I found this great quote on telemarktips.com. Amazing how much we’ve got in common with tele skiers. Being one myself I especially liked it. =)
Kris
“Telemark skiing is stupid: A Quick Summary”
So what’s all this “telemark is stupid” blather? What’s the big deal about a free pivot? I think you know, dear reader. But like any good story, the tale just gets better with each telling. So here we go!
Here’s the conventional wisdom: Telemark skiing is stupid for so many reasons. It is an inefficient way to get down the mountain (all those deep knee bends! How can you ever expect to do that with a full pack?). The gear is antiquated and prone to breaking (who among us has not had some sort of catastrophic gear failure?). And as a final insult, it is even inefficient on the way up. As we skin, we fight the flex of the bellows and the resistance of the bindings and we end up exerting more energy than our AT “friends.” Ironically, the freedom of the heels actually puts us in bondage: bondage to inefficiency.
But really, telemark skiing is not about efficiency. It is about love. And if loving telemark skiing is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right. I love to make the tele turn. I love the feel of the carve. The angulation. The proximity to the snow. The absolute level of physical engagement required to make the turn. There’s just so much going on. Knees, heels, arms, shoulders, toes. I know it may be inefficient, but I simply don’t care. I love it. It’s my turn.
All sports are rather stupid when you think about it. Why ride over those rocks on one wheel when you could walk past?
I love it when people say: unicycling is the dumbest sport ever!
They don’t understand the true reasons for sport, just to fit in and stroke their ego. Sports are for the love of doing, love of meeting new people, love of travelling, love of getting better. Doesn’t matter what you do as long as you like doing it.
Unicycling is basically good for nothing, haha.
The unicycle is either to slow or to large (and expensive… :() to be used for commuting.
You can’t do any of the things that bikes can do, drop and jump-wise (although, I’d say we have a different style that shouldn’t be compared to bikes…).
But when it comes to tech riding, I’d much rather go for a muni ride than a mountain bike ride any day.
I agree that the two sports are very similar, both physically and mentally. We also take alot of crap from the “others” for doing them.
I have been a full time telemark ski patroller for over 20 years, with some snowboarding thrown in when conditions are right, and trully “love” the sport of telemarking. It is unique, like unicycling, and puts me in my happy place when done right. When done wrong, it makes me realize I’m alive and human.
Why is that we like the sport that takes deeper concentration and requires greater agility and strength??
I’ve never really known what telemark skiing was, other than seeing people do it from the ski lift on my occasional ski trips. Obviously the people doing it were focused on their technique, so I assumed it was a harder (or older) version of skiing that appealed to people who like more of a challenge.
Like us.
Also I guess ski jumpers are telemarkers as well. Not to be confused with telemarketers…
By the way, which do you think is better, the BD 01 or G3 Targa Ascent? I had a pair of Targa Ascents but I just gave them to my mom to use; she finally busted her ancient tele bindings in heavy powder last week.
Kris- All of my tele gear is equipped with BD 02 or BD 01 bindings. I used to ski the Rottefella Cobras, but switch to BD because of the active flex. If you haven’t used the 02 or 01 yet, I highly recommend doing so. It gives a more consistent flex throughout the whole motion and provides much more resistance. On top of that, I think it gives you a much better feel for the ski and the snow.
What exactly is meant by active flex? Also, the BD bindings have the springs underfoot, whereas the G3 bindings are more traditional with the springs at the side. Any comment on that?
One of the members there at TelemarkTips has stickers available that say “Telemarking is stupid”.
I have one on all my tele-skis. It’s kind of an inside joke among the members there.
Active bindings have a spring and are loaded and unloaded with your turn. Nuetral bindings are more “Floppy” and just keep your boot in the binding without much in the way of additional springs.
The G3 Targas are great! My GF rides a pair and the free pivot is a nice nice thing if you are going to tour (Walk up-hill) in them. That is my next binding. The 01’s and 02’s a an industry standard and work well. Abouit the only difference is where the cable runs to your heel throw and the free pivot option. Most all my skis are G3.
Have you registered with Tele-Tips Kris?
They will be happy to answer any questions. There is a nice unicycle thread there too that you may want to chime in on!
…or feel free to PM me with any questions, I am not that much of a gear geek but I have a pretty good idea what’s going on in the TeleWorld.
Thanks for the help. Since G3’s are made in Vancouver and the person who designed the Targa Ascent is a friend, I may just get that one. I have a pair of G3 Rapid Transit skis and really like them. My main other question was the pros/cons of having the springs underfoot or beside your feet. Telemarktips would be a better place to ask that though.
If there’s interest in it, I want to make a KHU t-shirt and sticker that says “If you tele in the winter, why would you ride on two wheels in the summer?”
Based on this thread, it sounds like there might be a few people that might get one?
This is my first year, i still have yet to pass tobaggon training (easy peasy on our hill)
I dont telemark, but two people in my patrol class telemark ski (one is learning ONLY on telemark, the other does it from time to time), and it looks really hard. (side slipping and hockey stops i mean), looks really cool though.
why dont we have a thread for alpine boarding too? thats awesome also.
I’ve found that the underfoot, ‘active’ flex fits my style more. I’m a very aggressive, very low tele skier with racing background, and the underfoot cartridges are, in my opinion, far superior for aggressive skiers. Here’s why: the flex feels more consistent through the full range of motion, the cartridges are out of the way and less likely to get snagged on things and I have found that I can feel the snow and the ski better with the BD bindings.
That said, I’ve found/noticed that less aggressive skiers enjoy passive bindings.
I’m on the patrol at Sugarloaf in Maine and I know a lot of patrollers will not use the active bindings, but swear by the G3 or Rottefella bindings. I would urge you to try Black Diamond bindings or the Hammerhead binding before committing to the G3s.
Bottom line- all of these bindings are great quality and value. Pick the binding that best fits your style.
I would definitely buy that shirt/sticker with the right wording. (add climbing in there somewhere too)
Here’s an excerpt from telemarkski.com regarding the O2 binding:
Congrats on getting on the patrol. You should have no problem passing the tobaggon test; angulate on the steeps and keep the rig moving. You will enjoy the work, and someday, since you started so young, you might find yourself patrolling where the snow is epic an so are the chicks.
Very cool, another tele patroller on RSU:D Does your director let you tele on control routes? I have to use a releasable when performing control routes, whether it be just ski cutting or using AE. I use the 7tm for those times, otherwise the O2 is the shit. I was a G3 guy for awhile though.
vertical drop of 200 something or so i think. Idk, i personally think its less.
yeah.
we dont really have steeps lol.
oh yeah, i plan on taking a snowboard/ski trip out to CO with some friends next winter (gotta atleast have one friend thats 18, and next winter i know a few that will). Gonna be sick.
only on topic thing i have to say -
my brother is gonna try telemark sometime. Hes gonna borrow a pair of teles from a guy that was in my oec class.
oh hey, aspenmike, Whats your patrol’s requirement for medical stuff? Our hill does OEC (outdoor emergency care) stuff, but i thought that some hills where you are require the entire patrol to be like EMT’s and stuff. just wondering.
edit: we had a helicopter land in our designated heli landing zone today (part of our parking lot haha). No one knew what the hell was happening, they touched down, and then took off and left. (probably new pilot or someone, or testing of GPS landing). One of the hill owners actually ran over to check out what the hell was happening.
