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tele in powder

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
When skiing in powder should I be weighting my back ski more? I find it rather difficult to turn in powder and more often than not the tip of my back ski dives into the snow. It might be down to me not having a solid stance on piste to start with...
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When teleing both on and off piste you should ideally have the weight evenly distributed on each ski. If the tip of the rear ski is diving off piste, then it's highly likely that it's not weighted enough. As a start, I'd recommend two things:
1. On-piste, work on getting a solid stance, and even weighting on each ski. Any flaws on-piste will only have a bigger adverse impact off-piste. One exercise that may help is to concentrate on pushing the rear knee down through the turn
2. Off-piste in soft snow, on a gentle slope, practise transitioning without turning, and making it smooth with even weighting. Start by making it smooth with slow transitions, then try speeding up the transition when keeping it smooth. Throughout, try an get a feeling of the pressure on the rear ski and boot
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@viv, said
Quote:
One exercise that may help is to concentrate on pushing the rear knee down through the turn

Also maybe think about keeping the rear heel down a bit too, to prevent getting in a too tippy-toe stance resulting in little control of the rear-ski

Try it in your stockinged feet - start in a wide stance and you'll feel the pressure on your toes (not so good); then shorten the stance a bit and try to drop the heel closer to the floor and you should feel the pressure on the ball of your foot just behind the little toe (good).

This should help to pressure the rear ski through the turn, and hopefully give you more control in the soft snow.
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Consult Colin Stone, as telemarkers go he's pretty good, no doubt he will be along shortly!
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Good replies already.
Completely agree with even weighting of both skis. Many skiers struggle to get enough weight on the back ski.
I don't know what the equivalent of the ball of your foot on the little toe side is called but this is where the weight on your back foot wants to be (avoiding the tippy-toe stance).
If you're already doing all that you could try moving your bindings back a bit,


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Fri 1-01-21 20:46; edited 1 time in total
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@brian_m, said
Quote:

Many skiers struggle to get enough weight on the back ski.

Another exercise I really like to get the feel of weighting the back ski is the Monomark turn where you alternately ski tele/alpine turns without making a lead-change -
I posted a description on this thread (and others) a while back https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=3530375&highlight=monomark#3530375
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@euanovsky, hi- if your tips are diving then more weight is needed further back on the back ski as has been said. Also what bindings do you use?

75mm bindings tend to cause tip pressure more than NTN (I'm told). So some have their 75mm bindings really quite far back. (I ski with Hammerheads mounted quite far back).
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Thank you all for your advice will definitely weigh the back ski more.

For my education purpose, if I weigh my back ski more intuitively doesn't that mean the back ski will sink even more?
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Quote:
if I weigh my back ski more intuitively doesn't that mean the back ski will sink even more?

If you've got your weight distribution about 50/50 you should be "floating" on both skis, but should have control of the rear ski with pressure under-foot in the middle of the ski
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euanovsky wrote:
Thank you all for your advice will definitely weigh the back ski more.

For my education purpose, if I weigh my back ski more intuitively doesn't that mean the back ski will sink even more?
not if you have your hel down and aren't dog-legging.
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@ed123, in Powder you need to “feel like” you are putting 100% of you weight thru the back ski - in reality this will never be the case but it’s the sensation you need to seek.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@ed123, in Powder you need to “feel like” you are putting 100% of you weight thru the back ski - in reality this will never be the case but it’s the sensation you need to seek.
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Quote:

For my education purpose, if I weigh my back ski more intuitively doesn't that mean the back ski will sink even more?


No. Your back ski is sinking because you don't have sufficient control of it. You get control of it via the pressure under-foot, which needs weight on the ski
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Quote:

When skiing in powder should I be weighting my back ski more? I find it rather difficult to turn in powder and more often than not the tip of my back ski dives into the snow. It might be down to me not having a solid stance on piste to start with...


Don't even think of the front ski !!

Monomarks on the piste help.

If you can find somewhere fluffy but not so steep as to require turns, try doing a tele-shuffle (i.e. lead change without a turn) down the fall line.. you can then concentrate on weight on skis rather than turning.
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Charliee wrote:
@ed123, in Powder you need to “feel like” you are putting 100% of you weight thru the back ski - in reality this will never be the case but it’s the sensation you need to seek.


like this?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sjf93rb232y2bz9/97319434_10158721597751614_7598929364427735040_o.jpg
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@Rogerdodger, Thanks.

But not sure I can recall what I actually do now. It is now so natural, it just happens, but took a lot of just jumping in to the pow and trying. I did most of my learning on a black off piste deep snow area. Then I dropped in off the edge traversing in a solid tele stance. And then a vigorous turn.
As I can remember, my front ski is fairly light, with tip surfing through surface, from pics seems a ridiculous angle. I use/twist front knee turning to change the direction I am travelling. Ball of rear foot is well weighted and I use the rear ski as a brake, sliding left and right through the snow to scrub off speed as required like a rotary turn. A lot of unweighting for turns, possibly/almost pushing off clear of the snow with an in air lead change.
On piste, try doing tight small turns straight down a red run fall line and using the rear ski to slide/smear the snow to control speed, ie rotary turns. Pressure on the rear ski should be able push you physically round across the fall line, so ending up in a tele side slip. As opposed to staying on edge. A mogul/bumps field is good for this and it should feel like dancing down the bumps at a slow speed. A traverse across more than a couple of bumps is too much edge.
I think.
I'll have a practice when up in the next day or so and refresh my own ageing memory.
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@ed123, sorry missed this question. I'm using NTN. I think the problem is that I only have limited opportunities to tele in powder. This couples with the fact that perhaps my tele basic isn't too solid causes the issue.

ski wrote:

Don't even think of the front ski !!


Surely I still need to have my shin constantly pressed against my boot in the front ski? I found that by focusing on my back ski sometimes I don't press on the front ski as hard as I would in alpine skiing.
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Quote:


Surely I still need to have my shin constantly pressed against my boot in the front ski? I found that by focusing on my back ski sometimes I don't press on the front ski as hard as I would in alpine skiing


Compared to alpine skiing tele is much, much more two footed. It's a cliche, but tele (IMV) is all about the back ski. It needs to be right underneath you, so you can balance on it. The powder snow will do the job of pressurising the front ski for you, so you don't need too. This does not mean being on the backseat, rather it means being balanced on the back ski. Your back foot should be under you backside, not behind it.

On the piste are you able to make round, balanced turns on both sides? Do both skis follow the same path?


Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Mon 4-01-21 18:46; edited 1 time in total
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ski wrote:


On the piste are you able to make round, balanced turns on both sides? Do both skis follow the same path?


I'd like to think that both skis follow the same path (and they do!). They are parallel in the telemark position/stance. I turn better on one side than the other though
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@euanovsky,
Quote:

I'd like to think that both skis follow the same path (and they do!). They are parallel in the telemark position/stance. I turn better on one side than the other though


Great! Very Happy

Back knee lower and further back than front knee?
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Quote:

I turn better on one side than the other though


So does everyone else! Laughing
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ski wrote:
Back knee lower and further back than front knee?


Yes - how can back knee not be lower and further back than front knee in a tele stance? Puzzled
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Quote:

Yes - how can back knee not be lower and further back than front knee in a tele stance?


Sorry to ask --- but it's something a lot of beginning telemarkers do. So here's some things to practise

Monomarks. -- Turn without changing leads. Do this on both leads. Do it without poles on gentle slope

Try lifting the front ski off the ground at the end of a turn.

In the fluffy stuff --- somewhere where you can go straight down without worrying about speed. Start of in the fall line. Do a couple of lead changes without pole plants, then add the pole plant. Don't aim to turn. You will make very shallow turns. Add more turn, but keep in the fall line.

Hope that helps. Have fun Toofy Grin
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Even better. Exercise Telemark Titan 2022 8 - 20 January in Pralognan la Vanoise has been announced. The event to get the best possible instruction with top UK and FR instructors. There are posts on previous events on the trips section.
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Hi Colin,

Have you got a link for the Titan 2022?

Cheers
Nick
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Quote:

Have you got a link for the Titan 2022?



It's posted on FB. More info will be here https://www.awsa.org.uk/disciplines/telemark/
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
This is the topic and info for 2020. Format and description will probably be exactly the same. Cost again should be £900 all in. Astonishing value.

https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=3411116&highlight=telemark+titan#3411116

Such a shame it was cancelled this year.
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30cm of powder this morning, a bit heavy to start with but dried out during the day and got lighter. So refreshed my deep powder techniques. On a shallow slope, say blue, "walk" straight down the slope with the same motion as pavement walking. Feels well strange at first. Once walking straight, introduce shallow turns with gentle edge pressure.
On steeper slopes, pretty much as I wrote before. Front ski weighted more on heel to keep tip up and stop submarining. Front ski knee steering without edges, just like water skiing. Rear ski slipping side to side through snow to control speed. Vigorous jump turns to clear snow and lead change in air and stay a little lower. Too much pressure on rear ski can lead to it getting too far behind and legs cross over. Not good for next turn. Crash.
The only way though is just practise - fall - repeat - which I know at the moment is difficult.
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 You know it makes sense.
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And another thought. Elan Ripsticks with Amphibio rocker, more rocker on outside edge, seem to be brilliant for telemarking in powder as outside lead ski gives more lift into the turn.
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Quote:
Too much pressure on rear ski can lead to it getting too far behind and legs cross over. Not good for next turn. Crash.

In my experience, skis crossing in this manner suggest being too much in the back seat (I know the feeling... Toofy Grin) : so try to keep your weight more centred on both feet.

Keep your stance shorter so that you can weight the rear ski, whilst keeping it more beneath you. As I suggested earlier: imagine keeping your rear heel closer to the floor (ie ski), rather than getting too tippy-toed.
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Quote:

Too much pressure on rear ski can lead to it getting too far behind and legs cross over.



Not sure about this.. if the back ski is to have pressure on it, it needs to be underneath you. Allen and Mike's Telemark Tips have a really good cartoon about this.

Quote:

Elan Ripsticks with Amphibio rocker



I tried some K2 Pinnacles with rocker a couple of years back -- rocker def helps Very Happy
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