In this advanced lesson I was skiing in Zermatt with Ethan from the UK, working on improving his carving. He already had the basics — this was about refining the movement to get more grip, more control, and more arc at speed. We worked on three specific things.
Step 1: The inside ski pedal — fire the right muscles
The first thing we worked on was the movement of the inside leg through the turn. Instead of thinking about moving up to start a new turn, I wanted Ethan to think about something more specific: lifting the inside ski like a bike pedal coming up.
Here's how to feel it. Get into a sporty, athletic stance and pull your inside foot up towards you — like you're pedalling and the foot is on its way up. Pull it up as high as you can. You'll feel a group of muscles fire around the top of the leg and hip. Those are exactly the muscles you want firing when you're turning.
The drill: stand in a sporty position. Pull the inside foot up hard towards you — more, more, more. Feel the muscles around the hip and upper leg switch on. That firing sensation is what you're looking for in every turn.
This movement does two things at once. It lifts the inside ski clear so it's not dragging or interfering, and it loads the outside leg — shifting your weight and pressure exactly where you want it. Once Ethan had the feeling of those muscles, we took it onto the snow.
Step 2: Roll and edge the new ski before it points downhill
With the inside pedal movement in place, the next step was the new ski — specifically, when and how to get onto its edge. The sequence I kept coming back to was: roll, edge, centre, ride it round.
Press and stand on the new ski before it turns down the fall line. You're looking to roll the foot and tip the ski onto its edge first — so the ski is already carving as it comes round to point downhill, not skidding through the top of the turn and then trying to grip afterwards.
The cue that clicked for Ethan was to feel the edge engage and then simply ride it around. Don't force the turn with the body — just find the edge, stand on it, and let the ski do the work. That's the carve. You can feel the grip building as the ski bends through the arc.
The sequence: Roll the foot onto the edge → feel it grip → centre your weight over it → ride it all the way around. The ski shapes the turn; your job is to stay on the edge and let it.
Step 3: Drive the ski forward through the arc
The final piece — and the one that takes carving from functional to genuinely powerful — is driving the ski forward through the turn. Once you're on the edge and the inside ski is coming up, the outside leg isn't just a passive platform. You actively arc the ski forward, pushing it through the snow rather than just riding over it.
Think of it as directing the ski forward along the arc it wants to make. Drive it forward, drive it forward, drive it forward. The more actively you push it through, the more the ski bends, the more it grips, and the more speed you can carry. It sounds counterintuitive — going faster feels more in control, not less — but that's what a fully loaded carve does.
By the end of the session Ethan was holding a proper arc at speed with real grip throughout the turn. That's the payoff: so much grip at speed, so much control.
The takeaways
- Pedal up: lift the inside ski like a bike pedal — pull it up hard to fire the muscles around the hip and upper leg. Those are the muscles that drive the turn.
- Edge before the fall line: roll onto the new ski's edge before it points downhill. Roll → edge → centre → ride it round.
- Drive the arc: once on the edge, actively push the outside ski forward through the turn. More drive = more bend = more grip.
- Speed is your friend: a proper carve feels more controlled at higher speed, not less. Don't back off — lean into it.
Great skiing Ethan — by the end the arc was clean, grippy, and fast. That's what advanced carving feels like.
Want to improve your carving in Zermatt?
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