How different is skiing from telemarking?

[Nick]

I'm interested in trying Tele this season> was thinking of a short lesson at Sugarloaf during the Summit. I know we have a few telemarkers in here. What's the appeal, is it just the different turn or a different feel? My sister and her bf picked up NTN bindings and tele skis last year, and I know they really enjoy them, to the point where I think that is what they use 90% of the time.

Is it way harder on the quads? It looks brutal.

 

[Scruffy]

Telemark is a turn, skiing is skiing. Free heel skiing is skiing with a binding that only hold the forefront of your boot to the ski. With free heel binding you may, at times, do a telemark turn, but it's not rquired. :smile:

 

[Scruffy]

Oh, and NTN sucks. I've not free heel skied since I bought NTN and sold my hamerheads and T2's :evil:

 

[Smellytele]

To be honest in the bumps it is easier on my legs. When you go over the bump you let you legs fall and you do not have to push back up. I can do bumps better on my teles than I ever could on alpine skis. Although now that I have tried bumps again on alpine skis I am better at it. It must have something to do with learning proper balance which is a must on the teles. I think in powder they are better than alpine skis because you can stay low and have a lower center of gravity. I started in leather tele boots and 200's. When I switched to plastic and 177's it got a lot easier.
As for the quads it really isn't that hard on them once you get the flow of it. On hardpack/ice it can be hard on them and your legs in general because you have to put way more force on the skis and the flow is interrupted.

 

[Scruffy]

Seriously, give it a try, it's a hell of a quad burner, it can be fun in soft snow, it's hell on ice. I've spent way to much time and money chasing the tele nirvana. I now only tele when back country skiing.

 

[thetrailboss]

I've always wanted to try it.....

 

[Scruffy]

I've always wanted to try it.....

You're in Utah? It's required by law, get after it. I've tele'ed all over Alta years ago .. good times.

 

[KevinF]

You might free the heel to free the mind,
But you gotta fix the heel to ski for real.

:flame:

 

[Scruffy]

You might free the heel to free the mind,
But you gotta fix the heel to ski for real.

:flame:

That is true

 

[snowmonster]

Not to be too technical here but telemarking is skiing. In fact, it was the first form of skiing. Question should have been: what is the difference between alpine skiing and telemark skiing?

Carry on.

 

[thetrailboss]

You're in Utah? It's required by law, get after it. I've tele'ed all over Alta years ago .. good times.

:lol: Love it! Yeah, I'd definitely learn at Alta, much like if I was back in Vermont I'd learn at MRG.

 

[redalienx11]

couple thoughts...

a tele setup can fall anywhere on the spectrum of "passive" to "active." The way I see it, a passive setup involves a binding that offers little to no resistance when lifting the heel. Thus the binding operates more like a hinge. An "active" binding offers resisttance while lifting the heel, which transfers power to the ski differently. These bindings operate more like a mousetrap i.e. you have to pry your heel off the ski.

Boots generally correspond with the type of binding. A very ACTIVE binding will be hard to drive with a soft leather boot, and stiff plastic boots could be too much for some bindings imo.

All this to say, I prefer a stiffer boot and more active binding for in-bounds skiing. However, unless you can adjust your binding to provide zero-resistance for skinning, touring is difficult with active bindings.

 

[skiNEwhere]

I took up tele skiing last year in CO since it was a terrible snow year and I was getting bored since the majority of resorts advanced terrain was not open.

I'm no master, far from it, I'd say I'm intermediate, but I will tell you that working out your quads is a MUST in the off-season if you want to ski consecutive days in a row. I started a thread on NTN bindings a couple of weeks ago, I'm interested, but the bindings are $400, and boots are $700!!!! (NTN need specific boots)

Personally, I found tele skiing a lot of fun. A couple of years ago I took an intro tele class at MRG, I think the lesson and ski's were included, I'd recommend that.

 

[jimmywilson69]

I've always wanted to try it. My Brother inlaw does it and he is really good at it. He is super fluid in bumps with them, which confirms what Smellytele said. I've always wanted to try it, but never have. My brother inlaw broke his older boots, so while I have set of ski's available I don't have any boots to use them :-?

 

[Cannonball]

To be honest in the bumps it is easier on my legs. When you go over the bump you let you legs fall and you do not have to push back up. I can do bumps better on my teles than I ever could on alpine skis.

+1. There is almost a sensation of walking down the hill with the bumps being steps...or maybe more like logs you are stepping over down the hill. It is a very controlled feeling.

Have to say though, I started to tele to shake things up from snowboarding all the time and to do more BC. But over time I transitioned into AT and alpine (and more snowboarding) and got rid of the teles. I'm just more confident on alpine skis and AT still provides that BC option.

 

[Nick]

AT bindings aren't designed to freeheel downhill though, right?

 

[Smellytele]

AT bindings aren't designed to freeheel downhill though, right?

No just lock and go with the AT's

 

[snowmonster]

AT bindings aren't designed to freeheel downhill though, right?

Definitely not.

 

[dmc]

Tele'ing is awesome..

I don't really feel it in my legs like everyone said.. The tele turn is sublime when you finally get it..
Works really great in pow and crud... never got the hang of it on hard pack... Just can't get the edges going...

 

[Smellytele]

Tele'ing is awesome..

I don't really feel it in my legs like everyone said.. The tele turn is sublime when you finally get it..
Works really great in pow and crud... never got the hang of it on hard pack... Just can't get the edges going...

+1 On hard pack/Ice i do a lot of side sliding. I just look for the small patches of snow to turn on. Find my self skiing the edge and also cross lines to get to snow.