What are the different snow conditions for skiing - names and desription? i.e. machine powder - meaning.. etc.

Question

THANKS.

Answer 1

fresh powder and packed

Answer 2

Powder: Freshly fallen snow. Usually very light and dry.

Granular: Snow that has fallen, melted a bit, and refrozen into small ice crystals not unlike sleet. Very common at areas that rely on machine made snow. Granular can be loose granular or packed granular. Packed granular is almost ice, loose granular can be very nice to ski on.

Packed Powder: Usually natural snow that has been skied on. However, the actual definition varies. In the west, PP is just that...packed powder. In the east it can mean anything from REAL PP to almost ice.

Machine Powder?...that's a myth. I make snow. It's really hard for the machines to spew out POW. If the snow guns are blazing at full force and the air temp is -5F...you might get some powder...but water enters most guns at 33F or higher...it's liquid. It gets shot out into the air and freezes on the way down...to become powder it has to be either butt cold or it has to fall a long way before it hits the ground.

Corn: Akin to loose granular, but bigger and deeper. Corn usually forms in the spring or under springlike conditions. Corn is wet.

Slush: Never used in published ski reports. It's just wet snow.

Answer 3

google the question..