 Poster: A snowHead
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I think I am a parallel skier - a typically nervous 1 week a year low grade intermediate skier that can get down most reds but often with the odd side skid !!
I don’t think I can carve. I’ve had the odd lesson here and there but then forget it by the following year.
I like to improve my skiing but realistically this will just be to gain confidence and technique and enjoy it more.
We are going skiing in half term and looking at ski hire. I was going to hire intermediate skis thinking I’m not a beginner, but then wondered as I just parallel ski am I better off with beginner skis ?? I think I have always booked them before but now wondering if intermediate would help me ski better (or worse) considering I’m mainly just doing parallel turns and not proper carving.
Ps is there anything wrong with just parallel skiing … why does every site I look at tell you how to improve carving and not parallel!!
Thanks - any thoughts gratefully received. We haven’t skied for 4 years -and only going for 5 1/2 days !!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Intermediate or beginner skis wont make much difference to you tbh. Just tell the hire shop your level and they will make sure you have something appropriate.
No there is nothing wrong with "just" parallel skiing! Carving is fun and makes best use of modern ski design, but it is not at all the be all and end all. And frankly most people who tell me they carve, can't actually. It is one skill/technique amongst hundreds and should not get more attention than all the others especially if you aspire to be an all mountain skier.
Lessons will make a bigger difference to you than anything else. I strongly recommend that you take a whole week of lessons, private is a bit better but group lessons can be lots of fun!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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And frankly most people who tell me they carve, can't actually
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This. Especially people who talk blithely of carving on black pistes! I've done quite a few lessons focussed on carving and don't think I've ever achieved even ONE fully carved turn, let alone a neat transition from one fully carved turn to the next. I once watched an ESF instructor from a chairlift, on a newly pisted slope. Poetry in motion and perfect transitions. Light years away from anything most holiday skiers will ever achieve.
As a learner, I'd agree with @zikomo, that good lessons will do a lot more for your skiing than faffing round with different skis. Lessons are a particularly good idea at half term, as you get lift priority - but all the good options might be booked up by now.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Important thing with skis, when you're learning, is not to have them too long. One instructor sent me to the hire shop to get shorter ones!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Agree with Pam w (!!!) In more recent years carving seems to be pushed as the only technique worth mastering and indeed when it 'clicks' it can make skiing less tiring. However go with whatever makes you smile and if you want to focus on improving then make sure you have a few days in ski school every trip if poss.
I'm not sure I've seen anyone (other than racers) carve properly and consistently on a black run; most 'good' skiers struggle to carve consistently on long steep reds IMO as the speed accumulation even when locked in takes big cohuunas and physical strength to keep it smooth / on edge, let alone if pistes are chopped up / variable.
Controlled short turns are my pref on any steep terrain - the rest of my skiing is generally skarving (skidding / carving / anything else inbetween)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Blue skies are what you need during the day, then at night swap to dark grey cloudy ones
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| zikomo wrote: |
Intermediate or beginner skis wont make much difference to you tbh. Just tell the hire shop your level and they will make sure you have something appropriate.
No there is nothing wrong with "just" parallel skiing! Carving is fun and makes best use of modern ski design, but it is not at all the be all and end all. And frankly most people who tell me they carve, can't actually. It is one skill/technique amongst hundreds and should not get more attention than all the others especially if you aspire to be an all mountain skier.
Lessons will make a bigger difference to you than anything else. I strongly recommend that you take a whole week of lessons, private is a bit better but group lessons can be lots of fun! |
This! Anything else is just noise!
And just to add to the ‘noise’, on a personal level, 1:1 lessons are the way to go.
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most 'good' skiers struggle to carve consistently on long steep reds IMO
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Most "good" skiers struggle to carve consistently on blue slopes IMO. As close video analysis would reveal. Though looking back at your own tracks usually tells the story...... 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I have no desire to carve. I do a carved turn or two when it's pretty flat otherwise its too fast for me
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@holidayloverxx, Carving is only 'too fast' if you're not doing it right. Specifically you should be able to hold the carve long enough so that you're pointing back uphill, so you choose at what speed you're ready to transition to the next turn.
I often do an exercise where we point our skis directly down the hill, on their edges, then let go and do nothing else, keeping the same stance all the way, no rotation, no twisting, no up and down, no nothing. Try it and see.
Ali Ross used to reckon he could carve anywhere and everywhere, but for most mere mortals it's neither achievable nor desirable. In practice most turns, for most people, most of the time, include elements of carving and elements of skidding, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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An instructor I skied with once just kept going and went round 360 degrees. I used to try but never achieved it.
He would also stand in front of us, explaining something, then just jump up and twizzle his skis through 180 degrees with no apparent effort, ready to set off. Show off! I couldn't do that, either. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Doing what @Chaletbeauroc suggests can make a shortish blue run into a much longer one...... no point just dashing straight down, is there?
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Making a trace like an illustration of a "mature" river valley in O level geography, with meanders.
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You know it makes sense.
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I've just been in the Dolomites, it's so exhilarating to practise carving on those wide, perfectly groomed pistes. I just love the feeling of the skis slicing through the snow, even though I'm far from being a speed merchant. I wouldn't even think of carving on a black or steep red run.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Chaletbeauroc,
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an exercise where we point our skis directly down the hill, on their edges
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That doesn't sound easy! Do you mean whack them onto their edges before you start moving? I'm not sure my legs would want to do that (though I guess the fact I use all mountain skis would make it more difficult).
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Chaletbeauroc, i don't like the feeling of the speed at the start of the turn never mind holding it
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Hurtle wrote: |
@Chaletbeauroc,
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an exercise where we point our skis directly down the hill, on their edges
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That doesn't sound easy! Do you mean whack them onto their edges before you start moving? I'm not sure my legs would want to do that (though I guess the fact I use all mountain skis would make it more difficult). |
It is actually very easy - never found a student who couldn't do it once it was demonstrated. You only need a small amount of edge, assuming you're doing it on a suitable, i.e. really wide, piste. It's easier to do than it is to explain in words! Quite a common exercise, not always from a standing start, and oft referred to as a J-turn.
| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @Chaletbeauroc, i don't like the feeling of the speed at the start of the turn never mind holding it |
The beauty of this exercise is that, assuming you're doing it on a suitable, i.e. not too steep, piste, you don't really build up that much speed, as you gently turn uphill at the same time. It's a great confidence booster to get people to accept that by giving zero input through the turn they will simply slow down to a stop, helping alleviate the all-too-common fall-line panic that usually does exactly the opposite of what is wanted.
| pam w wrote: |
| An instructor I skied with once just kept going and went round 360 degrees. |
Yes, it's sometimes possible, but as often as not one needs to add a little roatation towards the end. A good demonstrator might make it seem like it's 100% pure carved, but in practice there's only a very few places where it's achievable.
The 180deg static jump turn is something that every skier should learn, IMO  I recall being reduced to tears with my inability to do so back 25-odd years ago on the Leisse black run in Tignes. Was not having a good day, found a scapegoat in my old skis which I left in a rubbish bin at the bottom of the piste
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sun 14-01-24 14:17; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Specifically you should be able to hold the carve long enough so that you're pointing back uphill, so you choose at what speed you're ready to transition to the next turn |
That was precisely my first ever carving lesson - straight-line to get some speed and then a smooth arc until the tips pointed directly up the slope . . checking behind to see if any tramlines remained
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The 180deg static jump turn is something that every skier should learn, IMO
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Having first learnt to ski in Norway, where we were measured for skis by stretching our arm above our heads, I did acquire a solid version of what the French call a "conversion". Safer, somewhere like Leisse, than jumping. It should be taught still, I reckon, as a basic skill (as should side slipping) and is putsy on diddly modern skis. I was pleased to find I could still do it when I did an "intro to touring" day a few years ago, though we weren't turning through 180 degrees as we tacked up the hill.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Chaletbeauroc, I know the theory of "accept that by giving zero input through the turn they will simply slow down to a stop" and I don't really have fall line panic, I just don't like speed. If I find myself unexpectedly faster than I'd like in the fall line I just turn till I slow right down.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@holidayloverxx, Err, yes, that's exactly what we're doing here 
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@Chaletbeauroc, yes, I know. You suggested that I do that exercise (at least that's how I read it). I don't need to; I don't want to carve, I don't want to ski any faster than I do now. I'm a slow and steady girl
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@holidayloverxx, Sure, I get it, you don't like going fast. You think that carving is by definition skiing fast, so you don't want to do it.
Nothing wrong with that. Except that it's based on a false premise - carving does not have to mean you're skiing fast. The exercise I described (which was not specifically aimed at you) is one that helps people to understand this, and indeed gives them at least a part of the toolset required to carve more slowly.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Chaletbeauroc,
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oft referred to as a J-turn.
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oops, I hope the instructors with whom I have done many of these don't read this and sigh at my lack of comprehension.
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Lots of interesting replies and thoughts and experiences. Interesting the ski hire place has suggested the basic skis saying they are carvers / but perhaps softer ones. So I will go with what they suggest. Looking forward to going now, just hope for no accidents in the busy half terms coinciding with Fasching week !!!
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