Percentage of skiers that can carve a turn... way too small...

[raisingarizona]

But, but. but ..... I like skidding.

I do like high speed buttering through tight spots in smooth soft snow

That windshield wiper thing most skiers do down groomers looks like it sucks but if they are having fun I don’t care.

ive always said that most skiers are having fun but hardly any skiers make it look fun or stylish. It’s just not that easy. This of course depends on where you are skiing. The talent pools get a lot deeper at the Snowbirds, Jacksons and Taos’s.

 

[geepers]

You can tell it even by the noise your ski make, the less noisy your skis are during turn-the less are the chances you are skidding.
That-on hard snow obviously.

Yep, sort of. Only trouble is there's no calibrating noise and amount of skid. And since it's not recorded for posterity it can be argued against.
"My skis were quiet!"

Tracks are there as evidence.

 

[Tony Storaro]

Tracks are there as evidence.

True that.

But as the only person I want to prove my carving ability to is myself, I am good with going by ear. No time to stop every 50 meters and turn back to see how I did.

 

[geepers]

True that.

But as the only person I want to prove my carving ability to is myself, I am good with going by ear. No time to stop every 50 meters and turn back to see how I did.

Only need to do it once or twice. After that the sensation is unmissable.

Just keep it in mind for that ski buddy who insists they are carving but isn't.

 

[slowrider]

Carving? I would put a pretty low percentage on the percentage of skiers who are balanced on their outside ski.

I generally ski weekends, so it’s generally crowded. I could probably rail turns on a blue groomer, but I generally don’t feel like it. Narrow trails, icy conditions, crowded slopes and edge lock turns? No thanks.

There’s tail- push skidding where you might as well have 2x4’s on your feet, but there’s a whole spectrum of turn shapes between that and “edge lock” that still utilize ski design to varying degrees. I can still feel the ski turning me despite the ski drifting slightly through the turn.

My preferred terrain- bumps and trees - is a really bad place to be if you don’t have the full spectrum of turn shapes at your disposal.

This whole discussion strikes me as being the groomer equivalent of “bumps must be skied zipper line World Cup style”.

Unless the skis are tipped on edge you can't utilize the ski design fully.

 

[Fuller]

You can tell it even by the noise your ski make, the less noisy your skis are during turn-the less are the chances you are skidding.
That-on hard snow obviously.

I noticed that this morning, soft carve-able groomers and no sound from my skis! Then I got got coated in rime ice and had to go home to get de-iced.

 

[markojp]

But, but. but ..... I like skidding.

Whenever these threads come up, I want to take folks to the immediate right of the first gas-x pipe at the top of powder bowl. Carve away there, bud!

 

[Goose]

A lot of good posts in this topic imo.

Imo I feel (as mentioned in the thread) most average skiing folks dont care too much anyway. And also as been mentioned in parts,....conditions and ski types and tunes also play a role.

Narrow , crowded , icy runs of the Poconos and or a lot of the east, while also being on skis in need of tuning, and also not being of the shorter radius skinny underfoot carvers all play a role.

The few I see actually performing purer forms of carving are usually also taking up huge portions of the narrow crowded runs, and skiing too fast for the scenario. And that when/while the conditions are there. often is just too icy anyway and with skis and ski tunes that make it difficult. .
Then there is another type who are not really carving but instead doing some downhill version making rails but with little turning.

With so many variables involved I feel (although n o expert on this at all) the skid/carve is very often the correct (if their technically is one) form of skiing for many the scenarios.

Skiing a steep icy groomer its certainly imo a way to control speed and turn radius considering all factors that may be involved. .

 

[Tony S]

Whenever these threads come up, I want to take folks to the immediate right of the first gas-x pipe at the top of powder bowl. Carve away there, bud!

Drift ... Is that one of the new avalanche control things? We need pics of this terrain! (Not because I question your point, but just because it sounds cool. Is this at Crystal?)

 

[Tony S]

But, but. but ..... I like skidding.

"Don't get all bent out of shape; I was just skidding."

 

[KingGrump]

Drift ... Is that one of the new avalanche control things? We need pics of this terrain! (Not because I question your point, but just because it sounds cool. Is this at Crystal?)

Nice terrain there.

You know what I mean by nice.

 

[slowrider]

"Don't get all bent out of shape; I was just skidding."

Dirty little heel pusher

 

[Coach13]

I go back and forth on this. Part of me agrees there aren’t a ton of folks who can carve a turn. But a large part of me also feels like there are just as many who can carve a turn on a groomed run but don’t have the other skills required to ski much more difficult terrain or snow conditions. I guess I’m just not ready to accept that carving is the holy grail of great skiing, party because I don’t find carving a turn on a groomed trail that difficult.

 

[crgildart]

But can they ski switch/bumps/pipe/freeride/tele/etc.. better than you? Different strokes for different folks. The minute we start judging others without skiing a few runs on their boots we become quite obnoxious..

 

[KingGrump]

Carving and skidding are like black and white. Just 2 more shade of gray.

 

[markojp]

Drift ... Is that one of the new avalanche control things? We need pics of this terrain! (Not because I question your point, but just because it sounds cool. Is this at Crystal?)

Yes. Go to crystalmountainresort.com and have a look.

FWIW, I love tipping up a ski and laying down the railroad tracks, but we also have a lot of steep off piste terrain than isn't pencil line carvable, ever. No doubt someone here will say we all suck, or western skiers suck, or whatever... all I can say is they haven't skied here.

 

[Pequenita]

Yes. Go to crystalmountainresort.com and have a look.

FWIW, I love tipping up a ski and laying down the railroad tracks, but we also have a lot of steep off piste terrain than isn't pencil line carvable, ever. No doubt someone here will say we all suck, or western skiers suck, or whatever... all I can say is they haven't skied here.

I’m not sure where I’m supposed to be looking for said photo with the gas-x, but you reminded me that years ago, someone on another ski forum was asking about how to carve down icy chutes, and the collective response was, “Why???”

 

[KingGrump]

Here are several random pics of Powder Bowl off the net.






Crystal is legit. One of my favorite hill in the US. I scheduled three weeks for Crystal last season. Only got two in before the shut down.

 

[markojp]

I’m not sure where I’m supposed to be looking for said photo with the gas-x, but you reminded me that years ago, someone on another ski forum was asking about how to carve down icy chutes, and the collective response was, “Why???”

Sorry about that. The other day there was a nice photo montage on the website homepage when viewed from a computer rather than phone that showed a bunch of the mountain's terrain. There's a bunch of steep drops and entrances at CM. The drop in to the right of the first gas- x pipe came to mind as it was really nice the other day. In KG's last photo, the peak in the background is all hike to inbounds, steep, and on the trail map. Here's a link to that terrain:


Powder bowl to the left of the top gas-x pipe. Noah, the guy skiing, is a really nice kid who's both taught ski school and freeride. His line is pretty quick and much bigger 1:1.



Sorry for the thread drift.

 

[fatbob]

The who cares factor is strong.

I'm in the camp where its probably best if not everyone you see on a groomer is capable of full arc to arc carving because a lot of the time that would be chaos. And yeah count me as someone who isn't that interested in the as fast as possible all the time because I've got enough experience of how fragile the human body is when things go wrong.