Gamify Skiing, Dial Your Form: Carv 2 Ski Coach Review

At the bottom of the run, I zoomed back into the empty lift line, got on a chair, sat down, and waited. Within a couple of seconds, I heard the familiar chime in my ear and a soft female voice over the earbuds.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. Your Ski:IQ was 137,” she said. “You made 38 turns that run. Focus on keeping your shins parallel. Maintain the same distance between your shins and your ankles throughout the turn.”

I huffed. Then, I took a deep breath and swallowed my pride. I knew the Carv sensors were right. So, I pulled out my phone and opened the app. I pulled up my activity for the day, selected the most recent run, and under “Edging Similarity,” I selected the button that said, “Improve this metric.”

The app pulled up a list of Do’s and Don’ts, a little video showing someone making perfectly edged turns, pro tips from people like Morgan Engel and Ted Ligety, and a list of drills to try out to improve my Edging Similarity. I watched a couple of the drill videos as I rode the lift. Then, I hit the button that said “Train Edging Similarity” and pressed start.

As I got off the lift, I was determined to perfect at least this one form factor before the end of the day. As frustrating as it could be having a little voice in my ear telling me exactly what was wrong with my skiing, it was almost addicting trying to improve my Ski:IQ and scores across the different metrics that my Carv 2 Digital Ski Coach was measuring.

In short: The Carv 2 Ski Coach is a digital training tool that you can easily attach to the strap of your ski boots. It uses a gyroscope and speed sensors to analyze your movements as you ski and returns data, actionable tips, and information every time you stop skiing. It gamifies the sport in a way that makes it feel almost video game-like. Beginners, intermediate skiers, and advanced shredders alike can benefit differently from this techy new digital coaching device.

Carv 2 Ski Coach Review

The Carv 2 is a significant upgrade from the brand’s original iteration. The Carv 1 was an insole insert that had to be taped into the bottom of the ski boot shell under the boot liner. It worked well, using pressure sensors to gauge how you were skiing.

The new Carv 2 is far easier to use, though, and, according to the brand, 6% more accurate. It attaches to the outside of the ski boot with a heavy-duty clip. It can fit any size bootstrap. The devices themselves fit in the palm of your hand and are waterproof, resistant to cold, and shock-resistant. Now, you can easily swap them between boots and even between skiers.

The sensors themselves are “free.” But for them to work, you need to purchase a subscription to Carv, which is $250 per year. That isn’t chump change, but to put it in context, a full-day private ski lesson at Vail costs $1,650. At Aspen, it will run you $1,310. So, comparatively, the Carv system is a bargain — that is if it can deliver the same quality of instruction that you’d get from one of those lessons.

I skied with my Carv 2 Ski Coach sensors over 13 days this season at resorts across Colorado and Wyoming, as well as in the backcountry, to determine how comparable they were to a real lesson and how much my skiing could benefit from them.

How Does It Work?

Before discussing how well these things work, it’s worth understanding how they work at all. Carv claims it trained its sensors on over 580 million ski turns to precisely capture the movement of a skier’s boots. The company worked with professional skiers like Ted Ligety and hundreds of ski instructors to dial in what a perfect turn looks (and feels) like on different types of terrain and snow.

The engineering behind Carv 2 is complicated. If you want a deep dive into how it was developed, check out the brand’s explainer webpage.

Basically, Carv trained an AI algorithm to detect the exact position of the sensors on the boot. The sensors use a six-axis motion gyroscope and accelerometer to measure your balance, speed, and motion. That information is then run through the AI algorithm to determine your Ski:IQ and how well you’re doing on every metric the sensors measure.

The Metrics

The engineers, ski coaches, and professional skiers developing Carv identified 10 metrics that the sensors track and return data on. At the end of every run, Carv gives you a score for each of these, which then contributes to your Ski:IQ.

• Early forward movement
• Centered balance
• Parallel skis
• Turn shape
• Edge angle
• Early edging
• Edging similarity
• Progressive edge build
• Turn G-force
• Weight release

Carv does a pretty good job of breaking down those metrics in different ways for different types of learners. The app includes short videos you can watch (for visual learners), descriptions of why each metric is important and how you can improve each one (for reading learners), and even audio tips (for auditory learners).

Not only that, but you can also select specific metrics to train. If you have great progressive edge build but need to work on your turn shape, you can go into the “Coaching” page of the app and press “Train Progressive Edge Build.” The app then provides feedback and tips at the end of every run (or whenever you pause during the run). You can watch drills that will help you improve and access training videos as well.

Under the “Coaching” tab of the app, you can also select “Train Recommended Metrics.” Then, Carv will work with you on those metrics where you have the most room for improvement.

On the Slopes

As soon as I started using Carv, I immediately recognized how competitive I was getting — with myself. At the end of every run, it told me how many consecutive turns I made and relayed my Ski:IQ. It was impossible not to try and beat my previous score every single run. When I didn’t, it just made me want to ski harder (and better) on the next one. It gamified skiing to a degree I’ve never experienced.

It’s easy to get carried away. With earbuds and the audio coach enabled, I’d receive all of Carv’s data, information, and tips at the end of every run, and it changed the way I skied. Personally, I didn’t like it when I was skiing with friends. It was something I only focused on during my solo ski days.

But on those days, Carv was fun, useful, and very interesting to use.

Coaching Modes

When you press “Ski” and start tracking your day, you can turn the audio coach on or off. I used the app most often without the audio coach. Then, I’d leave the phone in my pocket all day and review it over après beers.

It’s not as effective a learning tool that way because you aren’t getting real-time feedback. However, reviewing the data when I was done skiing was still useful. It helped me identify weaknesses in my skiing, so I knew what to focus on next time.

You can also select different types of coaching, depending on how involved you want to get. You can select Ski:IQ only, Ski:IQ & Tips, Active Coach (which gives you a target and adapts to the snow conditions and your performance), Train With an Olympian (which gives you semi-personalized tips from Ted Ligety), Turn Monitor (which dings every time you make a good turn, and buzzes every time you miss the mark), and Custom.

Discerning Terrain Types

One of the big software upgrades made to Carv in the last year was the app’s ability to work on and recognize different types of terrain. Originally, the app only worked on groomers and only had tips that applied to that type of terrain. But now Carv can recognize smooth, uneven, moguls, or powder terrain and offers tips specifically for skiing in them.

I disagreed with some of the app’s classifications, especially when it came to powder skiing. I don’t think Carv has perfected this element of the app yet. It’s a new feature, though. With more time, better data, and technology, I anticipate that will become much more accurate.

Tracking Progress

One of the most engaging elements of this technology is watching your performance improve. As your Ski:IQ score gets higher, you progress from a Green Guru (50-90) to a Smooth Operator (90-100), a Parelell Perfector (100-115), Carv Cadet (115-125), Carv Connisour (125-140), Mountain Master (140-150), Grim Reaper (150+), and finally, the Mountain G.O.A.T. (160+).

For each metric, you can also view a graph that shows how (and whether) your scores have improved as you’ve used the app.

Under your profile, you can also see “Achievements.” Every time you set a new Ski:IQ score or improve upon a metric on a run you’ve tracked before, you get a little badge.

Location, Distance, Speed, Vertical, Runs

Similar to apps like Strava, Carv tracks your distance, top speed, vertical feet, and the number of runs and turns made. At the end of the day, you can review the route you took. It shows you where you went, how many runs you completed out of the resort’s total, and more.

Use in Backcountry

When you take Carv into the backcountry, it won’t track your vertical feet or distance skied. But it does still do everything else. So you can still work on your technique or track your Ski:IQ for your own record.

There is also the option to tap into the Carv community through this app, where your scores and progress are available for others to see. There are leaderboards for every resort. You can even create groups so you and your friends can compare (read: compete) with one another.

I did not use this feature very much. I was competitive enough with myself; I didn’t need to bring thousands of other skiers into my Carv experience. But if you’re into that kind of thing, you’d probably get a kick out of the Carv community. The only problem? Some people will inevitably fluff their Ski:IQ score (more on this in a moment).

Is It as Good as a Real Instructor?

I won’t claim that the Carv sensors and app can replace human ski instructors. Not any time soon, at least. Honestly these sensors would work best in concert with actual lessons.

As a learning device, I think Carv 2 is an amazing piece of technology. Expert and beginner skiers alike can benefit from using it. It’s really useful for discerning your personal weaknesses and strengths. For a true novice, some of the data and metrics could be hard to interpret.

But if you used Carv along with a ski lesson and instructor, your ability would improve exponentially faster than with just one or the other.

Ski instructors could benefit from it, too. I used to teach skiing, and I would have loved to put a Carv sensor on every one of my students. It would have helped me personalize and distill my instructions for every student and would have been a very useful way to give them homework. Not only that, but it would have also helped me understand different ways of explaining tips and advice to students.

Downsides of Carv Ski Coach

In my opinion, the single biggest drawback to using this system is also one of its highlight features: The gamification of skiing. It makes the sport feel very video game-like. The scores, achievement badges, tracking, and sound effects truly gamify the experience.

Some days — most days, actually — that’s not what I’m looking for when I go skiing. Skiing is a meditation to me. It’s a time and place to clear my mind.

So, I have to be in a very specific mindset to turn my sensors on and focus on my Carv Ski Coach. Some days, I’m really into it. Some days, I don’t want to think about it at all. But I suppose that’s part of the beauty of this system — you can turn it on and off when you want. You can also set the engagement level. Like I said, most days, I just turned it on without the audio coach and reviewed it at the end of the day.

There are also ways of “gaming the system” and fluffing your Ski:IQ. If you’re really competitive and into the Carv Community aspect of the app, you can get the best scores possible by stopping every 10 turns and letting your score adjust. For those who want to be #1 on the leaderboard for Aspen or Jackson Hole or wherever you’re skiing, that’s a somewhat deceptive way of doing it.

Is that a real downside? I guess not. It just allows some users to present their skiing ability less authentically.

Carv 2 Digital Ski Coach: Who Is It For?

Anyone who wants to improve their skiing could greatly benefit from using the Carv 2 Ski Coach. However, I think it’s easier for intermediate and expert skiers to understand what it’s telling them. True beginners might struggle to interpret some of the tips and information without a translator.

That’s why I think it would be great to use in concert with lessons. If you had a real ski coach and the Carv Ski Coach, you’d make progress in leaps and bounds. But then, you’d be paying for a ski instructor as well as the Carv membership, which negates the device’s cost-effectiveness.

This is a really innovative tool. The technology behind Carv is only going to get better, too. I fully expect to see more Carv units on people’s ski boots going forward because it is an extremely useful and practical way to work on ski technique all by yourself. You might not want to use it every day you’re on the slopes — but you don’t have to.

The gamification of skiing may be a turn-off to some, but I fully expect that element of it to attract a lot of people as well. I don’t think there’s a good way to know if you’ll love this system or not without trying it. That’s why I’d love to see a demo offer on Carv’s website. Right now, the only way to try Carv is to buy a year’s subscription. And $250 is a pretty significant chunk of change (at least in my book) to buy something sight unseen.

However, if you are determined to become a better skier and aren’t afraid to send it on the purchase, I’d encourage you to do so. Carv is amazing technology, no matter how you use it. Over the season, it trained me to focus on where my technique was the weakest. That mindset alone helped me improve, even when I wasn’t using the sensors and app.