Snow Conditions
Instructor's Message
Let's discuss how you should alter your approach
when you're skiing on powder, in crud, and over ice. These snow conditions are
what I like to call the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Powder the Good
Some advanced skiers have trouble skiing powder
because they have a skill set that is effective on hard pack. When they try to
apply their turning, carving, and edging tools in deep powder, they usually
tumble and fall. The turns don't seem to happen when they should because their
skis are too deep in the snow.
The fluidity of powder is its magic.
On groomed snow, you know you are in contact with terra firma. On powder, you
have the sensation that you are floating on the snow.
The expert skier in powder uses a different set of
skills. Learning to float on snow is the key to powder skiing. When skiing
powder, you need to plane on top of the snow like a water-skier does on
water.
Powder Skiing Lessons
You can find all the technical aspects to develop
your own skill set for powder skiing by reading lessons #12 and #13 in the
training course, Skills of the Expert Skier. Our powder skiing
lessons are entitled Powder - The White Magic and Powder and the
Expert Skier, respectively.
Crud the Bad
Crud is difficult to ski because it isn't powder,
but its not hard pack either. You can't use just powder techniques or only hard
pack skills to ski in crud.
Crust, slush, mush, grabby, sticky,
and snow cones are some of the words used to describe weird snow conditions.
Crud is the umbrella term used to describe all of the above conditions.
In addition, crud changes with the time of the day,
sun exposure, air temperature, altitude on the mountain, and moisture content.
These factors influence the way you ski any given kind of crud. You need to be
use a blend of tricks and tools because crud is actually many different kinds
of snow.
Ice the Ugly
ICE really stands for I'm Completely Evil. We're not
talking crust here. Crusty layers are actually under the crud umbrella. We are
dealing with the state of water that you find in hockey arenas. Yes, the same
frozen liquid that is used to chill a James Bond martini.
Ice is hard on the hip, reflects
the sun back into your eyes, will pull your groin muscles, and can make you
look like a rank amateur if you dare turn on it. In addition, it may or may not
have a dusting of snow on top.
You don't actually ski on ice. You glide over top of
it and make a quick turn or two to reduce your speed after you've left the ice
behind. It is one thing to encounter an ice field on a groomed intermediate
run, but quite a different story when you meet a sheet of ice on a steep slope
with no way out on either side.
You won't normally find ice in tree runs expect
maybe after a spring rain and subsequent freeze, but you will often see ice on
wide-open mogul runs. Bumps in this state are sometimes referred to as kidney
busters. Yes, they can hurt you inside!
Crud Skiing Lessons
You'll get all my recommendations on how to deal
with icy terrain and crud laden slopes in Lessons #14 and #15 of our web-based
training course, Skills of the Expert Skier. The lessons are
entitled Crud and Ice - The Bad and The Ugly and Crud and Ice and
the Expert Skier, respectively.
I'll include some interesting anecdotes about some
of my close encounters with disaster in these adverse snow conditions, as well
as some practical advice that you can keep in your tool box for the times when
you confront these same conditions.
Time to Master the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
If you want to learn how to take your powder skiing
to an expert level and/or you need to enhance your crud skiing abilities,
then sign-up on your right and
become a member of the All-Terrain Ski Club.
For those on tour....
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