Have you noticed in skiing how skiers and instructors have become obsessed with Carving? Who doesn’t like tipping a nicely tuned shape ski on edge, feathering the pressure, getting the skis out from under you and letting them grip and rip?? On groomed slopes it’s a great feeling and physics at the finest.
But why the obsession?
I’ve taught skiing for 40+ years from east coast resorts like Stratton and Stowe, to little short modest vertical spots like Ski Roundtop, Peak n Peak, Afton Alps and Wintergreen, to Northstar, Winter Park and Vail.
The problem I have with carving is there seems to be so much focus on it that a large percentage of skiers are so committed to carving they’ve forgotten all about the multitude of ways to enjoy a whole variety of turns. To me, becoming a really good skier is so much more than learning & perfecting the carved turn.
If you grew up skiing on the east, the old saying is “If you can ski on ice you can ski anything”…well, hogwash. Sure eastern “grip and rippers” can fly on wide western trails with soft snow, but, so many of them in my experience struggle in fresh pow, and even those who can ski freshies fumble in conditions which have become my favorite…l call it Schmutz, otherwise known as junk.
A problem with good skiers focusing on high speed carving is it puts them on the same trails as more timed intermediates. Me? I like to get where the masses aren’t.
To master skiing where “other’s arent’t” requires a number of “arrows in your quiver”, not a single type of turn.
In my teaching high level and upper intermediates, my teaching goals is to expand their horizons. How about the “Right turn, in the right spot, with the ability to adapt to a broad array of terrain – bumps, steeps and junk?
Stayed tuned for my ways to help you to expand your horizons, build more skills and go places where you’ve not yet mastered.
