Stance for riding powder?
As the title suggests looking for comments/suggestions on how to set up my stance for riding powder.
Currently riding a Burton Gtwin 153cm.
Current stance is about 23 inches wide, +15, -15.
Was riding a little bit of powder the other day and was finding it really hard to keep my nose up without putting all my weight on my back foot.
Having only ridden in Australia the last 3 or so years I found it rather difficult. An heading for a day of cat boarding next week and would prefer to have my stance set up so that I can ride better in the conditions and get the most out of the day.
my understanding and experience is that powder is all about the back foot lean. It can be a real leg burner but its pow man, the shit eating grins from being in it make the pain worth while.
In japan i set my board up with the back foot binding back as far as it can go and brought the front back with it aswell. I was using my burton nug that has the channel system thing so i could get it pretty far back and it worked a treat even with the shorter length in board.
In summary, i like pow
Usually most riders would go for a +12 to +9 in the front and +3 or 0 in the back. But its personal preferences because if you have a lot of power in your legs and can handle the terrain you can open it up more on your front, with out the setting back. Deep powder like Japan or Northern Hemisphere you would have to setup the bindings on the back channels.
Setback is the first thing I would change. I’m assuming your stance is centred on the GTwin? If so, start by moving both bindings back towards the tail by an inch; this will give you a setback of one inch. It should make a noticeable difference. You could even go further if you feel you need to.
From there, you can also look at bringing your stance width in a little bit. Personally, I find a narrower stance a bit better for riding pow. Your legs are less bent and it gives you more power to your back foot, while minimising muscle fatigue. Try it: stand there with a really wide stance and try to get all your weight onto your back foot. It can be done, but your legs have to remain fairly flexed to do it. Now try with a narrower stance. You can shift your weight to your back foot much easier, without using as much muscle power. Basically this will help with the fatigue. You can do this in combination with the setback, i.e., move front binding back two inches, and the back binding back an inch. This will give you a stance width of 22” and a setback of 1.5”. Actually, that is worth trying. It should make a lot of difference.
The other thing you can play with is the angle on your back binding, as bkrtron suggested. On my Fish for example, I think I ride 18/-3, where usually I am 15/-15.
Basically, if you’re riding pow and struggling with your stance, you want to go to a more freeride-oriented stance, which all the above suggestions will help you do. Please keep in mind though, all these suggestions will make riding switch in pow more difficult, if that’s something you do.
Of course, there’s always the option of getting a dedicated powder board. 😉
Just last feb I came back from Japan ridin the deepest pow I’ve ridden to date, and I kept all of my gear setup no different to what I ride on Aussie Hardpack!!!!!
Havin a Twin, ya will probably find it better with an inch setback, but personally I’d leave it no further setback than that!!!!!
The one true thing that will make riding pow easier is changing ya style to suit!!!!! Instead of havin ya weight evenly balanced and centered on ya board as ya do when ya usin the whole effective edge (from tip to tail) on hardpack snow/ice, I found that bein conscious of havin ya weight shifted to the back, and therefore riding the tail and using its edge to steer is the key!!!!!
I wish that I was ridin pow now, it’s such a buzz when it all clicks, so just relax and it’ll come to ya, just don’t fight it and really try to flow with it more than takin an aggressive attack at it!!!!!
Made me watch my last pow vid, so I thought I’d put it here for others to watch if they want as well?????
I agree with Rider. +15 -3 to 0. Definitely helped me in deep at Nozawa this yr. Allowed me to get more attacking in the turns where ducked felt stiff as and made the lean back nose up more relaxing.
I guess its personal pref if Mizu didnt change but thats why bindings arent glued on hey.
I think surfing helps you understand deep powder also.
What a beautiful predicament. ..powder mmm.
When were you in Nozawa, deebs?????
I was there in late Feb this year!!!!!
First 3 weeks of jan. Stayed longer than planned to see Dosojin festival…awesome.
Also went ti Myoko and Hakuba but preferred Nozawa. The lodge owners got me on the tools fixing their dodgy board rack. Im anyones for a few free beers.
Great place, great snow but the onsens were ridiculously hot!!!
That looks awesome Mizu! 
@rider: But you almost never ride your fish Jeremy 
First 3 weeks of jan. Stayed longer than planned to see Dosojin festival…awesome.
Also went ti Myoko and Hakuba but preferred Nozawa. The lodge owners got me on the tools fixing their dodgy board rack. Im anyones for a few free beers.
Great place, great snow but the onsens were ridiculously hot!!!
Nice!!!!!
Tis a cool little village!!!!!
Ohhhh, and the further away from main source (Ogama), the cooler the onsen water get!!!!!
That looks awesome Mizu!
Cheers mate!!!!!
You’ll have to meet up with some of us one year in Japow?????
Im anyones for a few free beers.
I think there are a few people on this board who can say that (me included!)
Does that make us easy targets for the needy or just plain old beer whores?
Me the later haha
beer whores!
@rider: But you almost never ride your fish Jeremy
It kind of became redundant when I got the Chemical Storm. That thing rides pow so incredibly well, and I can ride it centred!
The Fish is still great to have (I think it’s an ‘03 model), but yeah, it hasn’t been used in the last couple of seasons I spent in Whistler. I’d prefer be on a freestyle board that rips pow, rather than a very freeride-oriented board.
Update: I now ride the YES. 20/20 PowderHull ... the most innovative twin powder board ever built, in my opinion.