Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

So, after years of aggressive skiing and perfecting my tele technique, I've finally just given up on the tight trees. I have more fun doing alpine turns in the tight trees.

What are people's thoughts?

Now, I'm not talking about semi tight trees... I'm talking about very tight steeps where there just isn't enough room to get a good rhythm...

Also, my setup is BD Justice 185 cm: 140-115-125, T1's, Hammerhead... I've always wondered if a shorter setup might be quicker, but I love the length for the powder float I get.

Looking forward to hearing ...

I usually use the La Sportiva Hi5, 178 cm, 135-105-125 but only weigh 150 lbs. I switch back and forth freely according to the rhythm and roll of the conditions. In deep powder, most people don't know what kind of turns I have been doing. I've been at it long enough (decades) to only care about enjoying the run.

Short skis are terrific in tight trees, in part because you can ski faster and brake check faster! If you really like your ski you might consider owning a second pair 20 cms shorter!

Welcome quirozson,
I remember a couple years ago I had some super stiff Rossignol sc97s, armada args 185cm, and the karhu team 100s in 179cm. For my size I was skiing big skis. Then one day I received a pair of K2 Omnis (skinny and really soft) in a 160cm for free. They were beat to shit. Anyways, I tried those things out and fell in love with them. I could ski them like a champ. They were so damn light and quick I was actually a better skier in the powder with them since I could arc them on a dime.
Maybe it's just me.

Skinny short soft= quick arcs....fat long soft= float....all depends on the terrain and powder....From what I have read above we ski on about half the ski you all ski on...Choices...TM

I think you'll need to show us some pictures of what is your definition of "tight trees"...

Alpine will make you go faster. But faster doesn't necessary mean more fun. Tele should definitely give you more fun. It all depends on why you're skiing. To break speed records or to have fun...

Take your time... There's no rush... Enjoy every tele turn, even if you can't link more than a few turns at a time... I know how good it is to keep a good and fast rhythm... But slowing down the rhythm to make it tele style can be just as cool...

Some of our fav haunts are areas of very tight trees..
In some cases they are so tight you have to traverse to safely get
through them..but then when they open up just a bit, you can
choose to tele or parallel..maybe 3 or 4 quick strides and then
a runout , but it's all about how well you see the lines; that's
the art of skiing tight trees, to very quickly see and take a line..
And once you are in, you have to stay committed! If your trees are
really tight, you are going to do very quick little tele stides/turns..
I suppose that arguably tele can work better to squeeze the skier
though some pretty narrow openings esp. on wider skis..


This will get one through!

Those are not tight.
Tight are where You absolutely must ski with Cordura pack and tough shell, or else they will be torn to pieces by lower branch-stubs. Carpathians have those, but have no snow ATM.

I use both, but in those trees I'd use tele mostly, or so I think.
Buy me a plane r/t and I'll check if it is so

Uh huh..well I can assure you that if it gets tighter, you won't ski,
you will take off the skis and stomp.. the fun is in finding the openings..
thick lodgepole does not, generally, have a lot of lowdown limbs..The upper pic
is where the trees open into a nice glade..(Digression) Through the trees here you can see an old
abandoned XC trail which was cut through many years ago..It winds down and off to the right
eventually dropping off (1k or so) to an old railroad grade ..the rule is to not follow it
more than 3 turns unless you have skins, wax or waxless..

Ohh, and I never meant to say Telekid was skiing in tight trees in that pic..He appears to be in a gladed
area..What I was saying was that his tight form would work going tele through the narrow openings..

Good stuff in the above....Like yesterday, pushed off and then it was vision.....fast powder on a moderate slope with lots of trees....some tight enough....Drop run out, repeat.... In the run outs always looking....committing as said above then riding the skinny with slight angulations...to slip by trees....Total blast...Honestly for some of us the skinnier the better within reason....e99's on one level....Don't know about the upper limit but the more you go wide...the wider the track....the less you can slip through....Ron did you see the video of Teleking squeezing through the trees.....Granted most kings have big heads..... but......that was TIGHT!!!!! By the way after pushing off yesterday....never remembered a thing except for explosions of snow and getting to the jeep chuckling....Same today....hardly any effort....up to a knob.....first part slow and whippy....drop off a rounded ledge and the acceleration and no time to think.....just head em and dooooooo itttttttt....Man the snow is good.....Way good...TM

Yeah Teleman, the snow here is *AWESOME*!!!!

You guys would be amazed to see how tight it is here up north... Your pics look like open fields to us...!