I remember when there were only a few hundred people in the world who were privileged to experience the exquisite feeling of carving a pure turn on the face of a mountain. The problem was that it mostly only happened at fairly high speeds and on 210 cm skis and longer - and was, for the most part, attainable only by highly skilled world class athletes. Not to mention the additional problem of finding a safe place to make those fast, long-radius turns. Even the best skiers couldn’t carve a tight turn on a slalom ski.
Carving. To be clear, I’m not talking about the smooth, controlled, three-inch-wide curves left by the stylish ski school director in the snowflake sweater, Ray-Bans, and a headband as he swooshed down the hill in such a perfect and controlled fashion . . . not that there is anything wrong with that . . .
The feeling is completely different with a true carved turn. The aesthetics and the physics meet in a place of pure perfection. You know you are really carving when:
1) You are leaving two (one if you are on a board) thin tracks which - if you look closely - have a corner that matches the shape of the edge of your ski. On real firm snow the tracks might be as thin as those left by an ice skate.
2a) Your skis make virtually no sound, and 2b) there are no high frequency vibrations coming up through your boot soles.
3) You find yourself flying laterally across the fall line, virtually without effort.
4) When the surface is firm and the snow is fast, you need to complete your turns almost back up the hill in order to keep your speed under control.
5) You give up trying to describe it to those who haven’t been there - because it’s not really possible (as evidenced by this post).
The combination of modern ski equipment and slope grooming technology has finally invited millions of snowsports enthusiasts to the carving party. Even an advanced beginner can start to experience the joy of a carve - given a little instruction and the right snow conditions on the right terrain - and this fact became clear to me yesterday while riding up the Mountain Express at Boyne Mountain.
I was riding up with a seasoned citizen - just the two of us - and he made the comment that the snow was better because it had been a little too soft the day before. And from my point of view, he was right - the surface was quite firm, but still very easy to get an edge into. It was late in the day, but it was firm enough that no bumps or piles of snow had formed. I was having a fine time arcing thin lines in the hill. At the time, I didn’t really give a thought to how the conditions might serve his point of view.
Well, a few hours later it hit me - WOW! - what a sea change in this sport. This guy - at 70+ and not outfitted with top-of-the-line anything - must be carving turns to get his giggles! And he knew from experience that that was something that is either much more difficult or entirely impossible if the surface is too soft or inconsistent. Sports evolve - and sometimes the changes sneak up over a number of years and you don’t notice the big picture impact. Well, an unlikely segment (the big middle part) of snowsports enthusiasts seems to have embraced what new technology has offered them. That this indescribable feeling is now attainable by a large percentage of the skiers on the hill is so pleasing to me. Now we’ll be speaking the same language on the lift.
Cary Adgate - BOYNE SnowSports Ambassador
