Carv User Guide
Welcome to Carv
Every skiing day is different, which is why Carv has 3 skiing modes to suit your mood. Each mode is designed to help you improve your skiing in different ways with different levels of interaction.
This guide will help you get started and show you how to find the key features within the app. Enjoy!
Free Ski mode
Carv records data as you ski and gives you technique tips on the chairlift.
Training mode
Work on a particular skill with interactive drills of increasing difficulty.
Challenges mode
Put your skills to the test with fun challenges that use different skiing techniques.
Jump to section:
Free Ski Mode
Free Ski mode monitors your technique as you ski each run and provides small tips to keep you improving. If you are new to Carv or you are starting your ski day, Free Ski mode is a great place to start.
How to start this mode:
- Navigate to Free Ski mode using the 'Ski' button in the middle of the bottom menu on the app.
- Select record. You have the option to switch your audio coach on or off at this stage.
- You can leave your recording running for multiple runs (or even the whole day) - you do not need to switch it off after each run to register a score.
Free Ski Mode
Your audio coach will give you feedback at the end of each run while on the chair lift. Your coach will share:
- Your Ski:IQ score
- Feedback on a metric you were already working on (if you have skied previous runs
- A tip to help you improve on the next run.
Carv will use the data from each run's Ski:IQ to identify the area of your skiing that is holding you back (e.g. edging control). It will give you advice to help you improve this skill (e.g. roll your ankles into the turn). As you ski another run, Carv will remember this 'focus area' and watch you closely on your next run, letting you know if you improved that technique.
Training
After a few runs in Free Ski, you should start to understand where you can unlock some improvement in your technique (e.g. edging).
Head to the Training section by stopping Free Ski, going to the 'ski button' and selecting the Training tab. Pick an exercise that suits you, or example, if you’re getting tips about your edging, you might want to select carving training.
- Go back to the home page and select the ski button, select training in the top row of Tabs
- Before you start the training exercise, it will help if you watch the video guide to understand the movements you should perform.
- To start the exercise, select a Grade - higher Grades will unlock as you pass the grades below - then hit start.
- Auto-leveling up allows you to keep skiing and move through the grades without taking your phone out of your pocket.
Training Mode
Training mode uses Carv's motion and pressure sensors to assess specific movements related to Balance/Edging/Pressure and Rotation to help you complete each ski drill.
Each turn is ranked as pass or fail against a difficulty threshold that increases as you move through the levels. Get 16 out of 20 turns right in each level and you open up the Grade above.
You will earn stars at each Grade for completing your turns to a high standard. As you move to higher grades, the standard required increases. For example, in Edging Training, the margin for error in edge similarity and average edge angle will be substantially smaller for Grade 20 than Grade 1.
Challenges
Challenges
Challenges allow you to push your boundaries and improve particular movements. We have created a number of skiing challenges that you can use to compete with friends, set a high score and earn your bragging rights with.
- Navigate to challenges in the top tab once you've pressed the 'Ski' button
- Choose your challenge
- You will see the instructions and hear how to complete each challenge.
Monitors
Monitors are an incredibly useful tool if you want to focus on a particular skill. You will receive a direct feed of your chosen metric in your earphones on every turn.
We have created monitors for some of the most important skills involved in reaching a high Ski:IQ. Here are 4 ideas of how you can use monitors to improve your skiing:
- Develop a your edge angle progressively. Try to build your edge angle from low to high then back down to low again - get a feel for what your limit is and how well you can control your turn edging. If you get stuck at a certain level, check out our Youtube videos videos or blog articles for advice.
- Compare metrics across short, medium and long turns. Do you find it harder to score a high edge similarity in short turns vs long turns? You may find an opportunity to improve a specific turn type.
- Rebuild your confidence. Sometimes it is important to focus on the basics - are you really in a balanced fore:aft position (55 %)? Do you really balance against your outside ski or are you leaving pressure on your inside ski in the turn.
- Combine these monitors in combination with a drill. If you're getting stuck on a rotary drill, try the yaw similarity monitor, if it is a carving one, try edge angle and edge similarity to hear what is going on.
- Take your turns into new terrain. Do you get thrown into the backseat by bumps or steeps? Use the fore:aft balance monitor to understand what is really going on.
Activity Feed
At the end of the day or during lunch, use the Activity screen to review your day’s skiing. You will need to have stopped your skiing sessions to review your data.
- Select the day you would like to review
- Scroll down to select a run about which you would like to know more.
- Select the run, and you will see the top-level skill scores for that run: Balance, edging, rotary and pressure.
Activity Feed
Carv uses the Ski:IQ™ system to help you work out where to focus your attention. Your Ski:IQ™ is a score of your skiing for each run and is based on an average of all of the turns in your run.
Compare your own skiing versus other skiers in the leaderboard to get a feel for what your Ski:IQ™ looks like relative to other skiers.
Click here to find out how to improve your Ski:IQ™.
Ski:IQ is broken down into 4 major skiing technique pillars that are essential for good skiing: balance, edging, rotation, pressure.
Activity Feed
Select a run to understand how you were skiing. Your skills are scored and labelled as Ok / Good / Great for each metric. An intermediate will be scoring 'good' for most of these. A top skier will consistently be scoring 'great' for most of these metrics.
- Look for the lowest scoring component of your skiing (e.g. edging)
- Click the bar to reveal the sub-metrics that comprise your skill score.
- Some screens have a graph which shows a heat map of each ski. Please note the top of the screen is the 'forwards' direction.
- Review your scores to find the weakest sub-metric for that skill.
- To understand the terminology and learn how to improve, press the small (i) in the top right
Other Features
In the Profile screen, you can see overall stats about your skiing. Your level is based on the number of turns you have done.
If you ever need to logout, you can use the ellipsis in the top-right corner.
Other features
Leaderboard
Have a look at your position on the leaderboard and compare your metrics by checking out the scores for the best run for the best skiers. You can filter by all time, month or today.
