Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Me again with my beloved Canadian Ski Marathon. The 2024 edition will bring significant changes as the whole event will not be as spread as before. @spopepro we should not have to take our skis for a walk this year as we did last year for different reasons sometimes out of the control of the organizer such as unfrozen waterways or new owners declining the right of way.

There is the link to the trail which can be quite challenging and should offer some opportunities for some telemark turns… well I had to write that as this is a telemark forum

https://skimarathon.ca/the-trail/

Trip report to follow in a couple of months

Would be nice to meet some of you if the opportunity arise.

It looks like a ton of fun... but unfortunately I'm out for this year. I, somewhat embarrassingly, miscalculated my work calendar and I don't actually have the time off to attend this year. I hope things recover a bit and the event can get on firm footing--it's really a treasure and everyone who can should give it a shot.

It is only 6.5 hour drive to get to the starting line...

xcdnewb0313 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 13, 2023 7:14 pm

It is only 6.5 hour drive to get to the starting line...

6,5 hours skiing!... you will be all warmed up then to ski the event
Seriously, there is a lot of participants from the US. It's a great experience and they made some serious change to the trail and that will involve a lot less logistic and a lot less walking alongside roads. Drop a note if you ever register.

Martin, aren’t you going to be skiing harder to Telemark skis this year??? Not that I think you needed to mention the turn to post about this event!
I hope Mother Nature treated you well this season! I look forward to reading about this event. That includes your preparation, any news you can post during, and your thoughts and photos afterwards.
I’ll keep my posts to a minimum, because my comments cannot add to this thread. However that does not diminish my interest. I’m pretty stoked you are participating again this year!

fisheater wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 25, 2023 8:58 am

Martin, aren’t you going to be skiing harder to Telemark skis this year??? Not that I think you needed to mention the turn to post about this event!
I hope Mother Nature treated you well this season! I look forward to reading about this event. That includes your preparation, any news you can post during, and your thoughts and photos afterwards.
I’ll keep my posts to a minimum, because my comments cannot add to this thread. However that does not diminish my interest. I’m pretty stoked you are participating again this year!

@fisheater sorry for taking so long to reply to your post.

I am curious to know if any TTalker will attend this year? If so, drop me a note and we could arrange a meeting. I know @spopepro won't take part this year but I am looking forward meeting you next year.

I really don't have much to say for my preparation... so far we are not having the best of winter and I did not ski much. I also was in the Pyrenées region for 2 weeks so I missed the best 2 weeks of ski around our farm. But we walked so much during our trip that it was a good way to get in shape... can you believe me that I lost about 10 days during my stay in France and Spain!!!

All that to say that altough I don't feel fit enough to ski the whole event, I will still register for the first day which is still 81,7 km. For your info here is the trail for the 2 days event : https://skimarathon.ca/the-trail/ I have not decided if I will use my MT51 or a faster ski. I have tried the MT51 on crust and I really like the additional control compared to an edgeless ski but they are not as fast as I would like. A lot of the Marathon veterans suggest to use faster skis and simply walk down some of the nasty dh if the conditons are dangerous. I will try the MT51 this weekend in groomed trails and see how it goes.

This year they downsized the event to reduce the logistic nightmare that this event became. Some parts of the trails will be shared between the 2 days mostly in order to reduce the number of checkpoints. Still, a good share of the trail will be new for me so I am really looking forward to it.

@fisheater I will try to take picture and even post something during the event but that depends on how fast I go... depending on the snow conditions and my physical status, I might have to rush to make the cut in time at the last checkpoint. Last year I made it by a few minutes... but the last section was a nightmare... so if you are too close to the cut off time maybe it's a good reason to stop there

Hopefully I have more to say next Saturday... back to training

Martin, wishing you the best in the Marathon! May your skis grip on the kick, and slide on the glide. May your edges be enough on the turns, and your downhill speed just a little faster than you planned while staying right side up!
If you manage photos, that will be great! I sure hope we get a report.

fisheater wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 02, 2024 7:48 pm

Martin, wishing you the best in the Marathon! May your skis grip on the kick, and slide on the glide. May your edges be enough on the turns, and your downhill speed just a little faster than you planned while staying right side up!
If you manage photos, that will be great! I sure hope we get a report.

@fisheater well change of program. I won't take part this year to the main event. I spare you the details... It's going to be quite a challenge with the spring weather we have experienced in the last few weeks. The forecast are horrible with highs of 7 C for tomorrow with some rain this afternoon... the forecast is 3 C for next night so at least it should not be too icy. I really feel bad for all the volunteers involved in this legendary event as they put so much into it. It's the worst winter I can remember. I have been skiing on crust for the last 2 weeks with no fresh snow. I mostly ski the MT51 with skins as the wax dont hold up well with the crust. Any dh is a challenge and all the turns are "survival" turns so I really appreciate the ¾ metal edges on the MT. I skied with edgeless skis similar in size to the MT and I can feel the difference the edges provides. I also use some Combi boots and the additional support is more then welcome. Well, maybe I should report that in the MT51 thread

Still enjoying this winter as I can't do much and complaining is useles... so I just embrace the different challenges it brings and try to survive the horrible conditions

I’ll be in VT, end of the month. I hope you’re doing a snow dance!

Nitram Tocrut wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 09, 2023 1:44 pm

Me again with my beloved Canadian Ski Marathon. The 2024 edition will bring significant changes as the whole event will not be as spread as before. @spopepro we should not have to take our skis for a walk this year as we did last year for different reasons sometimes out of the control of the organizer such as unfrozen waterways or new owners declining the right of way.

There is the link to the trail which can be quite challenging and should offer some opportunities for some telemark turns… well I had to write that as this is a telemark forum

https://skimarathon.ca/the-trail/

Trip report to follow in a couple of months

Would be nice to meet some of you if the opportunity arise.

Where's Canada again? Somewhere in Minnesota> Right?