Thundercat 60 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 Do you remember yours or have there been so many that's its just been lost in a blur? I remember the first time I got into the deep fluffy stuff on a board. I had only snowboarded 2 times. A group of cool cats and I were in Akakura (Myoko Kogen) and when we woke up the first morning there was about 50cms of fresh stuff all over the hill (yes, on piste as well!) I was hating it all morning because I didn't have a clue... Then, on a steeper run I got a little speed up and made my first few turns. Hooked - hooked - hooked ever since! (I shouldn't be thinking about this at work!!!) Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 First ever half decent deep powder experience for me was actually in Australia. Back in 1987 a bit of a freak storm dumped over a metre of snow in one night at Mt Buller. The next day we had up to thigh deep powder, not quite the quality of Niseko but still reasonably good. By the middle of the next day it was already a wet goop but luckily I was there for that brief window when Aus can actually turn it on. And yeah hooked ever since. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 You lucky bugger. Pretty good going for your 3rd go boarding ! I can't remember my first powder on skis but I remember going to Annupri when I was 16. THAT was Powder, but I can't remember the feeling. Now, snowboarding. I've only been out there for about 50 days now, and the real-carving-on-powder happened this season on Stubei glacier. Same with Missus who has been boarding for 8 years. What a feeling! When I started posting on this forum, I was on a freestyle board, bent on switch and ollies and hitting natural pipe sections on the side of the runs. Now ... pow ! Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 First real time was at Shiga Kogen. I thought there was an experience before that in Austria, but Shiga Kogen told me otherwise. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 A place called Georgian Peaks in Ontario before it went private. A weekday and too much snow for the masses to drive up so there was hardly anyone there. I've skied well over a hundred days in Ontario and that's the only time I can really say I've had powder there. Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 my first 'powder' experience? a whopping 10cm dump in Big White in Canada that had me beaming from ear to ear. couldn't wipe the smile off my snowy frozen face. i've been hooked ever since riding powder is so much fun - it's interesting snowboarding in different countries, and everywhere yo go people froth so hard on it. it's a universal buzz, just cos it feels so good. Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 It's such a different experience between boarders and skiers. To be able to ski powder you have to have some decent skills. So, my first powder experience at Mt. Washington BC when I was a kid was probably a disaster....30 yrs ago and skinny skiis. Later, Whistler and Blackcomb were pretty good to me. Three years in Hokkaido of virtually daily (if you count nighters) skiing saw some great POW!! But, these new all mountain skiis I picked up last season have brought about a new lease on powder fun. Each era has had it's own unique "first powder experience". Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 28, 2010 Author Share Posted January 28, 2010 Yeah Jynxx, I was lucky/unlucky on that trip. I didn't really have the skills to make use of the wonderful conditions. I'm sure it wasn't pretty but it was the first time I felt like I was floating. To me it seemed like forever but it was surely only a few seconds. All the years I spent skiing in Canada (like Ger, in Ontario) I had never experienced anything like it. It was funny because I was still at the stage when I was considering switching from skis to board... that brief moment pretty much sealed the deal. I would however like to strap on a pair of those rad looking new planks that are kicking around these days to see if my opinion about skiing would change... Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 My first was on a trip to Un Zud (The Eastern Island states of Australia, often mistakenly called New Zealand). We (+1 and I) had gone up to the lookout at the Western side of The Remarkables main bowl. We'd carried our skis and we decided it would be best to ski down rather than walk back to the groomer at the top of the lift. +1 had been skiing for ages, I'd had just a few years (at a week per year) prior. She just yelled at me - "Just keep turning" - and stopped halfway down to see where I was, and I was at her shoulder. Loved it! and been hooked ever since! BEST ever powder was 2005/6 at Hirafu (GN was there and will remember) The snow was insane and we had several bluebird days with a couple of feet of snow on top of the groomed surface. Some of the slower slopes (like Ace Family) if you got off "the line" you were slowed down by the resistance of the powder because you couldn't get on top of it through there not being enough slope to get speed up. That was our first trip to Japow, and the start of a 5 trip (so far) block. My, how I wish I'd been back this season! Link to post Share on other sites
iiyamadude 6 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Whistler Ever heard of it? Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 BM, I'm thinking about it, too. Like Chriselle said, You needed decent skills to look good on the mountain with the old long skinny skis. In, Japan, you had to be good on moguls because that's what you got then. My snowboarding progress has been amusing - amazing even to myself because I thought it would take me at least 5 years to do what I did 2. I'm thinking it has a lot to do with the well groomed, long wide runs, verticals, here in Europe. But now, I'm looking at Japan photos you all have posted here and the grooming is so much better now. I reckon being close to Niseko has advantages. I think it's a great training ground to prep for more. I'd love to go there, and when I do, I reckon I'll rent myself a fat one. I actually bought a new Salomon ski boot last year so it still is somewhere in back of my head. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Hmmm... shades of powder... I encountered Powder in Niseko on my very first EVER time in the snow (not just as a ski resort but EVER!!) That was just coming up 3 years ago in April. It snowed over night and the families (3 of them) decided to go up the hooded Ace lift....I went. Not yet linking turns, but I was told I would love it and it would be fantastic. Yeah. Right. It was a white out - I had no idea where I was going and I spent more time on my face than upright. Since then I got lucky with a trip to Falls Creek which was similar (white out and about 30cm on the groomers), and a blizzard at Perisher recently that left some lovely floaty wind blown stashes in between the tree's. Two years ago in Niseko I experienced on piste POW - at the time I had less than a year experience and was NOT going off piste for anyone. CHICKEN! THIS January I experienced my first true powder experience. Knee deep and more between tree's, out the gates and even just at the sides of runs. The first real knee high long stretches being at Rusutsu. Took a little working out to change my aggressive front foot riding to back foot, but once I got - I was hooked! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Shin deep at Naeba back in 2003......the only time previous to that I'd boarded in Scotland where the snow comes in 2 categories, boiler-plate and affy boiler plate!! i thought it was the best thing ever....until I really went riding in Japan!! Link to post Share on other sites
Ringland 0 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Hello BM from Hugh Grear one liner. Link to post Share on other sites
Ringland 0 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Ok .Just got it....r is next to t.....small mistake guys ...... Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted January 28, 2010 Author Share Posted January 28, 2010 Which line was that mate? Link to post Share on other sites
sand 17 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 first proper powder experience was at White World Iwakura, on Jan 7, waist deep, face shots, was so much fun , hopefully get another day or 2 like that this year, but maybe that's wishful thinking ? Link to post Share on other sites
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