tele advice

[arik]

Hi,

My main question is if anyone knows a shop in Northampton/Amherst (MA) or West Dover area VT that rents tele equipment, and if anyone has any other general advice about learning tele. I am a decent downhill and cross country skier but have never tried tele skiing before.

I am going to visit my sister & her husband in Chico California in late february and we decided to do a little ski trip to Shasta Ski Bowl as it is close to her, uncrowded, cheap, and we have never been. The place rents Tele equipment and also has tele group lessons daily.( Unusual right? I am thinking the snow must be heavy.) So I have decided to make the most of an otherwise small ski area and try to learn tele while I am there. Since they are more beginner skiers I think my trying something new will be good to as I can stay with them on the beginner lifts, etc.

I am thinking it might be a good idea for me to rent tele equipment one day earlier this season to try it out here in the East.

I have found some great instructional videos online.

Thanks for any advice and I would really appreciate a suggestion for a shop to rent at.

Arik

 

[Smellytele]

try these guys

http://www.telemarkdown.com/index.pl?page=demos

 

[Smellytele]

This is a pretty neat site as well
http://www.telemarktips.com/

 

[TeleMac]

Mountain Travelers is the best tele shop in New England

http://www.mtntravelers.com

or go to the store at 147 U.S. Route 4 East, Rutland, Vermont 05701
Telephone numbers: (802) 775-0814 or 1 (800) 339-0814; e-mail address: info@mtntravelers.com
A family owned shop, run by tele skiers Peter & Joann Kavouksorian

 

[TheBEast]

No tele-rentals in western MA that I'm aware of. Bosquet (Pittsfield, MA) usually does a tele-demo night in mid-January. I'll try to post it here whe I hear about it. Comp Edge in East Longmeadow sells tele gear. Their stores in Hadley and Holyoke I don't believe had tele specific gear. Further north I think Jay does tele rentals (really most tele rentals I've seen are actually demos since the volume is pretty low) and I think they do lessons too.

 

[arik]

Thank you both,

Arik

 

[tylerjames]

Dark Side of tele skiing

Alpine Rentals in west dover rents tele gear i think. Comp edge in east longmeadow, may have something for you. Mount Snow does offer lessons in telemark skiing

 

[TeleMac]

Dickie Hall to the Rescue

Check out NATO's Primer course -- http://www.telemarknato.com and http://www.telemarknato.com/schedule.html

TELEMARK PRIMER -- Intensive and fun one-day on-snow technique clinics for beginners to expert skiers. The Telemark Primer covers basic Telemark and cross country downhill turns including step, jump, smooth telemarks, and freeheel parallel. Personalized small groups and individual coaching plus video taping and lots of skiing.

"Kudos to your instructors Wendy, Robin, and Paul for taking a 35 year veteran of alpine skiing and getting him into tele turns in less than two days. I had a great time and am definitely in love with backcountry skiing." T.C. Hazzard

Dickie & Co. are fun and very helpful. These courses will save you huge amounts of time on the learning curve! Have a blast.

 

[roark]

another rental shop: http://www.westhillshop.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=122

Good folks.

 

[arik]

1. West Hill Shop, cool, nice price on the tele rentals. Putney is not too far though it is not on the way to anywhere I want to go.

2. NATO looks awesome, thanks for that suggestion, I could easily do a primer or workshop at Bromely or Ascutney this winter.


3. The Dark Side video is friggin hilarious. I am now totally questioning why I wanted to learn Tele in the first place, AT looks better.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

after 30yrs of alpine, i took a 2hr private tele lesson at Bromley last season and am hooked......

 

[SIKSKIER]

New England Telemark

This is a great deal to start up learning tele.They have events all over the NE and free lessons and equipment.This year they are at Jay,Sunday River,Gunstock,Bretton Woods,Wildcat and Mt Abram.
http://www.netelemark.com/