Balanced carving turns in alpine skiing

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we analyse the model of pure carving turns in alpine skiing and snowboarding based on the usual assumption of approximate balance between forces and torques acting on the skier during the turn. The approximation of torque balance yields both lower and upper limits on the skier speed, which depend only on the sidecut radius of skis and the slope gradient. We use the model to simulate carving runs on slopes of constant gradient and find that pure carving is possible only on slopes of relatively small gradient, with the critical slope angle in the range of $8^{\circ }-{20}^{\circ }$. The exact value depends mostly on the coefficient of snow friction and to a lesser degree on the sidecut radius of skis. Comparison with the practice of ski racing shows that the upper speed limit and the related upper limit on the slope gradient set by the model are too restrictive and so must be the assumption of torque balance used in the model. A more advanced theory is needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Alpine skiing
• modelling
• balance/stability
• performance

Acknowledgments

The non-trivial calculations of this study were carried out with the software package Maple (Maple is a trademark of Waterloo Maple Inc.).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).