To accomplish your goals of carving more and achieving better edge hold, you'll use the Phantom Move assisted by shortening of the free leg. This will increase edge angle and therefore carving. Once you practice these movements, your carving on steeper slopes, icier runs, and at higher speeds will improve. Carving in these conditions requires a greater edge angle of your stance ski. If the stance ski is insufficiently angled to the snow, the ski will simply let go, and start skidding sideways. However, just edging the stance ski harder by trying to press on the big-toe edge or driving the knee into the turn doesn't accomplish the performance goals you have set. If you begin with these actions you bring your leg and knee further under your hips rather than moving your hips laterally into the turn. Carving and edging on modern skis become much stronger and more reliable if the stance leg remains longer and the hips move into the center of the turn arc. Modern PMTS™ technique has moved away from the traditional skiing concepts of knee angulation and knee drive to create edging. How, then, do we achieve a greater edge angle of the stance ski without leg steering? By using the Phantom Move and shortening the free leg. The combination of flexing the free leg and pulling the knee up and into the chest will  drop the hips into the turn, bringing the body farther inside the arc of the turn. Once the hips are inside the turn, the stance ski will automatically roll to a higher edge angle. It isn't necessary to use or focus on gross motor movements of the stance leg like lateral leg movements  - they cause unnecessary femur rotation and inward driving of the knee, which result in diminished ski performance. Preliminary If you’re not sure of how to make linked, parallel turns using the Phantom Move, refer to exercises GB-10 and GB-11 in the Primary Movements Teaching System™ Instructor Manual. In Brief On a moderate, groomed pitch, link turns using the Phantom Move. After you release, tip the free foot toward its little-toe edge. While tipping, slowly draw the free foot upward against the stance boot. Meanwhile, keep the outside of the free foot (its little-toe edge) gently in contact with the snow. The free foot should be highest, and thus the free leg "shortest", through the bottom of the arc; at this point, you can begin to release for the next turn. As you relax your stance leg to release and your body starts to move in the direction of the next turn, extend the flexed inside leg until both legs are equally flexed and the skis are flat to the snow. Now tip the new free foot and flex the new free leg to enter the arc of the next turn. Details As usual in the Primary Movements Teaching System™, the free foot plays the greatest role in determining the arc of the turn, and maintaining your balance on the stance ski. Your fore/aft balance can be modulated with the fore/aft position of the free foot. Use primarily the hip flexors and the hamstrings to pull up on the free foot heel and shorten the free leg. When you first try these turns, keep the arch of the free foot in contact with the cuff of the stance boot. If, as you shorten the free leg, the tip of the free ski lifts higher than its tail, pull the free foot slightly back, and keep the base of its big toe in contact with the stance boot as you shorten the free leg. In either case, keep in mind the image of "scalping" the inside ankle bone of the stance foot with the big-toe edge of the free ski. As you flex the free leg to slide that foot up the stance leg, the range of motion for tipping the free foot increases. Take advantage of it! Tipping further will help pull your body inside the arc of the turn. If you’ve never been this far inside a turn, it can be disconcerting. It takes some time to trust that your stance ski will support you and keep arcing. Relax your midsection and actually allow your body to move inside your feet as you tip with the free foot. It’s important to keep the little-toe side of the free foot in gentle contact with the snow. If you simply lift up the free foot without maintaining contact, the movement will be much less effective at pulling your body into the turn. Remember, it’s the body moving into the turn that pulls the stance ski on edge. Summary Use the Phantom Move - lightening and continuous tipping toward the little-toe edge - of the free ski to link turns. Through the arc of each turn, shorten the free leg to draw the free foot up the inside of the stance boot. Keep the outside of the free foot gently brushing the snow, so that the tipping and shortening of the free foot and leg will draw your body inside the arc of the turn. The stance ski will roll to a large edge angle as a result of the body moving inside the turn, and this will keep the ski carving on steeps or icy slopes. Correct use of the arms and poles will enable the upper body to enhance balance and to complement the actions of the feet and skis. End of Lesson

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