Telemark Ski - anyone know about it

Siliconebobsquarepants said:

taking some skins along is a cheap option if teles are your daily drivers .

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Always have my skins. At Gore if the Gondi goes on windhold midday you can have the summit "all to yourself."

Free heel would definitely be very useful getting around Gore

If you have some tele gear laying around its a quick and cheaper option if you want to do some AT, or join your cool friends that have a setup and you don't. When everything shut down last season, I used tele gear for AT gear. AT bindings have been super hard to come by since then, not to mention a bit pricey. I was able to find some skins for a decent price so at least I had an option when the lifts stopped running.

The rhetoric from people who don't telemark regarding telemarking reminds me so much of singlespeed mountain bike riding it is very funny. Probably alot of overlap between the groups.

NY DirtBag said:

The rhetoric from people who don't telemark regarding telemarking reminds me so much of singlespeed mountain bike riding it is very funny. Probably alot of overlap between the groups.

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What type of rhetoric?

also curious to this post. I thought there was a lot of really good information in this thread.

Check out IME in NorthConway and Ragged Mountain Equipment in Intervale for used tele gear. Also, Frey Bros Telemarkdown in New Boston has the new NTN binding system and high end gear.
There's a classic learn to tele book: Allen O'Bannon's Really Cool Telemark tips Find it on Amazon or maybe AMC bookstore.
The best tip I pulled out of that book was when initiating a turn, engage your downhill toes individually like you would engage each finger on a piano. You'll be telecarving in no time
And, not sure if you have little kids, but I did a ton on teleing when my kids were getting started on alpine. It was easy to walk up the snowbelt and bend over to help them. However, now that they are ripping the whole mountain, I'm locked in on my alpines so I can keep up with them!
I think of teleing now, for me, as a slow, methodical dance down the mountain. Something I can't do with my volkl mantras and 130flex panteras, those things only know 1 speed

Same here with really starting when my kids were small. But for me it stuck and I can keep up with 2 of them but not my youngest who is 17 and rips through everything. Don't even own an alpine setup.
I have tried the NTN but to me it throws me around. It is too stiff and tele turns seem harder with the NTN. Can't bend my knee and get down as much, When in transition it throws my ski forward and fucks me up. I will keep trying it but it is totally different than using the duck bill 75mm setup. Like starting all over after 25 years of tele skiing.

I tried the NTN and liked it, but not enough to shell out another $1000+ on gear, even though I could use an upgrade. I would like to eventually upgrade though, just not sure if I'd go full NTN or just stick w the 75mm duckbills. I do like getting low on those turns, though, and agree the NTN's stiffness keeps you more upright in the turn

PAabe said:

Free heel would definitely be very useful getting around Gore

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It is. We thrive on the traverses.

So I stopped in at my local ski shop today - ERA ski shop in Lancaster, great guys - turns out they all tele. They had a few pairs of newish 75mm crispi boots but none in my size. None of them there are fans of NTN - their opinion is you can't get very low on the turns and effectively end up skiing like you are on regular alpine gear. They definitely could set me up with tele gear for next season, but would have to order in the boots, scarpa or crispi - they said there often is a bit of tele gear going through their ski swap in the fall but good luck getting boots the right size there - better chance of finding tele gear than AT gear right now though due to current high demand for AT and XC equipment. They will mount bindings but only ones they have a template for - might not do any with a touring pin. They will heat fit boots for $50 if I can get ahold of any myself. The one guy there offered to sell me his tele skis, he said he is too old and out of shape for them anymore.

They recommended getting a good pair of somewhat narrow skis to have a fighting chance of skiing on Pennsylvania ice. They also said Crystal Lake in PA or Whitegrass in WV nordic areas do tele lessons and might rent in addition to Platty. Gore offers lessons but no rentals. Ski shops in lake placid may do rentals.

So looks like I should be able to get some equipment for next year if I want to spend the money. An alternative is ebay but boots may not fit well or be in good shape and it looks like it is probably worth spending the money on decent skis to be able to deal with icy conditions here. Or I could check out other shops but we have always been pleased to do business with them at ERA. I probably should actually take a lesson rather than just watch videos/read about tips for the turn if I get equipment for next year.

Some boots on sale at telemarkdown.com. I might just buy a pair and see about buying the used tele skis from ski shop - then I could be in business this season yet! I am thinking Crispi XP (sale price $325.00, for skiing from lifts and the occasional backcountry) but not sure if Scarpa T1/T2 would be better. T2 is backordered.

PAabe said:

They recommended getting a good pair of somewhat narrow skis to have a fighting chance of skiing on Pennsylvania ice.

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IMO tele is really best suited to soft snow.

While I do my best to avoid it (and I think I do a pretty good job), sometime you are going to ski some hard snow.

This is where NTN shines. It's a great binding for doing both.

Harvey said:

IMO tele is really best suited to soft snow.

While I do my best to avoid it (and I think I do a pretty good job), sometime you are going to ski some hard snow.

This is where NTN shines. It's a great binding for doing both.

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NTN to me is useless and I might as well just alpine ski.

I resisted for a long time and only switched when I learned that my favorite bindings (Axls) and my favorite boots (T1s) are known to be incompatible.

The "transition" took me about 20 seconds.

Harvey said:

IMO tele is really best suited to soft snow.

While I do my best to avoid it (and I think I do a pretty good job), sometime you are going to ski some hard snow.

This is where NTN shines. It's a great binding for doing both.

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Sadly it is pretty difficult to avoid hard snow around these parts haha. Any snow at all on the ground is good snow.

I can definitely see how the NTN system would be advantageous but I am probably going to cheap out and go with 75mm so I can get used skis. If it's more of a challenge and I have to work more on the technique, so be it, that's the whole point! I called fey brothers, I will probably be getting those Crispi XP 3 buckle boots, and they said they might have some skis around too.

McFatt said:

Check out IME in NorthConway and Ragged Mountain Equipment in Intervale for used tele gear. Also, Frey Bros Telemarkdown in New Boston has the new NTN binding system and high end gear.
There's a classic learn to tele book: Allen O'Bannon's Really Cool Telemark tips Find it on Amazon or maybe AMC bookstore.
The best tip I pulled out of that book was when initiating a turn, engage your downhill toes individually like you would engage each finger on a piano. You'll be telecarving in no time
And, not sure if you have little kids, but I did a ton on teleing when my kids were getting started on alpine. It was easy to walk up the snowbelt and bend over to help them. However, now that they are ripping the whole mountain, I'm locked in on my alpines so I can keep up with them!
I think of teleing now, for me, as a slow, methodical dance down the mountain. Something I can't do with my volkl mantras and 130flex panteras, those things only know 1 speed

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You have found a book that even the mighty Amazon doesn't stock! Looks like some used book dealers online stock it, seems like that could be really useful, I will try to get ahold of it. I had been wondering if there were good books on the subject.

I believe it's been out of print for a while. Used may be your best chance. Was a good book.

I have that book it is amazing. You can find it used online. Wish they made something similar for regular skiing for my wife.
Edit: here it is new: https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/alle...ised-and-even-better-allen-obannon/1111869172

The Really Cool Telemark Tips and Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book are on their way!


The hype is growing... there are some HOT turns going on in this video