I define carving as leaving two distinct lines in the snow. I grew up skiing on a pretty flat hill with only 320 vert and no bumps. Maybe couple of jumps for three weeks a year. I skied their every day after school for five years. I quickly got to the point where i craved every turn.
Carving forces you to go really fast or to use a lot of the hill. Therefore carving is not the best idea when its crowded or when the trail is steep and in poor condition.
If the trail is crowded i usually wait till it thins out and then carve my turns. Nevertheless I still often carve trails that everyone else skids. For example I have never seen anyone carve the whole way done the yodeler trail at holiday valley. I love to carve this run in the morning when its empty and groomed but i do have to carve a few turns uphill.
This is really only a problem from the PSIA perspective but if I skided more i would undoubtly be a better skier off the groomed that is to say my excessive carving makes me a slightly less versatile skier.
