Greetings! I'm all about the midwest hardwoods...

[JeffXCD]

Hi all! Glad to be here!

I'm into XCD in the mellow ridges of the hardwoods midwest. I won't travel much. But I sure have fun skiing our singletrack trails then carving the corn or pounding the pow whenever it comes our way. And we do get enough to have a few powder parties each season.

I like both striding and turning and also doing our wee but awesome uptracks with the gang on whatever heavy gear we have. Our ridges might only be 100 feet high but they can be steep and full of "features," so some of us even use AT gear. It's all good! Usually everyone is skiing something quite a bit different from each other. I'm still into my old Asolo Extremes and Dynastars w cables and kickwax for my uptrack fun -- i wouldn't mind trying wider shaped rockered skis, tho, more often.

We are known to throw in awesome apres' parties and bonfires right next to the skiing. We are fortunate to have an awesome wild foods chef in our midst. So it's about that, too.

Our gang really likes the NNN-BC and Rossi BC 10 boots and Spiders up to Guides.

Here's an article I posted on my site: http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/earning- ... west/2251/.

Here's a video of the residential part of our style. We also get out in the boonies:

[STG]

JeffXCD:

Thanks for posting the video (pow looks nice) and commentary. You guys are smooth, skilled telemark skiers. You don't need a lot of elevation to enjoy a telemark turn. Hope you keep posting more of your experiences.

[D'hostie]

Very awesome. Checked out some of your other videos too. Good stuff, keep up the stoke!

[Verskis]

The article on your site was great! Really good introduction to rolling hills XCD skiing, which resembles what I'm doing on my local forest behind my house (although you seem to be much more skillfull ). I don't have that many glades, but there are places with not-so-dense trees where turns can be made. And there are a lot of narrow trails which are also fun to stride along.
It's a pity that this kind of skiing is so "underground" also here in Finland that it doesn't even cross most people's mind to do something like that, and almost no shops carry the gear for that. It's all groomed slope alpine skiing or groomed track xc skiing around here, if you ask common public or the retailers.
Well, then there's the traditional Finnish forest skis that are about 2.5m long and made only for covering the distance on flat land. Maybe they are good for hunters etc. but they sure are no tools for having fun.

Although I must say that recently there has been some hype around integrated skin "ski-shoes" like Altai Hoks or OAC Kars. This is what sparked my interest as well, after getting the OACs I discovered how fun it is to play around on snow on local hills! The only problem is that the snow cover has been really thin for a few winters in a row now, don't know if it is bad luck or global warming causing that...

Anyway, never mind my rambling and keep up the good work!

[Johnny]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!
Looking forward for more of your videos this winter...!

"Out your back door" is the philosophy of a lot of people here...

[connyro]

It's great to see fellow midwesterners enjoying the snow. There's a few of us on this board. I'm in the UP and although we have a little bit more wilderness, snowpack, and vertical, we do the same basic thing your crew does: touring for turns in the hardwoods! I saw on your website that you ski those Marquette Backcountry skis: it's cool to see people using them! They are fun, but for touring for turns, I like something that's faster on the tour and better for the turns like the Voile V6/Vectors BCs or the KOMs. Let's hope for cold, and snow (lots of lake effect!!!) this season.

[fisheater]

Hello Jeff, welcome from Oakland County Michigan. Cool video, I look forward to seeing more.

[Woodserson]

This is great, dude, thanks for sharing! I too am I big fan of the Ross BCX 10 boot for nnn-bc, it's a nice one!

It's all about the small shots, close to home. I am carefully grooming my spots for this winter as we speak! (kindof)

[Cannatonic]

Your ski terrain looks good to me, the biggest "summits" in my town are also about 100 feet vertical and it's a lot of fun!

[Digger]

Schralping the midwest gnar is where the tele turn is fun. In the woods or on a golf course. Earn your turns 100' at a time. Light gear in the right place is a hoot!