I Purchased CARV

[snoWYmonkey]

@Jilly I am about to test my brand new sensors tomorrow. I have booster straps that go under the front my plastic upper cuff and always wear my boot heater batteries on the medial/inside side of the strap. I am hoping there will be space for the sensors on the outside as the front is covered by the cuff. I started wearing my batteries on the inside over 10 years ago as a sensory feedback tool for stance and relative flexion of each leg. Turns out I must have been prepping for carve sensors...lol. Best of luck.

 

[Jilly]

I guess it is one way to keep my feet apart! Wear the batteries inside. I'll have to see what kind of room I have with the power strap.

Haven't heard when I can ski yet.....

 

[SnowHot]

I recorded today but it is not showing up. I am befuddled and frustrated but damn the snow was good!View attachment 24088

Forget the CARV recording, that snow looks downright giggle inducing!

 

[badger]

@Jilly I am about to test my brand new sensors tomorrow. I have booster straps that go under the front my plastic upper cuff and always wear my boot heater batteries on the medial/inside side of the strap. I am hoping there will be space for the sensors on the outside as the front is covered by the cuff. I started wearing my batteries on the inside over 10 years ago as a sensory feedback tool for stance and relative flexion of each leg. Turns out I must have been prepping for carve sensors...lol. Best of luck.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts!! I also wear my hottronic batteries to the inside of the boot (or attached to my baselayer below the knee if the pant leg is too narrow) and I had no issue placing the CARV sensors onto my Booster Strap on the outside. Had to add the sensors BEFORE I pulled the Booster through the clip, to tighten, otherwise I could not get them onto the strap .

 

[contesstant]

Forget the CARV recording, that snow looks downright giggle inducing!

Targhee snow never disappoints! The visibility at the top leaves a lot to be desired but we stayed near trees as much as possible. I did a lot of laughing and venturing into places I haven't wanted to in the past.

As for CARV--I am perplexed. I score higher off-piste in moguls and chop. But it doesn't always recognize that I am off-piste or skiing off-piste conditions. For example, there is zero grooming done yet off one of the old lifts this season. The sun was out yesterday morning, and we took one look and knew we had to head over there. We still stayed off the area that is normally groomed (not yet this year, though) and were skiing in mid-calf cut up crud. (Beautiful, chalky goodness!) It read that I was skiing groomers. 3 runs on it and not once did it pick up that I was NOT skiing a groomer. I was skiing directly next to what is normally a groomer. We skied a run that is basically never groomed which feeds onto a run that is often groomed, but hasn't yet been groomed this season and it was a big old mogul field. CARV recorded that I was skiing groomed snow. CARV has work to do. I wish we could manually enter "ungroomed snow" for a particular run. Oh, I also score higher on steeper stuff which makes no sense EXCEPT that my stupid stem turn shows up bigly on easier terrain. I've been working on it when it's felt safe to do so, which has been not much this season. Maybe I score better in moguls and chop because I'm not in fear for my life like I am on the groomers and therefore I am more relaxed.

Either way, on the ungroomed snow I scored higher than on the groomed snow. This is big progress for me regardless of what CARV is telling me! I'm off to get my boot alignment dialed in today and am hoping that helps even out the feeling of my turns more which should give a boost on groomer scores.

I did have turn-by-turn score announcements turned on for awhile and it annoyed the crap out of me. "89, 120, 95, 90, 80, 105, 113" and all I could think was holy cow, I really suck and how does a random 120 get tossed in there?! I might set it to just monitor and not look at it but maybe once a week going forward. My husband has finally spent some time coaching me again so I'd rather focus on what he's been working on with me then revisit CARV again later. Right now, it's just causing me frustration because my scores have actually decreased which is not very motivating to the point of having me in tears. And yet the biggest metric it has had me focusing on (transition weight release--aka snow plow or stem turn) has improved from 22% to nearly 60% so what on earth? My overall ski IQ has decreased yet the one metric it targeted for me to work on has improved by 40%?! I don't understand.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@contesstant does carve let you know while you're overall score has gone down? Or is it some Secret algorithm? I guess my only thought would be that if speed is one of the factors then maybe skiing steeper off piste in slow pow means you're going significantly slower and that could affect the score?

 

[badger]

@contesstant : The score announcements. Those are the numbers I am not quite understanding. What do they actually represent?

 

[MissySki]

@contesstant : The score announcements. Those are the numbers I am not quite understanding. What do they actually represent?

The SkiIQ of each individual turn. Which you can also see for each segment if you click/hover on each turn displayed.

 

[contesstant]

@contesstant does carve let you know while you're overall score has gone down? Or is it some Secret algorithm? I guess my only thought would be that if speed is one of the factors then maybe skiing steeper off piste in slow pow means you're going significantly slower and that could affect the score?

Each ski day ends with an overall ski IQ for the day. I have also determined that speed doesn't appear to be a big factor, which is good. I certainly don't ski fast anywhere, but especially in bumps and crud and my scores are higher in bumps and crud.

CARV does seem to push the level 3 instructors I know who are using it to work on G-Force. I think this annoys them. I know my husband gets annoyed with it, since there is so much more to skilled skiing than how much force you are creating. I guess it's called CARV for a reason--it rewards a carved turn. This is all fine and dandy, but misses so many of the other skiing skills that create a well-rounded skier. My husband can lay down railroad tracks as good as anyone on the hill, but doesn't have a ton of opportunities to do so with the crowds these days. I feel like I need to adjust my goals with it, and work on getting higher scores on green groomers. I am hoping I can do a lot more of that skiing at Powder Mountain where I'm not in fear of getting hit the whole time.

 

[MissySki]

@contesstant does carve let you know while you're overall score has gone down? Or is it some Secret algorithm? I guess my only thought would be that if speed is one of the factors then maybe skiing steeper off piste in slow pow means you're going significantly slower and that could affect the score?

If you look at post #200 in this thread, I think Carv is working on having it clearer what metric(s) are being prioritized for you and what to do to improve your score in that regard too. So, I imagine then it would be clearer for us as it's something I've wondered too.

My current high score for a segment is a 137 which I have achieve multiple times now. I'm finding myself in the 130s in general more often now so I feel that also speaks to it with consistency versus one high score. So I think that is a plus/improvement right there. Interestingly, I also found the day I went out on my Stocklis with a flat tail versus other skis with turned up tails that my scores were way more consistently in the 130s and I think that had to do with the turn shape metric which really went up a lot that day on those skis. BUT that one metric shooting up even higher didn't seem to make my highest runs score even higher it just made more of my runs higher overall. Maybe something else went down relative to it. I really want to hit 140 to jump to the next level of "Mountain Master" though lol... I would like it to tell me what I need to do to make that happen! Which thing(s) should I focus on to jump that additional 3 points??? I can go through individual turns in my highly scored runs and see some individual turns in the 150s even...! but why and what was different about that turn than the 140 or 128 or 136 turns in the same segment?? Which metric(s) was I better at on those much higher scored turns?? It would be nice to have some sort of readout of what the key things are to make that next jump in points for someone. Or even a little synopsis for each segment that says of you could have leveled up here if you'd gotten a bit better at X metric etc.

 

[MissySki]

Each ski day ends with an overall ski IQ for the day. I have also determined that speed doesn't appear to be a big factor, which is good. I certainly don't ski fast anywhere, but especially in bumps and crud and my scores are higher in bumps and crud.

CARV does seem to push the level 3 instructors I know who are using it to work on G-Force. I think this annoys them. I know my husband gets annoyed with it, since there is so much more to skilled skiing than how much force you are creating. I guess it's called CARV for a reason--it rewards a carved turn. This is all fine and dandy, but misses so many of the other skiing skills that create a well-rounded skier. My husband can lay down railroad tracks as good as anyone on the hill, but doesn't have a ton of opportunities to do so with the crowds these days. I feel like I need to adjust my goals with it, and work on getting higher scores on green groomers. I am hoping I can do a lot more of that skiing at Powder Mountain where I'm not in fear of getting hit the whole time.

Isn't the score for the day just the highest score you achieved that day though? It doesn't seem to like average it or anything.

I am almost always being pestered about g-force too, if I let it automatically choose for me... which is super annoying especially when I'm not on groomers and it thinks I am!! lol So I tend to take time where I pick the metric I think makes sense to work on for what I'm skiing versus having it randomly pick it.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

G force increases may not be the way some of us want to go. Just watched my buddy double eject while racing GS. His DIN was set to 15 to accomodate those forces and he weighs less than I do. I guess it is a personal choice. While it does indicate higher performance skiing, I am hoping to use the metrics individually and not get too lured in by my own competitive nature.

 

[contesstant]

Isn't the score for the day just the highest score you achieved that day though? It doesn't seem to like average it or anything.

I am almost always being pestered about g-force too, if I let it automatically choose for me... which is super annoying especially when I'm not on groomers and it thinks I am!! lol So I tend to take time where I pick the metric I think makes sense to work on for what I'm skiing versus having it randomly pick it.

I don't know if it's the highest for the day. I know that when I was having turn-by-turn scores announced, it would then create an average for that run. I think the IQ for the day is an average of the IQ for each run that day.

I also would like to know what I could do to get the IQ score higher. I'm kind of at a loss. I do think edge angles play a big role and mine are not great, and I do wish I could see the edge angles for each foot vs. an average of both. I can see that my right ski does not get up on edge as high as my left (hence one reason I'm off to see Mr. Boot Guru later today!)

 

[MissySki]

G force increases may not be the way some of us want to go. Just watched my buddy double eject while racing GS. His DIN was set to 15 to accomodate those forces and he weighs less than I do. I guess it is a personal choice. While it does indicate higher performance skiing, I am hoping to use the metrics individually and not get too lured in by my own competitive nature.

I don’t blame you… I don’t particularly feel I need more g-force myself and I’m sure your is way above mine to begin with haha.

 

[contesstant]

G force increases may not be the way some of us want to go. Just watched my buddy double eject while racing GS. His DIN was set to 15 to accomodate those forces and he weighs less than I do. I guess it is a personal choice. While it does indicate higher performance skiing, I am hoping to use the metrics individually and not get too lured in by my own competitive nature.

ExACTly!

Again, I think in a lot of ways we are all beta testers of the CARV 2 system.

 

[MissySki]

ExACTly!

Again, I think in a lot of ways we are all beta testers of the CARV 2 system.

It DOES look like Carv is aware of this over emphasis on the g-force issue though, and say they will have an update about it next week (per a Facebook post they responded to). They also said they are working on rolling back out functionality like their previous "ski with an Olympian" and say they have escalated the work on a more comprehensive coaching system as well due to community engagement. So, I think/hope if we are patient that it is coming. I do also really like that they seem to listen heavily to their customers and engage so much on the Facebook group to reassure that they are working on the critiques.

Seems they are saying they will have some expectations to share around these issues next week, as of 2 days ago.

 

[contesstant]

It DOES look like Carv is aware of this over emphasis on the g-force issue though, and say they will have an update about it next week (per a Facebook post they responded to). They also said they are working on rolling back out functionality like their previous "ski with an Olympian" and say they have escalated the work on a more comprehensive coaching system as well due to community engagement. So, I think/hope if we are patient that it is coming. I do also really like that they seem to listen heavily to their customers and engage so much on the Facebook group to reassure that they are working on the critiques.

Seems they are saying they will have some expectations to share around these issues next week, as of 2 days ago.

Yes, they are definitely interactive and interested in user's feedback which is great! I am hoping they go back to suggested drills which I believe they offered in the past. I find it difficult to listen to the "tips" while on the lift and honestly have started to drowned them out. I'm still perplexed as to why I improved the metric I was told I needed to improve the most by a pretty big amount, and my total IQ has dropped. Definitely not very motivating (quite the opposite, actually.) I got more out of watching Brenna Kelleher's powder tips that CARV put out than I have from the CARV itself.

I'd still like to be able to designate the terrain I'm skiing (bumps, crud, powder) and receive tips based on that terrain type. It clearly does NOT recognize ungroomed or off-piste if it sees you on what is normally a groomed run.

 

[elemmac]

I would like it to tell me what I need to do to make that happen! Which thing(s) should I focus on to jump that additional 3 points???

Curious on this point...

Isn't the point of Carv to provide instruction on what you can do to ski better, and thus get a better SKiIQ? If you focus on whatever it tells you to do (and you execute), won't that improve your score? Or if it doesn't improve your total score...has one of the other recorded parameters dropped?

 

[MissySki]

Curious on this point...

Isn't the point of Carv to provide instruction on what you can do to ski better, and thus get a better SKiIQ? If you focus on whatever it tells you to do (and you execute), won't that improve your score? Or if it doesn't improve your total score...has one of the other recorded parameters dropped?

The metrics are not weighted equally, so I'd like to know which would give me the most bang for my buck so to speak. Assuming that the more highly weighted metrics are most important.

Also, they are saying there is something in the software that is disproportionally making the recommendation go to improving your g-force metric. I honestly have no clue how to even do that, and the tips have not gotten me to do so as they have been really generic on that one specifically. On my best scored runs my g-force did go up I guess just as a factor of how I was skiing not because I was purposely doing anything for that... but it still wasn't what they want me to do for that metric. That metric seems to be more of an effect of other things versus something you actively work on? At least to me it feels different than turn shape, how similar your ski edges are, making early forward movement, being balanced in the middle of your turn, etc etc etc. Which metrics will give me the most points the quickest if I focus on them? I have no idea.

There was a day I was using my Stocklis, and all of my turn shape scores soared through the roof... I guess the flat tail made me more naturally hang onto the back of my turns more and shape it how they like. Yet my scores didn't seem to jump up from that more than a point. So even though I practically maxed that metric out, I guess since I was already scoring in the range, they wanted me in for it, it didn't make a big difference on my overall score. And from ski to ski I seem to have some fluctuations in certain metrics... like I think I was telling you how my Squire demo bindings that I feel so comfortable and balanced on give me the best mid turn balance scores of any ski I have used with Carv so far. BUT even though I see fluctuations in certain metrics be it from gear and/or conditions etc... I still seem to be scoring in the same range for my high scores for the day and in general on other runs and conditions, so I haven't really yet been able to tell which metrics are the most heavily weighted for scoring. I would love to be able to see the full data for each turn... because I can see like I said when some of my turns are all the way in the 150s on a run, but I cannot see the exact metrics to see how they got there versus my average score for all of the turns in a run getting me to the high 130s. So what is the factor(s) pushing some of those turns so high versus others when I don't feel any big difference happening myself within my turns on a run? I have no idea.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@MissySki you bring up interesting points. I don't want a score, I just want the raw data.