There are few things in snowboarding that get me more worked up than when the words ‘carve up the slopes’ drift into my auditory canal.

For some reason, those four innocent words trigger an autonomous nervous reaction that has me reaching for my own neck, death-grip style.

Let’s set the record straight here; ‘carving’ is not just some generic term that can be tossed around like a cheap hooker and used as a substitute for every style of snowboarding from sideslipping to powder turns. By definition, it is impossible to carve in deep powder snow.

Carving dates back to the early days of snowboarding and involves setting an edge in the snow and letting your snowboard’s sidecut do the rest of the work. If you’re carving properly, your track will be a razor-sharp line with no skidding.

‘carving’ is not just some generic term that can be tossed around like a cheap hooker

Riding in hardboots and laying out a solid carve was all the rage back in the day, but in the last few years, the humble carved turn has been making a fighting comeback. We couldn’t be more hyped really: it’s fun, it looks rad and it’s a super efficient way of getting down the hill.

Click through to check out eight sick as hell examples of carving – from the originators in the 80s right through to the cutting edge jib kids who are bringing the art back into the forefront of snowboarding. If you didn’t get the memo, carving is trendy now: