PNW Concrete Pow

Good point. I think the motivation to ski well increases exponentially when wearing bright colors. I try REALLY hard not to suck when wearing my orange pants.

Everyone loves to give advice and the immediate mile deep response to this thread shows that

Lowell Skoog hit upon a problem with AT. You spend all day for a couple runs, where lift service can net you 20x the downhill practice in the same day. So even if you're hardcore AT, spend a couple days on the lift and use them to practice. One thing this thread is missing is some DIY drills. Here are a couple I retained from my youth and do every year. I find a nice blue square run that is somewhere between a groomer and beaten up.

Drill 1: unbuckle boots. ski to the bottom. Good luck with that balance!
Drill 2: With boots buckled, ski a traverse with your uphill ski off the snow. Deliberate pole plant, switch, do turn and next traverse on other ski. Keep your torso rotated downhill the whole time, almost 90 degrees.
Drill 3: Once comfortable with drill #2, start taking your lifted uphill ski and rotating it so that the tip points downhill, in the air. Your entire body should be now pointing downhill except for your downhill weighted ski, which is doing all the balance and holding the traverse. There is an element of danger in this drill!

Gear: Like others said, if you want to ski pow it helps to have more waist and more rocker, as well as boots that give you an upright stance. I skied powder on a racing kit (70mm waist, full positive camber, very forward boots) for years and switching setups was a revelation. I recommend at least 100mm in the waist for the good days. Nothing in the world is as awesome as skiing 2+ ft. of pow on 130mm full rocker skis. So easy.

Conditions: Some days are just awful and everyone is survival skiing, so don't feel bad about it.

Ski Setup
2012 K2 Waybacks
Dynafit TLT5 Performance Boots
Dynafit bindings

I'll work on some drills when I hit up the slopes this weekend. I need to really work on my torso (I find this all the time not pointing down the fall line) and also my balance when I'm in uncomfortable terrain. Every time I get on something i'm not used to, my technique goes to crap which causes me to get scared and fall or do something stupid and fall.

I think for now, I just need some time on ski's and to do some drills. I've been working on doing 360's while doing J turns to get used to going backwards in certain area's and to get used to turning. Though I also want to work on perfect s turns all the way down the mountain and not just turn when I want to slow down or get scared.

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.

I agree with this.. ski often.

I am fairly new to skiing, pretty much off and on for the last 7 years as I had time/money.
I never really learned how to ski properly until I got a season pass to Alpental and went 2-3X a week, skiing the backcountry at every opportunity. I got a the avy gear and made sure that I always skied with another person.. often I would just hang at the gate and ask people going by if I could join them. In one year there I learned more than I had in all the years before that combined, even the lessons that I had.
The lift assisted BC is where you have no option to push yourself... I had a very steep learning curve back there, especially on the wet crud rain crust days.

I found that it is a lot safer to learn on really short and fat skis. Chutes and tight spots become so much safer to take in bad conditions. I had much more confidence running short skis that made it easier to jump turn on exposed sections. I used to have K2 Waybacks in 181cm  and now I am on Atomic Access 151cm. The flotation is actually still really good, and the Atomics are so much easier to use and SO much lighter. Of course I only weigh 150lbs with my boots on...

When it comes to being scared, I found the easy solution is to go follow people on tough lines and focus on their moves and how you can imitate what they do. Eventually you forget about being afraid and just focus on the turns. I get this every year at the start.

A lot of great suggestions.

And just to clarify I think all of these tips are great and certainly you do not need to be a pro to say what worked for you. My comment on not listening to non-pros is directed at actual technique in the moment. So many times out on the hill I would hear a friend/relative/loved one give literally the 180 degree wrong advice to a struggling skier. It was painful and sad.

I personally would not hazard giving any specific technique advice without actually seeing a skier move. While so many technique suggestions are relatively true, without context they are rather useless.

IMHO, the real key to teaching some one to ski better at this upper level is feeling the right movements patterns. Saxy you want to make continous "S"s down the hill in control and without fear and fatigue. That's the goal. Now what you need bro is two things:

1. A strong overall skill set

2. To learn the movement patterns needed to achieve your goal

Its that "simple" (of course not easy though).

As far as #1 is concerned, many of the suggestions and advice given in this thread does exactly that, it helps to improve your balance/stance, pressure control and so on, hence its good advice. Skiing on bad days, hitting the BC, racing, skiing with bros that are better all help.

#2 is the harder piece and is not adequately described in this thread. Learning and feeling the new patterns is EASIEST learned with a good instructor. That is not to say its the best way or only way or you have to way...........at all. It is just easier.

Ok let's get this straight

Take a lesson
Don't take a lesson
ski a lot
Ski a lot at lifts
Ski the backcountry 
Try fatter skis
Try much fatter skis
Try shorter skis
Tweak your boots 
Ski the green line
Ski the blue line
Wear the appropriate colors
Ski with Filbo
Ski With Lito
Listen and ski with only certified instructors
Listen and ski with  only Autodidacts
look only for the lighter powder
Ski crap
ski the whole mountain
ski the bumps
ski with lots of friends
perhaps join a club
watch ski movies
Read a book
figure out your learning(cognitive ) style 
ski race
Try snowboarding
Try way fatter skis

Take a big deep breath and proceed 

Good luck ,I'm sure sure you'll have a good time