Ski Movies

[Johnny]

Woooah! Nice!

There's not even a foot here, but just enough for XCD fun... If you can tolerate rocks... : )

(Update: It's snowing like crazy now!!!)

[Johnny]

Post your favorite movies here. (No TGR stuff please...)

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[Johnny]

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[Johnny]

Just posted yesterday by Dickie, for those who may have missed it: Revenge of The Telemarkers
Tuckermans and Tele at it's best!

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[Raventele]

^^Well, let me say, first of all, that's a cool vid..
And I can appreciate the demo of a practical application for both staggered and double plants..
But I am not really sure what justification there is in calling this Telemark per se , as it seems
to really be just a matter of hopping across the fall-line and assuming a Tele position, which leaves me wondering, seriously, what's the point ? Much easier to just hop across the fall line into a parallel/Alpine position --and some "extreme" skiers (obviously) essentially do just that coupled often with the same double poling and staggered-poling moves using very long poles , and the point is IT IS EASIER to do so on ANY gear.
I dunno, is not the main attraction of Tele skiing the wonderfully fun "swoop" of the turn ?
What's the objective here other than to just do something requiring a lot of work than otherwise necessary ?
BTW, if you watch carefully, you will see that a fair number of times the skiers are landing in an alpine stance and then pushing out to Tele ; is that not a fake-a-something ??

[MikeK]

Well I'm kind of with you... been thinking that for a long time but also I don't really much get the point of skiing like that whether it's tele or alpine. Seems like the actual 'joy' of what they are doing would be just the same on snowshoes, albeit easier to do. Keep in mind it's easy for me to say this because I've never skied anything like that... it simply doesn't appeal to me to ski like that though, and I know it's not easy.

Where really is the fun factor in that except saying that you did it. You are barely moving and just hopping from edge to edge. I've seen videos like this all over on super steeps (usually >45°) using technique like this and it always looks equally 'not fun'.

I guess if the point is survival so you can get down to something that is more skiable in the traditional sense, then yeah... I can see it being useful... but still not interesting.

The helicopter at the end was cool though.

[Raventele]

I dunno..just seems like a terrific amount of energy expended to what end I am unsure..I mean , I cannot think of how Tele-hopping on that gear is somehow either more stable or more fun than just parallel-hopping..
Sometimes I think that when Telemark skiers set out to prove their awesome, they ruined the sport ; it was all "downHILL" from there..

[Teleman]

Heli-tele...at Tucks? Only allowed one year then banned....We got a ride on one then thinking we were sooo good...flew down the East fields to Tucks and almost wiped out hundreds of skiers climbing up....We were not ready for the steepness....But it moved us to go to a much higher level....Last time up there we were doing long swooping arcs and 'owned" Tucks for a day....The mountain allowed this.....Can't say I need any more of it...Memories for me! TM

[MikeK]

They weren't riding a helicopter Tman. I was just referring to the 360° jump at the end.

[Johnny]

Dudes, those guys were like the best telemark skiers on the planet!

Imagine yourself in a 55 degree ravine, with over 6" of super-heavy fresh spring slush with only heavy skis, 3-pin bindings and leather shoes. Seriously, there is no other way to go down. That was 1988! Those guys ROCK!

Of course it's more a technical/personal challenge than actual smooth gliding fun. But hey, drop me anywhere in the springtime where I can ski with only a t-shirt and I'll be having fun, no matter what. Plus, helicopters are just the coolest thing. A lot of people are doing 360's. But only people having true, genuine fun are doing helicopters... : )