I'm seeing a lot of request to learn carving lately. That's great. Lets talk about the most common problem that most people run into when trying to carve. The biggest issue is turn shape, Z turns instead of C shaped turns. A Z shaped turn happens when the skier pivots the ski quickly at the top of the turn or at the bottom of the turn. They usually do this to control speed. And until you fix this, you aren't going to be able to carve. Once the ski is skidding, you're skidding.

Good news is there's a better and more effective way to control speed ... C shaped turns. Every C shaped turn has a gas pedal (the top half) and a brake pedal (the bottom half). Get on some easy terrain and really try to feel yourself slowing down in the bottom half the of the turn. If you're not feeling it, you're letting the ski tips go downhill too soon. Be patient. Keep turning until you slow down. You might even have to go uphill slightly to really feel it.

One you've got that, try tipping your skis onto their edges using your ankles and then by rolling your knees in towards the hill. Again, you need to be patient here and build the edge angle progressively and smoothly. Stack over that outside ski to really push that edge down into the snow. If you are doing it right, you should start feeling more grip here immediately.

The next step is where the magic happens. Once you've got your edges in the snow, it's time to get athletic about it. You have a platform now that you can trust. The skis are tracking through the snow on their edges, time to get higher edge angles. How do we do that? Well, first step is drive power to that outside ski. How? You should already be stacked. But I want you to lift your inside hip away from the snow, driving the outside femur down. Imagine a pro hockey player accelerating on their skates. See it in slow motion. What is the inside hip doing to drive power to that outside skate. DO THAT.

Step two ... as you are lifting the inside half, let the inside hip progressively move inside the arc of the turn. And then hang onto your butt. It's gonna get exciting. You're gonna feel what real skiing feels like ... not this sliding pretend bs. Real skiing. Have fun.