I Purchased CARV

[MissySki]

I finally did it! Today I hit my season long goal of 140 SkiIQ moving up to the Mountain Master level! I was so happy, I think I looked like this little emoji on the slope lol. I definitely pumped my fist in the air and said “yes!” Multiple times while by myself and could not wipe the smile off my face. If anyone was watching they must have thought I was very strange.

The new goal for next season will be to work towards the Grim Ripper 150 level… I imagine that will be much tougher to jump up to. Definitely thinking about getting a skinnier carving ski to work with next season, today I was on my Volkl Blaze 86.

 

[MissySki]

Oh and a really funny thing happened yesterday. I was standing watching pond skimming at my mountain, and was near a random guy. We were chatting a bit and making commentary of the people attempting to pond skim in very sticky snow while it was in the 30s for temperature and dumping snow… definitely strange pond skimming conditions! Anyway, eventually he asks if I use the Carv app as I looked familiar. I was like yes I do, and he asks if my name is Melissa, again yes. So he says oh I was looking at the leaderboard earlier and all of the different stats like number of turns skied and mileage skied and vertical feet skied etc and you are the top one or two in every category. I found that so funny as I don’t usually look at the other leaderboards outside of SkiIQ where I am nowhere near the top until filtered to females only. And what are the odds that someone sees a tiny picture and name on the app and ends up randomly chatting with the stranger it belongs to?? I never would think someone would recognize me from that tiny picture, and also he thought I could be the right person after that because of my blue Lange boots and Leki poles . I was like sorry to disappoint… but the boots are just because I have low volume feet and I love my pink Leki poles. I’m NOT a racer and have no background of this sort either haha. And he was like, well you must be doing something right to be at the top of all this stuff… yes indeed, I ski a lot of long days and apparently turn a LOT.

Anyone else have any random meetings like this on the mountain since starting with Carv?

 

[OrDreamer]

Oh and a really funny thing happened yesterday. I was standing watching pond skimming at my mountain, and was near a random guy. We were chatting a bit and making commentary of the people attempting to pond skim in very sticky snow while it was in the 30s for temperature and dumping snow… definitely strange pond skimming conditions! Anyway, eventually he asks if I use the Carv app as I looked familiar. I was like yes I do, and he asks if my name is Melissa, again yes. So he says oh I was looking at the leaderboard earlier and all of the different stats like number of turns skied and mileage skied and vertical feet skied etc and you are the top one or two in every category. I found that so funny as I don’t usually look at the other leaderboards outside of SkiIQ where I am nowhere near the top until filtered to females only. And what are the odds that someone sees a tiny picture and name on the app and ends up randomly chatting with the stranger it belongs to?? I never would think someone would recognize me from that tiny picture, and also he thought I could be the right person after that because of my blue Lange boots and Leki poles . I was like sorry to disappoint… but the boots are just because I have low volume feet and I love my pink Leki poles. I’m NOT a racer and have no background of this sort either haha. And he was like, well you must be doing something right to be at the top of all this stuff… yes indeed, I ski a lot of long days and apparently turn a LOT.

Anyone else have any random meetings like this on the mountain since starting with Carv?

We had a funny story last week
A friend of mine came visit and was snowboarding with us and we got on a lift before him and he was 5 chairs behind and he started talking to the woman next to him and she shooshed him saying she is listening and to wait a minute so he asked are u using Carv? So she was like “ how does a snowboarder know about Carv?” So he asked if she knows Or? Turns out she is one of my ski friends (I didn’t know she planned to ski that day) so he is texting me - I’m 2 minutes from the top , I’m with Lorri, and I was like…wait he doesn’t know Lorri…

 

[SnowHot]

I finally did it! Today I hit my season long goal of 140 SkiIQ moving up to the Mountain Master level! I was so happy, I think I looked like this little emoji on the slope lol. I definitely pumped my fist in the air and said “yes!” Multiple times while by myself and could not wipe the smile off my face. If anyone was watching they must have thought I was very strange.

The new goal for next season will be to work towards the Grim Ripper 150 level… I imagine that will be much tougher to jump up to. Definitely thinking about getting a skinnier carving ski to work with next season, today I was on my Volkl Blaze 86.

Congrats!
I'm so excited for you!

Anyone else have any random meetings like this on the mountain since starting with Carv?

My story is one I relayed earlier in the thread about Phil saying that he scored 158 (or was it 156?) and the guy standing next to us said, "are you Phil? I wanted to meet you. I want to beat you."

 

[MissySki]

Congrats!
I'm so excited for you!

My story is one I relayed earlier in the thread about Phil saying that he scored 158 (or was it 156?) and the guy standing next to us said, "are you Phil? I wanted to meet you. I want to beat you."

Thank you!!

I remember that! I think it would be really fun if Carv were to make the app have more interactive capabilities you could opt into. I would love to connect with more users outside of random chance encounters on the mountain. Though it’s kind of fun when that happens too. I tried posting about it on my mountain’s fan Facebook page that many skiers there seem to use, but only got a few people saying they use Carv out of the over 400 that have this season according to the leaderboard.

 

[OrDreamer]

Thank you!!

I remember that! I think it would be really fun if Carv were to make the app have more interactive capabilities you could opt into. I would love to connect with more users outside of random chance encounters on the mountain. Though it’s kind of fun when that happens too. I tried posting about it on my mountain’s fan Facebook page that many skiers there seem to use, but only got a few people saying they use Carv out of the over 400 that have this season according to the leaderboard.

R u on my girls who carv fb page ? This is what I’m trying to achieve…

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@MissySki I had the same goal and got there on my last day of the season, which was my first one freeskiing with the app. I bumped from 139 to 142, and high 140s could be a goal for next winter. I was not on my narrowest skis, but on my new volkl 82s. Would be fun to try on my stockli 72s.

What was your trend numerically at the start of the season? I was in the mid 130s to 138 all season long but stuck.

It has taken a bit of an I don't care what others think to not go anonymous on the app. After all, as career instructors there is some very real judgement happening from potential students and colleagues.

I don't love how I end up approaching my skiing in order to bump the score to be honest. I will probably not use it while teaching as it brings the scores down and it seems to grade the skier on the last 50 segments. Oh well.



Congrats again!

 

[MissySki]

R u on my girls who carv fb page ? This is what I’m trying to achieve…

I am, and hopeful for more New England ladies to keep joining there!

 

[MissySki]

@MissySki I had the same goal and got there on my last day of the season, which was my first one freeskiing with the app. I bumped from 139 to 142, and high 140s could be a goal for next winter. I was not on my narrowest skis, but on my new volkl 82s. Would be fun to try on my stockli 72s.

What was your trend numerically at the start of the season? I was in the mid 130s to 138 all season long but stuck.

It has taken a bit of an I don't care what others think to not go anonymous on the app. After all, as career instructors there is some very real judgement happening from potential students and colleagues.

I don't love how I end up approaching my skiing in order to bump the score to be honest. I will probably not use it while teaching as it brings the scores down and it seems to grade the skier on the last 50 segments. Oh well.



Congrats again!

I scored my 138 quite early in my use of Carv, and then was usually having a high each day anywhere from low 130s up to 138 throughout the entire season depending on where I skied, conditions, terrain, etc. That was the frustrating thing I think, that you can get stuck at such a small interval for such a long time! But… I guess that also makes sense based on how long it can take to make improvements to parts of my skiing in general. I have always felt like my progress is slowwwwww in anything I have focused on. And I have never really focused on carving before this season pretty much at all, so I have tried to keep that in mind. Though I describe myself as an advanced skier based on how/what I normally ski… I also would now say for carving in particular that I would consider myself just an advanced beginner to intermediate at carving specifically. Because I am much happier working on it on green and flatter blue terrain but I am not at all at a skill level for trying to get anything out of carving on steeper blues or blacks yet… unless a slope is in perfect condition and very grippy to attempt some turns this way haha. And that’s okay, I am excited to now work on this skillset to become a more well rounded skier in the future and look forward to seeing how this may also transform my skiing in other areas. I’ve also found the headspace to be okay with not always wanting to carve. Sometimes I have been working with Carv and found that certain conditions are just not fun to do so… that I have way more fun in say thick deep slushy snow that has gone beyond just soft to utterly mucky wet by surfing in it. That’s okay too, I don’t WANT to carve everywhere just for the heck of it. At first I felt like this was a failure, but that’s not the case when you struggle down a run with one technique and then repeat the same run and have a blast skiing it a different way and feel totally in control/balanced/like a rock star. I had to day, wait, why am I trying to force this so much today?? I want to have and use the turn approach in my diverse toolbox that is the smoothest and most fun for me in each scenario.. not force any certain technique that isn’t as fun for me at a given time. Use what works and have more fun! If something isn’t working switch it up and move on. There’s always next time to try again.

It stinks that there has been a judgement piece to this whole Carv thing for you at your mountain. I can definitely understand there being different pressures and expectations when skiing is your job as well, but wouldn’t have expected colleagues to be making others feel judged in their skiing with it. That’s really uncool… I think that is the one time my starting skiing as an adult plays in my favor… no one has any expectations of my skiing. I’m proud of where I have gotten with my skiing so far, even though I also still have a long way to go for where I’d personally someday like to end up as a skier. I’m trying to enjoy the journey and celebrate the slow progress I find along the way more than giving into the frustrations that also loudly come along with that in my own mind haha. The funny part is even though it frustrates me, it’s one of the things that keeps me hooked to skiing so thoroughly. I like a challenge and I like having goals… activities that are too easy to achieve bore me, and skiing is something I will never conquer so that keeps me hooked at trying to always head in that direction even though it’s pretty futile overall. I like to achieve things and then raise the bar continuously, that really motivates me in most areas of my life actually.

I don’t think you need to worry about the scoring in that manner. While the app picks your worst 3 metrics to work on based on your last 50 segments, it still scores each run individually as Carv confirmed here. I like to track everything, whether or not I’m working with Carv on a given day. It’s cool to look back and see how many turns I’ve made and how many miles I’ve skied, how much vertical, how many hours, etc etc…

 

[snoWYmonkey]

100 agree with everything you said!

Funny that 138 was our initial plateau throughout the season.

At this point I feel like I have enough data to know what to work on and will not wear the devices when I'm teaching since so much of my teaching is either too slow of a speed to carve or to steep of a pitch to carve and occasionally and thankfully too deep to carve.

In terms of judgment I would say that it's not anything mean or intentionally critical. It's more that those of us that have chosen to share our names can now look at one another and notice that some instructors that I would never have expected to be high scores are and vice versa. We often have to find replacement or additional instructors for lessons and this will definitely be a tool and determining if an instructor would be a good fit for someone looking to get better at carving even if they don't have the application themselves. But of course that works in reverse as well. I suspect that that is why very few of my colleagues are choosing to share their scores publicly. Quite honestly, I do think that it's okay to compare and see on the same run where people who skiing I know well have scored and which categories they score high in Etc.

While I personally think that the number one most important aspect of skiing is the joy that one experiences, I also think that as a ski instructor, the visual example that I provide my students does matter a lot. While it is definitely not the only thing that I am getting paid to do, it is especially critical for the visual learners. We often see students that ski exactly like their instructors after being together for a few years. I think it's important to set the bar high for ourselves but to remember to have fun in the process of reaching that goal.

It's definitely more fun to use CARV when I know I have the time and focus required to really work on the metrics. The guys who score extremely high at my resort definitely tweak their skiing to create the high scores. The next time I see them I will have to ask them what they change in their personal skiing when they focus on using carv and getting a high score.

What I was pointing out was more how the last 50 segments are what CARV uses to determine the top 5 averages for reaching the next level in each category under the coaching tab. To me that is helpful as it shiws a trend and if I am just doing super slow skidded turns it may not reflect a more high performance turn and I don't want to skew the data.

 

[Emms]

It felt really, really good after spending the season just slogging away at back to basics stance and balance with the help of Big Picture Skiing to finally see my numbers move in the last few days putting it all together. Managed to get a 133 in pretty slushy spring conditions which feels great up from low 120s for the last few seasons.

But also, I could feel the difference in my skiing. It's just nice to be able to also see it in a metric, yanno?

Might actually have to try my CSIA 2 again next year (I have the teach but didn't get the ski the last time I tried pre-kids in, oh, 2018?)

 

[OrDreamer]

It felt really, really good after spending the season just slogging away at back to basics stance and balance with the help of Big Picture Skiing to finally see my numbers move in the last few days putting it all together. Managed to get a 133 in pretty slushy spring conditions which feels great up from low 120s for the last few seasons.

But also, I could feel the difference in my skiing. It's just nice to be able to also see it in a metric, yanno?

Might actually have to try my CSIA 2 again next year (I have the teach but didn't get the ski the last time I tried pre-kids in, oh, 2018?)

Congrats!!!
I just got a little new record yesterday at my last day of the season so it’s super fun to feel the diff

Come ski with us carv girls if u ever ski in Utah

also join my fb group girls who carv I hope next season other locations can arrange meetups throughout and carv together

 

[SnowHot]

I'm just hanging out in the low 130s.

I'm not done skiing for the season but I'm also not sure how much I'm going to work on things since this is the more "social" time of the year for me.

 

[MissySki]

This is interesting. I have used my new Lange RS four times so far. Compared to my Redsters these boots, while fitting beautifully, feel soft. The plastic even feels soft. I have already moved the buckle bails! I will ski in the Redsters next time ---temps will be the same---to test my preference. Might have to stick with the Atomic boot until it gets cold again ( one of these days ). My hope was that the new Lange boot would be more precise and at this point it surely is not. Oh, and the coating on the boots makes walking anywhere, especially on the snow , a very slippery experience. Roughing up the soles intentionally might help.

@badger curious how things have gone for you with the Langes, were you able to settle into them?

I was able to really improve the fit of them with the Zipfit liners I bought... though it took a bit to break them in and I needed to add some cork and such. I now really like the liners anyway. However, I am now done with this shell... I still hate it and it's been 60 days of skiing them now, so I am unwilling to waste any more time on them. Next season I will start fresh with something else. The flex is just too soft feeling for me; it doesn't give me enough support or precision especially in the rougher technical terrain and bumps that I like to ski.

I was chatting with my bootfitter yesterday, letting him know we need to be thinking of where to go next in the fall because I am done with the Langes. He told me that I am far from the only person who took issues with these boots that he worked with this year and that it's been really frustrating for him as well. Which I can imagine to be true when you think you are putting people in a quality boot with the typical Lange performance, and then they aren't living up to the most basic of expectations. These boots being called a 120 flex is just laughable to me... I know there is no standard for flex, but these are just ridiculously soft. They feel softer than previous Lange 110s I've skied, softer than a Fischer 110 I was in before that, and they also feel soooooooo much softer than the Technica 115s I was in most recently and prior to this pair. It's super strange to me. I legitimately have wondered at times if there was some manufacturing glitch with my specific pair of boots... or maybe a batch of them if others are experiencing the same thing. Did they label some softer boots as 120s??? lol I can somewhat forgive the crappy liner even though it's disappointing when they used to make such great liners that lasted forever... but the flex is another story. They just feel so dumbed down performance wise than the last Lange I was in... and my Technicas absolutely blow these out of the water. Being in the Technicas most recently probably made the differences here stand out even more, they are truly night and day.

Anyway, I was curious how you ended up finding them since you seemed to have the same problem I did.

 

[badger]

@MissySki . Wow. I did not realize how many women have experienced the same issue. To be honest, I used them only four days and switched back to my Redsters. Pretty disappointing since I waited two months to receive my order via the race shop in Killington as they were enroute from France.. I had high expectations for this boot. The soft plastic was shocking. I'm no expert, but this boot , even with my petite size , was a noodle. I am even suspecting that this boot may have been the actual reason I did not get along with my new Monteros.. Because that ski seemed fine early season when I was using the Redsters.

My skiing with the Langes was mid-season after getting them checked for fit in Steamboat. Not that I needed a fit, but I wanted an opinion. Steamboat did not heat mold the Langes either, saying that those boots are better NOT molded. Did you mold yours?
My experience wearing the Lange boots was giving me little control of the Montero skis. I must ski on those again before selling them. Remainder of the season I just stuck with the Nela as it works so well for me.

The other thing I had real problems with was the affect of that slick coating Lange added to the boot. Walking in them was downright dangerous, whether on snow or pavement. If a ski racer believes a coating on their boot will improve their time, then they are dreaming.

 

[MissySki]

@MissySki . Wow. I did not realize how many women have experienced the same issue. To be honest, I used them only four days and switched back to my Redsters. Pretty disappointing since I waited two months to receive my order via the race shop in Killington as they were enroute from France.. I had high expectations for this boot. The soft plastic was shocking. I'm no expert, but this boot , even with my petite size , was a noodle. I am even suspecting that this boot may have been the actual reason I did not get along with my new Monteros.. Because that ski seemed fine early season when I was using the Redsters.

My skiing with the Langes was mid-season after getting them checked for fit in Steamboat. Not that I needed a fit, but I wanted an opinion. Steamboat did not heat mold the Langes either, saying that those boots are better NOT molded. Did you mold yours?
My experience wearing the Lange boots was giving me little control of the Montero skis. I must ski on those again before selling them. Remainder of the season I just stuck with the Nela as it works so well for me.

The other thing I had real problems with was the affect of that slick coating Lange added to the boot. Walking in them was downright dangerous, whether on snow or pavement. If a ski racer believes a coating on their boot will improve their time, then they are dreaming.

Ah I’m sorry to hear you had the same bad experience then! We did not heat mold my shell either… but we never do with any boot because I have spots that are super low volume and my fitter doesn’t want to loosen those areas in general by molding the shell. I agree with your noodle description though, and yeah I’m also not a large person nor an overly aggressive skier. It does make me very curious how many others have experienced this in this boot this season though.

We put aftermarket grippy soles on mine, so at least they were not overly slippery. But I previously had this boot years ago in the 110 flex and that one was extremely slick as well. I slipped and almost fell many times walking in it… which is what prompted me to ask if there was anything we could do about the sole when I got these.

I definitely would try the Monteros with your other boots before giving up on them… I could see how any burlier ski might be difficult to flex when using these Lange noodles.

 

[badger]

If I had even a modicum of photoshop skill, I'd create a box of BARILLA with the Langeboots behind the cellophane window. Before personal computers I used to spend hours cutting and pasting into Architectural Digest adding elements into all the beautiful shots so as to have the viewer do a double-take.
What's a pile of laundry doing on that 10,000k dining table? Stuff like that.

 

[BonStarlet]

I LOVE my CARV2 - it has really helped me to have something (positive) to focus on while skiing, and my new quest to "beat Ted Ligety" has definitely helped to trigger my competitive ire.....though....ways to go, lol! I have really enjoyed the real-time feedback and the metrics (yes, I'm a data nerd...it is a professional hazard).