Learning to Turn on Resort Setup

[Stephen]

Here’s a question.

At the end of a turn, the transition to the next turn, is it best to:
- step forward with the back foot;
- step back with the front foot, or;
- shuffle the front and back feet?

Or, does it depend on conditions?
I’m looking for tips

[lowangle al]

I usually step forward with the back foot but all three work. Find what works best for you.

[Montana St Alum]

I agree. ^^^

The idea isn't original with me, but this is how I think about it to "pressure the cuff" on the rear foot - by stepping forward. All three actions have their place though.

[stilltele]

To me, the idea of "stepping..." doesn't work, because it implies that that leg is shifting to a position independent of the body. Your feet need to float under your body at all times - not get "ahead", or drop "behind".
I guess that puts me in the shuffle category? Both at same time

I think one of the most important leaning techniques I learned was the monomark turn. It makes it very clear what a hooked up edge feels like (in alpine side) and then on the tele side how its lacking (or not), and thus how to weight your skis.
For years I've been edging towards the goal of my body understanding that there is no difference between a tele turn and an alpine turn (with a free heel). If you are centered over your skis, you can slide them back and forth under you at will, as needed - which is the lead ski is irrelevant.

That is real hard to do if you are poodling (sp?) all over the place! High tight stance.

Last ramble: I think squeezing the orange between the hip and ribs is critical- it's where you get the skis on edge, unless you've got rubber ankles.

But, don't listen to me! It's probably all nonsense

[Stephen]

To me, the idea of "stepping..." doesn't work, because it implies that that leg is shifting to a position independent of the body. Your feet need to float under your body at all times - not get "ahead", or drop "behind".
I guess that puts me in the shuffle category? Both at same time

I think one of the most important leaning techniques I learned was the monomark turn. It makes it very clear what a hooked up edge feels like (in alpine side) and then on the tele side how its lacking (or not), and thus how to weight your skis.
For years I've been edging towards the goal of my body understanding that there is no difference between a tele turn and an alpine turn (with a free heel). If you are centered over your skis, you can slide them back and forth under you at will, as needed - which is the lead ski is irrelevant.

That is real hard to do if you are poodling (sp?) all over the place! High tight stance.

Last ramble: I think squeezing the orange between the hip and ribs is critical- it's where you get the skis on edge, unless you've got rubber ankles.

But, don't listen to me! It's probably all nonsense

No, that’s great stuff.
At the same time, a lot of the Tele videos I see look like “step ahead.”
I can ski Alpine just fine, and have better control of my edges than I do with Tele.
It’s a bit frustrating — I don’t seem to have quite found the magic of edging on Tele and there is a lot of skidding going on!
Been thinking about angulation, so “squeeze the orange” might be the next experiment.

I have the impression that people who have been doing this for a long time have all worked out their own adaptation for this.

I think one challenge with Tele is that a lot of balance is going on on the inner most edge of the turn (outside edge of the back ski) and this body position / balancing act, has no fail-safe if one is off balance to the inside, or if the back ski skids.
Whereas, with Alpine, primary balance is on the inside edge of the ski on the outside of the turn, and any skier imbalance to the inside of the turn has the inside ski available to adjust balance and avoid falling to the inside, so it’s mentally easier to commit to that edge in the Alpine turn.

[stilltele]

Oh, yea even on moderately hard surfaces, really carving an edge in a tele turn is hard. When conditions suck - hard, icy - keeping tele under control is not lots of fun.
Active bindings help.
When conditions are slippery I think most get lower, and yes, skid!
But link those skids gracefully?

[Stephen]

Oh, yea even on moderately hard surfaces, really carving an edge in a tele turn is hard. When conditions suck - hard, icy - keeping tele under control is not lots of fun.
Active bindings help.
When conditions are slippery I think most get lower, and yes, skid!
But link those skids gracefully?

Yea, firm, low 30* snow, not much to edge on.
I don’t think the skis I was on were helping — 102 waist Rustler 10.
Lots of tip and tail rocker, really short running surface (on hard), not much camber.
Still, figure more skill can overcome those limitations.
And, yes, being lower (but still fairly tight stance) feels more powerful for edging.

[stilltele]

Skiing yesterday I was paying attention a bit... to really weight the rear ski, we all know you need to keep your rear leg from getting too far behind - What it really feels like to me is that I'm essentially trying to sit down on the rear foots' little toe. The inside/rear boot needs to feel like it's under your butt. Tight!
In practice it's probably a little further back than that - see first photo you posted earlier.

To a recent alpine convert, I suspect that would feel like skiing in the back seat a bit, but your not, because your weight is supported by a rear positioned leg (dropped inside leg). Notice how the forward leg in the pic is almost straight up - not hard angled forward like a well pressured alpine turn. Yes, you still are pressuring the forward shin, but not like a real alpine carved turn, IMO.

Also, I'll mention monomark again- If you make an alpine *style* turn, with a slightly leading inside ski, if you just angle over to the other edge, you will find that this is the perfect place for the now trailing boot to be - tight under you for good weight transfer. Don't allow rear ski to drop behind! Get it good, and you can feel like you are riding a water ski and just rolling from edge to edge with feet locked one behind the other.
I always start doing this when on low angle slopes that would otherwise be boring. And often throw them in in more challenging places for fun- working towards goal of it just being a turn - like I mentioned above.
I'm still better at it on one side!

[lowangle al]

There is a point when the snow gets hard enough that I switch to P turns. Telemark is a soft snow turn.

One problem for a beginner is to know when NOT to try T turns. When I know I'm beat I'll switch to P turns or even snowplow and wedge turns. Or you could try a narrower ski if you have one.

[bauerb]

a few weeks ago...making a turn on my resort setup: TXP, OutlawX, Fey Bros 106.
with boots and bindings like this the skis will do whatever they are told.
what I see most commonly is beginners not getting low enough...maybe because its very taxing? I'm not sure.
in this pic I can tell I am about to initiate weight transfer and begin the next turn, I was actually lower and am rising up to unweight the skis and make the next pole plant. my eyes and shoulders are fall-line, but body/core is twisting around the turn.

there are far better and more technically correct tele skiers than me, this is just how I do it.