 Poster: A snowHead
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Richard_Sideways,
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Is it manditory to have a beard to try Telemarkquetry? I ask as I don't think i've ever seen a free-heeler without facefur of some description, and i've never been able to grow a satisfactory one myself, so i may not be able to participate...
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Could always get a stick on one
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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summer,
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I have been struggling on the beard front too.....Although I teach Tele and Alpine and am a female, so maybe there is an excuse for the lack of facial hair! Guess rather than chicks digging it, its the opposite and guys seeing girlies teleing with thighs of steel....Say no more!!!
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Not the opposite...just works both ways
And with thighs if steel and those thighs being bigger........as a tele ski you know that size DOES make a difference 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
summer, Sorry to hear that you're in the same boat as myself, i'm surprised they let you qualify without one!
If I were you i'd get onto eBay and see if you can get a fake a-la-Life of Brian, you could probably charge more for your Tele-teaching services.  |
I have just been into a Swiss Chemist and found cotton wool in vast quantities....White beard and woolly SOS sweater from now on with Woollen Fisherman socks up to the knees and cord plus fours! The Ski School Director says that the male clients will not book me now! Strange I have always wondered why I only get male clients to teach tele to!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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summer, LOL Next year that was going to be my dress up day....can't do it now, can't have 2 of us looking normal
Where do you teach Tele?, just wondering haw much demand there is for it
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Rocksteadee wrote: |
summer, LOL Next year that was going to be my dress up day....can't do it now, can't have 2 of us looking normal
Where do you teach Tele?, just wondering haw much demand there is for it |
Based in Champéry on Swiss side of Portes du Soleil....to be honest last year was fine. I taught about on average three hours per week. This season has been rubbish along with my knees so only about a quarter of that! Most of the day its Alpine teaching and do not get much time to tele!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just wondering as Tele is my first discipline and Alpine second (even though I went down the Alpine route first)
Knees should be better with Tele as less strain
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Although it would appear to be less versatile - narrower platform, better balance required, longer turn so harder speed control - it is actually not to one-dimensional as shown by some the film clips. I don't to it any more through fear of more knee damage, which I agree is probably more psychological than realistic.
My sister skied from the top of Mt Mckinley in 1999 on her telemark skis, which was publicised as the first telemark descent from the summit via Rescue Gulley, but she wouldn't be bothered about that enough to check. Rescue Gulley is steep, 50+ degrees I hear, and is often blue ice as it was on that day. She reckons that had she been on Alpine skis (which she is awesome on) she couldn't have exercised the same level of edge control as she could on her teles, mainly because she was able to adopt such a low stance that her centre of gravity was right down near the ground. Out of the gulley it was apparently sensational, several thousand feet of light powder... Generally speaking I thought Alpine would afford more stability but not always it would seem.
She also competed in the telemark world cup (after giving up nordic ski racing) where she was required to not only ski a GS course but also complete a jump in the course that cleared more than a certain number of metres (10 perhaps?) as well as an uphill section where you had to skate. The point then being that telemark racers had to be more versatile than alpine racers. This was before the days of the T1 race boots or the new super-stiff NTN system which make that difficult.
The plan was to join Dominique Perret on Everest to telemark from the summit but having topped out in 2000 - with oxygen and no skis - she decided that once was enough and only a loon would ski from the top of that mountain...
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Powderhound, Sounds lke your sister is quite a girl
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ski,
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Technically (in almost every way) inferior to alpine...
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I disagree as all the same technicques can be applied (angulation, seperation etc) but then more are required for Telmarking (lead change, rear ski radius change, long/short stance, high/low stance etc)
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Rocksteadee, if you're an ex-royal you may have come across her as she trained nordic with a number of your lot and is currently teaching telemark for a couple of weeks in Norway for Pat Parsons (ML, Lt Col retd). Her name is Polly.
www.pollymurray.com
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Powderhound, Makes an intersting read. Has she got a phone number? 
Have heard of Pat Parsons but before my time as I have been out for 17 years
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Powderhound, Old 'in' joke: how do you know when there is a ML in the room....... because he will tell you.
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You know it makes sense.
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Cheers Ski, hoping it is up to level 2 standard. It was a pleasure to meet you and MrsSki today
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Telemark......... Why?????
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Telemark......it doesn't look good because its easy
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Poster: A snowHead
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[quote="Rocksteadee"]
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Telemark......... Why?????
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If you need to ask, you have never tried it
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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[quote="Rocksteadee"][quote="Rocksteadee"]
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Telemark......... Why?????
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You would need to understand the question before the answer could make sense
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Why I'm learning to telemark:
(1) Curiosity: my wife and I went to Norway and a friend showed us how cross-country and telemarking works, (all using family gear so no hire charges involved).
(2) Comfort: the boots are way more comfortable to walk in than alpines. Also the telemark turn forces me to use more of my leg muscles and prevents my thighs from cramping up like they do in Alpine turns. Obviously it's still quite a bit of work, but it's not *just* my thighs that get a workout, and nothing ever gets a chance to cramp up.
(3) Ease of moving on the flat and uphill: it is such a great feeling, even with no sticky wax or skins on, to be able to quickly kick-and-glide across flat bits between lifts. Of course, once I've actually got any good at the downhill bit, the real advantage will be the ability to walk away from the lifts to find the good snow and leave the crowds behind.
(4) Feels much easier off-piste: personally I have had not much success off-piste with alpine gear, but in Glenshee this January, I had an absolute eureka moment on tele gear the day after a nice big dump. I just tried to ski slightly off-piste by the side of a green run where there were huge untouched drifts: it worked first time, I linked 4 lovely controlled turns in the fresh powder at a point when I would have struggled to do the same on-piste. Perhaps it's the lower centre-of-gravity, and that my front ski really is in front of me so I feel less scared of falling face-first...
(5) More of a wholesome outdoors-y feeling: now I'm no crazy ski-mountaineering guy, and I don't think I'll ever want to be, but there's still something un-satisfying to me about purely lift-served downhill skiing now that I've tried nordic skiing. Perhaps it because I'm not much of a speed- or mileage-freak and I like looking at the lovely scenery Telemarking seems to me the perfect equipment to do the kind of moderate difficulty hike-on-skis that suits the terrain in Norway (and Scotland) very well.
One more point, while you obviously can do parallel turns on tele gear, I've found they feel *very* different because:
- you have the risk of doing a "telemark faceplant" if you put your weight too far forward;
- the bindings are mounted signicantly further back than alpine bindings (so that the ball of your foot is in the centre of the ski);
- even stiff tele boots are generally not as stiff as alpine boots;
- you may have trouble getting the backs of your skis to go where you want, since you can't just pick up your heels quite as easily as with alpine gear.
Also, the first time I swapped back to alpine gear straight after telemarking, I fell flat on my face on a flat-ish green run.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| ap96 wrote: |
Why I'm learning to telemark:
- you have the risk of doing a "telemark faceplant" if you put your weight too far forward;
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This is a ski technique only used in Telemarking where by you can face plant whilst still staying in your skis.
with said face now in the snow and maintaining forward momentum, the nose can be used in a fashion similar the that of a rudder thus the head can be turned to initiate and control steering
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| ap96 wrote: |
Also, the first time I swapped back to alpine gear straight after telemarking, I fell flat on my face on a flat-ish green run. |
No sympathy
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Can telemarkers
ski backwards ?
ski any park tricks, jumps ?
ski drop-ins (even little ones) ?
Do we need to?????
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We don't need to, but the answer to all 3 questions is absolutely yes. Have you ever seen anyone reverse telemark (telemark backwards)? I can't do it, but I've seen it & it's insane looking!!
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| Rocksteadee wrote: |
This is a ski technique only used in Telemarking where by you can face plant whilst still staying in your skis.
with said face now in the snow and maintaining forward momentum, the nose can be used in a fashion similar the that of a rudder thus the head can be turned to initiate and control steering |
I actually did lol at that.
Although I'm afraid my telemark faceplants are far less graceful than you seem to be describing!
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FAQ
Certainly the way you ski is not techically inferior 
