Perfecting Caving Turns in Skiing - Carving 2.0

Although carving is the motivation for many skiers to start or improve their skiing, most don't actually know what characterizes carving turns. The characteristic feature is skiing along the sidecut, with a large edge angle and steep lean, generating extreme centrifugal forces and high dynamics. However, even those who know this definition often struggle with the correct and safe application of this theoretical knowledge.

Carving Demonstration

Carving requires considerable skiing skill and an awareness of one's own limits. Therefore, a beginner skier usually has to spend many hours and days practicing before mastering the perfect carving turn – even off the ski slopes: Controlled carving requires both conditioning and strength training, as well as generally good physical fitness.

What skiing skills require: Anyone wanting to learn to carve must first understand the general principles of skiing. Only those who are confident on the slopes can progress. From the perspective of a ski instructor, as we are with passion, we usually try to teach these basic requirements in the following order:

Middle position for more control

1. Neutral Position: The neutral position is not only crucial for carving, but should always be maintained while skiing, whether skiing straight, braking, parallel skiing, or carving. The neutral position is essential for maintaining balance while skiing. It also allows the body to be ready to move in all directions – forward or backward, downhill or uphill. For this to happen, the body's center of gravity must always be centered over the ski (neither leaning forward nor backward) and the entire sole of the foot must be evenly weighted (the weight should not be resting exclusively on the toes or the heel).

If you don't maintain this position (e.g., leaning back) and aren't ready to move, you can't react to the conditions on the slope, such as small bumps, icy patches, etc. This is dangerous even when skiing slowly, but when carving – where you're traveling much faster and therefore need to react more quickly – it leads to your runs getting out of control. This results in falls or other dangerous situations.

Therefore, one must be able to master the neutral position before starting with the exercises for carving turns.

2. Outside Ski Weighting: While it was often stated in recent years that both skis should be weighted equally, such half-truths should no longer play a role in skiing. Or, as Marcel Hirscher, the most successful skier of all time, so aptly puts it: "The outside ski is the boss."

The outside ski should play a leading role in skiing

As with the neutral stance, this principle applies to all skiing techniques – from snowplow turns to carving. The outside ski takes the lead and dictates the direction. Naturally, the inside ski is always weighted. This provides greater stability for balance reasons and allows for a better reaction to unforeseen situations. For example, it can prevent slipping on an icy patch.

3. Choosing the Right Line: Choosing the right line may not seem particularly difficult at first glance, but it requires a lot of practice and a trained eye. Everyone knows the feeling: when you're skiing behind a pro and choosing their line, turns and carving maneuvers suddenly seem much easier than when skiing alone. Choosing the right line and radius is crucial, primarily because these factors enable smooth and rhythmic carving, which in turn makes speed control easier. Ideally, the chosen line should resemble a giant slalom. A very dangerous, yet frequently observed, technique on slopes is carving across the entire piste – from one edge to the other. This style is usually chosen by less experienced carvers who believe it allows them to regulate their speed. In reality, drifting at the beginning of the turn is far more effective – and it also reduces the risk to other skiers. Finally, it's important to stick to your chosen line and not change it arbitrarily. Unforeseen changes in direction or radius can also pose emergency situations for other slope users.

4. Equipment Besides improving your skiing skills, buying the right equipment is a crucial step towards mastering carving turns. Equipment is constantly being improved and adapted to the needs of skiers: At the beginning of the carving era, skis were predominantly short, heavily sidecut, and "aggressive." These have the disadvantage of being difficult to control. Furthermore, so much force can build up in the ski that it leads to so-called "highsides," which almost everyone has experienced or at least witnessed: At the end of the turn, the skier can no longer control the forces and is thrown from the ski. Today, we therefore recommend longer skis with less sidecut for carving. Due to their length, the forces are distributed and can be more easily controlled, even by less experienced skiers. As a result, these skis are more forgiving of mistakes, and the overall skiing experience is significantly enhanced.

Choosing the right skis can be difficult due to the wide variety of models available. There are carving skis for every need, skiing style, skill level, etc. In addition, many recreational skiers want to choose the brand of the professional they admire. In any case, professional advice is essential to find the skis that suit you. Racers have different needs than skiers who want to cruise down the slopes comfortably but still carve turns. And someone who wants to carve but also enjoys skiing in powder needs yet another type of ski.

Pay attention to your boots. Despite expert advice and the perfect skis, carving turns on the slopes often don't go as planned. This can simply be due to ill-fitting ski boots. It's common for skiers to place far more emphasis on their skis than on other equipment. They're always bought new when a new model is available, often even at the beginning of each season. But if the ski boots don't fit properly and your feet are "swimming around in them," even the best skis can't be properly controlled. Therefore, a perfectly fitting ski boot is at least as important for the perfect carving turn as the right skis. Once you've found a well-fitting boot, you can, of course, wear it for several seasons.

If you're unsure whether your ski boots fit correctly, it's best to have them checked at a specialist shop. Alternatively, you can easily check the fit of your boots at home:

Kaufempfehlung: Bründl Sports in Kaprun

1. The most important question is: Does your foot slide around in the ski boot, or does it fit well? A perfect fit in the heel area is particularly important.

2. Crucial for the carving turn is also the ability to push the knee far enough forward with closed boots so that it is no longer directly above the ankle (knee forward lean). This is more difficult with comfort ski boots, which are designed to be more upright, than with sportier boots that already have a corresponding forward lean.

3. Finally, the numerous adjustment and setting options of the ski boot should also be checked. If these are chosen correctly, they often lead to a significant improvement in fit and position.

In conclusion, it can only be said that carving may seem difficult and theoretical in textbooks, but like any sport, the carving turn can be learned by anyone with enough practice. And once you've mastered the technique and are actually carving down a freshly groomed slope in the sunshine, that feeling is incomparable.