Powder Landings

Have you ever wondered why magazines and videos use mainly backcountry shots over park ones? It’s because jumping into powder is a whole different ball game, it’s what the big boys do!

The impact of landing in powder pushes your board under the soft snow, slowing it down, while your body’s momentum continues to travel forward, sending your weight over the nose. If you let the nose go under, then you’ve just ruined the landing, and 15 minute hikes in waist deep sow are pretty draining. If you don’t stop your spins and stomp straight, your board will turn sideways and catch. Even a subtle weight shift or turn of the head after touchdown can send you into a hyper extending tomahawk down the landing.
The difficulty of landing and riding out in powder is something a lot of us don’t understand, because not too many of us get a chance to ride powder, let alone build jumps into it. The skill is honed and perfected over years of powder freeriding and backcountry jumping. It’s the difference between the freshest kid off the plane from Finland, and the riders like Travis Rice and Devon Walsh. It separates the good riders from the best.