INCREASING THE EDGE ANGLE OF AN ADVANCED SKIER | A Carving lesson w/ Tom Gellie | Ep.3 TT

If a world-class instructor watched you ski past, what's the one piece of advice they would give to help transform your skiing?

Wonder no longer! We've teamed up with Carv Ambassador and APSI Level 4 instructor Tom Gellie to bring you the third episode of our Technique Teardown series.

In today’s lesson, Tom takes a look at some skiing footage submitted by Charlie. Charlie is an advanced skier who’d like to get some tips for some more aggressive carving, with higher edge angles!
Well, Charlie, you’ve come to the right place.

Tom breaks down 2 key factors holding Charlie’s skiing back currently and recommends 2 actionable tips for you to put into practice on your next skiing day, so if this type of skiing resonates with you then be sure to put these tips into action next time you are carving it up.

The following points are covered in today’s episode:
- The importance of being patient in the first phase of the turn.
- How to build pressure smoothly in the outside ski.
- How to drop lower, for higher edge angles.

As always, please leave a comment if you have any questions about today’s topic and subscribe to stay updated with our most recent content!

What's a Technique Teardown?
Get advice direct from a pro, so you're ready for a breakthrough the next time you're out carving the groomers or tackling the off-piste.
The best bit? The next video could be you.
Upload a video of you skiing for your chance to be featured in the next Technique Teardown.

Follow this link for all the details:

No Carv? No worries. We're looking for skiers with or without Carv, and a range of skiing abilities - so we can help skiers at all levels overcome their barriers.
Find this content valuable, or have any tips? Please leave any feedback about this new style of content in the comments!

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For more how to ski content make sure to check out our other ski improvement videos:
- How to ski in tough terrain:
- How to ski with balance:
- How to ski with flow:
- Carving with early edge angles:
- 4 Advanced skiing mistakes and how to fix them:
- How to increase your edge angle:

Timecodes
0:00 - Introduction to technique teardown series
0:17 - First look at Charlie’s skiing
2:24 - Detailed side by side analysis
5:22 - Lego skier
8:00 - At home exercise
10:12 - Take home tips
11:55 - Submit your own skiing footage for analysis

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[CarvSki]

How do you achieve higher edge angles? Let us know in the comments ⬇️

[cmoneypit]

This was a tremendous help. I watched this last night and applied it to my skiing today. I kept my focus on keeping an athletic stance dropping the pelvis down. It actually made the turns easier and I felt more composed. Thank you Charlie for the video and thank you Tom for the excellent analysis 😁

[McQzv]

This guy is the greatest ski instructor alive

[russelloppenheimer]

Wow, I am skiing exactly like Charlie, all the same mistakes. Its a result of trying to implement what I've heard from ski instructors and skiing videos, but not understanding correctly.

The thing is, I knew I was making mistakes, I knew I wasn't lowering pelvis and not achieving edge angle, but couldn't figure out how to get there. My legs would get so far apart trying to get more edge angle on outside ski. Way more than even Charlie. As you mentioned, rolling outside knee would then be only way to get more edge angle if you don't drop pelvis, and that is exactly what I was resorting to. I knew that was only increasing A frame, but didn't know how to correct it.

What has always been lacking, until I found this channel, is that slowmo breakdown and analysis of what is happening at each point in the turn. That and the explanations of what each move is supposed to accomplish at the ski, and what you should be feeling and imaging as you ski.

I can already tell this is going to allow me to reach a breakthrough. Can't wait to get onto slopes to start putting into practice.

Meanwhile I'll be practing it mentally...

[SortaDopeIGuess]

Thank you. You're one of the best advanced ski instructors ive seen on youtube. You explain the details very eloquently.

[patrickpurcell]

Awesome thanks so much again Tom! Your explanations are fantastic! I think I was doing what Charlie was doing to increase edge angles. I feel that you are the best instructor I have come across on YouTube.

[joemygawd]

Very informative. I too have this problem. Now if I can remember just remember to apply these tips on the mountain. Thanks

[daveeades]

Hi Tom, another awesome video. 5 years retired CSIA L3 CSCF L2.

You and the Carv coaches are a great resource for ideas and tips when Im on the hill. I dont have the eyes of an L4 trainner twice a week any more. Thanks for your great videos.

Awesome analysis and development plan as always. I feel there is a third contributor and the root cause of the skiers actions in the video.

That is the Carv max edge angle tool and skiers like this focusing on maxing their edge angle and going for the biggest number rather than the biggest edge angle aporopriate for the turn, terrain and speed.

I feel his inefficient actions would be less so and his skiing better if he were just skiing down the hill feeling the skis and turns rather than trying to crank up the edge angle number as high as possible.

I would note the angles he was getting in the video then turn the max angle feature off or ignore it and just ski for feel first.

Certainly he has those opportunities for improvement and your plan is excellent but I would take the technology distraction/misdirection out of the process initially.

Id add it later using it to help him find the aporopriate max number for the desired rythmical, consistent grip and balance sensations he is trying to achieve.

In this case I feel he is chasing the biggest angle he can make rather than the biggest appropriate for the situation.

[NeilSnapePhotography]

The differences are subtle yet you precisely found a way to demonstrate ways of improving. Excellent.

[kuanjuliu]

The summary @ 10:12 really helped me this past week on the slopes, in particular that a waffling balance between inside/outside skis is to be avoided at all costs. Consequently, I became far more focused and disciplined with my upper body in relation to the outside ski, and for the first time in my life could predict when my turn was "going to happen".

[joaquing]

Thank you so much for this video. After watching thousand of ski techniques and videos. This one show the best explanation of how to do the angulation in the correct way. Really helpful.

[kevinmurphy]

Your instruction is just soooo clear and excellent - though as with most good things a little more difficult to put into practice

[robertgrant]

Great video Tom, what I miss in the video is a clear view of Charlies tracks. Your tracks are clean with a deeper track on the outside ski but I can not see Charlie's tracks but what I do see should produce clean tracks and the question is: is the outside ski producing a deeper track than the inside ski. Why I question this is I am more or less ski Charlies style and I produce a deeper track on my outside ski than the inside ski. Although my tracks do not show the width that Charlies tracks may show. I am very big on looking at tracks to see how clean the skis are cutting into the snow. If you can put wat we r pipe in that outside track then you are working in the right direction.

[cvn]

This goes directly against much of what I was taught but makes total sense. Was taught to pressure the outside ski and rise up in between the turns. Thx for the big tip on dropping the pelvis. I think that I have always pushed it to the inside, taking the weight in that direction, rather than letting it drop. Gives me something to work on this ski season. Cheers.

[daro]

It's all about the pelvis. On ski and life. Awesome job, i'm working on this and i'm really improving! On my way to IQ 150

[northernguy]

Pushing to add pressure to the downhill ski is tempting for that immediate edge engagement. Unfortunately, it limits the ability to drop the hip into the turn and get that far better edge angle which would allow earlier completion and release of the turn. I heard Mikaela Shiffrin's coach yell "Relax and strong" as she started a race. The relax part allows the hip to drop and the strong part is leveraging and directing the massive ski pressure this builds.

[AtomicB-zqcw]

Nice analysis! I have a slightly different take. Excessive tip lead and A frame are indicative of his lack of use of the inside ski. To use the inside ski, he needs to train his inside ankle to take some of the load but, before he can work on that, he has to learn to balance the entire turn on the outside ski. Without the ability to balance on his outside ski, his attempts at putting some pressure on the inside will result in falling too far to the inside. Also, learning to balance all his pressure over the outside ski will automagically remove his “push” on that outside ski. I love the vertical hip drop idea that only tips the legs but not the upper which produces angulation. That is genius!

[triangles]

This is immensely helpful. Thank you.

[daveeclarke]

Hi Tom, I’ve just got back from a week in France and have tried to do a bit of a ‘lessons learned review’. What you’ve done here is perfectly pick up on my current challenge and you’ve given me a good lesson here to work on… basically I am a ‘Charlie’ wanting to improve! Thanks

[skisunfb]

This is a great analysis and tear down of this particular skier's weaknesses - thank you for sharing! I love your emphasis on not over extending the outside leg and focusing on the proper hip position. My son had a similar stance. I corrected it by pointing out that hip width (rather than shoulder width) was going to allow him to control the inside ski better and by keeping a relationship of about 1/2 a boot length lead, rather than a huge lead like this skier's (he over flexes the outside but and loses shin contact with the inside). To fix the lead I had him tighten the boot cuff (he was also squashing the outside boot way too much - like this kid) and play with both pulling the inside ski back (to keep good shin contact) and actually pushing the outside ski a little more forward (to eliminate the early squash forward). All of the sudden the he was carving with both skis and a much better hip position automatically followed. He stopped using the inside (or uphill) ski as an outrigger and his balance changed so that he could trust moving the hip more to the inside for higher edge angle, as you showed so well in your exercise. His off piste skiing also improved with this hip width stance and a more efficient lead. Thanks again!