Carv Ski Coaching

As a former snowboarder, I definitely got a lot out of it the first year I used it. Mainly appreciated getting an automated reminder between runs of the things I hadn’t internalized yet. Way better than looking at old notes from ski lessons.

I don’t pay attention to it if i’m ripping around with a group and jumping off shit. But sometimes it is fun to look at the numbers afterward.

Mainly, I like that it makes groomer skiing more engaging. For example, I’m going on a ski trip with my gf and the snow forecast isn’t great but at least I can look forward to some gamified carving.

I haven’t decided if I’ll renew next year, I got one of their 2 year discount deals around thanksgiving in 2022 and idk if I get the discounted price again or what.

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Originally Posted by fool

Bump. Any updated thoughts on Carv? Clicked on a video of Carv skiing with Ted Ligety and found the data interesting, but not enough to buy it at this point. Plus, watching Ligety ski is always fun. :yourock:

Curious if any mags have updated thoughts on it.

https://youtu.be/qJpvz-9SZcc?si=iPXQMI2OuTSsTmod

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That was very cool to watch.
My biggest takeaway was how much earlier he got off edge compared to the pro instructor.
Years ago pepi Steier told me to finish my turns. And yet Ligety never finishes a turn. He’s already floating into the next one.

Not to mention the ridiculous edge angles. Wow.

PS. Ligety giggedty

I was skeptical, it got good reviews from skiers I trust.

That said, yeah, it doesn't like the playful, drift it if you can handle it off piste stuff, but if you can carve and make the turn shapes it wants, I'm guessing you can get better at all those other types of turns.

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Originally Posted by grskier

That said, yeah, it doesn't like the playful, drift it if you can handle it off piste stuff, but if you can carve and make the turn shapes it wants, I'm guessing you can get better at all those other types of turns.

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I found that it doesn't care that much about "pure carving". It cares about high edge angle and a rounded turn shape (and a few other factors), and although all these are kind of blending together to some extend, it didn't seem to care about drifted turn initiation on steeper slopes. This is actually when I get my highest scores...

https://getcarv.com/blog/introducing-carv-2

They've moved away from the pressure sensors in favor of a six axis motion sensor while reducing initial adoption cost.

I'm skeptical but if their claims hold true, it is an interesting development.

Hmm, also skeptical.

How much useful information can you really obtain from the boot cuff when a lot of important fine control happens below there?

But maybe that's just an indication of the actual quality of Carv feedback? Was the footbed pressure just a bunch of false precision that didn't drive useful feedback?

Or is it an indication of their customer base...mostly not skiing at a level where it matters and they just want the "ooh you leaned your skis over and flexed your boot real good bro" feedback?

But I'd still love to test it out someday and not having to fit it into your footbed makes it much easier to just borrow a setup for a day.

Charitably, they might have enough raw data to correlate the cuff input to base-of-foot actions more accurately than the insole method could measure given how varied boot-fit actually is.

Roughly speaking, this method seems to be looking at results and predicting user input while v1 took (theoretically flawed) user-input data and predicting results, if that makes sense.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=seR_hWqj7wgSome more info

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=seR_hWqj7wg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6MjfnuPRY8

more talk about the new product

now that it's clip and go i'm curious how/if they handle sharing amongst households

gonna listen through these 2 videos and potentially pick up a pair!

I picked up a pair for this season to give them a test drive - way less of a commitment now with the new system. Will report back when I’ve had some time with them


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Originally Posted by waxloaf

I picked up a pair for this season to give them a test drive - way less of a commitment now with the new system. Will report back when I’ve had some time with them


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I picked one of these up for funsies, and tried it out for a dozen runs or so yesterday. At the very least, it's like a skitracks app that has more data to nerd out on. You don't have to engage with it if you don't want to. Gamification of skiing should be fun for days with the family or long boring patrol shifts on shite snow.

Every season or so I jump in on a group lesson offered to patrol, depending on the instructor, and those are always at least a little bit useful to spend some time thinking about transitions and turn shapes. This is at least as good as that, plus you can set some goals around edge angles and such. Even though I'm not sure I agree with its absolute scoring on weird or challenging snow/terrain, working on some of the fundamentals it coaches you through isn't a waste of time, even if you just drill down on specifics.

Best ski:iq I could muster was in the 130's, which really irritated me. I'll take some solace that it was rock hard refrozen rain slush with 110mm skis...maybe I can do better with better snow and the right equipment. Which brings up something else that's interesting...A/B ski comparisons. I wish you could select which ski you're on for each run, but even if you just keep track casually you can see real time if you can achieve similar edge angles and turn shape with your R110 as you can with your Sender Squads, or even how moving around mount point can influence those metrics. And that seems sorta cool and potentially really interesting for people like @MarshalOlson.

I picked up a pair of the new sensors and have 3 days on them this year. So far I think it’s been a positive experience. The tips aren’t direct feedback on the mistakes that I’m making but they are basically aligned with what I need to work on. My scores are encouraging since I think of myself as a skier second and a snowboarder first. The gamification aspect is engaging and I think I try to ski better to get a better score which means I’m building better habits that should get more consistent over time. I don’t know if it’s worth the cost of the subscription but it probably is if you’ll use it enough in a season.

The audible coaching tips are almost entirely useless to new users. They're pithy but function more as reminders for seasoned students, if I'm not splitting hairs with that distinction. The metrics are surprisingly accurate and I've found that the instant feedback of coaching/monitoring mode is a great tool for improvement. Tapping each measured metric to get a few pages and videos of info/advise is a nice feature.

The auto focus setting is clever but it'll change from run to run and leave you wondering how to work on the new metric if you haven't prepared for it.

As it stands, I think the best way to use it is to let it silently monitor for a bit and then review the data afterwards to find your weaknesses. Visit YouTube university to preload your practice with tips/drills on the specific weaknesses and set CARV to coach/monitor on the metric of choice. Rinse and repeat.

Wife gave me a set for Christmas as we have a new baby and it seemed like a perfect toy for days when i only have time to run up in the morning for a few quick groomer laps.

Been interesting so far in 2 days of use. I’m a data guy so it is fun to see the data, although I was mostly skiing fresh snow and off piste/trees. It doesn’t really know what to make of trees…often thinks there are moguls runs but then gives advice that you cannot follow… because there are trees in the way.

Best is a 141 so far on groomed run on 108s. Typical runs where I am paying attention and skiing well land in the 130s both on and off piste. The app metrics correctly identified issues that I know I need to work on so I think it will be helpful.

Really curious to see how I can make use of it when I get out on the groomers with some carving skis!

I've been tempted to grab a Carve subscription. I've been skiing since I was 2, but I've never had a minute of professional instruction and I'm curious of the input it would give me. It might be fun to have the audible cues. A lot of the things they talk about in their videos are things that I'm already working on when I'm out solo skiing. At this point the price seems pretty fair and I'm seeing a lot more interest from high level skiers.

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Originally Posted by SnowMachine

I've been tempted to grab a Carve subscription. I've been skiing since I was 2, but I've never had a minute of professional instruction and I'm curious of the input it would give me. It might be fun to have the audible cues. A lot of the things they talk about in their videos are things that I'm already working on when I'm out solo skiing. At this point the price seems pretty fair and I'm seeing a lot more interest from high level skiers.

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Find a friend who has it and ask for their referral code. You'll get 20% off and they'll get a small perk. I've got them to give, obviously, but might as well let a buddy get the referral bonus if you know someone with an account. Just don't buy it at MSRP since they've priced in a $50 discount.

Alternatively, they should be rolling out buddy passes soon. They're a special code that lets you "have a subscription for a day" and test out someone else's hardware on your own account.

Interesting thing I noticed: my highest score run was 100% “parallel” turns and 0% carving. It was a run down a closed t-bar track, so all short radius little turns.

The top SkiIQ score on our mountain is held by a local psia examiner (and “Carv ambassador”) and I looked at her top scoring run and it was the same thing—100% parallel turns, zero carved.

Either it is harder to get a high carving score (maybe you need an empty GS course), or there’s just a bias towards short turns.

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Originally Posted by Ørion

Alternatively, they should be rolling out buddy passes soon. They're a special code that lets you "have a subscription for a day" and test out someone else's hardware on your own account.

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Is that the solution for letting my wife try it out?

Would be fun to take some laps with another person using it…getting video footage synced to the turn metrics sounds pretty cool.

Possibly the most useful feature other than requiring someone to play cameraman. That’s gotta be a killer app in a coaching scenario—footage on the way down, review on the chair back up, tweak for the next run, and immediately get quantitative feedback.

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Originally Posted by SnowMachine

I've been tempted to grab a Carve subscription. I've been skiing since I was 2, but I've never had a minute of professional instruction and I'm curious of the input it would give me. It might be fun to have the audible cues. A lot of the things they talk about in their videos are things that I'm already working on when I'm out solo skiing. At this point the price seems pretty fair and I'm seeing a lot more interest from high level skiers.

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PM me and I can get you a referral code if you want.

I've had mine for two days so far and my experience is pretty similar to the others above - its a neat system that is easy to set up, and it seems to do a good job tracking and identifying what I'm doing right and wrong. I've been on firm groomers only so far (Maine winter being what it is...) so can't speak to how it handles bumps/trees/pow. My best scores happen on the smoothest slopes with the best snow, and I can usually get a sense for how I'll score before she tells me.

I've only been skiing seriously for 10ish years and am largley self taught, and I find that the focus areas and and tips are pretty solid. At the very least, its good to have something to focus on during each run and I hope that the deliberate practice will be helpful as the season rolls on.

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Originally Posted by singlesline

Is that the solution for letting my wife try it out?

Would be fun to take some laps with another person using it…getting video footage synced to the turn metrics sounds pretty cool.

Possibly the most useful feature other than requiring someone to play cameraman. That’s gotta be a killer app in a coaching scenario—footage on the way down, review on the chair back up, tweak for the next run, and immediately get quantitative feedback.

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It is. Until they roll it out officially, you can you message CARV support and they'll manually give you a buddy pass code for her to use.

Someone without an active subscription can also download the app and use it to film the active user to get synced video.

Edit: apparently there's no need to email them for codes anymore: https://getcarv.typeform.com/to/YPx8VF3y

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Originally Posted by singlesline

Anyone with buyer's remorse or not jiving with their RC85 (or possibly 95) and want to unload the pair?

I'm feeling non-buyer's remorse...wish I hadn't waited until they went out of stock.

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wrong thread

I have been using them 2 seasons, starting on my 3rd so I just upgraded to the CARV 2, no foot bed just a sensor which is easy to go different boots. I have noticed quite a difference in my skiing since I started. I used to be maybe a 75% back seat skier before, now I really moved forward into my boots, in all types of terrain. When I first got them I was skiing with a just torn MCL and was worried about stressing it more, these helped me with my form immensely in keep my weight over my ski's and just feeling better about my MCL injury.

That being said, I have a CARV 1 set, they cannot be activated (sold) to someone else, just used with a buddy pass. If anyone is interested, let me know, we can work something out.

Shell size 27.5

Am I missing something?

I tried out the feature where someone else records a video of you using the Carv app which then gets synced up with your Carv stats.

Except it only overlays the Ski IQ score for each turn. WTF?

I thought I’d be able to see things like edge angle, g force, etc. Especially given the content that various Carv-sponsored influencers are posting.

Not missing too much, if you read their blog about the decision-making they made while designing "Video Coach" it is pretty clear the primary purpose seems to be for posting to social media.


Charitably, as it stands, it is a stoke builder for new skiers who'll see more significant visual improvement over a season of skiing. If it allowed for the selection of the displayed metric it would be significantly more useful though.

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Originally Posted by Ørion

Not missing too much, if you read their blog about the decision-making they made while designing "Video Coach" it is pretty clear the primary purpose seems to be for posting to social media.


Charitably, as it stands, it is a stoke builder for new skiers who'll see more significant visual improvement over a season of skiing. If it allowed for the selection of the displayed metric it would be significantly more useful though.

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Well that's a load of crap. I don't need fancy motion sensors to look at a video and tell whether a turn is "good" or "bad"...

I also can't seem to find a way to extract any of the metrics that are being shown in the carv-sponsored youtube videos. E.g. I'm seeing graphs with a curve showing how edge angle changes through a turn...all I can get from the app is max edge angle for each turn.

Attachment 509935

Yes, that's probably a nerdy level of detail that most people don't want or need...but it is some BS false advertising to be showing that in your influencer videos ("we used carv to see the results, here they are") and then you can't actually get that level of analysis from the app. Clearly the device is capable of capturing that data.

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Originally Posted by singlesline

Well that's a load of crap. I don't need fancy motion sensors to look at a video and tell whether a turn is "good" or "bad"...

I also can't seem to find a way to extract any of the metrics that are being shown in the carv-sponsored youtube videos. E.g. I'm seeing graphs with a curve showing how edge angle changes through a turn...all I can get from the app is max edge angle for each turn.

Attachment 509935

Yes, that's probably a nerdy level of detail that most people don't want or need...but it is some BS false advertising to be showing that in your influencer videos ("we used carv to see the results, here they are") and then you can't actually get that level of analysis from the app. Clearly the device is capable of capturing that data.

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You're definitely not the only one. There's grumbling over at the CARV skitalk thread about it too.

When they set up their vote-for-features system a detailed web-view shot up so quickly it was temporarily disabled for unusual activity.

Hopefully it'll come soon, there's obvious demand for it.

I ticked off 100% of the runs at the local resort on Carv.

Took some doing! But hey, gave me a goal to work towards when the conditions weren't good or I was skiing with my wife.

There's a lot of stupid little connectors like "Unnamed Run 6" that you have to both find AND figure out how to get counted as a run (need to do ~8+ turns which can be hard on a short flat connector...start too early or keep turning too late and it counts it as some other run).

There were also a handful of runs that were just wrong (or nonexistent) and it took some effort to figure out how to even tag them even though the map would tell me where to look).

I realized they use OpenStreetMap, so I have since gone in and fixed all of the messed up runs. Whenever they update, the challenge will get a bit easier.

anyone got a carv discount code?

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Originally Posted by Ørion

It is. Until they roll it out officially, you can you message CARV support and they'll manually give you a buddy pass code for her to use.

Someone without an active subscription can also download the app and use it to film the active user to get synced video.

Edit: apparently there's no need to email them for codes anymore: https://getcarv.typeform.com/to/YPx8VF3y

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That is cool. Thanks for linky. Will try that this weekend for wife.

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Originally Posted by tgapp

anyone got a carv discount code?

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https://getcarv.com/refer/9e0802ca-b...ur%20technique.

If you know someone with PSIA membership I think they get a way better deal than this