Carve turn

A carve turn is a skiing term, used to refer to a turning technique in which the ski shifts to one side or the other on its edges. When edged, the sidecut geometry causes the ski to bend into an arc, and the ski naturally follows this arc shape to produce a turning motion. The carve is very efficient and allows the skier to maintain their speed, unlike older techniques like the stem Christie and parallel turns based on stemming which can create significant drag.

Starting a carved turn requires the ski to be rotated onto its edge, which can be accomplished through small movements of the hips and knees. This motion is very easy to apply to both skis at the same time, and carving is a naturally parallel technique. Carving turns are generally much smoother and longer than stemming, and keep the skis along the direction of travel as opposed to angled across it. Both of these reasons means that carved turns require far less effort than stemming for the same given amount of control over the descent.

The technique was not simple to learn before the introduction of "shaped skis" in the 1990s. Since then, it has become common to teach carving as a form of parallel skiing, as opposed to the "classic" parallel technique.

Modern downhill technique is generally a combination of carving and skidding, varying the ratio between the two when rapid control over the turn or speed is required. However, pure carving and pure stemming are used in certain circumstances. Pure carving is a useful technique on slopes of moderate steepness and smooth snow—"groomer carving" is widespread and there are skis dedicated to this style. Likewise, competitive mogul skiing remains an almost pure parallel Christie technique, although the turn initiation is aided by the moguls themselves.

Shaped skis, also called parabolic skis, make carve turns possible at low speeds and with short turn radius. They were first developed in 1988 by Jurij Franko at the Slovenian ski company, Elan. With his colleague Pavel Skofic they organized a project dubbed SideCut Extreme and set out to build prototypes. The experiment proved immediately successful and the Elan factory ski team began winning almost every race they entered. In the US, ski instructors found that students could easily make parallel turns that would otherwise take considerable practice and training. The company put the ski on the market in 1993 as the Elan SCX.

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