Skiing Powder Snow - Lessons learned from Niseko Japan.

By Nigel Abbott

I can't help but think about the Northern winter as it draws close and the epic powder that Niseko Japan is blessed with. I have been fortunate enough to have experienced over 300 sessions of superb powder in the last six seasons there. When you get to ski that much POW, you certainly learn the finer points plus get to test a variety of equipment and powder snow conditions.

I believe there are three key things to consider when challenging yourself in deep POW:

• Rhythm
• Movement
• Equipment

Rhythm is what allows us to dance down the slope. You first need to consider the radius of the turn and this will depend upon the steepness of the slope, the depth of the powder and the speed you want to travel at.

Before you actually throw yourself down a powdery slope, you need to know that you can do a solid short turn. Being able to do consistent short turns down a medium gradient slope with a pole plant and some good leg movement is a must, shorts turns will be for another Blog Post.
Once you have set the radius of the turn in your head, then you need to get ready to start moving.

Movement
The first turn is critical as it will set your rhythm and tempo, I always use a little extension by pushing off from both skis as this gives me the time and torque to rotate my skis easily.
The ultimate goal of course is to be able to extend your legs away from your body as you steer your skis, as you do this the skis will bend and store energy. Once you release the exerted pressure from the skis by relaxing your legs, the energy release from the skis will help them to float to the surface and give you an opportunity to rotate your legs into the next turn (see the image above). We call this extension retraction and it is similar to skiing bumps.
If you are new to powder then I would suggest using a little more bounce, this will help your timing, rhythm and require less effort to turn the skis.

Equipment
This is an interesting area as everyone has different styles, tastes and there are many types of powder.
For the sort of POW that I experienced in Niseko, I loved the K2 Hardside with its all-terrain rocker and 98mm under foot, this gives you plenty of float so you ca really let go, but not too wide where you barely sink at all.
In addition, you don't struggle when you get back onto the piste as they still handle well.
I can't praise K2 enough with their backside range, they are really ahead of the curve and leading the industry. Check this video of some solid powder technique in Niseko, these guys are using some bounce to aid their rhythm.