How to Carve Ski Turns

Video Transcript

"In this section I will be teaching you how to carve a ski turn as opposed to switching the ski turn around, and being kind of sloppy going down the mountain. The difference is, instead laying so much pressure on this foot and switching your body around, you are going to put forward pressure on your boot, which is going to allow the inside edge of the ski to work by itself and carve the turn out. When you are shifting feet, what you do is shift weight to the forward pressure of this boot and this will help you carve out this turnout. What you want to keep in mind is putting forward pressure and allowing the ski to work with its actual shape, instead of muscle the ski around like before. The reason for using a carving turn as opposed to a basic no ski turn is it allows you to turn with more speed, be more fluid, and if you are progressing and skiing on steeper more advanced ski runs, this will make you so you are going to make it down more safely. It is definitely something everyone does want to learn as opposed to switching your body sideways, because it is going to make you a better all around skier. This will help you be more in control and as a result have more fun with it. What I will be walking you through now is how to carve a ski turn. This is going to be a little bit more different than the ski turns that you may have previously learned. We are not going to be switching our body around; we are actually letting the skis work with their natural shape. What you want to do is apply forward pressure to the boot; this is going to be your downhill ski. So if we are going to be making a left hill turn, we are going to be applying pressure to the right boot. If we are going to be making a left hill turn, we are going to apply forward pressure to your left boot. Along with this, you want to make sure you are taking off a little pressure off your uphill ski. Now I will be making some turns and walk you through it as I do it. If you notice I am starting off with the proper stance, and I will be applying forward pressure to the left foot, then forward pressure to the right foot. This will be making a smooth turn as opposed to switching my body around. As you can notice, you can see the ski tracks where I went, it is a smooth line there, I am not switching my body around, it will be a lot faster, and a lot more effective way to ski."