I was with Mike the day he was on the 94's, while the conditions were heavy, they were far from "sierra cement" but more like typical eastern powder. Where Mike (and others) ran into many issues was the snow (REALLY firm "snow") underneath and were bottoming out. We DO get other snow here than sierra cement, saying otherwise is like saying that everything on the east is always ice. Mike, when we skied Mt. Rose for the demo day, we had some very good snow there in depth and quality, what skis did you ski? I don't recall.
As far as where to learn powder, it is almost more WHEN to learn. When the conditions are right and as Josh eludes to, having the right tool to make the learning process more enjoyable and rewarding.
Just to stay on focus with respect to learning to ski powder:
The day Phil described happened at Alpine Meadows during lasts years's Epic Gathering. During the night, 12+ inches of snow fell onto the Sierra's which had not had any new snow in weeks. The base was ice and I'm not sure if most would have skied if the snowfall had not happened. It was overcast, windy and snowing all day. I struggled with the heavy snow over, but, after a run or two, figured it out. And a big thanks to Phil for helping me get a ski back on when the frozen snow. What did help me from a technique standpoint was just pointing skis down the mountain and using Harbian counter acting to initiate turns. Honestly, in the heavier snow that day my 94's did not suck.
The day I was totally overmatched was 3 days later in Squaw when I skied with John Botti and High Angles. On our first run, snow was waist high and heavy. High Angles had the right skis, John and I would have preferred something far wider. I can't blame the skis that day, it was all about being out of my league. Very quickly, I let them ski the steep and deep, I stayed on the groomers. In my life, it was the first time that I wished for a 110 plus waist ski just to see if it would help. HA and JB are much more competent skiers than I am, powder or no powder!
During the MT Rose demo day, the ski that worked best for me was the Dynastar Cham 97 in the morning powder, but, by afternoon and skiing the cut up powder, a Kastle lx82 rocked my world.
High Angles said of that week's skiing that it was the best deep powder experience of his life...and he lives in Denver. He stated the Rockies get a lot of small snowfalls, not much depth in any one storm. The powder conditons we experienced changed each day. It was a great learning experience, one that has me rethinking what ski I should bring to Big Sky in late March.
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