Brand new tele skier seeking community guidance

[WildMidwest]

First post, and looking for thoughts about a setup. I’ve been reading these forums awhile. I hope to hear what looks workable and what problems I may face.

Background:

Age 57 in excellent physical condition – 165 pounds, height 70 inches, hike, bike, windsurf, yoga, resistance training. I ski alpine out west - mostly trees, backside and some groomers. I grew up on Åsnes XC skis with NN bindings my first ten seasons. I am just getting back into waxable NNN gear for mild terrain. I am dabbling in fat AT for bottomless pow days. Home base: California and Wabash Mountains; Canadian Rockies to start the 22-23 season.

Equipment plans:

(1) Scarpa TX Pro boots – allegedly too stiff for skiers coming from leather boots or Scarpa T2-T4. However I am coming from Fischer alpine boots (130 flex), K2 Mindbender (130) and Lange comp boots (130+).

(2) Head Kore 93, 180mm skis (1585 g, 133-93-115, 16.4m radius) for their familiarity. I skied my Head Kore 105s across the west the last two years and I know the Kore feeling pretty well.

(3) Meidjo or Lynx bindings… still deciding.

Thanks in advance from a beginner.

[voilenerd]

Howdy,

Welcome. Depends on what type of skiing your going to be doing. If your mostly doing backcountry skiing and your terrian is mostly up then straight down a NTN setup would work great. If your mostly skiing rolling terrian I’d look at a fish scale setup with 75mm. Reach out to Freeheel life or give Voile a call. They can point you in the right direction. Choosing the right ski and binding can be very confusing when getting into telemark due to all the different bindings and standards.

For resort skiing, most people are skiing NTN. The biggest dominator is the Outlaw X for bindings paired with the TX Pro or Comp boots. In general for backcountry or resort skis there are a ton of options. Freeheel life recommends a ski with a traditional camber and early tip rise ski with not too much rocker. Checkout their YouTube channel and they can help you navigate the complex world of telemark.

I know this sounds like a general response but it’s very difficult to point you to the right skis, boots, and bindings due to all the variations on uses for what you might be skiing.

[fgd135]

...
For resort skiing, most people are skiing NTN. ...

Really?? I resort ski, and patrol as well, in Colorado, and rarely see NTN on the hill. 95% of tele skiers seem to be on 75mm setups in all the variants of bindings, in my experience.

BTW, OP, your setup sounds good to me. Go ski.

[Ziggy]

I think NTN is streets ahead of 75mm in feel, stability and control - if you want to turn.

The Lynx are optimal for touring with their light weight and easy range of movement but I find clicking in properly a bit of a fiddle. The TX Pro boot is ready for them.

I find the flex of the TX Pro fine with the Lynx and Outlaw, having come from T2X, probably because of the clamping both at the duck bill and duck butt. That's a very positive and active connection.

If you want to tour mainly then it's hard to go past NNN BC; light and reliable. The new XPlore is worth investigating; it's supposed to offer more control and IMO if your ski is wider in the waist than 70mm and you want to turn, then you need more than the NNN BC.

Meidjo? They're probably reliable enough in the latest version but they're complex and take a remarkable number of screws to fix to the ski. I've seen capable BC skiers take a good while to get the hang of them. One upside is releasability.

[Andinista]

Meidjos are awesome, they are a bit pricey and are made in France, I guess it’s why they are less popular in the US than the Lynx. Complexity and durability haven’t been an issue for me, last weekend I broke a piece of my Rottefella Freerides which I thought were unbreakable, I think all tele bindings may fail at some point and I prefer to accept it rather than overthink it.
I haven’t skied the Lynx so I can’t compare, the only thing negative (to me) that I’ve heard is that they are very stiff, but don't take my word. The Meidjos are very adjustable, as stiff or as soft as you want, and tension is consistent in all its movement range, I just love how they ski. Way better than the Freerides. I have the 2.1 with brakes and they are hard to step in, the 3.0 seems to have solved the problem. I also have the alpine heels and use them occasionally, I was an alpine skier 20 years ago, so my muscle memory is adapted to tele today and when I fix the heels my thighs hurt, I know it sounds crazy but it’s how it is. In your case it will be the other way around so having the option to alpine ski (for real, it’s not the same as parallel turns on tele) I would consider it. But for that you need Crispy boots.

[Andinista]

I mounted them myself by the way, no big deal, 8 holes are "structural", 4 for the claws, 4 for the spring box (not exclusively, perhaps 2 of them shared with the claws). Then there are 3 for the heel piece and 2 for the locking mechanism for touring, none of which make significant effort. If you'd see how many times I've drilled some of my skis you would relax on the number of screws of the Meidjo...

[Andinista]

Check this video, René advocates for the Meidjo (at 15:40) and he didn't include Lynx on his list. He has done reviews of both bindings, I suggest to look for them too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CINsiuqd3yk

[WildMidwest]

Belated thanks to all who posted.

After watching every Youtube video I could find, especially René and Dostie's numerous videos, I opted to buy an old pair of lightly used tele skis with 75 mm bindings and Scarpa T2 boots. Those will get me on the hill and learning basics. Once I can drop a knee, I will visit a tele-specialized ski store and get properly set up.

I am not pleased with the idea of ski leashes. I used them the first 3-4 years of alpine skiing in the 1970s, before Tyrolia worked out problems with their ski brakes. Leashes may be OK on less aggressive terrain but not for black or double-black trees and cliffs.

Good tip on Crispi boots. René describes them as a bit stiffer than Scarpa TX Pro, and as mentioned above, they can pair with Meidjo's alpine heel. Will need to locate a Crispi dealership somewhere.

Very excited ski season is about to begin — tele style!

[JohnSKepler]

First post, and looking for thoughts about a setup. I’ve been reading these forums awhile. I hope to hear what looks workable and what problems I may face.

Background:

Age 57 in excellent physical condition – 165 pounds, height 70 inches, hike, bike, windsurf, yoga, resistance training. I ski alpine out west - mostly trees, backside and some groomers. I grew up on Åsnes XC skis with NN bindings my first ten seasons. I am just getting back into waxable NNN gear for mild terrain. I am dabbling in fat AT for bottomless pow days. Home base: California and Wabash Mountains; Canadian Rockies to start the 22-23 season.

Equipment plans:

(1) Scarpa TX Pro boots – allegedly too stiff for skiers coming from leather boots or Scarpa T2-T4. However I am coming from Fischer alpine boots (130 flex), K2 Mindbender (130) and Lange comp boots (130+).

(2) Head Kore 93, 180mm skis (1585 g, 133-93-115, 16.4m radius) for their familiarity. I skied my Head Kore 105s across the west the last two years and I know the Kore feeling pretty well.

(3) Meidjo or Lynx bindings… still deciding.

Thanks in advance from a beginner.

I enjoyed reading this! Sorry I missed it this summer as I'm on the same mission. I'm a new tele skier. 57 in excellent physical condition, 165+/- pounds (depending on recent diet!), height 68 inches, hike, bike, dirt bike, resistance training. I ski alpine in the intermountain west. Last few years has been mostly XC and XC BC on NNN-BC.

I'm going in a similar direction as you, with (mostly) waxable Xplore gear for moderate terrain. Trying out the Alfa Free on Asnes FT62 with skins for my first foray into more light BC and learning tele. I've been debating if I want to pick up a more dedicated tele rig for resort days with family and friends. It may also be easier to learn with plastic boots and transition to the Xplore than leaning on the Xplore and transitioning to the plastic.

As I consider this, my primary desire in a plastic boot is the safest tele binding. My knees feel great (i.e., no meniscus damage) but neither have an ACL anymore and I'm not going to try to get them fixed AGAIN. With my Donjoys I do fine but I have a mental block that's demanding a releasable binding if I go plastic, and everything that comes with going plastic.

[Stephen]

FYI, FWIW…
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5080&p=50800&hilit= ... eel#p50793

The alpine heel augments the Meidjo heel climber/stop, not replace. That is, it sits behind the regular heel.

Don't get it, though. It's brittle. Both my heels are broken in two different ways, and I've barely used it.