Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Is this much of an issue for us newbs, skiing on 3 pins and falling with no release plates, I know it's recommended to roll forward but doubt it happens that way everytime, how'd everyone deal with the issue starting out?

Having a free heel greatly reduces the incidence of injury. Don't sweat it & have fun! This is the way skiing was meant to be!


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Maybe 10 years ago I was resort skiing with my kids. They put a bunch of wooden crap under the chair in front of the base lodge, I don't know what it's called but I guess you ski up onto it and jump off the end. Well that's the theory. My Piste Pipes however, stopped dead when I got onto it and I went straight down on my face. Mortified but not injured. Only place I sometimes wish I had release is in the woods where there may be something I don't see. Hasn't happened in the last 15 years but I do thin about it sometimes...

I rarely ever wish for a release on tele gear. The nature of tele falls seems to be a bit friendlier than fixed heel falls. More sliding out and ending up on your butt, kind of like a baseball player sliding into a base. Of course, things happen and falls aren't always friendly, but I think the range of motion in the heel is enough to help. Tele also encourages folks to ski within their limits a little more, I think.

For what it is worth, I'd be much more worried about a binding releasing prematurely and causing me a fall as opposed to my Axls not releasing if I fall....

Note: I learned to ski on tele gear from day 1, and have fallen LOTS.

I only ever had one slightly bad fall with freeheel where I kind of hurt my knee. I hit a rock skiing on pretty much ice and dirt (shouldn't have been skiing it) and faceplanted and had my ski twist to the inside (don't know if I explained that well, but imagine toeing in your foot over 90°). It hurt and probably could have torn something. I wasn't "teleing" either. Just sliding with both feet forward down a mellow slope.

anemic wrote:Having a free heel greatly reduces the incidence of injury. Don't sweat it & have fun! This is the way skiing was meant to be!

I could not have put this any better.

connyro wrote:

anemic wrote:Having a free heel greatly reduces the incidence of injury. Don't sweat it & have fun! This is the way skiing was meant to be!

I could not have put this any better.

agree, I've twisted my body every possible way while struggling to tele the last few years and the worst thing that happened was a partially torn tennis-elbow tendon that's healed nicely. You're safe with leather boots, they will contort into some pretty wild shapes instead of your knee ligaments getting twisted.