This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
Listen and listen well. Double cambered skis have a WAX pocket. Use it! Rest of the ski is for speed so you CAN turn it. Speed is essential for the skis to come around. Polar wax on the entire ski is for beginners. Slow skis make it easier to control. Fast skis make for high level fun and turnability. Also, on long skinnies you go entirely across the fall line in any decent amount of powder, it will slow you down too much to make the TURN. TM
Right.
But I don't think anyone's putting Polar on if they're thinking of turns and speed.
Even in the last few posts, LilCliffy himself has said that Polar's for specific conditions and is pretty much a 'hiking' thing (or whatever you want to call it).
There's no substitute for glide wax. Apart from maybe no wax at all.
I'm using a smilie, here, @greatgt, to indicate affection and respect for your approach to sliding down mountains and describing it here.
Right right. I would use that method if out for a stroll right out my door, where I may encounter 100 steep 20 ft hills up and down. Not really out for turns, and no interest in herringboning half my hike.
Slowing a ski to a crawl to make turning somehow under more "control" is often counterproductive though perhaps a comforting self-delusion common amongst beginners. A ski that runs with more speed also floats better and skims along and is much easier to "control" in terms of turning- as a rule.
Of course, if we are talking about double cambered skis that are grip waxed, you also have to consider that when arcing such a DC ski (turning) you also push all that grip wax into the snow as you try to bend out the camber and hold it, and maybe all this means that the best (most effective or efficient) way to use DC skis on the down is to try and stick with very short-radius turns. I'll stick with single camber or maybe some camber+/xcD skis.
No waxless please, they also resist the turn as they slow things down especially on lower- angle terrain, though, again, that delusional "control" can be comforting.
Listen and listen well. Double cambered skis have a WAX pocket. Use it! Rest of the ski is for speed so you CAN turn it. Speed is essential for the skis to come around. Polar wax on the entire ski is for beginners. Slow skis make it easier to control. Fast skis make for high level fun and turnability. Also, on long skinnies you go entirely across the fall line in any decent amount of powder, it will slow you down too much to make the TURN. TM
Your statement is a bit confusing in that turning skis is a matter of, ideally, making smooth linked S-tracks back and forth ACROSS a fall line. I think you mean to say that on skinny xc skis you focus on SHORT-RADIUS turns, which makes sense in that on a skinny ski in powder or deeper, softer snow, trying to ski longer radius turns on something 55mm underfoot AND double cambered often will result in sinking too much as you scrub more speed.
Not putting words in your mouth, just trying to decode your message.
I should let greatgt respond himself, but… have watched him for decades, his style is more likely to be long sweeping arcs.
Also, with even back/front weighting, the wax pocket does not slow you down significantly, in my limited experience, on virgin powder (where I prefer to ski).
A wax that grips twice as hard only needs to be used on half the ski for it to have the same total grip. And if the “half ski” is around the pocket, you can turn that on or off any time you want with weighting. Basic ski control.
That depends in part on how bumpy the trail is.
When skiing on a bumpy hiking trail, it may be difficult to get a short wax pocket engaged with the snow at all times. A longer wax pocket means more flexibility in where to place your ski and still get some grip.
There is a reason the fishscale patterns by Alpina and Fischer are 80 and 90cm long, respectively.
On a smooth trail, your observation is of course correct.
Agree @riel. All part of dialling in the wax pocket relative to weight, camber, conditions and technique. Or even going scales, which is what a lot of people do to avoid the waxing challenge (can pay off in the spring with wet, granular or compressed snow).
