"My son wants to telemark!" advice wanted

[Jonah5]

So I've been telemarking now for 2 years and love it (in addition to alpine skiing and snowboarding) and now my 8 year old is showing interest as well. He's been skiing since 3 and easily skis all the blacks in summit county, including the moguls. Any advice on equipment? I checked out Wilderness Sports in Dillon but the guy wasn't very supportive saying that kids equipment is very hard to find. I know they're out there because I saw a bunch of them tearing it up at Telluride couple years ago, ranging in age from around 8 to early teens. I had my son try out a mondo 22.5 which were just a touch large ,but would likely fit him well next year. I've also seen several boots that size on ebay, but just not sure which to get since I'm not familiar with 3pin or whatever else. My setup is ntn which is all I've known. And what about bindings? Are the cable bindings I see adjustable to such a small size or are they size specific? Ladies' versions maybe? My plan was to just mount them on some cheap regular skis. I definitely want to do this cheaply (used) just to make sure he'll stay with it. Thanks for any inout you can offer!

[MikeK]

http://www.telemarkdown.com/store/boots/garmont-g-rex/

http://www.orscrosscountryskisdirect.co ... boots.html

If you use Voile cable bindings you can trim the cable to whatever length.

[connyro]

I know that Garmont sold the Excursions in the "femme" versions for the ladies. They size down pretty small. You should be able to find them used for a modest price. MikeK's advice regarding cutting down a Voile 3-pin cable is a real good idea. Any short alpine ski should work just fine.

[martin2007]

"The Trading Post" in Winter Park is a great place for tele gear sold on consignment. My son (16) is on his third pair of Scarpa T-1"s bought for between $50 and $60, sizes 7.5-9.5. Not a lot of kids' small sizes, though. There's also a good consignment store up in Steamboat, but I forget the name. Also: "High Rockies" Craigslist "telemark" gear could produce some results. I wonder if your youngster would be able to wear smallish women's boots? Frisco/Dillon doesn't seem to have much used tele gear in the stores. If there is a store with used tele gear, please let me know! Good luck with the equipment hunt. Tele'ing with my son is one of my life's greatest pleasures. We started together 3 years ago at Tremblant on leathers, 3-pin toe-pieces without cables, and thrift-store alpine skis. It's one way to get started, but contrary to some wisdom out there, it's certainly not the only way. Here's what happened, though: we had a riot. My son enjoyed the attention showered on him due to his efforts on the old-school gear, and he got hooked. From there, he quickly moved on to new-school alpine skis, Rottefella chili bindings and plastic boots. Well, new school in my eyes, but already dated, witness the NTN offerings. Something else: resort skiing will accelerate the learning process without the poor young fellow having to "earn his turns". Kids aren't usually too excited about slip-sliding their way uphill for a 50-100 ft. descent. Lazy little critters!

[Jonah5]

Thanks! You mentioned the voile bindings which I'll look for, but are all cable bindings adjustable to fit smaller boots in case I can't find Voiles? And are 3pin and 75mm the same/interchangeable? The boots I saw had a duckbill but also had the 3 holes under the toes-would these fit any cable bindings?
Martin2007, thanks for sharing your son's story-my son and I just got back from Summit county for 4 days of skiing and had a great time together and definitely looking forward to some tele-time.

[martin2007]

Hi Jonah5, 75mm=duckbill=NN The nomenclature gets complicated. The 75 mm. boots (aka "duckbill") always come with the 3 holes in the duckbill piece. Most modern tele bindings don't have pins that fit into the holes, but rather use cables/cartridges that force the boot to snug up inside the toe-piece without resorting to pins.. Traditional "Voilé" binding toe-pieces DO use the pins. There's the toe-piece only option: the "Mountaineer", the toe-piece with cable option: the "Voilé Cable", and finally, the "Hardwire" option, a beefier version of the simpler, lighter cable binding. Pins create a simple interface with the boot. Cables around the heel double up on the security and responsiveness of that interface. The cables (looks like a spring) can be cut to fit small boots. To get started almost any rig will serve the purpose: a ski/boot/binding that allows for a "free heel". Enjoy!

[Jonah5]

That's the best explanation I've ever read on tele bindings; I could never make sense of the terminology before.
Thank you!