XCD: a history...

[paulk]

you read my mind, Mind. I have been this, this, this close to Excurions, but I reel back and say I want to stay on the side of ultralight and feel. I will gladly wear the burliest leather boots,--I just found a pair of used, very high cuff Scarpa asolo 75mm which I'm loving. I DON'T want to cross the plastic line, I want to keep it light and keep the feel and try to make less more by working skills.

[lowangle al]

For me it's different, but it wasn't always that way. The first time I tried out my leather telemark boots I thought there was no way I could tour in them. Same with plastic. But I stuck with it, got used to it, and now I like it. It's like paddling two canoes with different hull shapes, one might get you there faster but both are enjoyable to paddle.

There isn't much difference if any in the time that it takes me to do a particular tour regardless of what gear I'm on. The time differences have more to do with snow conditions(for K&G) than gear. That being said, my leather boots are probably burlier and heavier than than anything you have excluding your T2s. The lighter XCD stuff I'm sure is faster.

To me heavy gear isn't only for the steep and deep. It can make crappy conditions skiable fun, whereas it may be survival skiing at best on light gear. There are also low angle meadows that I need my fattest skis for, otherwise I can't get up enough speed. If you live in a place with long snowy winters you can afford to wait out the bad snow, otherwise you have to take advantage of all opportunities.

I think Confusious said it best "Free The Heel, Free The Mind." Or is that from the Bible?

[MikeK]

It's not about speed for me. Sometimes I go painfully slow... but I do like to open it up take some long strides.

It's really about the FEEEEEL. Like a round flexing ski, a round flexing boot sole is a thing of beauty. A comfortable boot is a joy to wear.

And the feel going down is something else... the smallest hills can feel like a mountain. The Zen of finding your balance. The feeling of being on top of the skis, and feeling every bit of the snow. I wouldn't trade it.

I know I can't ski difficult stuff this way. But it makes skiing "easy" terrain exciting. I cannot tell you how much fun I've had on 15 degree slopes of 50' vert that would be a bore with Alpine. I would have never even bothered. And I recall how I used to XC ski and would never want to go back. Going down was a PITA then, now I seek it.

I'm not even a great Alpiner and I've been bored at all the resorts close to me. I can ski all the trails pretty well and the minutia that takes you from an upper intermediate to an expert is boring to me. It's something for PSIA instructors to test each other over. If I was racer, I'd care, because I'd want to win... but for just skiing... why?

XCD makes you free. XC makes you free. I look at EVERYTHING and think... could I ski that? Would I ski that? And it's simple shit, not fucking couloirs and cliffs, because I don't have those and I don't have a death wish.

Maybe if I lived somewhere with big mountains and lots of snow, I might change my tune... I might push myself more and aspire to ski harder on difficult stuff.

It's cool if you like plastic boots - I'm sure I will for Tele on hardpack. But it's not like I don't now what plastic feels like and the advantages. It's just a personal preference. I don't have anyone to keep up with... I just do my own thing, and I prefer it that way.

[lowangle al]

It's not about speed for me. Sometimes I go painfully slow... but I do like to open it up take some long strides.

It's really about the FEEEEEL. Like a round flexing ski, a round flexing boot sole is a thing of beauty. A comfortable boot is a joy to wear.

And the feel going down is something else... the smallest hills can feel like a mountain. The Zen of finding your balance. The feeling of being on top of the skis, and feeling every bit of the snow. I wouldn't trade it.

I know I can't ski difficult stuff this way. But it makes skiing "easy" terrain exciting. I cannot tell you how much fun I've had on 15 degree slopes of 50' vert that would be a bore with Alpine. I would have never even bothered. And I recall how I used to XC ski and would never want to go back. Going down was a PITA then, now I seek it.

I'm not even a great Alpiner and I've been bored at all the resorts close to me. I can ski all the trails pretty well and the minutia that takes you from an upper intermediate to an expert is boring to me. It's something for PSIA instructors to test each other over. If I was racer, I'd care, because I'd want to win... but for just skiing... why?

XCD makes you free. XC makes you free. I look at EVERYTHING and think... could I ski that? Would I ski that? And it's simple shit, not fucking couloirs and cliffs, because I don't have those and I don't have a death wish.

Maybe if I lived somewhere with big mountains and lots of snow, I might change my tune... I might push myself more and aspire to ski harder on difficult stuff.

It's cool if you like plastic boots - I'm sure I will for Tele on hardpack. But it's not like I don't now what plastic feels like and the advantages. It's just a personal preference. I don't have anyone to keep up with... I just do my own thing, and I prefer it that way.

I am exactly like you Mike, just more experienced. It took a long time for me to appreciate the "feel" in plastic boots, especially since I resisted wearing them. But I finally got there in spite of myself. I understand how you feel, I was there myself but now I know there is no freedom like having the right gear for the conditions. Don't forget that I still use my light gear, but I am no longer interested in making it work in poor conditions, I had too many years of that.

[montrealer]

Rod - j'ai vraiment aimé l'article, c'est un très bon résumé! je viens de télécharger la vidéo italienne que t'a linké au fond et j'ai hâte de le voir. ça l'air intéressant...

I know I can't ski difficult stuff this way. But it makes skiing "easy" terrain exciting. I cannot tell you how much fun I've had on 15 degree slopes of 50' vert that would be a bore with Alpine

agree!

It's really about the FEEEEEL. Like a round flexing ski, a round flexing boot sole is a thing of beauty. A comfortable boot is a joy to wear.

And the feel going down is something else... the smallest hills can feel like a mountain. The Zen of finding your balance. The feeling of being on top of the skis, and feeling every bit of the snow. I wouldn't trade it.

fuck yeah!

To me heavy gear isn't only for the steep and deep. It can make crappy conditions skiable fun, whereas it may be survival skiing at best on light gear.

also agree!

I'm glad to have access to varying levels of heaviness + burliness. That said, every time I go back to XC skis + boots after some time on heavier gear it's such a breath of fresh air.

[MikeK]

I'm not out to prove anything to be honest... I agree using what makes sense for you is what you should do. But I also don't mind picking my activity based on the conditions.

As much as I'm diving into the world of plastic 3 pins that is so familiar to most Telemarkers; them diving into NNN XCD would be along the same lines. The stigma that it has is largely imagined, and I'm not sure why. I had it myself and I've admitted it many times. If it weren't for certain people on this forum I might have never tried. And if I had some preconceived expectations of the feel I might have given up too quickly. I think the same can be said for 3 pin to NTN at least from reading the feedback. But Tele progressed to NTN, it didn't digress to NNN-BC. XCD largely stayed routed in tradition and siphoned off a little of the tech that Tele had pushed to the back burner.

I think plastic boots actually forced 75mm leathers to get kinda shitty because the people that were buying them wanted better touring performance (it must be true based on the market) and those that wanted dh performance went right to plastic. Those that followed modern XC (like the Norwegians) kept developing their new systems until they actually became better than the old... it seems that wasn't the case 20 years ago. Look at NTN - it gets better and better and opening it up to other companies has already improved it immensely. As for NNN, the binding has remained unchanged, but perhaps the boot manufacturers wizened up a bit and realized what they could exploit. It could still be better... far better... but there aren't enough manufacturers competing for that market nor are there enough buyers who care to support it.