Turning

How turning affects speed while skiing

When you are skiing, turning is super important. Especially on groomed runs. (Groomed runs are nice flat areas that don't have any bumps on them) All skiers strive to have the ideal turning position while skiing. But mastering turning and having a consistent turning position on each turn takes years to master, and there is always something to work on while you are learning this. While turning, the faster you turn left and right the faster you go to the mountain. But if you are taking your time into the turns, you will go slower down the mountain. Both ways are completely fine, and all depends on the skill of the skier.

So why is it important?

Having the correct stance and technique while turning is important because as the skier, you need to have a good stance so you can ski down the mountain easily. The skier should work on these techniques so they won't develop bad habits of turning while skiing. Just to note, you don't always have to think about the technique and what you are doing right or not, its just about having fun!

Carving vs Wedge turning

To give a better understanding of turning, I will show two different types of turns that you would often see on the mountain. Carving turns, and wedge turns. Carving turns are the ideal turn to strive for when turning, and wedge turns are seen as the turning that all beginners do when first starting to ski. Below I will show what carving and wedge turns look like, and talk about the differences and similarities.

Wedge turns

The wedge turn is a skiing technique where the skier points their skis inward in a way to slow the skier down so they won't go too fast down the mountain. This is what most beginner skiers do to slow themselves down so they won't fall. Once the skier gets more experience, this way of turning is looked down upon and the skier should start putting their skis parallel and pointing them down the mountain. Which is leading us to Carving.

Carving turns

Carving turns is a skiing technique where both skis are parallel guiding the skis along to make a curved path. Carving is extremely hard to master because you need to know when to start switching into the turn, and not cutting off the turn too early. Skidding also occurs if you are not doing it correctly. Skidding is when the skis are tiled on edge and the exposed base of the skis "plow" into the snow head-on. Skidding can be controlled and the turn can still be successfully executed, but it makes you significantly make you lose speed. In some cases skidding is unavoidable, but the key is to cut down to minimize slowing down during the turn. Only World Cup-level skiers can do it consistently without skidding.

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