How To Carve: An Intro to carving

Carving can be one of the must fun and exhilarating things to do on a pair of skis.  But only about 10% of skiers on the mountain can actually carve a turn, according to a poll of ski instructors by Ski Magazine.  If you're unfamiliar with carving, it's using the sidecut of the ski to leave two clean arcs in the snow.  Better yet, leave a series of connected arcs in the snow, much like the letter 'S'.  Still unsure?  Next time you're riding the chairlift, look down at the trail and see if you can spot some arcs in the snow, or look up some videos of Giant Slalom racers.

Most skis are designed to carve a turn.  They are wider at the tip and tail than at the waist, so if you tip them up on edge a little bit, they inherently want to slice an arc in the snow.  Carving is quite an advanced skill, so you already need to be skiing in a balanced, athletic stance, and be able to direct pressure to the outside ski when making a turn.  It requires the skier to blend just the right amount of each of the fundamentals.

Starting on some beginner level terrain, get a feel for riding the edge of the ski by traversing the slope on a 45* angle.  Tip the ankles into the slope a little bit and the skis should start to create shallow arcs across the slope.  If the tip or tails of the ski are washing out and you are skidding too much, try re-centering your balance over the middle of the ski, and make sure you have slightly more pressure directed to the downhill ski.  The movement must originate inside of the ski boot, and not by leaning the upper body in towards the slope.  Also make sure you are not rotating the legs!  Try this in both directions a few times, and once you feel comfortable, try drawing smiley faces across the slope.  If you start with the skis pointing more down the hill, and tip the ankles more into the slope, the smiley face will be much happier!

Once you are comfortable with this, start with the skis pointing straight down the slope and let the skis glide a few ski lengths.  Slowly roll the ankles to one side to tip the skis up on edge to initiate the turn.  After a couple of seconds, roll the ankles in the other direction, and repeat.  The goal here should be to leave shallow, clean arcs in the snow, like the letter 'S'.  Try to feel as the skis tip from 2 edges, to a flat ski (4 edges), to the other 2 edges.  This is also known as 2-4-2.  As you get comfortable with this, try to ride the edge of the ski longer and make the 'S' wider.

Once you have mastered this, let's take it up a notch!  The knees and ankles only have a few degrees of lateral movement, they are hinge joints that only move fore-aft after all!  Much like ski racers, and the photo above, we need to increase edge angles in order to make a tighter turn, especially on steeper terrain.  Also, the more we can tip the ski on edge, the more it bends, creating a tighter arc.  As you tip the skis from edge to edge, really try to feel the shins engaged inside of the boots in the 10 and 2 o'clock positions.  Allow the inside leg to get shorter, and the pressure build up on the outside leg.  Keeping the hips and shoulders on a level plane relative to the Earth, and keeping the hands out in front, will help with this.  As the confidence builds you'll be able to generate higher edge angles and be ripping down the groomers all day!