couple of times. When the cost of failure is low, I´m more willing to take risks. It´s a good lesson for life in general. Off to sleep...
---
Update: The next day, I took a free lesson. Since it was midweek, I was in a class of three, which was great for really getting real-time feedback. Having an instructor present to provide real-tiime feedback, even though I already had some grasp of what I was supposed to do, helped tremendously. He also knew the best parts of the mountain for practicing riding in powder.
