In order to better understand the physics of snowboarding, it is imperative that one have a basic idea of the common snow types.
Fresh Snow Fresh snow refers to a coat of freshly fallen snow. The fresh snow allows for a smoother ride down, better responding turns, and when you fall, it is almost angelic (almost). Powder (POW) POW is the result of a heavy snowfall, this snow has low moisture content and can make shredding it seem like you are floating up above the world so high. Slush Slush is where we start to get into the interesting snow in terms of snowboarding friction. Slush snow shows its ugly face when we get towards the end of the season. Due to the lack of a solid crystal structure, shredding this snow can feel slow, sloppy and heavy. Sticky Sticky snow can be seen when fresh snow is falling and the temperature is quickly rising, this results in some of the trickiest snow to maneuver. The freshly fallen snow still has a solid crystalline structure and as it becomes wet due to the rising temperatures, it quickly catches on to the bottom of your board. This results in a vacuum that make sit difficult for the board to slide down the slope.