Powder, settings, wrong things....

[Mr. T]

When I ski powder I can get something accomplished, but this year I always feel like my skis want to dive in. Both, not just one ski. Is it possible that my bindings are too forward? (Monster i.M 72 with bindings in the 0 position), is it possible that the lean forward of the shaft of my boots is too much? Is it possible my skis are too short? (177cm, I am 220lbs though). What is wrong with me?

[Pierre]

Mr T my guess is that you have learned to leverage the tips of your skis on hard pack to tighten your turns. I suspect you have carried that over to the powder with predictable results.

[NoCleverName]

I remember I was demoing some Rosi B1's or B2's and had diving beyond certain speeds. When I took 'em back the guy at the shop said they had a reputation to dive. Hmmm ...

Forgetting pilot error for a moment, consider that in powder a ski is surrounded by the media and perhaps is subject to more "aerodynamic" forces. It may be possible to "stall" the ski or even develop negative lift and thus "auger in" like a traditional airfoil. A certain angles of attack, turbulant flow off the tip might force the ski down or excessive "lift" could develop off the tail. Again, just guessing, but if it's speed-dependent, maybe there's something to thinking of the ski as an airfoil.

But's it's probably just our lousy eastern technique.

[Gary]

Hey Mr. T...
I just posted on the Gear site about my experience with the IM77 at Aspen 2 weeks ago.
I'm 5'81/2, 156lbs and skiied the last 3 years the Im75, 163 length. This season I purchased the IM77, 170 length and just was totally blown over by the versatility of the ski. This is my big snow big crud ski.
At Aspen, we had for the first few days boot to shin high powder. I had the bindings in the neutural position. Skied soft bumps as well and all was good.

Then another dump and the snow was a bit heavier, not much, but over the knees in spot and I was having trouble turnig the skis together.

I made a quick stop inside, slide the bindings to -15 and low and behold, the ski transfigured itself into a big powder eater. Totally different ski. Left it there for some groomers and it was still fine.

If you get the conditions, try moving the binding back....I'll think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find a new ski hidden in there.

Best,
Gary

[Gary]

Hey Mr. T...
I just posted on the Gear site about my experience with the IM77 at Aspen 2 weeks ago.
I'm 5'81/2, 156lbs and skiied the last 3 years the Im75, 163 length. This season I purchased the IM77, 170 length and just was totally blown over by the versatility of the ski. This is my big snow big crud ski.
At Aspen, we had for the first few days boot to shin high powder. I had the bindings in the neutural position. Skied soft bumps as well and all was good.

Then another dump and the snow was a bit heavier, not much, but over the knees in spot and I was having trouble turnig the skis together.

I made a quick stop inside, slide the bindings to -15 and low and behold, the ski transfigured itself into a big powder eater. Totally different ski. Left it there for some groomers and it was still fine.

If you get the conditions, try moving the binding back....I'll think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find a new ski hidden in there.

Best,
Gary

[Gary]

Hey Mr. T...
I just posted on the Gear site about my experience with the IM77 at Aspen 2 weeks ago.
I'm 5'81/2, 156lbs and skiied the last 3 years the Im75, 163 length. This season I purchased the IM77, 170 length and just was totally blown over by the versatility of the ski. This is my big snow big crud ski.
At Aspen, we had for the first few days boot to shin high powder. I had the bindings in the neutural position. Skied soft bumps as well and all was good.

Then another dump and the snow was a bit heavier, not much, but over the knees in spot and I was having trouble turnig the skis together.

I made a quick stop inside, slide the bindings to -15 and low and behold, the ski transfigured itself into a big powder eater. Totally different ski. Left it there for some groomers and it was still fine.

If you get the conditions, try moving the binding back....I'll think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find a new ski hidden in there.

Best,
Gary

[Gary]

Hey Mr. T...
I just posted on the Gear site about my experience with the IM77 at Aspen 2 weeks ago.
I'm 5'81/2, 156lbs and skiied the last 3 years the Im75, 163 length. This season I purchased the IM77, 170 length and just was totally blown over by the versatility of the ski. This is my big snow big crud ski.
At Aspen, we had for the first few days boot to shin high powder. I had the bindings in the neutural position. Skied soft bumps as well and all was good.

Then another dump and the snow was a bit heavier, not much, but over the knees in spot and I was having trouble turnig the skis together.

I made a quick stop inside, slide the bindings to -15 and low and behold, the ski transfigured itself into a big powder eater. Totally different ski. Left it there for some groomers and it was still fine.

If you get the conditions, try moving the binding back....I'll think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find a new ski hidden in there.

Best,
Gary

[Gary]

Sorry about the posts....I keep coming up something "debugged"

I must be a techno geek!

Gary

[Max_501]

I made a quick stop inside, slide the bindings to -15 and low and behold, the ski transfigured itself into a big powder eater. Totally different ski. Left it there for some groomers and it was still fine.

I found the same thing when I skied the IM88.

[Mr. T]

I will try playing with the positioning of the bindings.

[richk]

How do you re-position the bindings on the Railflex?

[Gary]

Not sure if or what any old Tryolia Railflex bindings are like but mine from my 2 year old Heads 75 Chips to the current ones on my 77's and rx8's have 3 positions, 0, +15, and -15. There is a screw in the center of the binding. You turn out the screw and tap the binding forward or rearward to either of the 3 positions and put the screw back in.

If you have the same binding...it's a piece of cake and worth experimenting with.

Best,
Gary

[Icanski]

My Stockli snake bc have the binding in the middle since it's a twin tip, I wonder what that will do in powder? They are plenty wide and made for the stuff.
icanski

[Gary]

Ok icanski, that Stockli looks like a big powder eater.

For me, I've found the only reason to drop the binding back into the back position is if the snow gets on the deep side, like above the knees. If my Head 77's were my everday ski, they would be in the center location for all mountain skiing. Once the snow got over the knees, I'd drop them back.

If you can adjust your binding location, it might be worth a try when you get blessed with the deep stuff....you just might find the extra float and control worth it.

Best,
Gary

[Icanski]

Hi Gary,
I can only say, that skiing in the Toronto area, we're not likely to get much deep stuff...especially this winter (the warmest ever recorded here.)They make good waterskis, though, given the rain and slush. I can say that hundreds of school kids churned up the snow yesterday so it felt like skiing on 5 inch deep Tide detergent. As close to float as we get here in man-made-snow land. But I'm bringing them to Fernie just in case.
I have the demo binding on them so I can't shift them. I'll just hope for snow. On hard pack they are still fun, but being 88 at the waist, they are more of a gs turning ski. Pretty slow in the bumps to turn, requiring lots of energy, but any loose snow and they plane on top of it.
The kids love the snakes on the top sheet. I get regular ratings of: "wicked, awesome, sssweet," and the occassional "Mr., how come there's snake heads on your skis???"
icanski