How to Carve like a BOSS 

Another fantastic content ! I’m training ski racing and your videos are always not only entertaining but also very useful. Thank you for sharing !

Great video. Active extension and retraction (push and pull) are valuable skills, especially for quick slalom turns. The trick is to have the push compliment edge angulation, not stifle it. A more relaxed initiation allows the knees and hips to drop inside and the edge angle to improve. There's an interplay between strength and relaxation that the best racers master. At one of Mikaela's recent GS races, the coach called out "Strong and relaxed" as she left the starting gate. She won.

Great explanation of a key difference between race carving and less aggressive recreational skiing. I learned to ski in the 70's when unweighting was used in the turn, but since have transitioned to parabolic skis. I ski recreational, but like to ski fast and keep improving more towards a race style. At times I deliberately keep my body low and stable, and let the legs just move back and forth underneath, but then I fall back on unweighting when I get tired which brings the body up more vertical again. Have never seen a video which specifically addresses this issue. Love all your videos. Thanks!

Like this ,its funny when you has being going these thing for many years and feeling a bit silly now its OK so sometimes your Gut instinct is sometimes right

Killer! I'm not even a racer, i'm just interested in skiing as quickly and cleanly as possible. Your content is inspirational. Thankyou. -ian from VT, USA

Thank you for your work! Best video with explanation of how to carve! I found here all answers to my frustration of how to carve. (Advanced level) Thank you!

I think the key is not to say "going low" instead of "let the legs push up and keep you upper body in position". Imagine a virtual bump. But anyway, this is the key to doing fastest strong twisting short turns.

Great stuff!! It gives me the reminders of what to concentrate on when carving.

I absolutely love your videos! You're just killing it with these lessons!

This is a great video, I especially like the backflip drill (would love to be able to do that). But the first and foremost thing, considering that skiing is a very equipment dependent sport is to buy carving skis/boots. You can only carve so much on a ski that is designed to do the opposite, and seems like many skis today are made for a different style of skiing.

Very well explained and illustrated thank you!

The first time you nail that feels amazing, it's like jumping from wall to wall

Would you do more videos explaining and teaching the flexion transition with the outside leg or extended leg retraction? I really started to understand the new ski racing turn in this video. I would like to see it over and over again. Also, are their more tips and drills to work on for this turn? It reminds me a lot of a mogul turn. Stay flex as you absorb the bump and extend into the trough of the mogul. It helps to actively pull you feet to your chest. I feel, This is much like what you said about pulling the extended or outside leg to your chest and extending into the next turn. I think a real difference is to start and stay in the low extended position. As always a great video.

Quality material as usual :)

Outstanding explanation of Flexing en Floating

Chris sure is a true Boss on skies ;)

excellent explanation! races apart, even if for my 71 years it is a bit tiring position (if i go too deep)... skiing becomes much flowing

Very nice and instructive! Music was awesome too!👍👍👍👍

Hei triggerboy. The progress during the past 2 years were great. Cool and well done. Best regards from Germany

Heck, that position is ‘addictive’! I mean, the sensation. I ski for about 5-6 years, starting around my forties. This year, I put the technics into its full potentials. Well, all terrains seem skiable then, despite my extra care… and I understood why skiers could jump, etc. only after going low. I just ski for a week in a season though. But I like doing things to its optimised form/potentials. It’s like, my efforts are paid off. Cool :)

Great video thank you.. Keep up the good work..

This video (like all technical videos you make) is excellent. Btw I have one question : how can I improve my balance when I do a fast transition between two curves in slalom.? Most of time when I accelerate my speed I almost fall after 3 or 4 stakes .!

When is Chris going to do some drills and trainingsessions on gs skis? I know sl for the fundamentals and to understand how your platform works, but Id love to see him really pushing through some long deep turns. Greetings from Germany!

... I’m a BOSS on my azzz sometimes. Great video!

Great work here! I also liked the hand movement at 0:16 looks like running or ice skating, incredible!

Magnificent progress since he started focusing on down-unweighing for direction change! He's developing into a fine racer. His SMIM (single most important movement) now should be foot-pullback, focusing on getting the BoS under his hips in the high-C of the turn. That should fix any excessive aft-errors. One example that area of movement should be the focus is the one you mentioned on 3.30, where his fore-aft error at release is actually the consequence of being aft also in the edge engagement phase, but since the gradient here is shallower, it's less visible. But, the best indication that he needs stronger foot pullback occurs when the gradient increase, such as on 2.37 where the feet are ahead of his pelvis, where mechanical outside forces therefore pressure a stance ski ahead of his CoM due to the feet/hip misalignment. The consequence, a skidded turn (skis that don't slice the surface cleanly), is not due to lack of tipping, but to lack of dorsiflexion and hamstring contraction in the previous turn, so that he doesn't get the skis back underneath him. For the skis to slice cleanly, the feet need to be under or even slightly behind (when it's really steep, due to how quickly gravity pulls your feet after your skis) your CoM at edge engagement. Flexion of ankle and knees when the skis are light will give him a whole new experience of speed control on steep gradients. If you're disciplined with your inside foot pullback and counteraction during the turn, stance foot pullback is normally enough for the next. Good visual cues that the fore-aft balance is on point in the leveraged parts of the turn: 1) ski tip to snow, ski tail up during the high-C engagement. Requires feet under or behind hips to be skeletally aligned in the sagittal plane for the mechanical outside forces that will act upon the skier. Important: don't get ski tip to snow by plantarflexing the ankle. Dorsiflex ankle, and contract hamstrings to create knee flexion. Crucial for fore-balance in this part. 2) ski tip up at release. Means the stance ski has sliced through the surface and moved forward through the arch. Because of this it's very important to keep the inside hip moving forward through the turn to prevent stance femur rotation and the stance hip following the direction of the ski tips (so that the ski tails hold edge), and it's also very important to keep the inside foot pulled back through the turn so that the weight transfer happens with a stable, dorsiflexed inside ankle with weight distributed between the heel and fifth metatarsal (pinkie toe pad).

Hi, could you tell more about the inside leg? They put some pressure to inside ski?

hahaha...doing it right is very tiring but at the same time I find this an only way to really enjoy the speed and centripetal force :)) btw, great video as always!

Another awesome lesson

Thank you for the incredible content.

I think I enjoyed it more than you did. Thanks for grate explanation!

Excellent video segments and description of movements

Great video. Does it make sense to try that also for a recreational, though advanced, skier?

Hi Tom, thank you for your super videos. Do you currently work as an instructor in Levi or in some other place?

I've applied all of these technique to freeheel skiing! The sweet thing is the ski gets to flex into the arc of the turn with no flat spot! Railroad tracks just like Chris!

Nice, I've tried going low but always ended up falling on my back when I got too enthusiastic on the slope

I'm a racing skier and if I can advice you something it wood be that you must be high with your legs and your hip bone ,and then going down with extended legs exploiting the centrifugal force. if you flex your legs your carve won't be progressive and you won't do speed. An other advice is that your arms and your bust must be more static and you ave to move only the legs and the hip bone

Hi, thanks for your excellent videos, But I have problem with my upper body which remain facing fall-line (like skiing moguls) , which correction drills you suggest? Also in medium carv turn , should upper body be square to turn direction? Thanks a lot Jerry

Great video!!!

Excellent. Thank you

You are making very cool, contemporary ski racing technique videos. Thanks, we coaches need you help bringing our club coaches up to speed. Your running videos of training in Levi every year are awesome. Any chance you could mention the athlete's name? The best distinguish themselves right-a-way most runs. When they all have the same uniforms (and equipment), it sometimes gets confusing. Who are you guys?? Can I contact you directly? Thanks, Crawford Pierce, Ski Club Vail Coach, Vail, Colorado

This video is boss!

I'm watching videos before beginning this season. I'm intermediate level skier. To me it almost ses like he's leaning backward. What is actual weight balance?

Thank u so much, nice working

Nice skiing! I really enjoy your video's. Thanks to those I have been following Chris for a couple of years now. Great to see the improvements. To my taste, however, his upper body is too much bend forward, compared to Hirscher, Pinturault and Adrian Pertl (very talented young guy!) for instance. Therefore he is still somewhat more prone to end up in the backseat. He compensates for that with great retraction movements. But he should be able to retract faster (en thus change edges faster) had he been a little bit more upright with his body. Keep up the great work!

❤love your videos

Good emphasis.

At age 68, these are the best ski videos I have seen. Tiring on the quads, but real carving is so much fun. The physics makes sense and is efficient ie. COM goes downhill in as straight a line as possible while providing the mass in a perfect line with the outside carving ski.

so the key for carving is crossunder and not cross over?

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. That's my carving technique. And the more turns the better.

95% of the viewers must be beginners that try transit from pizza to parallel

Hi Tom. Do you run any ski camps for master racers?

Nice

великолепно!

Hello. I know that this footage is quite old already and that Chris is improving all the time! I think it will be very interesting to compare Chris to Naoki Yuasa. You can search on youtube some incredible slow motion of him! He s got "organic" style very classic very relaxed very efficient.

Хорошо парень забрасывает себя в поворот - всем корпусом и даже руками!

There is no re-alignment along the ski during the turn. At the beginning of the turn you must load the nose of the ski. To do this, put the body forward and spread your arms to the sides. Next, you need to bring your hands in front of you, thereby moving the body back. And at the end of the turn of the arm from the front, the body from the back, the heels are loaded. To begin a new turn, again push your arms to the sides while the body is fed to the front.

Personally I would never teach lifting the inside ski a bit when initiating a turn (which you refer to as flexing) but it’s unfortunately common.

7

With time your scoliosis will help you maintain a low position

Your emphasis on the cross under is a bit vague. Crossing over is just as valid. Situational awareness will determine the faster technique.

Usually the Boss is fat and slow, in my opinion, I write :Haw to ski like a Hard Worker!😅

effective, yes. elegant and inviting? definitely not!

Don’t bend at the waist as much

Looks like he thinks he is sitting on a chair

I don't know what to say about this video . I don't like a single theory that you're talking about your upper body should stay calm and quiet your legs should swing underneath view as a pendulum through your hips to get more power and speed out of the turn you wanna drop your hip into the turn actually trying to throw your hip down the hill , when you really is at the apex your energy should propel you forward into the next turn if you did it right will be in the air mid term. There is exercises to do on the snow to help you learn this. Which apparently you do not know any of these exercises. Ski schools are not setup to make you a great skier. I trained with the us ski team and i was one of the best skiers in united states. I can finish in top 20 of any world cup event. Ski races used to be one in a matter of 1 second through the top 10 skiers now you're talking three-and-a-half seconds to the top 10 skiing has lost its touch and its fluidity and the magic that used to have from having short skis that are too stiff and throw you out of the turn. It's a lot of the reason why skiing is losing tons of scares every year and ski industrious and starting to lose money and ski schools have improper teaching methods to really make you a good skier. Try to impress me by coming over and blind noll . Or jump off the cliff and do a hip check and ski out of it. Try to explain when your skiing a course and you've got sheet ice, tell me what you do when you gotta make the next turn and you can't get an edge set!