My Ski History by anemic

[fisheater]

Anemic, I am in Oakland County, Mi. For what it is worth, in my limited eastern travel, I have found eastern ice to be at least as bad as Michigan ice. Usually Lake Michigan creates a freshening on the snow belt areas of the LP, while the UP stays pretty cold consistently and does not seem to ice too badly. This year I think everybody is dealing ice. I make decent telemark turns, but while at the ski area in flat light, I bounced my a_s off the ground. I just didn't realize I was turning on ice until I was right on top of it. It is a tough year to be learning the telemark turn. It may be blasphemy, but if it is really icy, parallel turns (alpine) handle changeable icy conditions a bit easier than telemark turns. I do not enjoy making parallel turns as much, but after separating my shoulder 20 years ago on a really steep and icy slope, I parallel on my tele gear when conditions dictate.

[anemic]

Nice Fisheater! I am in Grand Rapids. I hope to see you on the trails.

[MikeK]

Whoa! Sounds like you are making good progress. I knew that Aussie was a good teacher

[anemic]

Mrs anemic didn't even bring her alpine gear on a ski weekend. We love tele!!


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[GEO]

it's a fun story.... I think mine runs directly 180 the other way....
Curious human natures, different approaches, ideas, responsibilities.
Looking good!

[anemic]

Thanks GEO. Cheers to ya.

Yes, we are looking for new thrills in the same old places and have certainly found them with tele.

[anemic]

anemic, look for the book "Allen and Mike's Really Cool Telemark Tips" it's great bathroom reading with good visualization exercises that are easy to summon while you're skiing down your icy trail.

Woody ! This book is AWESOME!! Thanks for the heads up on this. It's more than what I had wished for. So many tips. If one has the skills to run the table on every tele tip, you'll be teleing switch by the end of it!

At this stage, I'm working on keeping my upper body faced downhill. There are many tips on this problem; shine a flashlight straight downhill from your navel, keep both hands pointed downhill, etc.

If I allow myself to "fear the falline," I will assume a defensive position with the hips, which renders the next turn impossible. A cool tip I used yesterday was to simply make short SL style turns. This way I can't get all bunched up on one side or the other because my next turn is coming up immediately.

Thanks again Woody, I'm going to be busy for a long time with this one. I wish I could wish the snow back here. Awful forecast this week.

[anemic]

Hey woody I'm very thankful that you recommended that book. It helped me connect to the proper body position and basically what it's supposed to look like when we tele. And I used that to tele the Rockies, right away!

So a long overdue update to share with you guys...warning this may not strictly speaking "XCD" but it does involve ups and downs and teles, and a progression of the knowledge I've gained here from you, so indulge me?

For spring break I went to CO with a buddy and we traveled around! We skied Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek & Breck. I was able to do tele dawn patrols I think 8 of 10 mornings (one I was staying away from the mountain without a pre-dawn ride and the other was day 1 at Breck and the mountain was having a storm, I was unfamiliar with Breck so I chose to sleep in). Otherwise on those 8 mornings I was up at 0430 and ascending ASAP for at least 1,200' to maybe 1,800'. It is truly a perfect start to the day!

I brought my alpine heel locking all mountain rig as well as my leather tele boots and the BD Stigmas with Voile cables and my momix BD skins. Day 1 I went up Keystone and it was AWESOME. About 8" of pow. So, here I am at the top of Keystone as quite a flailing tele noob in 8" of fresh at about 0600 ! That was thrilling. I was in over my head but that was the point. I was there to learn. I had to stop about every 150 to 300 meters of travel. It took maybe a half hour to descend from the top of the gondola. But some of those turns! They were glorious!! I mean I really tele'd! But it was HARD descending on that gear. Those old worn out leather boots have a way too soft sole that is ONLY good for striding. I did not know that at the time. The ascent went very nicely.

At the end of the lift served portion of my first ski day on alpine gear I met up with a guy who lived in Denver who I found on craigslist selling some tele gear. He sold me his garmont boots (red & grey, standard issue, you've seen 'em), BD blue bindings on some Karhu 90s (like Line Prophet 90s, by the same designer before he went from Karhu to Line). So this was a big jump in weight, but also to something more appropriate to the job of descending a CO ski mountain.

The next morning I ascended on those things, as I did every morning thereafter. That was HARD! The leathers + Stigmas were a relatively light setup. This was the next level heavy. But! the payoff was the descent. I began to descend with the boots and bindings in DH mode, and I had to bail on that after two attempted turns. I had nothing. But as the week progressed, I began to buckle the boots for the down, then I switched from walk mode to ski mode and the bindings too as I got the hang of heavy tele. This gear was ENTIRELY different from the sloppy leathers & Stigmatas.

It was a thrill watching the skimo sportsters ascend on the carbon gear - and then watching them try to descend on it! Hilarious! That stuff is completely made only for ascending! It looks dangerous for descending! Very minimalistic for ascending followed by surviving. All carbon. Very light like race nordic gear. I did want to try to ascend on their gear. That would have been more fun for the half the game.

It was SO MUCH FUN as I got the hang of tele, like on day 2, descending the entire mountain just as the dawn broke. The entire mountain basically to myself, or me & a buddy. Most mornings were pow. One day was not, so my college room mate and I ripped Lindsey's tele in the dawn's early light as our skis made this RIPPING sound as they tore up the perfectly setup powder corduroy. He lives there and he couldn't believe how cool that run was. I teared up a little bit.

By the time I was in Breck for the last few days, and was getting a little tired of waiting around for my (slower) host group, I thought why not tele all day; they may have to wait for me! So I'd begin the day by skiing up Peak 10 from the condo to the (locked) refugio, descend pow on tele while auto-yodeling because it can't be stopped, return for java, breakfast & shower, then ski tele all day all over Breck! I made it to lunch on tele the first day I tried it (which was maybe day 7 or 8), switched to Alpine for the afternoon, then I didn't ski Alpine again, heh.

Thanks for reading and thanks for skiing my tele journey with me. I have some snow to catch here in Grand Rapids this evening, so happy trails to you, my happy skier folk.

[Woodserson]

Wow Anemic, that's a great update!

It sounds like you have the magic vacation snow touch. I will be hiding in your suitcase next time. The best part is that in the middle of your Rockies vacation you decide to sacrifice the alpine and go full on Tele, damn the torpedoes. That takes commitment. I like commitment when it comes to skiing. Right on, bro!

Glad you liked the book, it worked wonders for me too.

[Woodserson]

requoted by anemic FOR TRUTH

descend pow on tele while auto-yodeling because it can't be stopped