Can a digital coach really transform the way you ski? City AM hit the slopes to find out
Every ski run in the mountains comes at a cost. Each one represents a small part of the total and significant outlay covering travel, accommodation, ski passes, kit hire, food and drink. Most skiers therefore want to improve their technique to get the most out of each and every one of those runs, and whilst ski holidays are always huge fun, for those who seek that improvement it usually comes at another cost: frustration.
I don’t get to go skiing very often and so have felt the need to make peace with the fact that I am unlikely to ever really improve, and I am even more likely to be reinforcing bad habits the rare times I hit the slopes. The issue is lessons are expensive and disappearing for days on end in a self-absorbed attempt to better yourself on skis is unlikely to go down well with friends and family. So if time and money are precious when it comes to skiing, how are you meant to actually get any better?
This is the market carved out by start-up Motion Metrics and their most recent iteration: Carv 2. I spent a couple of days trying it out to see if I could improve my skiing without the disruption and cost of traditional lessons.
The Carv 2 monitors clip onto the outside of your ski boot and capture how you ski with remarkable accuracy
How does it work?
The team behind Carv 2 are passionate about their latest design – and you can see why. The first version was designed around more cumbersome footbeds, whereas Carv 2 is simply two monitors you clip onto each boot, connect your headphones and head out. The sensors track your skiing with remarkable precision – from weight distribution and g-force to turn-shape and edge. These metrics then give you a ‘Ski IQ’ (i.e. an assessment of how good you are at skiing) for each run.
The Ski IQ is built off half a billion of pieces of data that the engineers, with AI and ski experts, analysed and compiled to understand what the good, the bad and the ugly look like when it comes to getting down a slope. One of the most impressive upgrades, especially for more advanced skiers, is the sensors’ ability to know what type of snow you’re on (moguls, powder, groomed) and adjust your IQ and coaching accordingly.
The AI technology pushes you to move up from snowplough to parallel and eventually carving
Carv 2 has different modes of teaching and is flexible to how you want to spend your time on the slopes. There is an option for more intensive and gamified real time coaching, or it can be used without audio to silently track your skiing, giving you a holistic overview rich in data.
But does it work?
I love skiing but I feel like I have plateaued with my ability. I spend my time on chairlifts watching the lucky few who make it all look so effortless as they dismantle every slope. These skiers leave behind two tiny parallel lines in the snow, all that remains as testament to their skill until erased by my clumsy skidding.
So I was curious to see if Carv 2 could shape and mould me into a more elegant, skier. The first thing that struck me was just how accurate these monitors are. They captured everything I suspected about my ability and visualised it (normally to my dismay). I was impressed at how quickly it placed my Ski IQ – and how much you want to improve it. The coaching easily picked up issues I was making with my turns and set that as the target to work on.
For me, there was two immediate outcomes of skiing with Carv 2: One, I started skiing much more consciously; and two, I started to notice what good skiing felt like.
Carv 2’s app precisely breaks down each run and singles out what you need to improve on with targeted tips and videos
Getting better at skiing, as with so many sports, is frustrating because you really have to feel improvement – you long for the moment when something clicks. So when the real time coach upped my score when I pressed harder on an edge or transferred my weight at the right time, I felt it. Within a few hours of using Carv 2, I began reinforcing good habits. It’s Pavlovian skiing.
The sleek, well designed Carv app then allows you pour over the minutiae of the data during long, stodgy lunches. I’m not a sport analytics devotee by any measure, but I loved flicking through the metrics and comparing them with my companions. A word of warning: any lurking or repressed competitiveness will surface very quickly using Carv 2, from leaderboards and high scores to speed and skill, it’s gamification that adds an extra layer of fun to your trip.
The only issue I encountered using the app was the drain on my phone’s battery, but a powerpack offers an easy fix.
The verdict
Carv 2 is a great solution to a costly problem, and most importantly, it works. This clever piece of kit will get you skiing with more care, whether you go once a day or once a year. The technology is as intrusive as you want – from silently monitoring to actively coaching. Most importantly, this flexibility means you can ski with friends and family without dragging on the vibe in a self-flagellating quest for vague improvement. Once you try Carv 2, you won’t want to ski without it.
Carv 2 costs £199 a year (with the monitors included for free) or £99 for a six-day pass (and a
£99 one-off payment for the monitors).
Visit getcarv.com