What is Carv?
Carv is a brand with a mission – just like Inspirational Skiing – to help recreational skiers on all levels to improve their skiing.
Carv have created a product that measures your skiing performance. Based on the measured data they then give you actionable tips on how to get to the next level.
The product consists of:
Insoles for your ski boots with bluetooth units/batteries
An app that connects with the unit
A membership that gives you acces to tips, training packs and other members sharing their experience and practical tips.
The soles and units measure foot pressure and balance, edge angles, rotation, speed and a lot more in each run.
After each run the app gives you:
Scores on how well you performed specific skiing skills
A Ski:IQ score, that represents how well your run was overall.
Based on these measurements the app then tells you:
What areas you should work on, and suggests the best tips for you to try.
To give you the best tips possible, Carv is building a growing archive of articles, videos and training packs where world class ski instructors present their best tips on how to improve specific areas in skiing.
Dive into the opportunities with Carv
Diagnosing weak areas and suggesting solutions is only one function (Freeski mode) within the app. You can chose between 4 different modes:
Freeski mode: gives you an analysis of your run and a Ski:IQ as well as tips to improve your skiing based on your run.
Monitor mode: gives you real time feedback on your skiing in a chosen area
Training mode: gives you specific drills to improve a chosen area and real time feedback
Challenge mode: gives you a specific challenge, like as many short turns as possible in 30 seconds.
These modes makes it possible to focus on a specific skill for at while until you have improved in that area. You can then go back to free ski mode to see what impact it has had on your overall Ski:IQ.
If you are like me and you like challenges and the feeling of achievement and getting to the next level, you might also enjoy the gamification part with challenges and levels you can work your way through.
I am still in the process of testing the different Carv features more in detail. As I get to know the features better, I will revisit and add any relevant information to this article.
My experience with Carv
I use Carv to improve my own skiing and overall, I love the product and enjoy using it!
The gamification element, with challenges and trying to improve your Ski:IQ has been fun and encouraging for me to experience. My current best Ski:IQ is 165 in a segment with +10 turns which is required for having the score rank on the leaderboard within the app. I am excited to see if I can improve it the next time, I get the chance.
This image is from one of the runs that made me a “Grim Ripper”, which is the top Ski:IQ level. Credit: Timothy Sanderson/Carv
Improve your Ski:IQ
The Ski:IQ concept is an ambitious attempt of creating an objective score for good technical skiing, besides measuring time in the gates. To me this is both fascinating and exciting!
It also creates the encouragement to improve your Ski:IQ score and gives you opportunities to celebrate, when it goes up!
Here are what you need to know to get a good Ski:IQ score.
The process
Here is how the process goes:
1. Measure your baseline with Carv.
2. Do the drills and training Carv suggests.
3. Measure your improvement with Carv and see your Ski:IQ go up!
Tips for a better Ski:IQ
Here is a checklist to get the best Ski:IQ score possible.
Find a nice and well-groomed red/blue slope with an even pitch.
Make sure your ski equipment is set up well and your ski edges are sharpened (check this article on how to sharpen your ski edges)
Move smoothly and stay in control.
Pay close attention to the areas where you score the lowest and work on those first. Improvement here will have the biggest impact on your Ski:IQ score.
Click the video to get some of my favourite tips and drills to finetune your balance and other skiing skills.
If you want more tips on how to get the most out of your Carv, I have made a separate article about that.
Carv X Inspirational Skiing Collab
I truly believe in the product and because Inspirational Skiing and Carv share a mission to help people improve their skiing, we have chosen to work with them on a few projects.
Watch the teaser for the exclusive in-app training i created with Carv, you get acces to together with the insoles.
Improving skiing and improving the product
I am really impressed with what Carv can do and how they approach developing a “Digital Ski Coach”. For this purpose, they are working with real life top level ski instructors, including the New Zealand demo team.
With a product that is trying to push the limits and explore new grounds, there will sometimes be technical issues, unforeseen obstacles and areas of improvement that only shows themselves along the way. And Carv have had their share of natural challenges since the beginning. In my mind, experiencing and overcoming issues is part of learning and improving.
The way Carv go about fixing and upgrading these things is really impressive. At this point they have come far in developing a high end quality product, in my opinion.
From my own experience, when I was faced with some technical issues, I can only say they are absolutely phenomenal, when it comes to following up on giving their users a good experience.
Having been part of the Carv community and working with them since september 2020, I am left with the impression that improvement and reaching for the absolute top level in everything they do, is at the core of the brand.
Mini guide for better balance – use with carv
Tips, exercises and videos for better balance to improve your skiing.
The Carv community
The Digital Ski Coach concept makes is possible to practice and improve your skiing on your own.
But Carv is also building a very positive minded and supportive community around the product and their approach to ski improvement.
The community is an important part of the Carv experience, and something which is highly valued by its members.
When dealing with a new piece of technology under constant improvement, it is reassuring to see how Carv has the customer experience close to their hearts. Any issue the Carv users experience, is taken well care of by their outstanding customer service.
You can have a look at the daily questions from users and responses from Carv in their Carv Skiers’ Community group on Facebook.
Click the image to check out the Facebook group
The community also plays a big role in developing the product further since feedback from the customer experience is guiding the product development.
I am sure the Carv community will only grow stronger and potentially become more and more of a social experience with meet ups etc.
The verdict
Carv gives you real data that takes some of the guess work out of skiing analysis and open up a whole new level of understanding of your own skiing.
Followed by high quality tips and training for you to try, Carv offer an opportunity to take technical leaps forward in your skiing.
To me, Carv is a very exciting technology and tool when it comes to working on your ski technique. However, I believe that it cannot replace a good real life ski instructor that can assess your exact situation on the mountain and coach you directly.
It is however one of the great things you can do to accelerate your improvement – and even transformation – on your skiing journey.
And I have no doubt that Carv can contribute tremendously to how far you can take your ski technique on your own!
The results, reviews and feedback from Carv users are quite impressive.
Click the image to see more reviews
You should consider Carv if:
You would like to become a better skier, and you appreciate a databased approach and high quality tips from top levels ski instructors.
You like the gamification aspect.
Want to become part of a supportive and positive community of enthusiastic Carv users.
Please feel free to send me an email on contact@inspirationalskiing.com, if you have any questions about Carv, and I will do my best to answer.
Have a nice day!
Janus Hecht
Professional Ski instructor and examiner
Co-founder of Inspirational Skiing