• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Spring skiing blues

mustski

Angel Diva
Absolutely. Skidding, slarving, scarving, smearing and whatever other terms have become au currant, are valuable tools. I know there are skiers who are 100% able to control speed with turn shape alone. That's awesome. I aspire to that for sure. In the meantime, I am thankful that if I need to bleed speed there is smearing in all it's variations!
 

luliski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
https://www.skimag.com/ski-performance/powder-day-what-is-a-smear

A "slarve" is a sliding carve. It incorporates elements of carving and skidding/smearing. You'll also see the term "skarve." As near as I can tell, they mean the same thing.

My instructor said he and his wife (who is also a great instructor) were thinking of writing a book on why skidding is a valuable tool.

On truly steep slopes, unless you're a downhill racer, carving isn't much of an option. Carving generates speed. Skidding / smearing / slarving dumps speed. Again, it's all about intent. When you intend to ski fast, carve. When you intend to dump speed, skid. (I hate the word "skid" because it has negative connotations - if you put your car into a skid, it's not a good thing! - but that's accepted terminology.) My lesson yesterday was all about learning how to apply that skid effectively to produce a nicely rounded, controlled turn.
Thanks, Bounceswoosh. I have heard this term more and more with all the new rockered skis coming out. I learned to ski in the days of long straight skis and stem christies, so I'm feeling a little dated in the terminology department. I think of carving as a way to maintain speed, although if you end up turning uphill in a carve, you will lose speed.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks, Bounceswoosh. I have heard this term more and more with all the new rockered skis coming out. I learned to ski in the days of long straight skis and stem christies, so I'm feeling a little dated in the terminology department. I think of carving as a way to maintain speed, although if you end up turning uphill in a carve, you will lose speed.

That's also true, but I wonder if you are in fact carving uphill when you think you are - or if perhaps there's a bit of a skid.
 

luliski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Absolutely. Skidding, slarving, scarving, smearing and whatever other terms have become au currant, are valuable tools. I know there are skiers who are 100% able to control speed with turn shape alone. That's awesome. I aspire to that for sure. In the meantime, I am thankful that if I need to bleed speed there is smearing in all it's variations!
The concept of controlling speed with turn shape is interesting. Does this mean they spend more time turning across the slope when it's steep and they need to slow down, and make shallower (longer radius) turns when
That's also true, but I wonder if you are in fact carving uphill when you think you are - or if perhaps there's a bit of a skid.
That's also true, but I wonder if you are in fact carving uphill when you think you are - or if perhaps there's a bit of a skid.
 

luliski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The concept of controlling speed with turn shape is interesting. Does this mean they spend more time turning across the slope when it's steep and they need to slow down, and make shallower (longer radius) turns when
That's also true, but I wonder if you are in fact carving uphill when you think you are - or if perhaps there's a bit of a skid.
I don't generally turn uphill, but I think my technique is definitely blended.
 

luliski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This is the theory behind controlling speed with turn shape - using the slope itself and gravity to maintain a constant speed.
Ok, I think I get that. I just recently started reading about skiing. Trying to understand others' descriptions of technique is all new to me.
 

captain_hug99

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Had some spring conditions today, it was nearly 50 degrees out. So first run was ice, I made a wrong turn and had to go down the mountain on a run I am not comfortable with. I made it though!!

After an hour the snow softened up a bit. I hit my fastest speed yet, 26.4mph. Woohoo! Then another hour later we had slop, ugh. I'm hoping the mountain gets some more snow, spots are looking a bit bare.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
Today was the weirdest spring skiing I have ever encountered. The weather predicted a high of 47 and, since we only planned to ski until noon, I wore a light winter jacket with just a t- shirt. I was REALLY cold on the lift rides. I would ride up with hood up and jacket zipped up over my face. Then ski down on spring corn which was quickly turning to slop. I still needed my jacket zipped! It made no sense. It felt like it was 20 degrees colder on the lift and even 10 degrees colder at shoulder height as compared to snow surface. I feel ripped off!
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Definitely skied some good-for-you snow before the good snow today. A few noisy groomers. Then a bump run that probably would have been a lot better if we'd waited one more lift ride. Some partly crappy upper mountain stuff. Then I had the inspiration to suggest a run that could be great - and it was! Two runs of corn bumps on Amen. Unfortunately, by then, my knee was barking. After lunch, I thought I'd ski some more - but I realized my knee would just keep me from skiing well, so I headed down. The snow was *so* glorpy and grabby at the base. I made the right call, even though my husband said that his several post-lunch runs in Horseshoe were really great.
 

EAVL

Certified Ski Diva
Had some spring conditions today, it was nearly 50 degrees out. So first run was ice, I made a wrong turn and had to go down the mountain on a run I am not comfortable with. I made it though!!

After an hour the snow softened up a bit. I hit my fastest speed yet, 26.4mph. Woohoo! Then another hour later we had slop, ugh. I'm hoping the mountain gets some more snow, spots are looking a bit bare.
What mountain were you at? It is Sun morning and snowing hard in Keystone. Report says they got 5". Not much, but better than what has been going on! Not supposed to be super warm today either. My oldest and husband are about to head to Copper. When my youngest wakes up I am hoping to convince her to do some runs here. Yay winter is back!
 

captain_hug99

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
What mountain were you at?

Our home mountain is Monarch. Not big, but just enough for my 13 year old Diva-in-Training and me.

That's great that Copper and Keystone are getting some snow! Looking at the weather forecast it looks like this week will be awesome for snow.
 

EAVL

Certified Ski Diva
Our home mountain is Monarch. Not big, but just enough for my 13 year old Diva-in-Training and me.

That's great that Copper and Keystone are getting some snow! Looking at the weather forecast it looks like this week will be awesome for snow.

I need to get to Monarch sometime. Keystone had some freshies but it turned slushy by lunch time. Wasn't hot though and the sun started hidden most of the afternoon. Not too bad!
 

captain_hug99

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I need to get to Monarch sometime. Keystone had some freshies but it turned slushy by lunch time. Wasn't hot though and the sun started hidden most of the afternoon. Not too bad!
It is no Keystone or Copper by any imagination. I go with my daughter because I know she can go on runs which challenge her and I can go on different runs. Since all runs meet at the lodge, we don't lose each other. Also, no I-70 traffic for us! Lastly, since we are military, a season pass is $199 which gets us 3 days each at Copper, Cooper, Crested Butte, and Loveland.
 

Latest posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
26,237
Messages
497,685
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top