How to Carve on Skis: From Skidded Turns to Clean Edges

In a skidded turn your skis slide sideways and scrape the snow to control your speed. In a carved turn they hardly slide at all: each ski rides on its edge and bends into an arc, and behind you there are just two thin lines in the snow, like railway tracks. Carving feels effortless and fast, and it is what most skiers mean when they say a turn feels clean. If you can already link parallel turns, you are ready to start.

How a carved turn works

Modern skis are narrower in the middle than at the tip and tail. This shape, the sidecut, is what makes carving possible. When you tip a ski onto its edge and press on it, it bends into an arc and turns along that curve by itself. Your job is not to twist the skis round but to tilt them and let them do the turning. The more you tilt them, the tighter the turn.

Where to practise

Choose a wide, quiet, freshly groomed blue run, ideally in the morning when the snow is firm and the piste is empty. Carving makes you faster than skidding, so you need space and a slope you are comfortable on. On busy runs, ski more slowly and save carving for quieter moments: the FIS rules apply at every speed.

1. Railway tracks across the slope

Ski across the slope with your skis hip-width apart. Gently roll both knees and ankles uphill so that the skis tip onto their uphill edges, without turning them. If you are doing it right, the skis start to curve uphill on their own and leave two clean lines. Look back at your tracks: thin lines mean carving, wide smears mean skidding.

2. Tip, do not twist

Now try it on a gentle slope. From a shallow traverse, roll your knees and ankles towards the new turn and wait. Do not push the tails out or rotate your feet. The skis come round slowly in a long arc. These first carved turns will feel big and lazy, and that is fine.

3. Keep your upper body quiet

As the skis tilt, keep your upper body more upright and facing slightly down the hill. Your hips move into the turn, but your shoulders stay level. This bend at the hips lets you tip the skis further without falling into the turn, and it keeps your weight on the outside ski, which does most of the work.

4. Link the turns

At the end of each arc, let the skis come back flat under you for a moment, then roll them onto the new edges. The change from one pair of edges to the other should be smooth, not a jump. Keep a steady rhythm and let each turn finish before you start the next.

Common mistakes

• Twisting the skis: Rotating your feet makes the tails slide out and the turn becomes a skid. Tilt the skis and let them turn.
• Leaning in with the whole body: Banking like a cyclist takes weight off the outside ski, which loses its grip. Bend at the hips and keep your shoulders level.
• Sitting back: With your weight behind your heels, the tips cannot grip at the start of the turn. Shins forward against the boots.
• Skis too close together: Hip-width gives each ski room to tilt. Skis glued together are hard to put on edge.
• Too steep, too soon: On a steep or icy run the skis start skidding again. Go back to an easier slope.

Carving at Erciyes

Erciyes has long cruising runs, ideal for practising carved turns once you feel confident on blues. Our Erciyes ski resort guide describes the pistes and lifts. On our Experienced packages, our leaders ride with you and help with technique, so you can work on your carving with someone watching your tracks.

• Ski technique
• Carving
• Intermediate
• Advanced