Stance width for Powder riding

[Bobby Buggs]

What do you guys ride for widths when in the freshies? I know you set back some but do you keep the same width you do when you are laying down turns.
I am going out to Crested Bute this weekend and Hope to ride the 4807 again.

[tigger]

hy bobby,
the bindings on my powboard are soft plastic plates with integratet canting, thats why i like it 2-3cm wider than on my flat snowpros.

[gdboytyler]

I've ridden my O-Sin 4807 once (last Sat.) and I went with the reference width of 20.5" and angles of 25F/20B. It was knee deep powder at Mammoth. I ride my alpine boards at 18.75".

The 20.5" stance felt good, but I did feel that I ALMOST went over the handle bars a couple times, so I'm going to try setting back the stance 1 or 2" the next time I use the board. If I was riding any other board, I definately would of had a couple of endos.

Good luck with getting powder this weekend. I'm going to CO in a couple of weeks and the long range forecast isn't looking good for snow.

[Jim Callen]

I ride the same stance with my powder boards as I do my race boards, 56,53 18.75in width. I find the regularity of it all allows me to perform better, no matter the conditions. Funny thing is, my race board has a 19cm waist, my pow boards have a 25 cm waist. I find that the stance still works no matter what I'm riding. I don't ride softboots anymore as they don't have the response or stability that I need when I ride.

[underdog]

what are freshies????? :( i live in the north east (but not VT or MA)

[Gecko]

A term used to describe light fluffy powder that comes in units of feet (or decimeters if you are in japan)...Example "yesterday I rode my board in mad freshies up on Mt Naeba" though it was in fact too deep and I had to swim more than once...never thought I'd ever say that

[philw]

Powder boards tend to have different max/ min stance widths than piste (race) boards.

I did find some problems with boards like the Salomon Fastback & Burton Canyon in that the stances are fashionably wide, so it can be hard to get comfortable even at minimum settings on those.

These days I use the Fish, the inserts of which are "set back". I ride those centered on the minimum width setting. I've no idea what it is in any units, but it feels ok.

[jdgang]

i ride a fish for the very rare pow days in jersey. Actually got one a couple of weeks ago. I ride 21f/9b using the reference stance on my 160fish which I think is 20 inches wide set 75mm back off of center. I am still trying to get dialed in on my alpine. but for now I ride a speed 160 48f/45b 17 inch wide 25mm back.

[Bobby Buggs]

For some reason I thought yo woud want to go a little more narrow in powder. I took out the Osin at Stratton a couple of weeks ago, no there really was not enough new snow but close. Anyway I flet like I wanted to close up the stance a bit.

[Jim Callen]

I experimented plenty with my O=Sin and I found that the narrower stance actually gave me more control. It allowed me to float better and steer quicker in tighter situations.

[Bobby Buggs]

Jim, that is what I was thinking. Im not looking to lay down trenches when I am riding that board. Being quicker and more nimble in tight spaces makes more sence to me. I thought having a wide stance on a alpine board was more to use yer body to flex/bend the board. Not something I need to do in the soft stuff

[Jim Callen]

Actually, the reason people want to go wider on a carving board, or so I've been led to believe, is to have more control when not carving. Generally yhr wider the stance, the easier it is to carve and a little harder to steer when not carving.

[gdboytyler]

For a powder board, a wider stance seems to make it easier to put more weight on the back foot when you need to. A wider stance also makes jump turns and landing jumps (off of cornices) easier.

Lower binding angles makes it easier to get up after a fall.