A new take on an old time favorite...

[Teleman]

Heh...hooklinesinker...spit....nope...BUT THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BEAT LEATHER.....................DUH.....Will be on the wide long boards tomorrow....pins....Merrill bought at a used sporting good store, xcd...really!!!! Merril Ultra was a part of your leg....beyond boot!!!!!!!! Oh and...er...can a free heel be free with something on it....like a CABLE....Huh?....TM

[connyro]

Heh...hooklinesinker...spit....nope...BUT THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BEAT LEATHER.....................DUH.....Will be on the wide long boards tomorrow....pins....Merrill bought at a used sporting good store, xcd...really!!!! Merril Ultra was a part of your leg....beyond boot!!!!!!!! Oh and...er...can a free heel be free with something on it....like a CABLE....Huh?....TM

Not like I can understand what you are saying, but don't those Merrell Ultra ski boots have big-ol plastic inserts in the ankles? Where does one draw the line?

[MikeK]

Teleman is a language that takes some time to master. I'm not sure there is any way to be sure if you are deciphering correctly, much like hieroglyphs, as the only way to know for sure would be to converse with the source leading you into a circular loop.

Johnny and I had some dialogue about plastic reinforced leather boots on one of those other threads he linked. Take from it what you will. The line probably isn't a line but more of a wide zone. I do agree with Johnny that T4s and Excursions are Telemark boots - they much more closely resemble those than they do XC ski boots.

I'm not really sure what all this matters except for some entertainment and tales of knights? No really, can we hear more about the knights... that is my favorite part.

[Teleman]

Doubt very much if the Ultra had any plastic in them....The Andrews I still have...if I ever go to a ski area....have injected rubber....If you can get 40,ooo miles on tires...what the hell.....But these new oldies seem to be all leather...as were the Ultras....What it really comes down to is....As an oldie I primarily finesse ski....Power never played a large part in my kinda skiing....Sooo don't need any of that stinkin, hulkin, no movement...no feeling shroud of plastic....Leather is the MOST comfortable and moves with your movement....You can actually FEEL what's IN the snow....Fact will be heading shortly....Not sure if I wanna break out a mile or so into the gonz or just plaster a few more arcs before the back seizes up....Are the e99's to short for that kind of break? 205's....If arcing...big wide fat and LONG will work...Decisions...AND ya better be on the BACK ski or your gonna Superman.....TM

[lowangle al]

My take on XCD is more about where I ski than what gear I'm using. I've been skiing the same trails and meadows with all of my different gear. From leather with 3 pins and 55 mm double camber to 4 buckle boots(now retired) and 110 mm waist skis with sw x2s. What I use is determined by snow conditions. I feel like it's all the same sport, XCD.

When it ceases to be XCD and turns into something else is when I enter avy terrain. That is when you need other skills, more gear, and you will most likely be skinning. Maybe the difference may just be when you stop kicking and gliding for turns and switch to skins.

[Teleman]

Skins are such a pain....we mostly wax or bone....with wax being the better of the two....Got a chuckle out of your post LA....thinking of Telekid a couple of days back....He was blasting the lower Vortex a steep open but tight shot on a ridge....He was on the biggest Sbound of the early models....179 and that was and is to short for the conditions but the kid being Telekid blasts it anyway...But....he MUST sit back or it's gonna be a superman dive...Those are good pictures....TM