Pretty big Carv fan here. I wrote an essay on it in the Carv Facebook group and I thought I'd post it here too if people are curious:
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How I went from 80s Ski IQ to 140+ in a year.
Less than a year ago I put on skis for the first time, and after a few days of struggling to do any sort of parallel turn I questioned whether this sport was for me. Today I'm consistently scoring in the 140s and I want to share with you how I did it.
BTW these results are not extraordinary as you'll see many others with better results. I'm just sharing how a pretty average dude in his mid 30s did it, and how you could potentially do it even better.
GEAR
If you spent all that money on a Carv you might also be interested in how your gear can increase your score. It makes a big difference in my experience as my score swings 20-30 points depending on what I'm using.
For skis, I recommend narrow SL turn radius skis. I personally use Stockli Laser SCs. The reason I recommend SL (shorter) radius skis is because when using larger radius GS style skis you have to be going a lot faster to generate those higher edge angles.
In comparison, when I use my Stockli Laser GS skis, my scores are 20 points lower because I'm just not good enough to go fast and carve at the same time yet.
Boots are extremely important as well, my scores went up 10 points when I switched to stiff 130 boots that were well fitted.
Poles make a difference too, but not for everyone. I followed online guides when buying poles and bought 120cm poles because I'm 5ft 8 inches tall. But this larger sizing isn't meant for people with higher edge angles, so my arms and poles would be all over the place. I switched to adjustable poles (Scott Aluguide) at 115cm and my arms didn't feel as trapped from there.
TECHNIQUE
I sometimes struggle because there's so much information out there. If I change one thing, some other thing gets worse. So I try to keep it simple.
I basically focus on two things, then experiment with small adjustments from there based on what Carv tells me.
The first thing I focus on in rolling my feet from side to side. Focusing purely on this helps keep your feet in sync without A-framing and Carv loves it. Once I start trying to push my edge in on my outside foot or doing anything specific with one foot instead of the other, my numbers start to fall. Rolling evenly on both feet is just something simple for me to execute.
The second thing I focus on is getting my inner knee up into my chest. This just makes sure I'm getting high edge angles.
Aside from these two things I try to make small adjustments each run based on my specific Carv feedback.
TERRAIN
The terrain you ride on is extremely important to maximizing your score. Not that maximizing your score is the end goal, but you need to put yourself in the best possible position to improve your carving.
I score in the 140s on the mellowest blue runs. There's a large variety of steepness among blue runs, so I'm specifically talking about the blue runs that are just a hair above green level. Something mellow enough that you can straight line the entire run without extreme fear of death.
I recommend short to mid length blue runs as well. The reason for this is you'll get more feedback from Carv with less noise. Each run gives you a specific tip to improve on, and, experimenting with the changes on a smaller run will give you a better read on the results. Larger runs have too many variables such as bad sections of the run, people getting in your way, etc that will muddy up your perception of the tip.
If you ski Tahoe, the run I prefer is the Timber Creek lift at Kirkwood. It's very mellow.
Finally, make sure to go on days where there are not a lot of people on the run. Even a small number of people on the run can really throw you off your game. I just take days off work when I want to really maximize my score.
SPEED
You don't have to be going fast to get high scores. I'm averaging 20 - 25 mph (per Carv) when I score in the 140s. Maybe you need to go faster to break 150 but this is sufficient for 140s.
TRAINING
I live 4 hours away from snow so it's important for me to improve even when I'm not on the mountain.
Inline skating (rollerblading) was HUGE in improving my scores. My first runs in the new season already beat my records because I was rollerblading a lot.
The movements translate perfectly. You need to be balanced over your skates, weight on outside foot, carving railroad tracks, etc. You can even put your Carv in your skates though I didn't know about this until recently.
I highly recommend using skates with 110mm wheels, which are on the larger side, but help you get and maintain higher speeds so you can actually carve on your skates.
I can't stress how important this part was, it really is extremely similar. Rolling the feet, knee to your chest, etc etc. I've only had 20 actual days on the mountain but since I was practicing so much rollerblading the number is actually a lot more.
FITNESS
I used to squat heavier weight at 5x5 sets/reps but find biking is better instead. High repetitions on the quads plus cardio basically make it a perfect workout for skiing since I find myself after a hard carving run feeling out of breath and tired specifically in my quads.
Anyway, hope this post helps you. Hope we all can hit Grim Ripper in the upcoming seasons!
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Doubt anyone has read up to here but if you have and you're still interested in Carv, I have a $50 coupon you can have if you DM me. I definitely recommend it!