Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Howdy folks! Wondering if anyone here has tried a Tiak or”Lurk” while out in the backcountry. Seems pretty inefficient for touring, but looks like a helluva lot of fun on the downhills. Just wanted to get some insight and opinions from the experienced folks here.

My guess is that you won't be able to climb as well as you can with poles. If you are touring for turns chances are it will be steep enough that you will want kicker skins at least. I don't know what your skill level is, but if you are still learning you don't want it to become a crutch that prevents you from making proper turns.

I do use a tiak with my Hoks- partly because it is also my DBH measuring stick-

I use the Hok almost exclusively for forestry field work and work around the farm and woodlot.

The tiak makes a huge difference- even the 145 Hok is a very short ski and things get very unstable- fast- when you point them down a steep hill.

Cut yourself a nice lean spruce tree- very light (once dry) and very strong!

I wonder if this movie is known beyond Scandinavia. If not I understand.
In any case the use of the lurk is "demonstrated" in a downhill setting. It is especially useful when fleeing from Danes.

↑ Awesome movie!!!

Roelant wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:41 am

I wonder if this movie is known beyond Scandinavia. If not I understand.
In any case the use of the lurk is "demonstrated" in a downhill setting. It is especially useful when fleeing from Danes.

Great movie!!! It was available on Netflix in the U.S. last year.

Anybody see a tele-turn in there?

stilltryin wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:33 pm

Anybody see a tele-turn in there?

The Telemark turn had not yet been invented, or at least as we know it. I don’t think Telemark turns at this period in history would resonate with Norwegian viewers.

I ski hoks with a tiak exclusively. All backcountry, lots of vertical, pretty much every day there's snow around here. It started as a way to get into bc skiing but after 6 years I can't see any reason to go with anything else. It's just the best way to do what I like to do which is explore the mountains. The tiak is a very fun way to ski and you can ski anything. My buddies on AT gear can't ski the woods like I can, not the steep stuff with thick growth. It's an awesome way to ski deep powder and right now I'm skiing 4 inches of crusty stuff with the rock hoks and enjoying it. Give it a shot! I don't do too much tele turning (ok, almost none) but I'm sure a better skier could.

Or skiing down thru the trees chasing elk in to a meadow at the bottom. When the elk starts to founder in the deep powder, you ski up and grab it around the neck and slice it’s neck open with a knife. The Chinese government no longer allows the Altai people of Mongolia to hunt this way.

I read about this in Skiing magazine about 20 years ago. The author of the article said he was easily out skied even with his top of the line AT gear.