Basic Carved Turns

A carved turn is a turn where the board rides on its edge and slices a clean line through the snow instead of skidding sideways. Before you try it on steep terrain, you want to feel what a real carve is on a gentle green or easy blue, where you have time to think and low consequences for mistakes.

The easiest way to understand carving is to compare it to what you already do. In a skidded turn, the board is tipped on edge but it's still drifting sideways through the arc, and it scrapes a wide, smeared track in the snow. In a carved turn, the board follows the curve of its own sidecut, and the only thing touching the snow is the edge. The track behind you is a thin, pencil-width line, not a smeared stripe. Look back after every few turns. Your tracks are the scorecard.

Body position is the whole game at this stage. Stay stacked over the board with your hips centered, not behind you. Tip the board on edge by rolling your ankles and driving your knees, while keeping your chest and shoulders tall and facing down the slope. The move is sometimes called angulation: joints bend inward, upper body stays upright. Avoid the motorcycle lean where your whole body tips toward the inside of the turn. That feels natural but it rolls the board flat and the edge washes out.

Key tips

• Use a gentle, groomed green or easy blue with firm morning snow
• Look behind you after each run. Pencil-thin tracks mean carved, smeared tracks mean skidded
• Tip the board with your ankles and knees, keep your chest tall
• Stay centered over the board. Weight back kills the nose and breaks the carve
• Let each turn finish fully across the slope before starting the next
• Don't force it. If you feel yourself muscling the turn, you're probably skidding