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.
I sold lots of tele skis in the 1980s and 90s; many of those foam core tele and nordic skis lost their camber fairly quickly, the alpine cambered skis going flat, and the nordic skis losing most of their wax pockets.
Yup. Low point of ski quality. Not tech. Just cheap. I skied many such hand me downs coming from that era. Then transitioned from serious casual to serious competition. Moved to laminate core. Night and day. Hard to tell difference between good and bad when skiing at 30%. Everything feels ok, good enough.
Still not certain if these are foam core though. One reference only. Who knows. Lots of foo online, especially with vintage gear People writing from memory. Camber does look low. OP could have something more to say about ski stiffness. Esp on camber.
Worst nordic skis were some of the Rossi and Karhu low and mid price range touring ski models. By far the worst of the tele skis for losing camber were Karhus, Swallow, some of the Rossignol models, and just about every single pair of Truckers ever made. Experienced this myself a few times. Those companies, Karhu esp., replaced lots of skis under warranty.
My 220cm is a 1989-1990 season Karhu Lahti SC1 classic touring ski ($129 CAD according to the price stickers still on the skis; was that low-end back then?) with a flattened-out foam core. I think the flattening out actually made it a better touring ski. It was obviously made for much heavier people (listed in classifieds along with size 46 boots), but has flattened out into a 1.5 camber appropriate for my weight (around 75kg). The flex is even, and since so much of the running surface is on the snow it is great on crust; either does not break through due to the surface area, or sinks smoothly and evenly when it does. It is really good at bridging depressions - I can ski a post-holed trail and barely feel it. It climbs better than some of my shorter, higher-cambered skis. The long running surface cancels out any drag from the low camber. What was really surprising is that it held onto klister for almost 20km in abrasive snow, without any base binder. If only it had metal edges.
I think Erik's skis would work great for spring touring on wider trails.
Just took these skis over to Hesperus to Enjoy some corn snow, (it was super nice). when I got there I ran into none other than TallGrass! Remember, the chances of encountering another pinhead in 2023 are slim but never zero!
My 205 and 215's are waiting for a warm corny day and they will melt the snow at Stowe. Double camber makes it way better and do they fly with rooster tails spraying. The wider the trail the better. Head them down and all the rest happens without thought as the skis speed down with little effort to turn them. A total blast and in my opinion possibly the best ride one can get on snow. Wild! Awesome! Fantastic. TM
Just took these skis over to Hesperus to Enjoy some corn snow, (it was super nice). when I got there I ran into none other than TallGrass! Remember, the chances of encountering another pinhead in 2023 are slim but never zero!
Serendipitous fun running into you and your crew, @Erik H!
Little backstory on our boot photo. You see, I ditched gear and parked down the road, only to realize I left my 3pin boots when back to ski. So, I rigged up a binding to skin/scale up on my epoxied thrift Rossi's with one black shoestring per ski. Really makes one focus on technique!
So Erik's pic is his boots compared to mine -- the 'what I wore' vs my 'shoulda wore.'
