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.
well I went out after lunch and skinned the East route to the summit. its about 3 miles, 2500ft vert to 6700 elevation. it was about -1F when I started. I was very warm on the way up. thankfully I hit up a sweet ski consignment shop in Whitefish this morning( runner up sports) and bought a used Mountain Hardware shell. it was great to have. by the time I reached the summit, there was some wind and it was cold. I transitioned in the summit lodge and put on all the warm layers I had in my pack. there is nothing better than taking off some wet layers and putting on some nice cozy parka that is dry for the ski down. but skiing down 3,000 ft to get home was chilly.
The idea of skinning up to a lodge to transition to the downhill is pretty damn nice!
Very civilized.
"That's the way you do it....Money for nothin' and your chicks for free...."
haha. I do realize that my recent skinning experiences are not exactly hardcore backcountry, but its a great introduction. its basically the opposite of the way I grew up: tramping through the VT and NY State backcountry with my dad, with maybe a Hershey bar in my pocket and hoping not to break a wooden ski.
waited until the afternoon so the temp was only -1F. it was -11F when I woke up. decided to take a few runs on the tele skis. ideally I'll be alternating uphill and downhill days for the rest of my time here. btw, I realize that most of my ski videos look the same. POV, ski tips, ski slope. I wish I had one of those poles to hold my gopro. I may drive over to Kalispel and see if I can find one. short of getting that pole mount, if anyone has any ideas on how to make these vids more interesting, let me know
ok, I think I found my limit. just walked outside and its -20. summit is -40 with windchill. unless it warms up at least 20 degrees, its officially a no ski day.
no-one asked for it, but here's how to skin up from base to summit in 2 minutes...everyday I'm shuffling....sorry, this is what happens when its -40 outside
I bought a selfie-stick for my gopro so I can be in the videos now. Today I skinned to the summit. it was -30F at the top. going up was ok temp wise, but I was getting cold at the top. the lifts were all closed because of the cold, which meant the summit lodge was closed. tomorrow I will shoot tele video going downhill. hopefully I can keep my balance with my arm at a weird angle holding the camera.
The GoPro is a tough little unit if it can handle those temps, if I take my iPhone out for a few minutes for a picture or video it wants to shut down pretty quickly.
I have the camera in a protective case that fits the mount. it keeps the snow and ice off the camera body at least, it also helps with wind noise. hard to say if the cold effects the battery though. some days I feel like I get 45 mins of recording, other days about 75 mins
it was cold again today, so I avoided the top of the mountain where it was -35F or so. I skied the bottom runs and recorded a video called: How I ski Telemark. I thought at first I would make a "how to" video, but decided I am not the right guy to attempt to teach anyone about skiing. so that's how I ended up with How I Ski Telemark...I completely underestimated the difficulty of skiing with a self-stick in one hand and my poles in the other. not being able to position my hands where I wanted them or make pole plants turned out to be a big deal for me. I know there are plenty of vids of people shredding holding cameras....well they are simply better than I am.
