Once you can link turns down a blue run, the question changes. It stops being "how do I get down" and becomes "how do I get good". And that's where two paths open up: freestyle and carving. People ask me which one to book all the time, so here's how I'd decide.
What carving actually is
Carving is riding on the edge of the board so it bends and draws a clean arc — no skidding, no sliding sideways. Done right, you leave a thin pencil line in the snow instead of a smeared one, and the board comes round almost on its own. It's the closest snowboarding gets to flying. Fast, smooth, and quietly addictive.
Carving is about the ground: edge angle, where your weight sits, how patient you are through the turn. It rewards riders who like the feeling of speed and control more than tricks.
What freestyle actually is
Freestyle is everything playful — riding switch (with your other foot forward), buttering on the flats, small jumps, the park, learning to be loose and creative on the board. It's less about one perfect line and more about owning the board in every situation.
Freestyle builds a different kind of confidence: comfort with being a bit off-balance, with the board doing something unexpected, with landing. That comfort pays off everywhere, not just in the park.
Which one fits where you are?
Here's the honest version:
- You love speed and the feeling of a clean turn. Start with carving. It'll make every run you already ride feel better immediately.
- You feel stiff, cautious, or "stuck" on the board. Freestyle, even just butters and riding switch on gentle ground, loosens that up faster than anything.
- You want to ride the whole mountain well. You'll end up doing both. They're not rivals — carving makes your freestyle landings stable, and freestyle makes your carving relaxed.
If you genuinely can't decide, book a Go Deep session — four hours is enough to taste both and find which one lights you up. We'll film as we go, and the video lands on your phone after, so you can actually see the difference between a carved turn and a skidded one.
The base is the same
Whatever you pick, there's one foundation underneath it: how you distribute your weight on the board. Without a good spread of weight the clean turns don't come, and you can't take on a jump or a feature either. Freestyle loosens your hips and body and teaches you to use your upper body; carving zeroes in on weight distribution and leaning properly on the edges. Different paths — but in the base, everything helps everything.
A myth worth killing
People think freestyle is for teenagers and carving is for "serious" riders. Neither is true. I teach butters to adults who just want to feel playful again, and I teach carving to kids who love going fast. Pick the one that sounds like more fun — fun is what makes you practise, and practice is the whole game.
What a session looks like
Whichever you choose, the shape is the same: we warm up on terrain you're comfortable with, I watch a few turns and pick the one thing holding you back, and we work on that until it sticks. Not ten corrections at once — one, done properly. Then we build from there.
For carving, that one thing is usually weight too far back or rushing the turn. For freestyle, it's usually a tense upper body and looking down instead of ahead. Small fixes, big difference.
Still not sure?
That's completely normal, and it's exactly what the first part of a lesson is for. Tell me what you enjoy and what frustrates you on the board, and I'll point you at the path that'll get you there fastest. Pick a date, meet me at the COLORS door at Flumserberg, and we'll find out together. Questions first? Call me: +41 76 638 18 70.