Light gear does a good telemarker make?

[Inspiredcapers]

^^Yup^^

[Lhartley]

I look at it though the lens where I MAY find myself on the wrong gear someday. For example, out exploring the outer reaches of my nordic centers and I find a new to me untouched powder stash while I'm on my e99s. Would I ski this slope the same as I would on my blizzard zero g95? To illustrate here is a recent video from Jered again



All due respect to anyone with the instincts to always be on the proper gear, but I'd like to be competent in the situation where I'm finding myself with the incorrect tool. Had I found myself on this slope I'd handle it no problem with plastic boots, active bindings and fat skis. Would I slow down and learn this technique illustrated? Hell no. Now, I know there's a huge difference between survival skiing on twigs, and all mountain shredding on modern "heavy" tele gear. My experience the other day showed me that when I got out of my comfort zone and got off the chair with m68's, I was forced to use some techniques i wouldn't even think about on my normal all mountain gear

[lilcliffy]

Well- I do find myself in steep challenging terrain- typically densely forested- and highly variable- including VERY deep- snow- on truly "light" (ie Nordic touring) XC ski equipment-

My limited experience suggests that if one wants to ski steep terrain on "XC" skis-boots- one needs to pratice on that equipment-
I have yet to see much evidence that those that spend all their time skiing steep terrain on modern downhill equipment, are by default highly skilled at skiing steep terrain on "XC" skis-boots-

But- (getting back to the OP)- I don't think that this means that "light gear makes a better telemarker"-

I think that spending time working on downhill skills on "light" gear, leads towards mastering downhill skiing on "light" gear-

Just as spending time working on downhill skills on "heavy" gear, leads towards mastering downhill skiing on "heavy" gear.
I have witnessed many intermediate to advances modern downhill skiers that are physically lost when they point XC skis-boots downhill.

Balance, strength and fitness supports all skiing.

[Lhartley]

I hear ya there and I can respect that, although I find light gear to have a pretty straight forward learning curve to p-turn. Take that guy that posted himself doing a lap at the resort in only shorts doing strictly p-turns. You think that guy chose to p-turn for fun and he would have been able to tele that whole lap? I think he did parallel turns because he couldnt tele. But I can't remember the whole story and can't find the thread now

[BEVL]

I have only this seasons experience telemarking so take this with a grain of salt, but I started on xc skis to learn the fundamentals before I could find a deal on heavier downhill gear that fit my budget. I absolutely feel that my technique is better on the heavier gear due to my initial practice on the light gear. I will keep skiing both setups for use in different terrain and objectives for the day, but I doubt I would feel as comfortable with the turn as I already do if I began and solely skied on the heavier gear

[Lhartley]

Oh Jesus, I found shorts guy. Sorry. Not sorry



viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4538&hilit=One+ski+to+rule+them+all

Content shared does not reflect my opinions, I am a quiver guy. MOWR SKIS

[Lhartley]

I feel like the general consensus is that "to ski well downhill in the telemark style it would be best to develope your skills on a heavy setup, and skiing well on a heavy setup is equated to being a skilled telemark skier". This said, then why are we talking about all this light gear on a telemark forum. I start to wonder how many are actually skiing like Erk here.



I think I'm suffering from conflicted philosophy here

[lilcliffy]

I feel like the general consensus is that "to ski well downhill in the telemark style it would be best to develope your skills on a heavy setup, and skiing well on a heavy setup is equated to being a skilled telemark skier".

That might be the dominant view (not sure that it is), but it is not mine.

I am being a broken record here- (sorry!)-

One can downhill in the "telemark" style (ie make linked telemark turns) with any freeheel boot that flexes at the metatarsus-

I don't agree that it is "best" to develop the skills to make effective telemark turns on a "heavy" setup- I think that if one wants to ski at the extreme of modern downhill skiing, one needs to use and develop those skills on modern downhill equipment.

If one wants to be able downhill ski on "light" (ie XC/Nordic touring) gear- one needs to develop those skills on that same "light" equipment.

Many, many skiing skills are transferable between different ski disciplines- but relying on high, stiff downhill boots to charge steep terrain does not directly transfer to skiing steep terrain in flexible Nordic touring boots.

[lilcliffy]

I hear ya there and I can respect that, although I find light gear to have a pretty straight forward learning curve to p-turn.

This doesn't resonate with my experience-
On "light" gear (ie with a completely freeheel Nordic touring binding and flexible Nordic touring boot), I use the telemark turn as much or more because it makes me more stable. Transferring weight to my rear/inside foot allows me to ski down the fall line- without flying over the handle bars.

[Lhartley]

I come from a back ground of alpine for many years and then splitboarding for MANY years, so I guess it came easy for me because I was p-turning on silly setups like splitboards (split skiing) for while

Edit, different story in fresh snow where the telemark turn is ideal