Snow Skills

The Snow Gods blessed the western Maine mountains with about 8 inches of new snow Monday just to spite the weathermen who forecasted “flurries with no significant accumulation”. I expect I speak for many when I say don’t you just love it when that happens?! With a sudden change from yesterday’s conditions, an unexpected powder day is a a situation where you’ll want to pay attention to how you should adapt to the new snow. A primary adaptive movement in powder is to slightly narrow your stance so that your feet are fully under your hips.

Your leg motions in powder should reflect the mantra “Two feet, one effort”. The loose snow pulling at your skis will produce much heavier forces than you’re used to overcoming. It’s not dissimilar to wading through a mud bog; each time you set your foot down to build balance is a time when you have to break free of both gravity and the friction effect of the mud. In loose snow conditions, that friction effect will try to pull your legs in different directions which will result in a loss of balance and control. To reduce these forces, try setting your stance width at about 2 to 3 inches narrower than hip width.

The narrower stance will increase your strength to control your legs by setting all of your balance in a tighter space within the loose snow. With this additional leverage, you’ll be able to create an image whereby both skis are doing almost exactly the same motions, greatly reducing the chance that either leg will break off and do its own thing. This one effort by both legs image is an excellent base of balance with which to ski powder and will efficently conserve your efforts so you can make the most of an awesome day to ski.