Ted Ligety fixes your biggest carving mistake

Carving the perfect turn is one of the best feelings in the world. It’s like being a fighter pilot or an F1 driver. It’s so much fun to experience that clean, biting sensation and feel the G-force and acceleration.
I’m Ted Ligety, two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion, known for achieving super-high edge angles and carving almost everything. I love seeing people improve their skills on the mountain. But there is one common carving mistake I regularly notice. And I’m pretty confident it’s not what you think it is. So, let’s learn how to fix it and reach that next level…

Why high edge angle matters

Before you can fix any mistakes, you need to know why high edge angle matters. In a nutshell, high edge angles help you achieve a tighter turn radius. And with tighter turns, you can carve more cleanly, have more control (especially with speed on steeper terrain), and feel – and handle – those awesome F1-style forces.
It also just looks better. By achieving maximum edge angle, you can get your hip closer to the snow, something I developed over years and years of practice.

Does edge angle affect turn radius?
Yes: the higher the edge angle, the lower the radius. If I put a ski with a 16-meter radius on its edge, it would trace a 16-meter-radius circle. But as I increase the edge angle and the ski is able to bend, it creates a tighter arc. More bend means a tighter turn.

How to fix the biggest carving mistake

The mistake – it’s probably not what you think:

You might think the most common carving mistakes are park-and-ride turns or a stance that's too narrow. These are valid issues. But the mistake I most often see is not going “inside enough” at the start of the turn.

Instead, many skiers keep their shoulders perfectly level throughout the entire turn. You might do that because you picture a classic carver at the apex (midpoint) of the turn, with their feet out from under them, their body upright, and their shoulders nice and parallel. But this is not how you want to look at the starting point.

What you do at the beginning is so important. So, try moving your upper body away from your feet and into the turn. This creates enough space for your legs to achieve that higher edge angle.

The solution:
Lean in at the top of the turn. Level off at the apex.
Worry less about keeping your shoulders level and square at the very start of the turn. Instead, lean into the hill. This is where the real work happens. It requires commitment, but focus on moving your center of mass downhill and away from your feet.
To help, let’s split the turn into stages:

1. Tilt your upper body down the hill at the start of the turn.
2. Let your skis move out from underneath you.
3. Level your shoulders as you move into the apex, and the G-force builds.
4. Slingshot and release into the next turn.

“Once it clicks, you’ll feel your skis bite cleaner and hold you more upright, especially as you start to level off in the middle of the turn.”

This is a hard skill to learn because you need complete trust in yourself and your equipment. But here are four tips and tricks to help…

4 tips to improve your carving

I’ve heard people ask if it’s possible to ski like Ted Ligety. Well, these four tips will help you get closer by developing the movements that lead to higher edge angles and cleaner turns. So, let’s go…

1) Railroad Tracks

The A-frame isn’t the ideal position, but many skiers use it. An A-frame occurs when the shins don’t tip at the same angle, often leaving a straight inside leg and an angled outside leg. Instead, work on getting the shins parallel to establish a solid foundation for building higher edge angles.

The issue:
With the A-frame, your inside leg is often in the way. This stops you from having the space needed to move your center of mass into the turn.

The goal:
Once both legs work together, the outside leg can be strong and straight (eventually acting as your structural pillar against the g-force), and the inside leg can fold tightly underneath you, like a camping chair. As you extend your outside leg and flex your inside leg, you can lean more into the turn.

How to do railroad tracks:

1. Aim to keep your shins at the same angle as you roll both skis onto their edges.
2. Push your hand against your inside knee to exaggerate the motion.

As a professional ski racer, I worked on parallel shins the most. This method really helped me move more efficiently and turn much more cleanly.

2) Hand Drags

Now, it’s time to focus on driving your upper body down the hill. Hand-drags exaggerate the movement of your body through the turn to create higher edge angles.

The issue:
As mentioned, some skiers stand too upright rather than tipping into the turn. Hand-drag J-turns help exaggerate that initial upper- and lower-body separation you’re trying to create.

The goal:

You get used to “diving” your upper body into the hill and driving your center of mass down and towards the inside tip of your skis. Think of yourself as a gorilla for this one, with your hands down low.

How to do hand-drags:

1. Point your skis straight down the hill for 5 to 10 feet.
2. As you start to turn, reach your inside hand down and to the front of your binding.
3. Carve up the hill.

Check-in time: Do you feel more pressure on the inside of your ski than you’re used to? That’s normal. First you exaggerate it. Then you correct it.

3) Linking hand-drag turns

The issue:
Carving while bolt-upright makes it virtually impossible to build higher edge angles. And your carving can quickly fall apart.

The goal:
Linking your J-turns exaggerates the sensation that your center of mass is moving down the hill. Don’t worry – it feels strange at first, as though you’re leaning too far inside. But that’s okay. This is about deliberate overexaggeration.

How to link hand-drag turns:

1. At the beginning of the turn, reach down with your inside hand and touch the snow.
2. Think about your nose going down the fall line (nose-first, as they say). This helps send you down the hill and achieve that separation with your feet at the top of each turn.

I can already predict what the comments will say: “You’re leaning inside!” “You’re doing all these bad habits!” But wait. Let’s bring everything together with our next exercise…

4) The swimming motion

You’ve focused on tilting and committing to the inside. But you also need to get back over the outside ski. To bring these movements together, I like to use the swimming motion. This helps prepare for the next turn and balance against the forces your skis create.

The issue:

Some skiers stay super square with level shoulders throughout the entire turn. However, this makes it really hard to get your body inside the turn to get a high edge angle.

The goal:
Focus on “swimming” with your upper body from the inside to the outside of each turn. You should find that this motion helps you pull your weight over the outside ski and grip more easily.

How to do the swimming motion:

1. Start the turn with your shoulders and upper body leaning inside.
2. As you approach the apex, level off to the outside ski, as though your elbow were tethered to your outside foot.
3. Try exaggerating this “swimming” motion.

As everything comes together, you should feel a slingshot-like motion as you release the turn. In that moment of “weightlessness,” think about starting the new turn with your old outside knee, which becomes your new inside knee. Then, tilt that knee into the turn.
In racing, we’re trying to harness all that G-force. We do this by bending the ski like a slingshot and accelerating into the next turn to gain more speed and momentum from one turn to the next.

How to track progress with Carv

I’ve always said that skiing is a “feeling” sport. Carv has picked up on data I could only feel while skiing. Here’s what to look for in your own Carv metrics to track changes and monitor progress.

Pay attention to the relationship between your edge angle and turn radius.

As you start to put the ski more on edge, you should find that your turn radius also gets smaller. This indicates your turns are becoming tighter and you’re more in control of your speed.

Ted’s 4 takeaways

1. Tilt the inside of your body down the hill at the start of the turn. This allows your feet to get out from underneath you, helping you achieve those higher edge angles.
2. Work on edge similarity. This is so important because it lets your inside leg work with the rest of your body, folding under you as you increase your edge angle.
3. Get over that outside ski as you enter the apex of the turn. This helps you manage that G-force and then release the edges smoothly into the next turn.
4. Use that energy and stay fluid. Remember, skiing is a dynamic sport, and you’re never holding one position for long. Each movement should flow into the next phase of the turn.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Combine these tips and takeaways with Carv’s real-time feedback, and you’ll improve with every turn. And remember: if you’re having fun, you’re gonna really want to work hard at it.

Watch Ted in action

More of a visual learner? Watch the film below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX9bgulqRrY

Ted’s stats

• Skis: DPS Pisteworks 89
• Ski:IQ: 178

Ready to master carving?

I hope you’ve learned something today! If you want to explore my technique in more detail, check out what happened when Carv deconstructed the anatomy of a Ted Ligety turn.

Give this post a “thumbs up” if you’re a fan of the swimming motion or if you’re ready to try these tips. I’ll see you on the mountain.