Why telemark...

[Harris]

Yep, as the quotes on this sites headlines may suggest, telemark is a dying thing. But then I started in the early 80s, and telemarking was dead then. I mean you really had to love it back then because the gear sucked so bad: 210 75mm skinny skis. 3 pin bindings. Lace-up boots. And yet, here we are.

I got into telemarking not because I thought is was particularly cool, no, I got into it because I went to a high school where we could ski every day, and my ankles were swollen up and in so much pain from skiing Lange XL boots (Lange Bang) that in order to keep skiing I borrowed my buddy's lace up Asolo Summits and Phoenix 3 medal skis. And then after a few pointers (he raced tele), I was hooked. Why? It was just stupid fun. I haven't been on alpines since save for a few times, and when that mishap occurred I found the boots just as over-restrictive and uncomfortable as I remembered they were when I made the transition.

Do tele markers give telemark a black eye? Yep. There are a lot that do, and that goes way back. Is there a better way to back country? I have no idea; I don't backcountry. I slack country. And... I eat beef rather than granola. So maybe I don't get the thing I'm supposed to get, but I sure love my tele. Again, when done well it is just damn fun.

So... Atomic, quit making your tele skis. I've owned a pair and they weren't all that. Frankly I'm more interested in mounting my free-heel up on your alpine race skis anyway. Hell, we have come so far with the tech we don't need specialty skis anymore.

Regardless of where the industry is going I'll still be making the impossible look pretty and pretty rad. When I started I might be the only tyelemarker on the mountain on any given day. And I was fine with that then. And I'm fine with that now. At least I'm not a jibber.

[lowangle al]

Pure physical pleasure. P turns are fun but there is a lot more going on physicaly in T turns. And then you have the boots, there is no more unatural feeling than wearing DH boots.

[fisheater]

I was hooked on the Telemark turn during the opening of the Lilliheimer Winter Olympics. I had been very curious and interested prior to that opening ceremony from seeing a few telemarkers from time to time. When I watched that train of skiers, snapping off Telemark turns skiing down the ski jump, I was hooked. I still am hooked. If I had some big mountains nearby, I would have some beefy Telemark gear. In Michigan XCD or light tele is all I need. I do make alpine turns when I need to, but it is the tele turn that I enjoy much more.

[jzahnny]

I like it for the same reason I prefer old time banjo to three-finger scruggs style. Something about tracing roots and doing things a little different. Feels more organic. I hadn't skied for years until I moved to Sierra City under the Sierra Buttes about an hour north of Tahoe. There are no lifts on The Buttes and the area has always been popular with Telemarkers even with the advent of AT. Having only skied alpine style I got an AT setup so I could rebuild my ski legs. However, the more I skied that backcountry (and Tahoe groomers now and then) the more captivated I became with the Tele motion. I never thought I'd be able to pull it off but now that I'm really getting on the back ski I'm hooked. There's a groovy sensation I just don't feel in an alpine carve.

[MikeK]

It's infinitely more fun and useful for XCD than // or /\ turns.

Even going straight down in a tele is far more stable with free heels than is the Alpine stance. I suppose if you tuck and stick your ass way out you can get pretty stable with your heels down.

This pretty much says it all:



Fly hundreds of feet through the air with free heels to necessitate 'flying' techniques. Then land at a high rate of speed on a steep slope. If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

[lowangle al]

That device that holds his heel close to the ski would really force you into a tight stance if you could put it on XCD skis.

[MikeK]

Would work nice for NNN... but it would kind of kill you for K+G

[lowangle al]

Unclip it for the k&g

[MikeK]

Al that's too much work for me... I won't even ski the switchbacks because I don't want to have to flip a switch with my pole!

[teledance]

Because Alpine is boring, and I love the ease of BC/ sidecountry on Tele. The turn is more enjoyable too.