SKI Lesson: 3 Levels of CARVING

Hi everyone!

reg

Tom

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DISCLAIMER: CARVING is fun but has its dangers. Ski slowly, watch out for other people on the slope, always use a helmet and a spine protector and be sure your bindings are set up properly.

LEVEL 1: BASICS / BASICS OF CARVING
DRILL #1 (X-Country Double Pole Push)
Take a shoulder wide stance and push yourself forwards across a mildly slanted slope. Much like in cross country skiing. Do this in both directions back and forth for as many times needed. The success of your carving will be written in the tracks you leave behind in the snow.

DRILL #2 (Fishhook’s)
Instead of pushing yourself forwards across the slope, start out more in the fall line. As you do this drill back and forth across the hill, gradually point your skis further and further down in the fall line at the start. Be aware of other people on the same slope as they will not expect you to be turning uphill into on-coming traffic.

DRILL #3 (Arc2Arc / Laying Rail-Road Tracks)
When you are comfortable with ARCING back and forth across the hill, it’s time to start LINKING your FISHHOOKS into properly CARVED turns. We call these turns Arc2Arc as you go from one ARC to another. Start out in the fall line and TIP your skis on edge like you did in the FISH HOOK DRILL but as you come out of your first ARC, instead of continuing across the slope until you stop, ROLL your skis from their UPHILL edges to their DOWNHILL edges. Be sure to ROLL your skis onto their new edges BEFORE you slow down too much as you need to keep your speed up. Repeat these movements in a relaxed and controlled manner turning back and forth across the slope. Congratulations, you are now CARVING Arc2Arc. No skidding, pivoting or drifting. If you look back at your tracks’ they should resemble RAILROAD TRACKS snaking down the hill.

LEVEL 2: INTERMEDIATE / DYNAMIC CARVING
DRILL #4 (The JAVELIN TURN)
While CARVING on a very easy groomer, at the end of a turn, pick your DOWNHILL OUTSIDE SKI up off the snow and place it diagonally over your UPHILL INSIDE SKI so that the tips overlap but no more, TIP it at the same time into the turn while firmly holding it back and pressed against you NEW OUTSIDE ski boot. You want one solid package with both skis close to each other. ANGULATE at the hip and keep your SHOULDER LINE LEVELED. At the end of the turn, place the lifted SKI back onto the snow and repeat the same movements in the other direction.

DRILL #5 (PARALLEL SHINS)
For this next drill you need to ditch your ski poles for a while. Place your inside hand on the outside of your inside knee and apply pressure. The natural reaction of your inside leg muscles will be to resist this force and push your inside knee back in the opposite direction, towards the inside of the turn. This drill will activate the outside abductors of your inside leg and help keep your inside ski engaged and carving. Check out my video on how to rid A-framing for a more in-depth lesson on the topic of PARALLEL SHINS & HOW TO RID A-FRAMING. Link here above.
 
LEVEL 3: ADVANCED / EXPERT SKIING
DRILL #6 (Flexing Through Transition)
For many FLEXING THROUGH THE TRANSITION is counter intuitive as it is the complete opposite from what they are used to. They need to rid the habit of always extending to start a turn. Start out by skiing across the hill in a squatted flexed position with your arms down low. As you start tipping into the turn extend your legs gradually. At the end of the turn, flex back into a low position. A typical mistake in this drill is that you don’t bend from your knees. You need to bend both at the knees and at your waist. When done correctly the result will be surprisingly big edge angles and tight turns.

DRILL #7 (DOUBLE POLE DRAG) (Drill #3 in 14 Essential Drills for Ski-racers)
Another great drill for staying low is CARVING down a moderately steep slope while dragging both of your ski poles in the snow on each side. Grab your ski poles the other way around for proper form. This will teach you many things but fore mostly to stay low through the transition with a LEVELED SHOULDER LINE and keeping all the action in your legs.

DRILL #8 (SHORT TURNS)
In short turns we keep our upper body trawling straight down in the fall line while our legs cross back and forth underneath. Here we need to initiate our turns by ROTATING our femurs to crank our knees back and forth from side to side. This is a great DRILL for activating our KNEES and FEET and creating separation between our upper and lower body. These turns are also commonly referred to as RETRACTION TURNS.

[jetbot]

This is the ONLY video that actually tells you what to do clearly, concisely, and easy to follow detail. This is the kind of instruction you pay for in $200 ski lessons. Bravo!

[jiayilei]

Other carving videos are all show-offs. This is the real tutorial. Thank you!

[richardoballantyne]

Watching this makes me even more exited for the ski season

[mattsmith]

I went skiing for the first time in years, so I downloaded your videos to watch while on the chair lift. It contributed to the best skiing of my life, thank you!

[aloysiusschulte]

I believe that this is one of or maybe the best demo of lessons I have ever seen. Good work and thank.

[ArcFixer]

Hi, Tom. I'm 66 & have been a full time ski bum for 40 years. I only recently discovered that there were ski videos on YT. Talk about late to the party. I'm not much of a subscriber, but I subscribed to your channel. Due in large part because you have the courtesy to respond to folks in the comment section.

I have a story that goes to your comment about skiing too aggressively for conditions. The last day of this season I made a miscalculation with a semi brutal result when I was down & dirty making quick turns as is my habit. I was test driving a pair of 177 Volkyl Deacons from my shop. I had put a 2 degree side edge on them & they were wicked sharp. They skied like a dream all day long in the soft spring snow.

There was a pitch halfway down my last run that wasn't super steep, but it had a nasty sidehill pitch to the left. And it was in the shade, so it was refreezing. I was at full tilt making short turns when I hit the pitch. A little voice told me to slow down, but I didn't. I was on the steepest part of the sidehill when I wrecked. Go figure.

I was coming off a left turn with my legs extended down the sidehill. As my legs passed under me going up the sidehill, there wasn't enough room. The Volkyls hooked up way before I was expecting them to & I got stuffed & launched. My right ski was still hooked up doing its carving thing, but in the wrong direction. My left ski was going generally in the right direction, but several feet in the air. If my right ski had been so sensible, I might have saved it.

Instead, I slid & spun about thirty yards in a cloud of snow with my right ski trapped under my butt. Then I stood up & took a bow. The only thing missing was my right pole & my pride. A little kid brought me my pole & I was on my merry way. But if I had wrecked closer to the trees I might have made the news.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this story to emphasize your point that sometimes you need to reel it in a little.

Thanks for your videos. I know they're hard work.

[eb]

This is the best carving video on the internet.

[alanmlkbanda]

The level of parallelism is astonishing. Never seen such a perfect carving demo. This is definitely where I’ll be learning how to improve my skiing. I’d even love to learn from these guys in person.

[namlam]

Others' comments said it all, this is truly a real ski instructional video. Additionally, filming from behind techniques give better visualizing, feeling, and learning experience. Thank you!

[TalentedDilittante]

YOU ARE A GREAT TEACHER! (That was for the benefit of watchers!) As an expert skier, i wasted a lot of years not knowing what you teach in this first lesson. Wow!. You are soooo right! I know that your pointing out a ski's unstoppable tendency to turn on its own if you let it seems boringly obvious and basic. IT'S NOT BORING.And, it's not obvious That advice is at the heart of everything! Thank you.

[anamalave]

So thankful for this wonderful carving lesson you put together. I'll definitely incorporate these drills on my training days. I finally understood the concept of carving by the end of last season and this will help tremendously.

[camilocarrillo]

I just went to "ski" touring the for first time. First snow of the year, on my own almost alone on the fresh slope I could do anything I wanted. From barely controlling the stand, to failing at the wedge the second try, to somewhat carving turns on my third ride (after going up on rando) and realizing I was driving a speed car with no breaks, wedge doesn't work when going straight down! Im glad I used my climbing ⛑️ that slam was terrifying but I managed to test my limits... I am crazy to go again! This was superb, like there is so much drill to work on and improve it's thrilling and the realization of you going down with such control and confidence on a "moderate slope" when you are almost flying down! Amazing.

[tommylynch]

Thank you for this. I’m trying to teach my friend how to carve and didn’t know how to explain it well. This is a perfect representation and I will use your tips and analogies.

[williammyers]

Thank you for showing the transition on the lower Stance And explaining when to Retract your outside Turning leg Brilliant video brilliant explanation nice and simple and a bit of Dave riding training thank you very much

[JPaul-vulp]

Of the 3-4 video providers watched this season, This is single video may have been my favorite. Especially for late season excercises and practices, that really bring the season into fruition! Really liked the Pivot/ Carve tips for steeps. Thanks look forward to next season.

[chrisroblin]

Thank you for working so hard for all of us ! Really grateful to you :))

[richardelder]

Finally! A coaching video by someone who understands the whole package and can describe, demonstrate, and teach it! Rare, especially from instructors with their roots in the American way of teaching.

[brianrichardson]

Thanks for this excellent video. Good to see Dave Ryding in action. I can do the double pole drag and it puts me in a good, confidence building position. However I can't translate this into an effective short swing. That's my project for this coming season. 69 years old but still want to improve. It is a life long passion.

[jarhead_drew]

I've been working very hard to advance my skiing to new levels. This is one of the best videos I've seen yet! Thanks for the great work!

[icetigeryurio]

This is the only comprehensible carving tutorial I’ve seen. Thanks so much for this video!