Techniques: Powder Riding

 

Carving in early powder snow.

Powder riding is an integral part of mountain riding. Granted, the basics are easy. But the tricks and techniques aren’t so.

 

The first tricks are momentum and counter-steering. They are in fact, essential to dominant mountain riding. A couple additional tricks are balance, and route finding. The deeper the snow, the more balance plays in. Yeah, it makes it easier to do laydown turns, but it also makes it easier to get on the wrong side of the sled or tree. Route finding changes with deeper snow. You’re able to take more of a sidehill, but less of a climb. You somewhat have to look at the hill differently.

 

Once again, it comes down to personal trial and error. Different techniques work for different people… and there’s no better way to learn then firsthand.

 

*A side note on the countersteering technique… I’ve found that using too much of a countersteer when sidehilling will drag you down… at least, that’s what I’ve found. I’m sure every sled/rider handles it differently.

Technique: Tailstands/Wheelies

 

A near vertical tailstand.

Any rolling terrain in the backcountry is a target. If you can’t jump it, you’ll at least be able to wheelie off of it….

The idea is simple: go off the terrain and pin the throttle. Unfortunately, it’s not always so simple – a lot of factors play in. Snow conditions, speed, incline, and even old tracks play in. I’ve had wheelies go south because of bouncing off of a rock or old track…

From trial and error, I’ve learned a bunch of stuff relating to wheelies… Balance is key, and it’s somewhat surprising how hard it is to keep level with the skis in the air. Locking the track up mid wheelie will drop the front down – too hard (I’ve almost gone flipping over the bars because of that…).

Apart from the “fun” uses, you can also wheelie over terrain that you don’t want to drop into – such as open creeks. You can usually get the skis over an obstacle, and let the track drop in – a similar technique which is used on dirtbike.

The bottom line: the only reason to do it is for fun (ok, so sometimes it might be because there’s a camera there…). It’s a part of riding, both practical and impractical.

My dad pulling a wheelie.

Techniques: Momentum

Although not so noticeable on the modern sleds, momentum is extremely useful, as well as important.

Forward momentum is most important in powder, or on a less powerful sled. You can get up a steeper hill by taking a running start, simple. But you can also use forward momentum for other maneuvers, like “wall-riding” across a sidehill (like we had to do on our Ride to Silverton), or above a drift . The use of forward momentum to “stick” to a steep hill is extremely useful. With enough speed, you can ride across on a slope that you couldn’t go straight up…

Then there’s side to side momentum. For example, coming out of a laydown turn, your sled will want to overcorrect its level. You can use this to drop into your next turn (in the opposite direction of the first), if you’re doing a series of laydown turns. It’s also a good way to get sent flying off your sled, which I’ve learned personally…

What you’ll find is momentum can get you around obstacles, and to places you couldn’t get otherwise.

Technique: Drops

 

Dropping a cornice, near Stony Pass.

 Cornices – no matter how big or small, are a part of the backcountry. Dropping them isn’t everybody’s thing, but it’s another cool technique…

It doesn’t matter how big the cornice is; the landing is more important. For small drops, a flat landing is ok, but when you get to bigger drops, it’s far smoother to land on a slope.

Apart from the angle of the slope you’re landing on, there are a couple other things that play into how hard you land. The first is track speed. If your track is spinning slower then the speed you’re landing at, it’ll throw you forward and downwards – which is a rough landing. Also, landing close to parallel with the slope is important. If you land tail-heavy, the front of the sled will slam down. It’s a hard landing, but it sure beats nosing it in… (I’ve done that before, no fun)

The easiest way to drop is to ride up to the edge fairly slowly, and punch the throttle right before the skis come off the cornice. The theory is to keep the sled level, and build track speed for the landing. If it’s a flat landing, you’ll want to keep on the throttle, but if it’s a nice sloped landing, you can let off the throttle mid-air to level out.

Once you’ve gotten that, you can also come in with more speed, to fly further down the hill. I’ve found when I come in fast, I need to shift my weight forward, or feather the brake to level out for the landing. Just what works for me…

The bottom line is: get out there and have fun riding, no matter how you ride, or what you like to ride (as in terrain). Ride hard, and ride safe.

Technique: Hairball Turns

 

A wide hairball turn.

Although most riding techniques are useful when riding, there are also some that are “just for fun”. One such technique is the hairball turn. Although it doesn’t serve any real need of riding, it’s a cool maneuver.

The idea is to carry fairly good speed going straight up a small slope, pulling the sled over into a turn, and keeping it down until you cross over your first track – creating a teardrop-shaped track.

One of the hard parts is the dedication, because near the top of the turn, your head is lower then you feet, as well as your sled. It also takes a bit of balance – if you’re going to slow, you’ll fall over (see bottom pic!). Side-to-side balance is also important – if you lean in too hard, you’ll tip over. But if you don’t lean in enough, you won’t be able to make the turn, or the sled will come out of it too soon and send you flying (learned that the hard way…). I also stand with each foot on its running board, so I can pull the sled into the turn, as well as recover quicker if I get thrown off balance.

The easiest way to learn is to get out there and try. It’s taken me a while to figure it out, and I get to ride almost every day. Like most things, it just takes a little practice before you really can lay it down…

Ride hard!

Sometimes, you get stuck mid turn!