Last Updated26 May 2022

Advanced Carving explores the technical aspects required for more advanced carving techniques and some tasks that can be used to progress riders to a higher level of performance.

Once students are comfortable carving on a variety of blue terrain we can start to advance and adapt their skills for steeper pitches, more varied terrain, higher speeds, increased board performance and to become more creative. Riders should already be exploring use of a high performance stance and a variety of turn types.

All-Terrain & Creative Carving

What, Why, How

Taking advanced angulation techniques into gullies/banks and varying snow conditions, and becoming more creative with carving.

The surge in carving popularity has riders looking for ways to be more creative on groomed terrain, and explore varied terrain like banked slalom courses.

Begin with mellow gullies or bowls that have suitable snow conditions. Experiment with the timing of edge changes, application of edge angle, pressuring movements and use of side-cut. Carving tasks that include the use of flat basing across the fall line can be useful here. Explore the use of larger inclination movements to add power laterally.

Begin to challenge your students with varying snow conditions, bringing awareness to the different turn types exploring both extended-edge-change and flexed-edge-change turns. These should vary regularly to help manage different terrain. Encourage terrain unweighting as the undulations in the snow increase.

Encourage small movements in the ankles and lower legs to help students adjust their edge angle at a moment’s notice. Use follow-the-leader tasks on easier groomed runs, where the leader uses edge wiggles in their turns randomly to throw off the follower, without skidding the board.

Experiment with different ways to create rebound in the board. Pump turns can be used to experiment with rebound on flatter terrain. On more challenging terrain, powerful extensions followed by quick retractions at the edge change will create rebound without raising the COM too much. Small but quick movements towards the tail can achieve a similar result.

Explore the euro carve to help create more lateral power from the upper body whilst remaining flexed in the ankles. Consider using a progression to develop this skill. Focus on building the skill from the board upwards, starting with the ankles and finishing with the shoulders/arms. Contact between the upper body and the snow should be the final addition here and should come from the trailing elbow or shoulder.

Try including freestyle elements to bring more creativity to their riding. Revert carves, where the rider pivots the board 180 degrees underneath the body before re-engaging the same edge into a carve but travelling switch (or vice versa if starting switch), are a great introduction to this.

Movements & Board Performance

Vertical with Pressuring

Range of vertical movement plays a bigger part in all-terrain and creative carving; however, the timing is just as important, if not more. A combination of the different turn types will be necessary to develop these skills. Flexed-edge-change turns allow the rider to quickly lower their COM early in the turn, but require an extension in the control and completion where the pressure is generally greater. Extension-edge-change turns help the rider to balance through the control and completion of the turn yet can lead to vulnerability at the edge change. Retraction and terrain unweighted turns will be used regularly, as both focus on the regulation of pressure relevant to the terrain. Students will require a good flexed-edge-change movement pattern to be able to ride out from euro carves.

Lateral with Edging

Quick lateral adjustments in the lower body are essential to carving in variable snow conditions. Larger lateral inclination with the upper body can be utilised to create power but is only effective with strong lower body angulation. The ability to reduce edge angle is just as important here as the skill of creating it. This can help to avoid toe and/or heel drag during euro carves.

Longitudinal with Pressuring

Quick but strong movements longitudinally are useful for creating rebound, absorbing bumps and adjusting to changes in snow conditions. The COM generally moves between the centre of the board and the back foot, and should rarely come fore.

Rotational

Rotational movements are much the same as high performance carving; however, the ability to quickly separate rotationally in the body and pivot the board is necessary for creative carving.

Terrain & Group Management

Exploring the whole mountain is important here. Terrain should be used to challenge your students, not hold them back. Almost every type of terrain can be utilised in all-terrain carving, snow conditions dependent. Increasing performance to this level can be taxing, so be sure that energy levels are high and look for signs of tiring. When teaching euro carves or any other creative carving skill, snow conditions become much more important. The ability to hold an edge with the COM moving far away from the board is crucial.

Example

Strong muscles and loose joints are the key to carving in variable snow conditions. To help develop awareness of this, use a stationary reciprocal learning task where you pair people up. Have them stand facing each other (boards off generally) and touch hands, palm to palm. Take it in turns for one person to lead by changing how much pressure is created between their palms whilst the other has to regulate the pressure without losing contact. The leader in the pair can choose to push or pull their hands away, but is only allowed to use a small range of movement.

Corrective Teaching

Student extends too quickly through the control or completion of the turn and begins to chatter:

Begin by reducing the vertical range of movement, then reintroducing it to match the turn size/shape and snow condition.

On the heel edge, ensure that extension movements are blended through the knees and hips. Remind your students that the pressure between the calf and highback should remain constant, and that the ankles can be used to create more edge angle, when needed, by pulling the toes up.

On the toe edge, ensure that extension movements are used smoothly, predominantly from the knees, keeping the ankles soft to absorb small bumps and undulations. Remind your students that stability on the toe edge is achieved over the balls of the feet, with flexed ankles. If they extend their ankles they are more likely to create lower leg muscle tension which will not absorb any sudden pressure changes efficiently, resulting in quick loss of balance.

Student struggles to maintain pressure when carving through the bottom of a transition, like a narrow gully:

Review the turn type they are using and decide if it’s appropriate for the terrain.

Check that their body positioning is suitable, with the COM positioned over the edge.

Ensure that the edge change is as early as possible to give more time on the new edge, allowing for effective pressuring.

Focus on building pressure before the quick transition comes and using longitudinal movements where necessary.

Student struggles to make quick adjustments to the variable terrain or snow conditions:

Spend more time riding the same terrain with a detuned performance.

Use tasks to develop their reaction time and quick movements in the ankles and knees.

Student over-flexes through the hips during an attempted euro carve to drag their back hand in the snow:

Don’t allow them to drag their hand in the snow until they can get the trailing knee and/or hip on the snow. Then add the upper body to create more power laterally.

Encourage lots of flex in the ankles and the feeling of stretching the calves.

Focus the student on balancing with their elbow in the snow instead of dragging the hand.

Self Reflection

“Do my students already have some experience riding in the terrain and/or snow conditions before turning up the level of performance?”

“Do I have suitable terrain and conditions to begin exploring creative carving?”

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