Breakable Crust

Originaly published in SKIING MAGAZINE - PRIVATE LESSONS

By Eric and Rob DesLauriers
photos by Hank deVre

Crusty snow sucks. Anything referred to as "crusty" never brings to mind anything pleasant, except apple pie and you'll need that with ice-cream. Crusty snow is usually enough to send even the most hard-core ski freaks home muttering senselessly about unskiable this and crappy that.

However, there is hope with the right skis and good technique, you can survive the gnarl and actually rip it up in thinner crust snow when your skis can cut through it.

First, there is absolutely no question you are better off skiing on fatter skis in soft, crusty snow. Skinny or traditional skis will submarine down and there's no pulling them back up once they are down-under. Wider skis float much more, keeping your skis closer to the snow surface cutting the crust with the least resistance. You never want your tips to dive under the crust.

We prefer the "carve the crust" approach. It's all about matching ski edge angles to create the turn, a powerful stance on your skis and guiding the G's on your skis (how you weight the skis). Ski weighting, or the act of guiding the build up G's as your body settles onto your skis as the turn progresses, is delicate in the fore aft plane. You need to pressure your skis together with a little bit of heel pressure keeping your shins snug to the front of your boots as your skis finish each turn and your are setting up for your transition. That action will keep your tips light, staying at or above the snow surface.

Be sure to always have your skis at matching angles when they are weighted in the turn so you can benefit from the full surface area of both skis. Their inherent carving properties will be working together to create an efficient and smooth two-footed carve through the hellacious crust.

As always, keep your hips low for strength and your shoulders centered over your feet facing your direction of travel. This position is powerful to propel yourself through the snow and its versatile to do micro weight adjustments (fore aft and foot to foot) throughout the turn.

The snow in this photo is a lot worse then it looks. It's a 2-3 inch sun and wind crust that is thin enough to break under your weight and allow your skis to penetrate into the deeper powder. Once underneath, the crust is thick enough to keep your tips submerged if you allowed them to go into the snow. However, it is thinner and weak enough that it can be fun with wide skis and good technique.

Photo 1 Notice the matching edge angles and equal foot pressure as Eric is coming off this small rolling cornice. The skis are lightly cutting the crust. He is poised guiding the build up G's and the shape of the turn.

Photo 2 Now its the critical test time whether he'll break through or not... Two-ski platform -good, centered weight - good, tips close to surface, skis angled (edge together), all good. As his skis are coming across the fall line into bottom of the turn, he has a lot of potential to break through the crust. Be delicate here. Notice the low hips for power and versatility to drive the skis through the crust and into transition.

Photo 3 Yes, still floating. As his skis are coming across slope, its the beginning of the release of this turn. The action now is retraction to unweight (not press done and pop up). To release the turn, your first move is relax both feet and legs together. No action pop up, rather relax and retract. Shoulder and eyes facing next turn. Now in mid-transition, its pure neutral with both skis riding flat and light on snow surface, because your relaxed, pulled up and guiding both feet together. This is the only moment in crust carving that is relaxing. As he flows through neutral, his new inside ski is leading the move to new edges. As the skis come onto edge and seek the new fallen, the G's build and he begins to weight his skis again, the edges will be matching, perfectly set up for the two-ski platform.

Photo 4 Just a little more into the turn, his weight has not settled onto the skis yet, but the modern design of his skis are creating the top of the turn with hardly any effort. The inside ski is picked up (more for demonstration then actual function) and is leading the edge change and sets the angle for the support on the outside ski. Skis angled together, patience, no twisting, he is poised to resist and pressure both skis as they cut through the nasty. He centers the pressure and his body weight slightly on both heels keeping the ski tips light as the rest of ski buries and bends in the snow creating the turn. The rest is simply to resist and ride through turn until the next balanced release.

So there you have it. Next time you're out skiing maybe a couple days after a storm and the slopes are starting to crust over, try searching around the mountain for the thinnest crust. Look for slopes out of sun and wind, crust is very weather dependant and you often can find slopes where it is non-existent or thin; i.e. skiable. So get the right skis, spend more time on the hill and don't be so quick to give up when the going gets tough. Once you get the hang what we're talking about it's not so bad. Not all the time anyway!