Lesson 2: Roll your knees, carve your turn

Look at a modern ski from above and you'll see it's narrower in the middle than at the tip and tail. That curve is called the sidecut, and it's the secret to every carved turn.

Edge it and it turns itself

Lay a ski flat and it runs straight. Tip it onto its edge and the curved edge bites into the snow, so the ski bends into an arc and follows it. The more you tip it, the tighter the arc. That's a carve: the ski cuts a clean line instead of sliding sideways.

How do you tip it? Not by leaning your whole body over (that's how you end up on your hip). Good skiers roll the knees and ankles into the hill while the upper body stays quieter, shoulders level, chest facing down the slope. Instructors call that angulation.

Carving vs skidding

Skidding isn't wrong. Skidded turns control speed, and you need them on steep or icy slopes. But carving is faster and smoother, and it's the feeling every skier chases.

Ask for more turn than your edge angle can hold and the ski lets go and slides out. On grippy snow it lets go sharply; on soft snow it gives way gradually.

How it works in Ski Bums

Push a stick sideways and that ski rolls onto its edge, and the edged ski carves round on its own sidecut. Push the stick forward to press through the boot: the ski bends more, so the arc tightens and the edge grips harder. The body inclines into the turn on its own from the real sideways force, and the arms show it: the inside hand reaches for the snow.

The game is honest about edges. An edge holds until the turn asks more of it than the snow can give, then it breaks loose. Hardpack holds firmly and lets go sharply. Ice barely holds at all unless you're right up on the edge.

Try it

On a gentle groomed run, in the game or for real: make long, lazy turns, tip the skis a little more each time, and feel the moment they stop sliding and start to bite. Then link them: the end of one turn is the start of the next.