AT vs Tele

[riverc0il]

Marc, thanks much. One more question: How might Trekkers work for kids? My boys currently are 10 and 7, getting decent with their alpine skiing and also have done beginner x-c.

I think Trekkers would be a good option for people that are still growing, thus may require different binding size (AT bindings often come in three different sizes). Not sure what the minimum BSL is for the Trekkers, you should check that out before investing.

Oh yea, like Marc mentioned, Alpine boots are doable but the weight and lack of walk mode really sucks. That said, I have skinned up Tuckerman Ravine Trail and ascending Tuckerman gullies in single days using my Alpine boots without issue other than horrible fatigue.

 

[JD]

I've found that teleing is a lot more fun on soft snow (including true packed powder, but emphatically not including consolidated McSludge), whereas I can actually enjoy myself on hard snow if I've got my heels locked down and my edges tuned. I picked up tele skiing mid-March last year and I'm confident in my ability to handle just about any on-the-map terrain in the East (MRG's upper-level stuff being a notable exception), and I can have a blast in the woods or on softer, groomed snow. However, more challenging snow conditions just aren't as much fun on my tele gear; I suspect that getting better could help, but the stability of an alpine boot and a fixed-heel binding is tough to beat in some situations, which is why I went from planning to mount my Anti Pistes with O1s to mounting them with Naxos instead. I'm still going to put O1s on a pair of Crossbows as a touring setup, though.

well said.
Those O1s are a hot binding. Interesting to see how they hold up.

 

[JD]

After reading the whole thread, there is a topic not touched on. And it's really dependant on side country vs. back country.
Lots of back country has long flattish approaches that turn into long flatish slogs back to the car. AT gear sucks for this. On tele you can affectively kick and glide, and folks on AT gear will be herring boneing. Also, rolling terrain, in natural vegatation often means you will descend a few hundred vert down a gully or corridor, then have to shuffle accross a flat, or traverse looking for the next available corridor. AT sucks for this. Just go out in deep pow and try to walk around in your alpine gear. PITA.
The fluidity of your run, and the ease of the shuffle make tele way easier then AT. And if you really wanna struggle with AT gear, release your heel and try and bushwhack thru tight veg. Suddenly you'll wish that you had some spring tension to keep your ski from flopping around when you are trying to sidestep up a few feet...or back up a few feet, or kick turn.
I went AT 3 years ago for the same reasons mentioned in the initial post, mostly skiing with guys on tele gear. IN THE EAST, AWAY FROM THE AREA ESSPECIALLY, tele is the way. In places where you are climbing and descending more straight forward runs with continuous pitch and open trees or above tree-line terrain, I would be running AT for sure.
As far as tight tree runs, you can noodle alpine turns with no problem coming from an alpine backround, and my experience in learning was the tele turn is it's not as different as it looks. I was skiing the same terrain almost immediately, 90 percent alpine turns. After a season, in good snow, 90 percent tele.
To me, that is the beauty. Freedom of movement. You can wiggle out some apline turns out into a big opening, and drop a deep tele turn or two....noodle some monomark turns thru the next choke, tele here, alpine there....it brings a whole other weapon into your game w/o really sacraficing anything. IMO.

 

[Powdr]

Ding, ding, ding! We have winner! Flexibilty in all terrain/conditions is a vastly under estimated atribute. Besides of course the obvious superior babe attractrion aspects.

 

[amf]

To add one more comment to the heap, I just got back from my first run on Naxo AT bindings. It was said that the typical slog encountered on a tour will favor tele... the Naxos have a double-hinged system that I found incredibly comfortable & efficient, more so than my other AT setup (diamir).

Not to detract from tele gear (and let's set the record straight - tele is a TURN and not the gear... I learned tele on old narrow wood boards with lignite edges - all the fancy plastic stuff does is let you tackle steeper stuff in manky snow!) but the reliable release of AT is certainly a plus, and it is easier on older knees. I will admit, I fondled a pair of the new NTN bindings this weekend... pretty sexy, but like most new binding systems it may be best to wait for the second generation.