I typically ski and ride 50 or so days a year and ride deep powder easily
on
a 160 cm board. I see very few riders of any merit riding boards over 168
at any weight and super long boards languish in the shops because no-one
wants them.

My experience has been that most longboard fans are hard booters... myself
included. More often that not hardbooters are on something longer than 168.
Many hardbooters use soft boots in powder, and are often on something longer
than 168 - everything from big Customs and Fastbacks to swallowtails to
Tanker 200s.

The hard boot crowd buys a lot of boards direct from the manufacturer (Donek
/ Coiler / Prior / Burton via www.klugriding.com), or online
(www.bomberonline.com, eBay, or from the classified from the various carving
sites). It doesn't surprise me that long boards sit around stores, the big
Burtons, Salomons, and K2s don't seem to have as many fans as boards like
the Rad-Air Tanker, swallowtails, fishtails, and the hardboot-only all
mountain boards like the Donek Axis, Prior 4x4, Coiler All-Mtn... all of
which are rarely if ever found in stores.

In my experience board length makes little difference to turn ability
in the trees, which is just a technique issue.

I respectfully disagree.

Phil - could you explain in more detail?

I routinely ride my Axis 172 in trees, but find myself slowing or stopping
myself all too often. I see others doing riding long boards in trees...
mostly experienced alpine riders... but it's not exactly easy to watch
someone else ride trees without hurting yourself

Mike T