How Do I Turn?

[Montana St Alum]

Best tele tip I ever received was from Dickie Hall at a Mount Baker ski camp in the distant past. “Step the rear foot back” at the start of the turn rather then lunging forward. Gets the weight on the back foot which is key to a powerful turn.

I’m adding this as tip 124 to the back of Allen & Mike's Really Cool Telemark Tips, Revised and Even Better!: 123 Amazing Tips To Improve Your Tele-Skiing. It’s the “How to keep your Volkswagen Alive” manual for Telemark.

Yeah, "enough" weight on the back and "enough" edging on the back are important. I'd add that, with new gear, particularly NTN with its quick ramp up in resistance to dropping a knee, it's also important to press the shin of the rear leg against the tongue of the rear boot. This requires a bit of "lunging forward" to accomplish. But there are three ways to get "the spread". Shift a foot back, shift a foot forward, or drop such that both happen together. They all have their place. They are just tools in the tool box.

[fisheater]

Shins to the boots, even when the boots are Alaska

[Montana St Alum]

Shins to the boots, even when the boots are Alaska

True, regardless of how you get there.

[joeatomictoad]

Shins to the boots...

...and, point the skis down the hill

[Lighturn]

(and my foot Dr. said I'm only allowed to ski if I don't fall, which, combined with the terrain near me being Forest Service roads too narrow for beginner Telemark turns, makes learning Telemark challenging).

Hi Ira,

you are very busy to get the right tele - equipment. But I am disturbed by the above sentence. I ski since 50+ years, and never have I been falling more than since I practice the Teleturn. I don't care since I have been traing how to fall in various settings long time before in my life. But if your doctor is against skiing if you fall, you should definitely in the first place consider Alpine Touring with light wight gear and bindings that release when you fall. Seriously, for the purpose you discribed in various threads now, snow ploughing down the frozen forest road etc. loose heels wont give you any benefit whereas a fixed heel does of course help alot.

But before giving you further recommendations I would like to know WHY your doctor wants you to avoid falling?

Cheers

Lighturn

[Ira]

HI Lighturn, thank you for the concern. I should have clarified -- I only responded in this thread to post the Telemark Movie link (but can't speak to whether the lessons in the movie are helpful, since, for the reasons shared above, I am holding off on actually physically attempting Tele turns until the Dr.'s advice regarding falling changes).

The reason for the Dr.'s advice is Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction, and also I did recently buy some 3-pin bindings with removeable cables (though I won't be tele-turning anytime soon). I responded in more detail in the Fischer 98 vs Asnes Ingstad thread that I had started (since my detailed answer would be off-topic in this "how do I turn" thread)
https://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic. ... ead#unread

Thanks!

[lowangle al]

FWIW I skied five years without falling with T4s and a wide alpine ski. I do t turns and p turns and ski challenging terrain but I know how to ski. If I spend a day on light gear and want to ski aggressively there is a good chance I’ll fall or have a close call.

Last season a friend wha was an occasional xc skier got some T4s and voile vectors. We skied together and he did p turns which he wasn’t too good at. After a couple days in the bc and one at the resort he did not fall once. On his previous light gear he could barely take a run without falling.

The moral of the story is that heavier gear will be much more stable and enable you to maintain control and fall a lot less. With light gear you are more at the mercy of the conditions. Learning t turns will still be hard but you will fall less and can rely on p turns when it gets sketchy.

[Stephen]

FWIW I skied five years without falling with T4s and a wide alpine ski. I do t turns and p turns and ski challenging terrain but I know how to ski. If I spend a day on light gear and want to ski aggressively there is a good chance I’ll fall or have a close call.

Last season a friend wha was an occasional xc skier got some T4s and voile vectors. We skied together and he did p turns which he wasn’t too good at. After a couple days in the bc and one at the resort he did not fall once. On his previous light gear he could barely take a run without falling.

The moral of the story is that heavier gear will be much more stable and enable you to maintain control and fall a lot less. With light gear you are more at the mercy of the conditions. Learning t turns will still be hard but you will fall less and can rely on p turns when it gets sketchy.

So, @Ira’s SB112 + Scarpa T4s MIGHT be a good option for him.
Wider ski, solid boot, more: ankle support, stable, controllable.
But, I’m standing by my previous post: https://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic. ... =40#p43966

[jyw5]

don't spread too wide...

[bauerb]

that pic makes my groin, hamstrings, and brain hurt. but thanks for sharing, I didnt' think it was possible to turn skis without heels locked down.