Jump to content
Note to New Members ×

What's the point of telemarking?


alexeyga

Recommended Posts

From what I heard, "Telemark" is the name of a city in norway where people who were working as "messengers" used cross country skis to travel through the mountains. Obviously, it is hard to turn on cross country skis going down hill, so through the year, they developped a technique (Flexing your back leg, weight transition) to control their speed doing "slalom". They called it Telemark. Now your question is ''what's the point?'', well I would say it's just another way to go down the hill, I heard it's pretty fun (and hard). My 2cents. -Jules;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I heard, "Telemark" is the name of a city in norway where people who were working as "messengers" used cross country skis to travel through the mountains. Obviously, it is hard to turn on cross country skis going down hill, so through the year, they developped a technique (Flexing your back leg, weight transition) to control their speed doing "slalom". They called it Telemark. Now your question is ''what's the point?'', well I would say it's just another way to go down the hill, I heard it's pretty fun (and hard). My 2cents. -Jules;)

Looks like what I've wanted to know, thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Telemarking is used as a way to cheat on powder days by saying its waist deep when its actually only up to your knees, Cheap face shots. All kidding aside if you ever see an accomplised teleskier with a traditional single pole doing nice cross over pole work and big powder turns it is mind blowing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was at Copper several years ago, watching a guy rip the heck out of a big moguls field on Tele's. Had to stop in Awe!

I also see more tele in backcountry descents and backcountry kickers, pretty cool to see the skiis crossed up partially detached from the feet. On video of course, we dont have too much back country here in PA. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to elaborate a bit...the point of telemarking (both historically and today) is this: knowing how to do it well gives you a technique for skiing down triple-black-diamond slopes (which good tele skiers can do easily), then keep going when you get to the bottom (e.g. backcountry skiing).

So it's way for cross-country skiers to handle the steeps.

Of course, the other point is that---like carving---it's different, and (therefore) very cool! :)

You think carving pushes your quads? Nothing does like telemarking! (You need knees of steel, not to mention strong legs.)

Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys, I need some liquidation of ignorance... What's up with these tele-skis? What's the idea behind it?

Telemark is great for backcountry becuase with climbing skins the free heel allows you to climb up the hill and a good telemark turn has more stability. In a resort it's just another fun way to get down the hill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

www.bombertele.com to see some of the meanest tele bindings on the planet. There's a guy locally who can rip blue ice on those things. :eek:

They are a great backcountry tool if you can ride 'em well, and when you get to the bottom, put on your skins and head back up--the free heel makes climbing pretty easy.

You want a high-performance backcountry setup? It's all about randonnee. True freeheeling on the way up: no springs to fight against when you're touring. Top out, rip the skins, lock and load, and you've got fixed-heel power and precision on the way down. Plus, The lightest AT rigs weigh in quite a bit less than tele setups that provide comparable power. AT boots are step-in crampon compatible. You can even use the boots on your Prior ATV Splitboard, complete with Bomber Splitboard bindings!

That being said, there is a look and feel to good telemark technique that cannot be achieved with alpine gear, a connection to the roots of skiing that is appealing to some (especially if you ski with a lurk), and the ego of mastering a once-fringe wintersport is appealing to others. On the touring side, not having to flip levers to go from tour mode to turn mode might be appealing for folks traveling in rolling terrain, but if that's the case, a good pair of backcountry XC skis are the tool for the job, anyway.

IMHO, of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I heard, "Telemark" is the name of a city in norway where people who were working as "messengers" used cross country skis to travel through the mountains. Obviously, it is hard to turn on cross country skis going down hill, so through the year, they developped a technique (Flexing your back leg, weight transition) to control their speed doing "slalom". They called it Telemark. Now your question is ''what's the point?'', well I would say it's just another way to go down the hill, I heard it's pretty fun (and hard). My 2cents. -Jules;)

How did snowboarding come about? It was a guy who was a skier, looking to do something different, like surfing on snow. It was an evolution of another sport.

Well Telemark skiing, Alpine skiing, Randonee skiing and snowboarding are all evolutionary extensions of the earliest "skiing" which was a transportation method in the winter time. Some people made snowshoes, and some made skis. The skis were faster, especially down the hill and people figured out a way to control their speed, via the Telemark turn. So people have been skiing like that for over 100 years. Then sometime in the 20th century (1930's) people figured out that if they had a better boot ski interface the could get more control and go even faster, thus the Alpine binding and boots were developed. Then came plastic boots, releaseable bindings, Randonee bindings, Plastic telemark boots, modern telebindings, releaseable tele bindings, etc.. Then the evolution continued to the 1970's when some wacko decided he wanted to surf on.

Because of that evolution, and the telemark turn, you are able to go out and enjoy Alpine boarding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...