PNW Concrete Pow

Some sage advice in this thread.

I would add that the benefit of a good coach can be not having to spend years replacing poor technique with good. It is much faster and easier to develop good efficient movement patterns the first go round. Many coaches earn their living helping skiers replace detrimental movement patterns with balanced effective movements. Their clients have often learned from friends or poorly qualified instructors. I would not look to anyone with less than a level 3 PSIA - they have spent years developing their teaching skills.

Any coaching should begin with stance analysis. For many skiers progress is hindered by boots that are not accurately tweaked for the individual. There are several custom boot fitters in the Puget Sound region that have years of experience and routinely produce excellent results.

Send PM if you are interested in the names of any coaches. Several recent threads have named a few very good boot fitters

Chuck M

Ski the lifts.

Mileage, mileage, mileage.

Ski groomed and ungroomed runs.

Work on rhythmic turns--not just one turn at a time.

Watch skiers who are better than you and try to emulate them.

Become an instructor. It's a great way to really learn about technique.

Actually, that's the old-school way to get better in PNW snow. The new-school way is to just buy fatter skis.

Of course, you can do both.

I grew up ski racing in the PNW and think it is an excellent way to improve technique in all snow conditions. Learning proper line choice in the gates is particularly helpful for tree skiing and navigating other obstacles. There are programs for all different ages and all different levels. Some of the best powder skiers on earth have racing backgrounds; Jeremy Nobis, Daron Rhalves, Seth Morrison, Ingrid Backstrom (Crystal racer), Eric Pollard (Hood racer).

A lot of good advice here for sure but a lot of it is more general or long term.  If you want some more specific technical advice for skiing the wet and thick try breaking the rules a bit by getting more in the backseat.  Not so far back that you can't turn or are falling backwards, ideally you're still upright and on top of your skis but yeah, ride those tails a bit for the purpose of keeping your tips up or at least close to the surface, especially with a ski that's not super fat.  This will reduce the drag on your skis and boots which can pull you down, slow you down or toss you.  When you were skiing that Colorado super light you were really skiing the soft underlayer (almost like groomed) with almost no resistance/drag from the fluff fluff.  So you're really not skiing much different that you'd ski groomed or any flat surface.  The difference here is that the resistance/drag is not insignificant, so you have to do something to reduce it.    

A couple of comments on equipment:

1.  Get your boots "dialed".  Consider the following, in order of cost, ascending:
     

• buy boots from an experienced shop with an experienced boot fitter.  Various places in the seattle area are recommended (e.g., Gerk's & Sturtevants, are mentioned frequently, and I've personally had a good experience with Marmot for my touring boots).  Call ahead and find out when their "boot guy" is going to be there, and make an appointment with them.
• Get custom-molded insoles (super comfortable, and they really improve your skiing)
• Get custom-molded boot liners
• Someone above mentioned custom boot fitters - this may be kind of expensive, but depending on your foot, it may be worth every penny.  For some people, this may not be necessary.

2.  Make sure your skis are the proper length.  If they're too short, you'll have a harder time staying on top of the snow.  Too long, they'll be too hard to turn & control.   I remember years ago, a friend of mine and I had the same skis, but I was ~30 pounds heavier.  He could zip through heavy powder, whereas I would consistently sink, and was always exhausted.  This went on for a couple of years before I bought new skis.   If you can, try an on-mountain demo program where you can ski 4-5 pairs of skis in a single day.

great advice but i think if you get red colored boots you will ski much better.
bobby