Carving

or lack of it as the case is with me.

I started giving it a go on some blue runs last season, but stacked it pretty bad nearly doing some holiday ending damage to my knee.

I think what happened was I had too much weight on my downhill leg and the other one flapped around a bit, caught the inside edge, and crossed over my other ski, bad news.

Just wondered if anyone had some top tips for self teaching, beginner carvers.

My ski's are Fischer Virion's (2010) and a pair of Head vector 100 boots, if that helps...

I'm no expert but I simply find that relaxing and thinking about your position (ie dynamic), looking ahead not down, and not working the skis too hard works for me. The harder you try, the more uptight you become I find.
I carved down a lovely red in St Moritz, fast and controlled, and watched myself on a mates video and was surprised by how good I looked.
It helped that the piste was empty and I didnt have to worry about anyone else.

But basically relax, assume the position, and keep the upper body as still as possible, whilst assuming a low dynamic position over your feet.

Invest in an hour with a private instructor. Then you can practice by yourself. Right now, you are not helping your learning.

There are lot's of videos on you tube, some very good. The hard part for some skier is not to steer the skis but to let them run. Later on there are steering/rotary/weighting movements, but initially, a quiet neutral body is good. Go to very easy slopes to learn and start with one turn at a time. Allow the turn to continue uphill to kill your speed. Try not to overly lean your body into the turn. This will put too much weight on the inside ski. Just let your legs do the leaning part.

One drill I really like is, on almost flat trails make gentle shallow arcs back and forth. Start each turn by tipping the inside ski, first. As it starts to catch and turn, transfer your weight to the outside ski. Again, don't lean.

I think smaller radius skis with about a 12M radius are best to learn carving on, as this allows for better speed control.

Got to agree with Trencher ...
Easy slope, plenty of space, lean the legs/knees and finish the turn.
Got my niece following me last year on some nice blues and she "got it" in 2 or 3 runs and over the next day or two was able to progress to carving on easier reds.

Again ...
Finish the turn!!

Mind you bandit has a great idea - an hour with an instructor would get you there and could be the less painful option - at least you would know you were carving and not just hacking up the hill

Cheers folks.

I do find myself constantly looking down at my skis, seeing them wobble, then get all up tight because I think they're going to cross...

Will definitely look into an hours tuition this season.

Smokey Barr wrote:Cheers folks.

Will definitely look into an hours tuition this season.

I doubt you will regret it SB
With a clear focus of what you want to achieve and the will to then practice after the lesson an hour can develop your skiing amazingly.

Smokey Barr wrote:Cheers folks.

I do find myself constantly looking down at my skis, seeing them wobble, then get all up tight because I think they're going to cross...

Will definitely look into an hours tuition this season.

Good Decision