Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Broad statement...S bounds are decent downhill skis and at best mediocre at the cc level...Seeing that most of the KTB madness is about heading off to get the goods...its important to cruise easily in the sticks...E 109's and e99's get that done and are good on the down as well....Far as nnn they leave me with apprehension as they will and do ice up...getting into them ain't all that easy....That flimsy bar is looking for trouble....Pins RST Rotta Super Tele....are simple and indestructible and don't break down...As close to a guarantee as there is....Boots...heh...three sets of lace up's and they are really comfortable with a bit of support...If you ski in a finesse kind of way nnn and soft boots get the job done as do pins and light leather....If your a power" person then you will probably need all the telemark (Alpine Telemark) equipment that's out there...Plastic...short stubby skis...heavy bindings...Since Alpine skiing at Alpine ski areas is not for me don't have to worry a bit about that stuff...Hope the e109's I ordered will fit right into the gonz that many of us love so much...Teleman

Slicing....Hot knife and butter....Doing the deed on 99's and 109's is out and out slicing....Bigger S Bounds ride higher and are not the slicing machines that the skinnier skis are....Riding higher makes for easier turns if that's your thing...With skinnies however there is an entirely different dynamic.....First your IN the snow....this leads to interesting factors....Riding and letting the ski go is factor number one....You head them down and little toe and big toe do the arcing deed....On this equipment if you allow the turn to cross the fall line you generally will lose to much speed and it allows the ski to drop to far into the powder....soooo....as soon as you initiate the turn.....your already shifting everything you do to prevent the completion of that across fall line turn....The result is a start on a S turn voyage....Always heading them down.....never completing a full turn....unless you want to stop....That's good too!!!!! Teleman

Riding skinnies is a blast!.....Shock absorbers (big camber) is the cream made with a dollop of Maple Syrup on chocolate pudding....Fischer makes skis with a softness that allows one to play with that camber while riding....Drop into a dip and weigh both skis down....Up you come with the camber releasing and unweighing releases you for a moment in time...Weightless your skis maneuver effortlessly....So easy and thrilling you don't even know what happened as your on a new virgin track....S..ing...arcing....trees whizzing by.... camber so maligned is a good thing...Teleking and Telekid like catching air and those shock absorbers really help...Teleman

Great narrative and insights! The point about letting the skis go is so true. Thanks for posting.

As I get even older.....riding becomes more into the mix.....Riding is when your extended....I think the people who hated skinnies and became Alpine Telemarkers called it poodling....What it means is that your 205 skinnies were elongated and the seven foot length becomes 8-9 feet and if your on longer skis then your riding a single gigantic ski...It's long....skinny and you can get the ride of your life....Combine that with the inherit ant double camber and you get a totally different kind of ski....Consider your front ski...leading ski....as the ski that breaks the snow surface....your trailing ski sits just back from the wake and becomes the "riding" ski and you the skier through the magic of double camber get to twitch between the two for a cloud like ride....Since you almost never go across the fall line your speed is always up keeping the skis that are down in the snow blasting...A little twich and the tips drop in...a little weight on the riding ski and the tips surface....In this way you are always scanning for "openings" then you pounce and let them flow down...Slight turning and or arcs bleeds speed allowing you to be in control....When done....I always am amazed when looking back at the mono marks.....Which is frowned on by modern Alpine telemarkers. The meaning of that is you have a tight stance not the (parallel wide spaced legs) of todays telemarkers...(again where do they learn this parallel type stuff?)....Easy, at Alpine areas and PSIA instructors...TM

As the earth begins to cool changes begin....if you can't sleep.....dream on!.....getting out of the jeep I snap the bale on the pins closed....and ...start shuffling....easy low angle at first....See the tree where three Fischer Cats came down about three feet from me....Always look up to see if they are there again....cross a high snow machine trail and the steepness begins.....Zigging and zagging through a Hardwood forest....by an old tele camp in a major state of disrepair....and the landscape gets quite steep.....Long traverses and up and out of the steepness into trees that are considerably smaller......Winds begin to throw snow and I arrive at Twin spruce and continue along a long thin ridge to the top....Look around ski to Heavens gate.....a zillion trees and millions of openings and taking a deep breath push off and find that I'm asleep....Night all! TM

One month....8 October 2000....8 October 2001....Teleking and I both had first ski up in our local hills....And it was good...One month and counting....Better check in and see if those new 109's have come in....have @ 15 sets of old Asnes woodies...They do good on leaves...lichen...moss and a hint of snow....Cool last night and into the realm of frost tonight...It begins...Teleman

Get a kick out of the Asnes thread....Decades back I rode 220 Asnes for a few years....Turning was not required....All we wanted was speed and the 220's well tarred and waxed were pretty good back then...Then....Telewheels trying to keep up with us.....shot by with a new offering the e99...With 5-6 foot poles for more speed was humiliated as Telewheels shot ahead....Couldn't afford anything but somehow got some myself....Been a Fischer ski skier since....Tried some Karhu's....fair to middling.....The other thing about Fischers they always came through with a new ski to try...GTS....then the S bound....Thinking to wide defeats the Nordic part of skiing and telemarking and forces Alpine type turns...But skinnies keep the Nordic Tele thing alive and lucky us we are still alive and waiting for anything that comes our way...Teleman

Hope my 109's are in at Mountain Opp's in Stowe....3 pin Rotta attached....Looked at the wall down in the cellar....Doing well with lite and I mean lite lace up boots....The cobbler has not redone the Rossie chocolate double buckle yet...Fingers crossed.....3 lace up....1 beater Andrew's double buckle...Set of mondo leathers with plastic cuff...(Boots...boot)....One set of leather double buckle leather Merril for Tele Rock when he visits....That's a lot of waxing!!!!! TM

greatgt wrote:Get a kick out of the Asnes thread....Been a Fischer ski skier since...But skinnies keep the Nordic Tele thing alive..Teleman

Fischer E-109:
82-60-70mm
air-wood channel core
full-steel edge
2.050g (200cm)

Asnes Ingstad BC:
84-62-74mm
solid wood core
wrap-around steel edge
2.050g (200cm)

(DISCLAIMER: I do NOT sell skis for Asnes!)
LilCliffy