This will be first visit to The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead for 2026, it has been nearly two months since my last visit. Mainly due to work over christmas being really busy and I needed to take a break as well as when my days off fell over the festive period.
My first ski holiday of the year is now out of the way, which was a good trip to Bad Gastein, Austria. I now need to make some improvements and progression ahead of my second ski holiday this year. Time to do some work with drills, Carv is recommending a few different ones to help me get parallel , this includes; Wedge-christie turns, Thumpers, Side Slipping, Patience Turns, Garlands, Hands on Hips and 1000 Steps.
I think I have the Wedge-christie turns in the bag, but will keep it in the back of my mind. So today I am going to try as a minimum Side Slipping and if time allows try hands on hips.
Starting Carv Metrics
Season Best SkiIQ - 99
2026 Best SkiIQ -96
Parallel Pathway
Skill 1 - Making your snowplow smaller - Level 30 of 30 (Expert)
Skill 2 - Bringing your skis parallel - Level 27 of 30 (Expert)
Skill 3 - Making smoother turns - Level 14 of 30 (Advanced)
Skill 4 - Refining your parallel turns - Level 9 of 30 (Advanced) - Recommend Training
End Carv Metrics
Season Best SkiIQ - 99
2026 Best SkiIQ -97 (+1)
Parallel Pathway
Skill 1 - Making your snowplow smaller - Level 30 of 30 (Expert) (0)
Skill 2 - Bringing your skis parallel - Level 27 of 30 (Expert) (0)
Skill 3 - Making smoother turns - Level 14 of 30 (Advanced) (0)
Skill 4 - Refining your parallel turns - Level 9 of 30 (Advanced) - Recommend Training (0)
The Session
A quiet start on the slopes today, but it only lasted for about 45 minutes, when the lessons joined the slope, when it gets busy it can be hard to ski your best and work on things you want to. I started with a couple of warm up runs, my skiing felt easier and my confidence seemed high, unfortunately I forgot to start my Carv session on my first run. I started to try a slightly different approach and keep must of my upper body facing down more than I was previously by reducing the amount in which I close my turns previously greater than 80%, the hope it that I can keep more speed on rather than scrubbing most of it. Thankfully I had practice at keep and building speed while on holiday, which has given me confidence to keep it on. My skiing felt better my turning easier with a sense of some improvement. Once the slope got busier I diceded to call it a day and move back to hourly lift passes until it gets quieter again hopefully after Easter.
The Results
Best SkiIQ was 97 on the first recorded run of the day, with no coaching levels improved.
- Average IQ - 94
- Median IQ - 94.5
- Mode IQ - 95
Turn Closure started at 70% at times increased to 73% but on a couple of runs was within the target area at less than 60%. My turn shape has also improved as a result, even if my parallel scores are still only around the 30% mark.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Even though I hadn't followed my original plan of trying some drills out, what I tried has helped me understand that I can keep the speed on which helps with balance and now I am in a good position moving forward with trying different things. Carv is recommending I concentrate on Refining my parallel turn skill. Recommended drills are;
- Pateince Turns
- 1000 Steps
- Garlands
The advice I had while skiing from Carv is to start my turn by rolling my feet, this should in theory keep me parallel. The best drill to practice this is the Garland, in my opinion so that should be the drill to work on. I may try to roll my feet first to see what happen towards the end of the run but I need to ensure I am carrying some speed.
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