It's XCd. Case closed.

[lowangle al]

I was a nordic racer in the 80's, of course my alpine poles were way too long, plus I bought stuff like that at the local high school ski swap in the fall. we bought stuff that was cheap, even if the size was not ideal.

At least you had alpine poles as opposed to xc ones.

[bgregoire]

Don't get hung up on terminology. The XCD (XCd-xcD) lingo used here came about to talk about the subtle differences between equipement and skiing preferences in some grey zone between pure XC and modern hardshell telemarking. Say a Asnes Gamme skis w/ Alfa Advance for touring with some low-incline turns vs Fisher S-Bound 98 and Crispi Antartic boots for yoyo-ing.

Yes, in the end, ITS ALL FREE-HEEL, ITS ALL FUN.

[martin2007]

Warning: if this thread turns ugly, I'm stripping off my knee pads, loosening my suspenders, hooking up the dog-team and driving straight home. Well, I might stop for a quick apple fritter at Tim's on the way, but only because I got nothin' better to do...

Re: length of ski poles: I like 'em short, but there might yet be room for other approaches. I do love that photo of the guy waving his poles around. Is he trying to attract the photographer's attention in an all-too-cluttered field of lesser mortals, i.e "fixed heel" skiers? "Fixed" heel? WTF is that? Sounds like something you'd get done to your cat so it doesn't have babies. "Fixed", to my mind anyway, implies that something has already been broken. Is there a broken binding on the mountain? Sounds like a safety issue. Call the ski patrol! Could it be that the skier in the photo is, quite simply, pissed off? Or is he ecstatic? Is it reading too much into things to suggest he appears to be compensating for obscure, and probably unjustified, feelings of shame and covering those feelings by clowning around? I do like a good mystery. Thank you for that photo.

A few years ago I attended a tele festival in Bromley, Vermont. It was a yearly event that I enjoyed only the one time, but found it a blast. Several members of the US National Telemark racing team were there. They were hopeful that tele racing would qualify as a demonstration sport at an upcoming Olympics. Unfortunately for the sport, our sport, that didn't happen, though that's only a side-story. The national team racers present were equipped with NTN and very long skating poles. Yes, poles stretching from ground to ear-height. Basically, poles on steroids. Hmm, not at all what I'd expected. The racers used the poles very effectively to aggressively accelerate in full skating mode around turns in the sections of the course with less pitch.

Reading this thread brings back fond memories of a t-shirt I once heard about. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't actually SEE the t-shirt with my own eyes. On it, so I was told, was emblazoned in proud capital letters: "I LOVE TELE BECAUSE I HATE PEOPLE." A gentle overstatement, perhaps, but not completely and totally devoid of insight. Doesn't "free-heel" skiing tend to bask in a self-congratulatory misanthropy that's so despicable that you just can't help loving it?

[Andy M]

Don't get hung up on terminology. The XCD (XCd-xcD) lingo used here came about to talk about the subtle differences between equipement and skiing preferences in some grey zone between pure XC and modern hardshell telemarking. Say a Asnes Gamme skis w/ Alfa Advance for touring with some low-incline turns vs Fisher S-Bound 98 and Crispi Antartic boots for yoyo-ing.

Yes, in the end, ITS ALL FREE-HEEL, ITS ALL FUN.

I agree, but c'mon, the original post was a nonsensical, joke of a troll -- oldschool hasn't posted on this thread since -- he's over on the Off Topic forum laughing about this.

I do all forms of free-heel skiing, and I find the various xcd terms useful -- it lets me know where the interests lie of the person using the terminology.

[bgregoire]

Don't get hung up on terminology. The XCD (XCd-xcD) lingo used here came about to talk about the subtle differences between equipement and skiing preferences in some grey zone between pure XC and modern hardshell telemarking. Say a Asnes Gamme skis w/ Alfa Advance for touring with some low-incline turns vs Fisher S-Bound 98 and Crispi Antartic boots for yoyo-ing.

Yes, in the end, ITS ALL FREE-HEEL, ITS ALL FUN.

I agree, but c'mon, the original post was a nonsensical, joke of a troll -- oldschool hasn't posted on this thread since -- he's over on the Off Topic forum laughing about this.

I do all forms of free-heel skiing, and I find the various xcd terms useful -- it lets me know where the interests lie of the person using the terminology.

I'll admit the topic did not interest me to the point of reading the entire thread. Maybe I should have, then I might not have bothered answering...oh well. Whats up with all this trollings anyhow?

[Andy M]

From Wikipedia (added emphasis is mine):

In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the Internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion, whether for the troll's amusement or a specific gain.

[bgregoire]

From Wikipedia (added emphasis is mine):

In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the Internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion, whether for the troll's amusement or a specific gain.

Sounds like a worthy enterprise.

[oldschool47]

I agree, but c'mon, the original post was a nonsensical, joke of a troll

Not trolling. XCd = telemark. XCd must move as far away from alpine skiing as possible as soon as possible so that the Alpine Intelligentsia (AI) have no influence over telemark equipment and style. Alpine telemark is a tweener that gives the AI indirect influence over the sport, which means it must disappear immediately.

I wish Billy Kidd was posting on this site because he knows that I am right. Or I guess I should say that I know that he is right because he knows more than I about the need to completely separate the disciplines of alpine and telemark. Different animals. You guys on this site and Cantunamunch are the best telemarkers in the country and the living Godfathers of the sport so it is up to you to bring about this separation.

-- oldschool hasn't posted on this thread since -- he's over on the Off Topic forum laughing about this.

The Off Topic forum is a great thing where you can post and learn about interesting non-telemark subjects. I turned you guys onto the real deal in Off Topic: Jerry Jeff Walker.

"I drunk all my whiskey I smoked all my beer
I'm already gone I just got here."

[Andy M]

Thank oldschool, you proved my point

BTW, I saw Jerry Jeff perform in the Cactus Cafe in Austin in 1984 -- fortunately, he didn't fall off the stage drunk that time.

[bauerb]

if you watch Tele racing, you understand the very long poles. skiing gates only uses poles as boxing gloves in alpine slalom, and sometimes dual slalom which is more like GS. so tele racers really only need poles suitable for skating.