To carve or not to carve ....

[ScottishGirlie]

Thanks a lot for your help! I'll give it a try as soon as I can ski again. I know I can learn it its just a matter of time!

Go girl!

It took me a while at first to get going. I had some lessons that really helped. The day that it finally clicked it was fantastic. It does take a little bit of time to adjust, but you'll soon get a real buzz from it!!

 

[missyd]

I went to Grindelwald - First again yesterday just for a 1/2day. I just tried out what I had seen on the video (the other tread here) and it worked!
OK I can't do it with pressure on both skis but having the outside ski in full "carving mode" and the inside with near "no pressure mode" I got the feeling for it. I did my first one legged carved turns.
I noticed the my weight must be a little bit more forward and the knee more bent.
I tried it a few times and then my ACLs started to hurt and I decided to ski and do some more exercies the next time.

 

[skiki]

I would definitely advise a few hours of private lessons to get some assistance with the basics. I started skiing as a kid 25yrs ago and refused to follow any more classes by the age of 10. At 17 I picked up ski school again and I am a dedicated student ever since! I jomped into carving from the moment the first carve ski's came on the market and loved it ever since.

A nice exercise to get a feel for your posture and weight distribution:
First of all you need someone to assist you. Choose a slope you feel comfortable on, a slightly steeper part of a Swiss red would do fine.
You are standing above your assistant and he will hold your poles just above the teller while you have them "upside down" on the handles.
Your assistant then starts to pull gently while you try to keep your position. By increasing the pulling force you will be obliged to use as much of the carves as possible and you will get a good feel of how your body posture needs to be in a turn.

Have fun!

 

[missyd]

Thanks for the info!!! I'll try that out!

 

[mountainxtc]

that's a good one by skiki, it will show you how you have to move your body to deal with some of the forces that build up in a turn. make sure you don't just "adopt the position" and stay there when you're actually skiing though. the forces will change constantly throughout the turn, unlike when you're standing still, and hence you will have to move constantly to handle them.