Check out this trailer for the new Russian film Carving Moments. It almost makes you want to become a snowboarder.
No one ever admits they enjoy skiing groomers anymore. An enthusiastic, “I love the groomers!” is usually met with a snicker on the chairlift and a sideways look of pity. Everyone knows that Alaskan spines are where its at. Long swaths of deep uncut snow is all that’s worth skiing anymore.
Unless you’re not a sponsored pro. If you’re one of the 99% that spend most of their time within the ski area boundaries, then you probably haven’t skied an Alaskan spine in a while. Nor have you skied 2,000 feet of untouched powder, not at least since January anyway. Or done a front flip off a cornice. Or built a thirty-foot kicker in the backcountry.
But you probably have skied a groomer this season. Even if it was just a means of getting from one off-piste run to another. You might have even enjoyed it.
Even though I don’t have carving skis, I still like ripping long, fast turns on easy groomers occasionally. I’ll admit it. Sometimes I even seek these runs out. Not always, but sometimes.
This trailer makes me want to go out and do it again.
Thanks to Gregg over at www.slopefillers.com for turning me on to this film. I look forward to seeing it in full.
Kim Kircher 
This reminds me of some night sessions – waiting for them to drop the rope on freshly groomed slopes. There’s definitely something to be said for carving deep on pristine groomers. I don’t think I was getting quite *that* low on my board though. 🙂
Bracken, I know! I’m impressed by how low these guys get. The conditions look perfect too.
Kim, I agree with you completely. I’m not the least bit embarrassed to admit I love skiing groomers. Didn’t we have fun on them at Big Sky?
Indeed Wendy. I think that a mark of a good (and happy!) skier is one who can ski any conditions with a smile. You certainly fit that description.
Thanks for sharing! It’s beautiful.
For us in Colorado, this has been a season to “rediscover” the groomer. With thin early season snow, groomers were about all we had for a while. While we yearned for our favorite double blacks, ripping wide arcs is certainly better than not skiing at all.
Cheers!
I agree Kristen. Like my friend Michelle always says, “Any skiing is better than none!”
There is a feeling of power to really carve a ski into fresh corduroy, when the skis make that big c shape outside your body. Powder is lots of fun, but a different experience. Groomers make you feel like you can ski anything, and it is usually less forgiving when you make a mistake–I think my biggest crashes have been on groomers.
So true. I love the feeling of really laying it over. I demoed a pair of Rossi Experience 88s earlier this year and had a blast. They held well on the groomers and I could let them rip. If I lost an edge, it would have been ugly, but they held on.
I love groomers and I LOVE Crystal’s PB 600s!!! 😀
I prefer groomers. Seriously!
Did you see my post on the Alyeska blog about the groomers? http://blog.alyeskaresort.com/mountain-news/hug-a-groomer/
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One of my most memorable days of 10-11 season was an industry demo day at Mission Ridge. The resort was closed to the public, and a couple hundred advanced and expert skiers and boarders shared private groomers. Since most people could actually carve, all the criss crossing arcs in the snow looked really cool. It was also the first time I had bothered to try out the latest carving skis. With all the crazy progress in ski shapes for off-piste, I had entirely neglected carving/shaped skis the past 8 years. I had a blast digging trenches in those firm groomers. Shhhh, please don’t tell anyone I admitted that!