This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
Mike, Belleayre and I believe Plattekill Mtn in the Catskills have tele instruction. And, they have women who teach all downhill disciplines. Both hills have nice long easy trails to go play on afterward. The BC conditions here in southern NY are going to hell in a hand basket quick with the recent heat wave and rains, but on the groom, the time to learn is now.
A phone call or two to them will get you the answers and learning conditions you are looking. An hour or two of lift served skiing with instruction will fast track your wife into safe, fun BC skiing much quicker than trying to teach herself, or in dribs and drabs over the next few seasons.
Additionally, I believe the ADK does a BC clinic each season. It may have already passed for this season as has the BC fest where tele instruction was available at Otis Mtn. Both options will be back next season as well.
"There's a whole lot of reward on the other side of risk."
Hey Mike it sounds like your wife is like my wife when it comes to doing laps on a tour. After a couple runs she's ready to move on. This changed when I got her some vectors that she skis with t2s. They have made the down more fun for her and she rarely falls anymore. This alone has increased the time we spend doing turns in steeper terrain which is what she needs to get to the next level. She is probably an advanced intermediate skier with no alpine backround who has no problem turning skinny skis with leather boots and pins.
She learned by skiing behind me and I am self tought through books and vids so it was a long process. She also was not receptive to my trying to give her pointers. If she fell on a run she would usually blame me because I shouted out " keep your hands out in front of you" or some other tip.
Neither of us has had a lesson since the mid 80s, we learned by doing a lot of laps on the same hill. This controlls the variables of slope angle and snow conditions allowing you to concentrate on your technique and how your skis want to turn.
I know you prefer lighter gear but for me any tour that I plan on making turns I will go with my t2s. The only time I'll go out with my "xcd " stuff is when I know the conditions are optimal. That is usually after a couple inches of new on a packed trail. I used to ski my light stuff, xcd-gt, for all my skiing that didn't require skinning but my local multiuse trails have been taken over by dog walkers, bikers, sledders and the occationl horse and dog musher. This made it a hazard with the light set up but could be done safely on heavier gear. My wife and I both have pre existing injuries and I still have to work for a living so safety trumps light weight for me.
She skied the Crispi one time with the Epoch and said she didn't like the way it felt on a steeper section of trail... meh... I'm trying to help her find a happy medium between flats and hills - she doesn't really need those plastic boots for 5 miles of flat with one steep section.
We're really just trail skiers. Who knows WTF you call it anymore? I call it BC Nordic. We ski on groomed tracks maybe twice a year or so, the rest is on ungroomed trails, fields, unplowed roads, etc... I almost never need to make turns - I could get by with a power snowplow on 99% of the stuff we ski. I realized last year when I got into that 1% where I literally couldn't turn my skis or snowplow due to the terrain and snow conditions that I needed to expand my skiing expertise.
I had learned about turning XC skis before hand, but I just never really thought it necessary. I mean I used to ski the most difficult trails at Mendon Ponds Park (it has some steep section) on 215's with huge camber and no metal edge - people used to do it all the time. They flat groom the trails so that helps, but still this whole turning skinny skis kind of got out of hand...
I started playing around with it and once I realized it wasn't impossible, I started to do it everywhere I could. I'd be perfectly happy just going along learning slowly and slowly progressing to more difficult terrain. I really could care less about skiing anything steep. There are however mountains I'd like to climb in the winter and I think it would be more fun on skis that snowshoes. Plus I feel like I get way less tired climbing in skis...
My wife is just getting curious - she sees me dabbling around with it and remembers she took a lesson about this before she really even knew how to ski. Now it's coming back and she's wanting to play around a little more.
I don't think she doesn't like the yo-yo because of falling. She actually doesn't fall much on that type of stuff - usually the falls come from other, unexpected things i.e. weird snow, bombing a hill and losing balance, slips and trips, etc... I usually go pretty slow down new hills and turn to kind of slow to show her how to keep herself in control. She usually falls when she goes first... picks up too much speed, freaks out, and tries to slow down too late - just novice mistakes. Sure a good skier could just blast some of these runs, but it doesn't promote being in control of the ski. That's my focus, and what I try to convey to her... no matter what the ski is.
So anyway I'd rather not use different gear or give anymore crutches, just learn to ski with what we have... because honestly it's way more than we used to ski with 20 years ago... and we aren't skiing anything that much more difficult.
Mike, it is sounding to me like what you need to do is find yourself a golf course,or any open hillside, and go work some laps on some wide open soft hills till she gets the hang of skiing downhill. Let her experiment, mirror what you've learned, on her own gear. When she's comfy with it, then head out on some more wild terrain. Even laps on a mild hill in a big field will offer some practice that will pay off when you're back in the woods.
Or, with the season coming to a close soon, maybe earning those turns at the local ski hill, no lift, no crowds, no fees. After the lifts close, Belleayre allows folks to skin, or just XC ski till there's nothing but dirt.
Good luck.
"There's a whole lot of reward on the other side of risk."
I hear ya Mike, my wife is fanatical about her merrils and 30 yr old xcd-gts but she just didn't know what was good for her. She resisted touring in plastic boots for a long time. Skiing heavier stuff made her a better and safer skier and now she loves it too. I know we all have different goals, but if you do plan on making turns on Nordic gear, don't you want to do it well? You can learn on light gear, I did, but it is going to take a lot of laps. The people I see on xcd gear doing the same loops as me ski (poodleing) down the good hills once and keep going. They will never get good like that. The people who were good on the old gear 25 years ago either spent a lot of time at the resort or toured for turns exclusively.
Mike, I can't blame ya for using what you've got but I wouldn't consider heavier gear a crutch. It is just another tool to make more of the snow you have more skiable. I was back in NE Pa. last month and the snow cover was fantastic but there were buried crust layers that made it less than ideal off trail. I had a few good runs through the trees but was not master of the terrain, with fatter skis it would have skied great all over.
When I move back east in a few years I will definitly have a pair of vector bc or maybe even some chargers for off trail along with the xcd-gts for the trails.
I'm tempted not to reply anymore because I feel like I'm coming across and a self-righteous douche, and that is not my intent at all...
I want to be good at anything I do but I'll admit even I'm not all that excited about yo-yoing. I've done it a few days this year on short hills, about 50' vert or so and I can wiggle turns down them in the best conditions on my most turny skis and stiffest boots but I get bored and want to ski something different, or the conditions are absolutely brutal and I just crash and wobble around, so I get bored with that and go ski something different.
It's not really my passion. I think I've spent too much time internet skiing with people who's passion it is, and they seem to try to make me feel less for not doing it. For me it's more of a pet project to dink around with a few times a year. I really much rather enjoy skiing in the wilderness away from other people, ski instructors, my job, things that bother me about the world, etc... If I can wiggle a few turns down a hill when the conditions are nice, then it's an added bonus I guess...
If I do get serious about it I'll go to a place with slow lifts and no crowds and flail around on green groomers until I can't stand up anymore.
And I know the golf course gets a bad rap but I know one in the Adirondacks that I want to play around on after an early season dump just because it has some many really cool features and steep ups and downs. I skied there for about an hour this year then got into explorer mode and skied off into woods along some old un-marked logging trail. I had a lot fun on that trail.
