Turn Talk

[Lhartley]

Did a search and didn't see any threads with a good amount of learning resources in one place. Not much online for telemark technique that ive found. Lots of alpine tips, save me from doom scrolling youtube and post some clips that helped you. If this is redundant and there's a better thread lmk

[fisheater]

I had to be a black level??? To see the rest of the videos, but from what I saw it’s pretty basic PSIA progression. I always thought the Tele wedge Christy (as demonstrated on your video) was the right intro into the Tele turn. I think as a drill that turn should be finished a back foot hockey stop, to work on the back foot as well as the front foot.
You’re well past that kind of thing. I come from a PSIA background, and I was a resort alpine skier. So for me, learning to use the back foot was the first hurdle. I remember when I thought about dropping my back foot back, which helped me a lot. Now, I think more about driving my back knee into the ski.
I saw a Craig Dostie video the other day, the video was about 14 years old. Craig talked about the Telemark turn as “The Dance”. I think that as pretty accurate. I have a feeling that you are a pretty solid alpine skier, I just think that now you’re learning “The Dance”, I think it just takes time to dance. If you are that solid alpine skier, you’ll be a good dancer, it just takes time.

[Montana St Alum]

I remember when I thought about dropping my back foot back, which helped me a lot. Now, I think more about driving my back knee into the ski.

I think that's key. Once you do that without thinking, you can go back to pulling a foot back, or a combination of both if that's called for.
I don't think of it as a dance. I think of it as running down a flight of stairs......as opposed to falling down a flight of stairs, which I've tried and can't recommend!

[Lhartley]

I had to be a black level??? To see the rest of the videos, but from what I saw it’s pretty basic PSIA progression. I always thought the Tele wedge Christy (as demonstrated on your video) was the right intro into the Tele turn. I think as a drill that turn should be finished a back foot hockey stop, to work on the back foot as well as the front foot.
You’re well past that kind of thing. I come from a PSIA background, and I was a resort alpine skier. So for me, learning to use the back foot was the first hurdle. I remember when I thought about dropping my back foot back, which helped me a lot. Now, I think more about driving my back knee into the ski.
I saw a Craig Dostie video the other day, the video was about 14 years old. Craig talked about the Telemark turn as “The Dance”. I think that as pretty accurate. I have a feeling that you are a pretty solid alpine skier, I just think that now you’re learning “The Dance”, I think it just takes time to dance. If you are that solid alpine skier, you’ll be a good dancer, it just takes time.

Oh ya for sure, I can do ok but tbh I didn't learn by any specific exercises. I just grabbed a cheap setup and went fake-a-marking at the golf course, then the BC and resort basically. I have the telemark tips book and know the basics.

But now I'm starting to teach my gf to telemark, who is a rusty alpine skiier. We have spent the last couple years Nordic skiing and she has a kom/switchback/t2 setup so I'd like a nice set of exercises that I can show her and teach her with visual reference and we can learn together without it just being her watching me.

[mca80]

I'd like a nice set of exercises that I can show her and teach her with visual reference and we can learn together without it just being her watching me.

Excellent references on first page of this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5649

Tkarhu assembled great info, videos, pictures, quotes, etc. One of the most valuable threads here for anyone starting out xcd/telemark.

[Krummholz]

Here is a full Tele course, 1 hr video. A little old but moves along in a progression.

[Lhartley]

That's perfect thanks Krummholz and mca, will sit down with the ol Lady tonight and go over some stuff. We developed a crust in the BC the last couple days so it's gonna be a resort weekend it's looking like, good time to work on this stuff

[Lhartley]

Wow. No more firing the gear cannon at developing skills for me. All I could think the last few weeks while the mountain had been taking my Zero-G's for a ride was "if only I had Brahmas". Screw it, run what ya brung

[xcdnewb0313]

I just stumbled upon this video this morning. I like the idea the narrator suggests of "happy little accidents" because I've had a few. One I had last weekend was when I was skiing at Steven's Pass. I was out on the green runs practicing tele turns on my xcd setup (fischer sbound 112 w/ xplore and alfa free). All my tele turns were super off balance and the ones that I stuck always turned into hockey stops. I could not link a turn. Then I caught a glimpse of my shadow (we've been having gorgeous blue bird days all month) and I could see how spread out my stance was. I thought my stance was tight but my shadow showed otherwise. So, the next turn I tightened up my stance and wouldn't ya know I started linking the turns! #happylittleaccident

What the commentator says (in the aforementioned video) about un-weighting the skis to execute a turn was another helpful tip for me. Not necessarily a happy little accident because it came from #15 The Patience Turn found this book but it sure did highlight for me the need for upper body balance and to keep the knees flexed while waiting for the turns.

When they were talking about inclination vs. angulation though I got confused. Not sure what they were meaning about that...