CARVING is a piece of CAKE

Carving is a piece of cake. Not only is it sweet and delicious but the secret hides in the shape! The shape of the cake! Confused, keep watching and I will explain. Hi, I’m Tom from TDK Skiracing combining ski instruction with race coaching here to help you become a better skier. INTRO The secret to carving can be found in the shape of a peace of cake. Or a pizza slice. Or more precisely in a WEDGE as WEDGING serves as the underlying technique used for all skiing, most significantly CARVING! Let’s take a closer look. When carving, the only thing we need to do is tip our skis on edge and we are turning. The secret lies in the shape of the skis. They are wider at the tip and the tail while narrow at the waist. When tipped on edge they naturally bend into an arc, along which the skis turn. Tipping the skis on edge is done by leaning into the turn. The more you lean, the more the skis tip, the more they bend, the tighter they turn. When wedging, the only thing we need to do is lean out over the outside ski and we are turning. The secret lies in the friction between the ski edges and the snow. By increasing friction on one ski by leaning out over it, we turn in the opposite direction. The shape of the skis has little impact on the outcome of the turn and can easily be done with any type of skis. Combining these two can at first seem contradictive, most notably since we in carving lean into the turn while we in wedging lean away from the turn. However, leaning into the turn when carving is not as simple as just leaning into the turn like a “statue or a candle.” When leaning into the turn we need to ANGULATE at the hip at the same time to maintain a STRONG BALANCED POSITION. You ANGULATE by bending sideways at the hip which brings the following benefits: - it brings your hips into the turn - it shifts your weight out over the outside ski - it increases your edge angles - it lowers your overall position - it improves your balance In other words, CARVING is all about putting the skis on edge by leaning into the turn while ANGULATING at the same time. Now, lets look at WEDGING. See how the outside ski is edged just from standing in a WEDGED POSITION. Also, see how leaning out over our outside ski creates ANGULATION at the hip. The exact same movement we use in CARVING for a strong balanced position. In fact wedging checks all the same boxes: - ANGULATION - OUTSIDE SKI PRESSURE - INCREASED EDGE ANGLES - LOWER POSITION - IMPROVED BALANCE So, in order to CARVE like a PRO you first need to eat CAKE like a KID! And that is exactly how kids learn to CARVE. They progress straight from WEDGING to CARVING. They will over time ski faster and loose the WEDGE and ski PARALLEL. That’s all folks, hope you have enjoyed the lesson. Please subscribe, hit that notification bell and share and give it thumbs up if you found this video worth watching. Also, please leave comment in the commentary section here below. Stay tune for more videos in the future, ski safely and see you out on the slopes.