Powder Skis

As the name suggests, powder skis are designed for powder skiing. Powder skiing is the ultimate ski experience and it makes rooster tails fly and powderhounds’ tails wag furiously! Powder skis heighten the joyful feeling of floating in bottomless powder.

Professional skiers love powder skis, but powder skis are most appreciated by the average punter because they make it easier to ski deep snow and find your snow-jo. Powder skis are almost essential in heavy pow or in mellow terrain, and they’re a great way to minimise the likelihood of face plants. Depending on the type of powder ski, they can still be agile and provide maneuverability to get around tight trees.

If you're in the market to buy, you can purchase some powder skis online.

Fat Skis

The primary characteristic of a powder ski is the fatness, a.k.a. the width of the waist or the width underfoot. Essentially anything that’s fatter than about 100mm in the waist is a fat ski. Mid-fats are about 90mm in the waist and super big boards are 130mm plus.

Some skis such as K2 Pontoons (130mm) or Hellbents (132mm) are really big paddles and are great for waist deep powder, but don’t run them on hard pack or kitty litter – you’ll become the subject of much amusement.

Reverse Camber vs Standard Camber

With standard camber skis, the waist of the ski sits up higher than the tip and tail. Reverse camber skis have the waist sitting at the lowest point and are designed for skiing really deep pow and that’s about it. Skis with rocker have the combination of standard and reverse camber, and these enable powder skis to have the versatility to also work the front-side of the mountain and handle groomers or the hard-pack. The degree and location of the rocker will determine how the ski performs.

Which are the Right Powder Skis for Me?

The answer to this one is always a bit tricky. Firstly you need to determine whether you want a pair of skis exclusively for deep powder, or whether you want skis that will also manage other snow conditions. The right pair of skis is also dependent on your weight, strength and skiing style.

A great option to get the perfect pair of skis is to get some custom made. Wagner Custom can design the ideal ski for you based on your “skier DNA” that will have a unique sidecut shape, flex pattern, weight distribution and other characteristics to absolutely float your boat in the powder. Classy graphics will also make your friends very jealous.