Telemark Skiing--Easy, Hard ? Do you care?

[skidmarks]

What do you think about Telemark Skiing? Are you into it? Do you have a desire to try it? Do you thing it's difficult or way to strange? Let's talk...

 

[deadheadskier]

It's something that has always intrigued me. It looks like it would be hella fun on powder days because of how low you are to the ground. A foot deep day on teles looks like a waste deep day on downhills.

Three things have always kept me away.

1. Concerns about my fitness level as it looks to be far more work than downhill......though I've made great strides with that and it would not be a concern any more.

2. Initial equipment investment........not sure when I'll feel like I have the extra cash to spend on that gear. Though I suppose I could just buy tele bindings to throw on old Downhill skis and buy used boots to start

3. Time....Patience to learn. This is what prevented me from ever really getting into snowboarding. When I'm out on the hill, I want to be off ripping the trees, bumps and steeps. It would be hard for me to spend time on the bunny hill learning when I know I could be off doing more fun / challenging terrain on downhills.

With the Duke purchase this year and desire to get into the BC more, who knows, that might spur me to give it more serious though.

One things for certain, I don't think their is a more attractive form of snow sliding than an accomplished tele skier. Beautiful to watch.

 

[skidmarks]

Expensive Equipment

Expensive equipment does keep people away from the sport in my opinion.

 

[PomfretPlunge]

How easy/practical would it be to do tele on my regular XC equipment? I.e. light boot, no edges. Happy to earn turns climbing to the top then...

 

[tcharron]

I've got two guys at work who are both Tele, one actually works Ski Patrol at Ragged. I can honestly say, I have no desire to even try. It looks like it would just be SCREAMING for me to snap my knees in half. :-D

 

[skidmarks]

How easy/practical would it be to do tele on my regular XC equipment? I.e. light boot, no edges. Happy to earn turns climbing to the top then...

It can be done on XC gear but it's not easy.
I have lots of fun on light tele gear kick around parks and old NELSAP hills.

 

[severine]

It's definitely intriguing. I think it would be a challenge to learn but rewarding. However, I already have one knee that doesn't exactly cooperate with skiing--I feel like trying to telemark would be tempting fate for a much more catastrophic injury. And purchasing new equipment would be a deterrent.

 

[MR. evil]

Its something I have always wanted to try. My fear is that I will like it and have a whole new set of gear to buy and choice to make on any given ski day. Maybe in a few years when I am a little more acomplished in the bumps I will give it a try.

 

[thetrailboss]

I've wanted to try it and hope to do so at some point. As to why I don't, not a real opportunity.

 

[skidmarks]

Usually I cut the season in half and start Tele skiing at resorts after March 1st. It's not hard to bounce back and forth but you don't want to haul too much gear around.

 

[Hawkshot99]

My ski buddy picked it up 2 years ago and is really good now. Watching him makes me want to do it at times, but doubt my knee would like it.

 

[skidmarks]

My ski buddy picked it up 2 years ago and is really good now. Watching him makes me want to do it at times, but doubt my knee would like it.

It's not bad on the knees because you use lots of hip and ankle too. I started tele skiing in the early '90s
right after I tore my MCL

 

[riverc0il]

Was going to pick it up five or six years ago but discovered alpine touring equipment so I thought why bother relearning how to ski. Mostly I wanted to learn tele because of the touring implications so I lost all desire once I realized there was more than one option for going uphill. Really good tele skiers look really bad ass. But there are not very many really good tele skiers out there so I gotta wonder if it is harder to perfect than alpine skiing. I am still working on the latter. So when I finally perfect alpine skiing and get bored, I may consider tele at that point.

 

[Elf28p]

tele

First off let me say that I am far from an expert tele skiier. But I will share my opinion on it. I think tele has pros and cons like anything else in life. I made the switch two years ago and have not looked back since. Tele is more tiring, more difficult, and slower than alpine. The one thing I love about it is the liberating feeling of not having my heels locked down anymore; this is priceless to me for whatever reason. I also like that the trails my wife and I ski are more challenging for me; we always stay with blues and easier blacks. I have never had a lesson and I was 'tele turning' on the first day. I think anyone with reasonable athletic ability can pick it up. One thing I don't like is the lack of selection for releasable bindings. I would like to have the piece of mind of knowing my bindings will release in a fall. I think there is only one binding that is truely (din) releasable, the 7tm. I will prob get the 7tm this or next winter. All in all, I will never go back to alpine. Simply put, tele is for me. I think you should give it a try; look for demo days this winter.
-J

 

[bvibert]

Tele looks interesting, but I'm having enough fun trying to get alpine dialed in. Plus, like DHS said, when I get time out on the hill I want to rip (as much as I can anyway) and not be re-learning how to ski.

 

[skidmarks]

Problem Number 6:
New AT geat makes it easy to get into the BC and is just as light.

Last season I cheated and didn't tele on my second Mt Washington trip. Had a great time on the Alpine gear.

All in all unless the trail is uber frightning I'd rather be on my tele gear. I like the freedom of being able to glide at will. I may take some heat for it but I do love to XC ski too. That is as long as it involves down hills.

 

[deadheadskier]

I'm eager to see what Jspin's kid becomes on tele boards. I was blown away by his son in his TRs from last season.

 

[jaytrem]

I ski, board and tele. Right now I'm by far most looking forward to being on my tele skis.

Always heard the turns feel real nice. Went out and bought a pair and did okay pretty quickly. Apparently my turns look okay, but they didn't have that nice feeling I heard so much about. Eventually as I got better I did indeed get to experiance some of those sweet tele turns. I know they started feeling better as I started swiching leg psoitions sooner. Unfortunatly I'm a lousy instrutor, so can't give much other technique advice. Anyway, good stuff!!! Give it a try, you probbaly won't regret!!!

 

[deadheadskier]

Here's a question for those experienced, how do you enjoy your experience on teles on hard pack / ice. It looks to be quite difficult to set an edge.

 

[jaytrem]

Here's a question for those experienced, how do you enjoy your experience on teles on hard pack / ice. It looks to be quite difficult to set an edge.

At this point hardpack/ice is no more difficult than on regular skis. While learning though...YIKES!!!