I Purchased CARV

[SnowHot]

@MissySki I am also looking for higher edge angles and I think I figured out what’s holding me back

I know what's holding me back.
I'm a big chicken! I'm afraid to tip over.
I know I'm not likely to tip over but there's something between my ears that says..... Don't tip over!

 

[SnowHot]

Here is what my two colleagues who both rank in the top 25 in the world for CARV look like when I see them ski. Not a racing turn but a high level ski demonstration turn aka demo turn. Some parts of the world actually have demo competitions. The US does not.
View attachment 24647

I mean....
While skiing with Marcus Caston, he did that and totally made it work.
If I did that I'll dislocate my hip.
After this move, he said, "mind if I give you a tip?"

Meanwhile, his motto is, "your ego is not your amigo"

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@SnowHot Whoa! I realize that it is just a snapshot but look at how much the tip is flexing on his outside ski relative to the inside ski. Something tells me that it's not actually from engaging the tip but more that at that level of pressure on the ski it does a lot of flexing and unflexing throughout the arc. I also find it very telling that he has quite a bit of aft pressure as he starts to release from his old turn. It makes sense in terms of maintaining speed but I know that for a lot of us that would not be such a great move unless we're able at the start of the new turn to bring all that weight forward again.

 

[SnowHot]

@SnowHot Whoa! I realize that it is just a snapshot but look at how much the tip is flexing on his outside ski relative to the inside ski. Something tells me that it's not actually from engaging the tip but more that at that level of pressure on the ski it does a lot of flexing and unflexing throughout the arc. I also find it very telling that he has quite a bit of aft pressure as he starts to release from his old turn. It makes sense in terms of maintaining speed but I know that for a lot of us that would not be such a great move unless we're able at the start of the new turn to bring all that weight forward again.

Those are snaps from a video I took. Crazy huh!

Also, I believe he was on the Rustlers

 

[snoWYmonkey]

What an infectious smile! Bet that was fun.

 

[MissySki]

Here is what my two colleagues who both rank in the top 25 in the world for CARV look like when I see them ski. Not a racing turn but a high level ski demonstration turn aka demo turn. Some parts of the world actually have demo competitions. The US does not.
View attachment 24647

No arguing that THOSE sorts of turns should be scored incredibly high… wow!

 

[MissySki]

Are you still mostly skiing your Blaze 86? My best scores are by far on the Laser SC. I’m sure better skiers than me can score high skiing any ski- not the case here!

Yeah, that is still my daily driver. I’ve been out on the Stockli Stormrider 85 less, and scored well, but it’s usually icy conditions when I have those out jot ideal snow. I am thinking it might be time to get a more carving focused ski for my quiver next season to play with this more.

 

[SnowHot]

What an infectious smile! Bet that was fun.

So much fun.
While skiing with him and his wife, she ripped some moguls behind him. When she was down, I complimented her smooth she was, which is when I realized she's pregnant. 7 months!
What an incredibly fun couple. That is going to be one lucky kid!

 

[contesstant]

@MissySki Sorry, just now getting to a computer instead of phone.

My guess about some men hitting higher scores with sorta meh turns is, that I bet that they can carve yet may not look particularly clean when they do so from the feet on up, but still hit the individual targets. A woman skier might be making really nice skidded turns, and moving her body perfectly, but not necessarily addressing the metrics in the same way. This is not gender specific by the way. I just see men with high scores that I know, that in my mind's eye don't look like my two colleagues above. Granted they are more in the 140s and 150s not the in the 170s.

I am witnessing this exact thing. Some of the guys I know who are scoring pretty high are...not overall fantastic skiers, at least not from a "PSIA perspective", so to speak. They do some really weird crap with their bodies and arms, some of them. The system definitely has its weaknesses.

So far, the data I gather from CARV as I try different duct tape canting is the best thing it's done for me. Otherwise, I just get mad because I truly am the master of the brushed turn, and the struggle in releasing my right ski absolutely kills my CARV scores. I mute it and gather data a lot more often now. I've also seen that many people game the system by making 8 or 10 "perfect" turns. I'm focusing on the turns I'm getting in the 120s and taking that as a good thing. I tend to score higher after some husband coaching, too. It's funny because he hasn't put much effort into upping his scores. He just wants to ski and not be bothered with it. He'll look at the data then shrug and say "whatever".

 

[Emms]

I joined the Carv group and the feature where you can see who else is skiing today and where is pretty cool!

 

[SnowHot]

I joined the Carv group and the feature where you can see who else is skiing today and where is pretty cool!

It's really fun.

I'm also a part of the SkiTalk Group and the Blister Summit Carv group which also includes people like Marcus Caston and Ted Ligety.
It's quite fun to follow them.

I had CARV on all day yesterday while skiing in 13" of fresh snow which made for some very mixed conditions. I still got a 122 IQ even though I wasn't really able to "carve" in a traditional sense of carving.
I feel okay about 122 in mixed conditions.

 

[SnowHot]

I actually allowed for it to happen once

Yes. I think it was that + allowing my body into the inside of the new turn enough and at the right time, and then really bringing the inside knee up-out. … and then I nearly got bucked out of that ski lol

I've been thinking about the times when I got my higher scores (133 and 135 respectively) and they were both at times when I was on a modest slope (not steep) just chilling and cranking out turns.
When I hit 135, I was actually trying to syncro ski behind Phil on the last run-out to the lift. Wasn't really thinking about my technique or CARV.

 

[MissySki]

Yesterday was another 60 degree day, full on slushy spring skiing. I love the conditions, super fun with lots of bumps that grew quite big with more traffic than I would have expected for the conditions. Unfortunately this snow is apparently NOT conducive to putting up high scores for me though. Even when I was making turns that I felt would have been in at least the low to mid 130s somewhere on some runs yesterday feeling like a hero, I couldn’t get above 125. So I gave up on paying too much attention to the scores and just had fun. Even in these conditions Carv almost never picked up that I wasn’t on smooth groomers… my stats get way closer or in target ranges when I adjust the conditions. I wish they would at least tell you what your score “would be” if they had gotten the conditions correct.

 

[Susan L]

Setting my gender to male on my app didn’t result in higher IQ or metrics, but it did push my target zones slighly higher/larger range than before.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Setting my gender to male on my app didn’t result in higher IQ or metrics, but it did push my target zones slighly higher/larger range than before.

That is actually fascinating. So there is a score goal skew after all.

 

[SnowHot]

Yesterday was another 60 degree day, full on slushy spring skiing. I love the conditions, super fun with lots of bumps that grew quite big with more traffic than I would have expected for the conditions. Unfortunately this snow is apparently NOT conducive to putting up high scores for me though. Even when I was making turns that I felt would have been in at least the low to mid 130s somewhere on some runs yesterday feeling like a hero, I couldn’t get above 125. So I gave up on paying too much attention to the scores and just had fun. Even in these conditions Carv almost never picked up that I wasn’t on smooth groomers… my stats get way closer or in target ranges when I adjust the conditions. I wish they would at least tell you what your score “would be” if they had gotten the conditions correct.

I wish the app score would change if you change the conditiosn on that run.

 

[Trailside Trixie]

All these posts are definitely making me realize it's not for me. I have an obsessive personality so I know i would get obsessed with the numbers and get very hyper focused on the results, etc.. I get how it can be helpful, particularly with clinics as a teaching tool but it definitely isn't something that would be good for my personality.

I have so much training and clinics in my life that when I'm free skiing i just want to free ski. I don't need or want a training device in my ski boots to occupy my thoughts 24/7 which i know it would

This said I get why many love it and I'm certainly not knocking it. Seems like many enjoy this and thats amazing so 1000% to each their own.

 

[SnowHot]

@Trailside Trixie I respect the fact that you know yourself well enough to know if it's not your jam.

I was on the chair with a woman I know really well who asked about CARV and, well.... I flat out told her that it was not the right tool for her.
I know her well enough to know that it would make her crazy and take the fun out of skiing.

We are all unique and have unique jams

 

[Trailside Trixie]

@Trailside Trixie I respect the fact that you know yourself well enough to know if it's not your jam.

I was on the chair with a woman I know really well who asked about CARV and, well.... I flat out told her that it was not the right tool for her.
I know her well enough to know that it would make her crazy and take the fun out of skiing.

We are all unique and have unique jams

Absolutely and I love that it works for so many. I think that's so amazing.

 

[MissySki]

Well, I was wrong… I was able to get up to 132 today in really warm sloppy conditions. I was on my Stocklis instead of the Blazes and I wonder if their dampness helped the scoring since they don’t get deflected and also take out some of the “noise” of the snow conditions. It gives me some hope that there might still be some good score days left afterall, we’ll see!