Pressuring the boot

[Zarb]

Hi all,

Greetings from a very snowy Australia. I'm progressing well in tele, but had a question about differing points of pressure in the tele stance.

Whether it's pressure on the shins, pressure on the toe/pinky of the edged side of ski, I'm finding it hard to apply the pressure. The one that always gets me, is the emphasis on equal weight between front and rear ski. Especially on icier days and when drilling monomark, the rear ski is quite squirilly and no amount of emphasis on pressure changes anything.

Are there any good drills or things to think about to get that pressure and control down on the ski and through the boot? Or is it something that I'm just not used to yet and the feeling will come with time?

My boots are snug with room to wiggle toes but super secure from middle of the foot back, with no heel lift, so it's just technique at this stage I'm sure.

[Johnny]

Hey Zarb,

Yeah I remember applying equal pressure on both skis was hard for me too in the beginning... Try to see both skis as one large ski, spreading snow on the slope as a knife would spread butter on toasts.

Think about your rear foot's pinky all the time. Your pinky toes are the most important thing, they control the finesse of your movements. Visualize your rear foot pinky putting pressure of the outside edge. Big toe, little toe, big toe, little toe, big toe, little toe...

You shouldn't rely on your shins to control the skis. In fact, there's a funny exercice where your release all your boots clips except the one near your toes. Try it, it will force you to apply pressure at the right place, the toes... Even better, try a pair of leather shoes...

It's all in the toes...!

[Raventele]

Hi all,

Greetings from a very snowy Australia. I'm progressing well in tele, but had a question about differing points of pressure in the tele stance.

Whether it's pressure on the shins, pressure on the toe/pinky of the edged side of ski, I'm finding it hard to apply the pressure. The one that always gets me, is the emphasis on equal weight between front and rear ski. Especially on icier days and when drilling monomark, the rear ski is quite squirilly and no amount of emphasis on pressure changes anything.

Are there any good drills or things to think about to get that pressure and control down on the ski and through the boot? Or is it something that I'm just not used to yet and the feeling will come with time?

My boots are snug with room to wiggle toes but super secure from middle of the foot back, with no heel lift, so it's just technique at this stage I'm sure.

It's only an ideal , and it cannot be realized by even the best ski racers who are, obviously, only doing parallel turns.. Which naturally brings up the question as to how your feet "feel" in your Tele gear when doing P-turns ? If you can feel good pressure when doing P-turns, then alternate between T and P turns trying to feel the same weight distribution and foot forces..You may be getting your feet too spread when you Telemark..Or maybe your body is not being centered between the skis ?
LJ is right, you can really feel your feet better in leather..and lighter XCD-class plastics can be fine that way too --like T4's or Excursions..
In any case, if you stay centered ( do not lurch forward) the exact amount you "spread" is not the big issue..
And I recall an exercise in very aggressively unweighting and and exaggerating your downward motion that really seems to help to pressure both feet better..

[Johnny]

equal weight between front and rear ski, cannot be realized by even the best ski racers who are, obviously, only doing parallel turns..

Hummm.... I wouldn't wanna be a ski racer carving parallel turns with equal weight on each skis... You have to put MUCH more pressure on the outside ski... more like 80/20... It's giving me headaches just to think about weighting skis 50/50 while carving P turns...

But yeah, 50/50 is really what you should be looking for when doing tele turns. That's the idea behind seeing both skis as one big plank... Weight distribution is one of the most important thing.

[Raventele]

And yet the preaching goes on unabated: " Railroad tracks, 50/50!!!!"
Good friend of mine, a very good racer in her day, says " It's impossible, simple gravitational forces forbid.. " ..
In theory, if one were to make the most minimalistic turns , that's the best/closest that could be done..
I did see a study involving sensors on skis that showed that very good Tele skiers were getting 60/40 and
that's all they could do..

[Teleman]

And that's trying to do it at a ski area. thinking it's a way to remember to weigh both skis....but as soon as you get the feel it really doesn't make any difference....I like to think of tele as riding the big long one that LJ talks about. The first ski the leading ski...breaks the snow the follower cruises in the vortex. Tiny initiation (big little toe) creates the carve...on longer skinnies the turn does not instantly come around...hard thing to get used to if your into instant gratification...(power turn)....But when it works it's a great feeling...in the trees....up in the Kingdom....Vermont...TM

[Raventele]

Well, one could always push the issue to its unusual limit.. ..and sit on the rear ski..

[Teleman]

That is what makes it so much fun...there is no absolute....Rules don't apply....Best one can do is have some ideas then try them out.... That picture of Kurt on e99's with a deflecting ski relates to this...TM

[Raventele]

Well Bruce, as SB once said (paraphrasing) "as long as you ski in balance and with rhythm,
you are skiing well "
Balance and rhythm, pretty simple...
BTW, it has always struck me as being rather odd that certain ski forum owners invariably claim some special relationship with Steve Barnett..Very strange considering that just about every rule cherished by "Modern Telemark" can be seen broken by even a cursory reading of Cross Country Downhill ..Pretty hilarious that such experts so opposed to step telemarks, double poling, striding into a lead change and the like (and it's a whole lotta "like"!!) would want so badly to be associated in kind with the icon of XCD!! Yea, they all know and ski with the man just hoping his unorthodox secrets rub off on them!! Could happen Craig!!!

[Teleman]

Sorta....what happens is people want to be in the front and one of the ways to do that is ski on equipmentthat makes the experience easier...Nothing wrong with that but they run into where telemark departs and parallel begins....Equipment will force the issue....many years ago threw the non flexing downhill equipment away and started to CC ski on skinnies...Telemark was part of that progression....But the last thing I wanted to FEEL was a non flexing boot and a system that pushed one into parallel....Nothing wrong with that, just not for me...And Telekid...and Teleking...and and....TM