How do you describe telemarking?

Telemark is drifting dads beaten up truck on the backroads to your girlfriends house.

Alpine skiing is driving a subaru outback to a job interview.

Can Scotsman be far behind?

I'd sleep in that!

Telemarketing is like the band Def Leppard. It was really great like 25 years ago but now it just kind of sucks.

Easy! The freedom of the heels! An elegant and ancient ski turn and great fun to perform!

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Telemarketing is like the band Def Leppard. It was really great like 25 years ago but now it just kind of sucks.

Hey now...  Have you listened to Pyromania lately?

swimming has the butterfly stroke...
skiing has telemark...

If your only parameter to measure your skiing is what gear is the lightest and still generates the most leverage, you'll never know the beauty of how skiing telemark in big powder or a well practiced butterfly stroke feels...

..... but if you want to try it, I would gladly spend some time on the hill with you, so you could understand how far the telemark rabbit hole can go... and how crazy it feels on a big pow day to ski 192cm tele-skis that are 128 underfoot..

Just so you know, a lot of tele skiers, ski AT gear also so they must see something in it besides the "Woohoo, look at me! I telemark! " factor...

Got stuck with a bad crowd early in my development stage and thus, am a tele-head. Though learning new (AT) tricks.

Heard once - "Yea, tele-skiing is a graceful as a square block tumbling down the hill"


At least it's not snowboarding.

At least it's not snowboarding. 

No, but according to my dad, who teles and occasionally slides sideways, it's about as close as you can get

Three most spoken words of tele-heads: "Hey, wait up"

Three most spoken words of boarders: "Uh, sorry dude"

THE TELEMARK DRAG
(to the tune of the Vatican Rag)


First you get down on one knee,
Fiddle with your binding – see
Stem your skis with great respect,
And Genuflect, Genuflect, Genuflect.
When in Stowe*, do like the Stoics,
Flaunt your lycra, look heroic.
Stick some moleskin on your heels,
Plastic boots – how secure the feel.
Fat skis are in, parallel’s a sin,
Knees down so low agin’, dragin’ the snow again
Doin’ the Telemark drag.

Credit:  Ski Trails and Wildlife: Toward Snow Country Restoration
By Eric Burr
*Stowe Mountain Resort in northern Vermont

LOL So much penis envy here amongst the AT crowd--cums from doing p-turns I guess.  Yup, it takes more of everything to do tele turns, but those who can, can ski most anythings with grace, style, and power.  Anyone who can stand uprignt can ski AT.  Here's an example of a couple of kids having fun that exemplifies what tele skiing is about--enjoying the snow, now showboating cuz you're bored with parallel turns ... Anyone can telemark if they have lots of skill

How to describe telemarking?

"It's, uh, Norwegian for 'face plant'".

-Nick DeVore

LOL So much penis envy here amongst the AT crowd--cums from doing p-turns I guess.  Yup, it takes more of everything to do tele turns, but those who can, can ski most anythings with grace, style, and power.  Anyone who can stand uprignt can ski AT.  Anyone can telemark if they have lots of skill[/url]

To each their own I guess but it seems like if you purposefully seek out heavier more inefficient gear and technique you aren't going to be skiing as challenging of terrain as you would otherwise.

If you just want to ski hippy pow or take the kids out for a day on the bunny slopes, telemarking seems great. But if you want to ski big boy terrain get some binding that aren't broken.

To each their own I guess but it seems like if you purposefully seek out heavier more inefficient gear and technique you aren't going to be skiing as challenging of terrain as you would otherwise.

If you just want to ski hippy pow or take the kids out for a day on the bunny slopes, telemarking seems great. But if you want to ski big boy terrain get some binding that aren't broken.

LOL.  I switched from tele to AT after 25 years several years ago because AT is easier and safer.  In terms of challenging terrain--Armond Dubuque did the 1st descent of Mowich Face on tele gear, including his own manufactured Ultimate Telemark Binding; you might want to buy Jason Hummel's Alpine State of Mind .  Lots of telemarkers in PNW that ski the most challenging terrain and do big boy trips.  But you probably know that anyway  ;D.  What I don't understand is why At (Randonee ="can't tele") skiers feel the need to diss the disappearing art of backcountry telemarking. That suggests some underling poor self-mage or insecurity about their skills ... or just envy of those few who can.

I remember when Pete used to ski on a telemark rig.

I also remember watching Mr. Alpine State of Mind make really ugly p-turns and seeing his telemark gear explode in the field a few times. But stupid AT bindings break too.

But more on topic, personally I don't really talk about telemarking because I just don't care.

Funny that my browser flags telemark as a spelling error.

For me it's all about the flow of the turn. While I'll lock my heels in for any day on the groomers, nothing makes me giggle uncontrollably like dropping a knee into some fresh amazing powder. No Dynafit setup I've ever skied will replicate that feeling.

And just for fun.
www.powder.com/stories/endangered-tele-s...#MglqQl8xwvxaEJ2J.97

You gotta tele til your smelly. I never dabbled, but I do love seeing a ripping tele skier just cruise down the mountain.

I have skied plenty of big boy terrain on my tele boards, but part of the point for me if to increase the challenge and reward factor while not increasing my risk exposure. I have to push harder to have the same amount of fun with my heels locked, which means taking more and higher consequence risks. Many BC skiers regardless of gear get satisfaction from pushing ourselves, and for me tele gear allows me to do that more safely.

To each their own I guess but it seems like if you purposefully seek out heavier more inefficient gear and technique you aren't going to be skiing as challenging of terrain as you would otherwise.

If you just want to ski hippy pow or take the kids out for a day on the bunny slopes, telemarking seems great. But if you want to ski big boy terrain get some binding that aren't broken.

The kicker for me is that AT gear is now lighter than tele gear! Add the quick release and the ability ski the crud better - I decided it's time for the old dog to learn a new trick.

I'll keep the tele gear for the powder days and spring skiing. Nothing wrong with learning something new.

The kicker for me is that AT gear is now lighter than tele gear!  Add the quick release and the ability ski the crud better - I decided it's time for the old dog to learn a new trick.

I'll keep the tele gear for the powder days and spring skiing.  Nothing wrong with learning something new.

Easy to say. Typical "big boy" AT: Marker Duke, 4-Buckle Cochise boot, and 120 mm waist ski = 20+ lbs.
Old school "big boy" tele: 3-pin or 3-pin cable, brown Karhu Outbound (90-70-890), & Super comps = <<20 lbs.
New school "big boy" tele probably still less the the big boy AT.

light weight option: 3-pin vs Dynafit, 3 pin is less; Cho Oyu, the same; boot TLT6 vs Old 3 buckle blue T-2s, 6s win. Overal weight the same.

I skied NNN, NNN-BC, SNS-BC, 3 pins, 3-pin cables, 3-pin hardwires, Riva cables, beta tester for Hammerheads, 7tm releaseables, used the oil voile releaseables with 3-pin cables, ultimate telemark binding, and the free pivot hardwires and always came back to 3-pins ;D but now I use Dynafit speeds on XCountry ski patrol!

But you are right: no release on a 3 pin (but maybe less danger of massive damage to MCL, tib-fib, ACL etc. cuz the pins on AT don't release--have to release from the heel. Still safer, much less likely to fall for sure. And the big deal to me is on the up: no weight on the heel, no flexing of the boot bellows, free pivot--AT rules.

I started backcountry skiing in the late 70s when telemark skiing dominated the sport. But I never telemarked in the backcountry. I used alpine touring gear with Ramer bindings and climbing boots in the early years.

Even though I've never personally been into telemarking, I recognize that this branch of the sport drove the revival of backcountry skiing through the 1980s and beyond. So you won't hear me bad-mouth telemarking. It's been an important branch of the sport, historically.

Skiing is supposed to be fun, and if you have more fun telemarking today, then god bless you.

While creating the Ski Mountaineering exhibit at the Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum, I used telemark gear to represent the period of the 1960s through 1990s, when the backcountry revival occurred.

If you visit the museum, you can watch a film of Don Portman and Steve Barnett skiing Mt Rainier on super skinny skis and leather boots (with heel locators) in 1980. It's amazing to watch them ski on that gear. As Portman says in the film, "If you have this basic gear and this basic technique, you can ski on the golf course, on the hill in your backyard, or on Mt Rainier. It's all skiing. And it's fun!"

"Right on" to that.

With respect to the OP,  telemark is to skiing as hangliding is to aviation..  it is personal expression that cannot be achieved in any other way.

Being a pack-rat, I have a habit of saving copies of stuff I write. I found the following blurb that I posted in the Usenet newsgroup rec.skiing in October, 1988. (There was no World-Wide Web back then!)

The subject was the relative merits of telemarking and alpine touring. I was having a lively discussion with a couple of Nordic skiers, one who was a telemarker and the other who (as I recall) skied on three-pin bindings using parallel turns:

You might enjoy this look back at how some of us described telemarking back then:

Ken Roberts caught me in a gross simplification when I said:

>   Nordic (telemark) technique is easier to learn than alpine (christie) technique. 

This statement was based on my experience in observing other skiers.  I have generally seen alpine skiers pick up nordic technique faster and more successfully than nordic skiers pick up alpine technique.  I attribute this to several factors.

First, the telemark is fundamentally a steered turn (except when it isn't).  In a steered turn, you can use muscle power to make the turn happen.  You don't have to rely on the design of the ski and use edging and pressuring make the turn.  While using the design of the ski (in other words, carving) is much more efficient (in other words, less strenuous), it requires a level of confidence, balance, and feel for the skis that takes longer to develop.  My assertion is that the telemark turn gives the novice skier more feeling of control over the skis.  The turn can be applied in more varied conditions, in a shorter time, than the parallel turn.  (Note that I'm not saying that ultimately the telemark gives the greatest control, only that it feels that way when you're starting.)

Second, as the telemark skier improves, the turn becomes more and more carved.  (That's why I say that a telemark isn't always a steered turn.)  This progression is a continuous one.  That is what makes the telemark easier to master in varying snow conditions.  While an alpine stem turn may be just as easy to learn as a telemark stem turn, it is a big jump from an alpine stem turn to a parallel turn, and you have to make this jump in order to ski cruddy snow.  With a telemark turn, there is a gradual transition from steering on packed snow to carving on soft snow, so the same movement patterns can be applied throughout.

The final factor is a cultural one.  (Here, I'm afraid my alpine chauvinism is going to show.)  In nordic skiing, the performance expectations are lower.  In other words, you don't have to ski as fast or as steep on nordic gear to be considered a good skier.

Ultimately, I believe that the christie (alpine technique) is a higher performance turn than the telemark (nordic technique).  So if you want, in the long term, to be the best possible skier, learn alpine technique. (Ah...let the holy wars begin.  )   But if you want to get out in the backcountry this winter, instead of two years from now, learn nordic technique.

--
Lowell Skoog, Seattle
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Even though I've never personally been into telemarking, I recognize that this branch of the sport drove the revival of backcountry skiing through the 1980s and beyond. So you won't hear me bad-mouth telemarking. It's been an important branch of the sport, historically.

Telemarking definitely had its day. In the 90s when I first started b.c. skiing it was the thing to do because a.t. gear just wasn't that good yet.

There's a lot of badass skiers that ski well on tele gear for sure. But Ive never finished a full day of skiing and said to myself "man that day was great but it would have been so much better if I had heavier less efficient gear!"

Telemarking definitely had its day. In the 90s when I first started b.c. skiing it was the thing to do because a.t. gear just wasn't that good yet.

There's a lot of badass skiers that ski well on tele gear for sure. But Ive never finished a full day of skiing and said to myself "man that day was great but it would have been so much better if I had heavier less efficient gear!"

I get it, your logical like Spock...

... such efficiency is critical to serious folks...

Telemarking: Dancing on skis for those with the coordination and determination to spend the time end effort required -- for other flailing and falling.

Like some tele die hards, I switched tools for summer volcanos to AT years back happily.  Tele has no upside on suncups, and the variable conditions from frozen gnar to corn to runnels to suncups are actually more fun locked down.  Let alone the lighter weight and tremendous ease going up, which includes a tilting crampon.  I resort ski with my seven year old son sometimes on AT so I'm doing what he's doing.  And I have tremendous admiration for my friends who completely rip on AT gear. Wish I could ride parallel planks like they can.
But I am so addicted to being in the barrel on tele in powder.  Face shots?  More like face curtains.  That mesmerizing surfy flow.  I'll never get over it.  Nothing remotely comes close.

Especially for Lowell .... Deconstructing and Reconstructing Varieties of the Telemark Turn