Tip #1: Try to be as physically fit as possible. Strong legs and good core strength along with aerobic endurance are important to be able to keep linking high angle turns. On a 1000 ft - 1500 ft vertical run, I personally find I have to stop to catch my breath once or twice when carving aggressively. It's a totally different experience compared with what most skiers get by skidding around from turn to turn. The level of workout is more on par with skiing a mogul run, but is super smooth and zen-like with fun rebound in the transitions. Also, unlike with a mogul run, you can much more easily mellow it out and not ski so aggressively should you choose to do so. I happen to really like the fitness aspect of extreme carving -- I want to feel like I've just had an amazing workout with each run rather than feel like I just took a stroll in the park.
Tip #2: Try to find runs that are neither too steep nor too flat. Too flat will not provide the energy for extreme carving, and too steep will necessitate sliding rather than carving in order to keep your speed under control. A wide intermediate run with a consistent slope is ideal.
Tip #3: Snow quality will limit how extreme of an angle you are able to care. If it is too firm or icy, you will not be able to make as high of a turn angle before sliding out and you will need to ski more conservatively. However if the snow is too soft or slushy, you can find yourself smearing the turns rather than leaving tight rail-road style tracks. If it is too soft or slushy, the skis can get caught up, causing you to get thrown forward and crash. Always consider how snow quality will affect your ability to carve, including how snow quality may change throughout a run and throughout the day.
Tip #4: Initiate turns by rolling the knees into the turn and trusting the sidecut to bring your around. This motion is actually done from the hip, but it is usually more helpful to think of it in terms of knee position. This determines which edges are down and to what degree. Try not to initiate the turn by pivoting the skis, which will result in sliding rather than carving. At the same time, shift your hips to the inside of what will be the next turn. (This takes quite a bit of trust at first, especially when the slope is steeper, since it means making a deliberate movement to shift your center of mass to the downhill side of the skis. At first this is scary because it can feel as if you are about to fall downhill, but the sidecut kicks in and centrifugal force gets you carving into the next turn.)
Tip #5: Try to match the edge angle of your outside ski with the edge angle of your inside ski. The tendency is to have a greater edge angle with the outside ski such that it results in a knock knee’d A-Frame. This is something I’ve had to work on myself. Consider the picture at the top of my website and look where my inside knee is, and also compare the edge angle of my inside ski with that of my outside ski. Now imagine if I had just brought my inside knee laterally out to my right down toward the snow. If I had done so the edge angles of both skis would have been a better match, and I would also have been able to use that inside ski to help carve the turn instead of it doing nothing or just acting as a kind of outrigger (in-rigger) for balance. Since that photo was taken, I’ve greatly improved my technique. (Unfortunately I have not yet been able to arrange for a better photo to be taken.) So be sure to concentrate on bringing your inside knee out and down toward the snow. This will increase your edge angle. Although I tend to think of it in terms of bringing my inside knee out and down, this angle is actually created from the hip.
Tip #6: Control your speed by extending the carve across the hill. On steeper slopes, you may even want to finish each turn heading slightly uphill. Even though the RFC carving skis have a tighter sidecut radius, when using proper carving technique you will find that you are actually spending more time in each turn than usual. If the slope is not wide enough to do so, or if it is just too steep, then you will need to control your speed by sliding rather than carving. (Better that than for your speed to get out of control, or find yourself carving off of the run into the trees! Then try to find a wider and/or less steep slope for carving.
Tip #7: Be extra mindful of your fall-line, the direction your body will end up sliding or tumbling should you happen to lose your edge (which can happen for a variety of reasons, including hitting an icy patch or rough spot). You do not want to find yourself sliding off into the trees or other obstacles. Plan every single turn so that you will always be safe if you lose your edge. Always consider where you will end up going if things go wrong.
Tip #8: Extreme carving tends to involve more time in the turns, and also means your path downhill will need a wider berth than most other styles of skiing. Be extra mindful of this, and do your best to avoid other skiers. It is wise to wait for other skiers to pass by so you will have plenty of room to carve, and not have to pull out of a carve in order to avoid them.)
Tip #9: Extreme carving is best done with a good range of motion in the ankle joint. With a four buckle boot, keeping the second buckle fairly loose (the one slightly above the ankle joint) will allow for more ankle flex. Yet be sure your boot is a good snug fit, providing sufficient foot and ankle stability. You certainly don't want your foot or ankle to be sliding or twisting around inside the boot, or for your foot to be coming out of the boot when flexing forward.
Tip #10: Initiate and maintain each carve by pressuring the tip of the ski. In order to do this, concentrate on creating and maintaining a forward flex at your ankles. Your shins should be somewhat pressed against the front of your ski boots. Also keep your weight centered toward the balls of your feet, never way back on your heels. Remember that you want to put pressure on the very center of the ski. If your are putting pressure way back on your heels, then the point of pressure on the skis will also be way back, resulting in the skis not flexing properly. You want the front of the ski to bend and carve into the turn.
Tip #11: In each carve, try to reach forward with your inside arm.
Tip #12: Separation of upper and lower body (torso and legs). Try to keep your upper body stable and centered, while your legs swing from one side to the other. This is also known as keeping a "quiet upper body."
Tip #13: Angulation between torso and legs. This is a bit hard to describe, but it ties in to tip #10 above. Angulation allows you to create higher edge angles of the skis against the snow, which geometrically means tighter turns as the skis will flex more. Yet it also keeps your center of mass from falling too much into the inside of the turn, which would just cause you to fall over. It also means a quieter upper body, which allows for faster and more energetic transitions in between turns, since it is mainly your legs, not upper body, that will move from side to side.
Tip #14: In each carve, try to weigh the inside ski, not the outside ski. This concept tends to be quite counterintuitive, even to fairly advanced skiers. Skiers are usually taught to weight the ski on the outside of the turn, or perhaps to keep about the same pressure between the outer ski and inner ski. Extreme carving requires placing most of your weight on the inside ski. This can seem very awkward at first. It does take some practice. Sufficiently tight-fitting ski boots are crucial for this technique to be successful. (You don't want to be shifting around in your ski boots.) This weight-on-the-inside-ski technique is one I would not have even thought to try had not a much more advanced carver pointed it out to me. In fact, the graphic on the top of my webpage shows me weighting the outside ski, which was not ideal. (I have not yet had the opportunity to do another on-snow photo shoot to replace that graphic with a better one.)
Tip #15: To improve angulation, your outside leg will need to be made longer than your inside leg. Rather than only thinking to extend your outside leg, concentrate on really retracting your inside leg by bringing your knee up close to your chest. Although this isn’t as intuitive as extending your outside leg, retracting your inside leg much more than you normally would will create much greater edge angles for tighter, more powerful carves.
Tip #16: In improving your carving technique, be patient with yourself. Concentrate on working on just a few of these tips at a time.
Tip #17: Safety First: Address all safety issues first before concentrating on pure carving technique.
Tip #18: Have fun!!
Tip #2: Try to find runs that are neither too steep nor too flat. Too flat will not provide the energy for extreme carving, and too steep will necessitate sliding rather than carving in order to keep your speed under control. A wide intermediate run with a consistent slope is ideal.
Tip #3: Snow quality will limit how extreme of an angle you are able to care. If it is too firm or icy, you will not be able to make as high of a turn angle before sliding out and you will need to ski more conservatively. However if the snow is too soft or slushy, you can find yourself smearing the turns rather than leaving tight rail-road style tracks. If it is too soft or slushy, the skis can get caught up, causing you to get thrown forward and crash. Always consider how snow quality will affect your ability to carve, including how snow quality may change throughout a run and throughout the day.
Tip #4: Initiate turns by rolling the knees into the turn and trusting the sidecut to bring your around. This motion is actually done from the hip, but it is usually more helpful to think of it in terms of knee position. This determines which edges are down and to what degree. Try not to initiate the turn by pivoting the skis, which will result in sliding rather than carving. At the same time, shift your hips to the inside of what will be the next turn. (This takes quite a bit of trust at first, especially when the slope is steeper, since it means making a deliberate movement to shift your center of mass to the downhill side of the skis. At first this is scary because it can feel as if you are about to fall downhill, but the sidecut kicks in and centrifugal force gets you carving into the next turn.)
Tip #5: Try to match the edge angle of your outside ski with the edge angle of your inside ski. The tendency is to have a greater edge angle with the outside ski such that it results in a knock knee’d A-Frame. This is something I’ve had to work on myself. Consider the picture at the top of my website and look where my inside knee is, and also compare the edge angle of my inside ski with that of my outside ski. Now imagine if I had just brought my inside knee laterally out to my right down toward the snow. If I had done so the edge angles of both skis would have been a better match, and I would also have been able to use that inside ski to help carve the turn instead of it doing nothing or just acting as a kind of outrigger (in-rigger) for balance. Since that photo was taken, I’ve greatly improved my technique. (Unfortunately I have not yet been able to arrange for a better photo to be taken.) So be sure to concentrate on bringing your inside knee out and down toward the snow. This will increase your edge angle. Although I tend to think of it in terms of bringing my inside knee out and down, this angle is actually created from the hip.
Tip #6: Control your speed by extending the carve across the hill. On steeper slopes, you may even want to finish each turn heading slightly uphill. Even though the RFC carving skis have a tighter sidecut radius, when using proper carving technique you will find that you are actually spending more time in each turn than usual. If the slope is not wide enough to do so, or if it is just too steep, then you will need to control your speed by sliding rather than carving. (Better that than for your speed to get out of control, or find yourself carving off of the run into the trees! Then try to find a wider and/or less steep slope for carving.
Tip #7: Be extra mindful of your fall-line, the direction your body will end up sliding or tumbling should you happen to lose your edge (which can happen for a variety of reasons, including hitting an icy patch or rough spot). You do not want to find yourself sliding off into the trees or other obstacles. Plan every single turn so that you will always be safe if you lose your edge. Always consider where you will end up going if things go wrong.
Tip #8: Extreme carving tends to involve more time in the turns, and also means your path downhill will need a wider berth than most other styles of skiing. Be extra mindful of this, and do your best to avoid other skiers. It is wise to wait for other skiers to pass by so you will have plenty of room to carve, and not have to pull out of a carve in order to avoid them.)
Tip #9: Extreme carving is best done with a good range of motion in the ankle joint. With a four buckle boot, keeping the second buckle fairly loose (the one slightly above the ankle joint) will allow for more ankle flex. Yet be sure your boot is a good snug fit, providing sufficient foot and ankle stability. You certainly don't want your foot or ankle to be sliding or twisting around inside the boot, or for your foot to be coming out of the boot when flexing forward.
Tip #10: Initiate and maintain each carve by pressuring the tip of the ski. In order to do this, concentrate on creating and maintaining a forward flex at your ankles. Your shins should be somewhat pressed against the front of your ski boots. Also keep your weight centered toward the balls of your feet, never way back on your heels. Remember that you want to put pressure on the very center of the ski. If your are putting pressure way back on your heels, then the point of pressure on the skis will also be way back, resulting in the skis not flexing properly. You want the front of the ski to bend and carve into the turn.
Tip #11: In each carve, try to reach forward with your inside arm.
Tip #12: Separation of upper and lower body (torso and legs). Try to keep your upper body stable and centered, while your legs swing from one side to the other. This is also known as keeping a "quiet upper body."
Tip #13: Angulation between torso and legs. This is a bit hard to describe, but it ties in to tip #10 above. Angulation allows you to create higher edge angles of the skis against the snow, which geometrically means tighter turns as the skis will flex more. Yet it also keeps your center of mass from falling too much into the inside of the turn, which would just cause you to fall over. It also means a quieter upper body, which allows for faster and more energetic transitions in between turns, since it is mainly your legs, not upper body, that will move from side to side.
Tip #14: In each carve, try to weigh the inside ski, not the outside ski. This concept tends to be quite counterintuitive, even to fairly advanced skiers. Skiers are usually taught to weight the ski on the outside of the turn, or perhaps to keep about the same pressure between the outer ski and inner ski. Extreme carving requires placing most of your weight on the inside ski. This can seem very awkward at first. It does take some practice. Sufficiently tight-fitting ski boots are crucial for this technique to be successful. (You don't want to be shifting around in your ski boots.) This weight-on-the-inside-ski technique is one I would not have even thought to try had not a much more advanced carver pointed it out to me. In fact, the graphic on the top of my webpage shows me weighting the outside ski, which was not ideal. (I have not yet had the opportunity to do another on-snow photo shoot to replace that graphic with a better one.)
Tip #15: To improve angulation, your outside leg will need to be made longer than your inside leg. Rather than only thinking to extend your outside leg, concentrate on really retracting your inside leg by bringing your knee up close to your chest. Although this isn’t as intuitive as extending your outside leg, retracting your inside leg much more than you normally would will create much greater edge angles for tighter, more powerful carves.
Tip #16: In improving your carving technique, be patient with yourself. Concentrate on working on just a few of these tips at a time.
Tip #17: Safety First: Address all safety issues first before concentrating on pure carving technique.
Tip #18: Have fun!!