'CARVING' Is Another Abused Term

Carving turns, where the tip and tail of the ski take the same razor-edge track, is great when-n-where you can do it. But carving will never slow you down any easier than a runaway truck ramp does--it is better to have brakes when you need them. Good Skidding is your brakes, and even an expert skier needs to start skidding on the steeper parts of an intermediate slope. Witness that the World Cup or Olympic Downhill Race events, often 90mph, are barely done on expert steepness, but mostly on intermediate and even easier steepnesses. And Extreme Skiing is mostly skidded turns, otherwise all extreme skiers would be dead right now.