This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
paul kalac wrote:
By the way, are you in Japan now? Would love to visit your country someday. I watched the YouTube video of Tamaki Sports and I love that ski shop. Have you ever been to that shop?
Yes, I live in Japan.
I haven't been to Tamaki Sports yet, but I'm using other shops which carry similar variety of XCD gear.
To anyone who posted to this thread, ya'll, if you are in the Adirondacks---I hope we can meet up this winter for some skiing! If by chance you are on social media, my twitter handle is @paulkalac and I'm always on there. Otherwise, while I don't check my DM here or email too often, we could always do that for announcing trips. Would be open to sharing a few days on the trials with you.
Paul - I plan on being up most every weekend starting the end of this month, provided there is good snow.
I'm usually on the western side somewhere but I venture all over. I'm sure you know of BREIA (near Boonville just outside the park). If I'm on the west side I'll typically do one day there and one day in woods.
Doesn't it seem to have a place whether old or new?
It may not be on the steepest mountain or in a video, but does every skier really need or want that? Do we all need the big return?
I know where Paul skis - it has a variety of things to offer. Slides offer steep and deep extreme skiing - you won't see much XCD gear on them these days. But compared to the skiable terrain in the Adirondacks, slides are only a small percent. Most is wooded touring, some is mellow, some is challenging. Being able to make turns on narrow trails or in tight trees in deep snow is valuable skill to have. You can survive without it, but with it you can thrive.
Doesn't it seem to have a place whether old or new?
It may not be on the steepest mountain or in a video, but does every skier really need or want that? Do we all need the big return?
I know where Paul skis - it has a variety of things to offer. Slides offer steep and deep extreme skiing - you won't see much XCD gear on them these days. But compared to the skiable terrain in the Adirondacks, slides are only a small percent. Most is wooded touring, some is mellow, some is challenging. Being able to make turns on narrow trails or in tight trees in deep snow is valuable skill to have. You can survive without it, but with it you can thrive.
In a sense: a lot of it is kinda modelled after the older skinnier AT and DH gear..
"Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind, on the road to Shambala"
The 'fat' XCD skis remind me of the downhill skis I skied on 20 years ago.
But it's also lighter and is still straight enough to kick and glide. So yeah it's old in terms of DH and AT goes, but it's still relevant for meadow skippers.
Boots are a thing of their own. I wasn't convinced these new style boots were as good as the old heavy Norwegian welted boots, and maybe quality-wise they aren't. But they certainly are lighter, fit better, are more supportive (in the right spots) and are far more comfortable.
More likeness than difference for sure..
My Lite Terrains are really dressed up DH skis from the late 80's and 90's..
EZ to see if you go buy an old pair of Alpine skis from the 90's and slap a pair of pins on them..
Weigh about the same and there's only marginally more camber in the Alpinas..The Alpinas are a tad fatter (gotta brag up some "shape") in the tips and tails but they all have the same weaknesses of suffering from the likes of 65-70 in the mids..
"Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind, on the road to Shambala"
It's all a state of mind - in the 80's and 90's, all the famous couloirs & chutes around Jackson Hole were being skied by guys in leather boots and cable bindings. In the early 90's I personally skied with friends who were dropping 40-foot cliffs with this gear. The heaviest boot I ever saw were Alico Doubles with a ski boot liner inside.
All these people also had very nice heavy plastic ski boots - I think I was using Lange "Pink Panthers" at the time - but the point was to have light gear than enabled you to take 2 or 3 runs where people in heavy gear would be spent after hiking or skinning 1 run. Most telemarkers were focused on Teton Pass and needing gear that could tour well, going bowl-to-bowl to reach untracked terrain. They never rode lifts or cared about resort skiing because they had no money. 20 of them would rent a house for the winter and only crash there now and then when they came down from the mountains. Often someone would get an elk in the fall so they'd have free food for a few months. Winter life revolved completely around untracked powder, the lighter the gear, the more powder you could ski.
And now "heavy" tele is being overrun by AT and why not? If you have all that weight and stiff plastic boots you might as well lock your heel so you can rip it up alpine style. Many of us have also discovered that snowboard gear is typically much lighter than heavy tele.
And the cycle is coming back around too - people are now paying $1000 for ultra-light AT boots. Soon they'll realize that a pair of handmade leather boots is only a few hundred bucks and way more comfortable for touring, if you're willing to bend a knee on the way down.
Last edited by Cannatonic on Tue Dec 23, 2014 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
"All wisdom is to be gained through suffering"
-Will Lange (quoting Inuit chieftan)
