Last week, we released our Blister ‘Crash Course’ Telemark video, and today, I, Luke Koppa, and Dylan Wood talk about our experience tele’ing for the first time. We’re also joined by the star of the video, Kristin Sinnott, to learn why she was a million times better than the rest of us. Then we discuss ideas for future Blister Crash Course videos, so check the conversation, then let us know what you think we ought to do for our next Crash Course videos.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- Props to Arnie (3:52)
- Let’s talk about Kristin (8:01)
- Favorite part of the day? (23:46)
- If we do another tele day… (26:53)
- Which Blister reviewer do you most wish was in this video? (30:47)
- Future Crash Course videos? (33:57)
- Which Crash Course would you most wish to skip? (42:03)
- Which Crash Course would you least want to skip? (46:26)
- What should we do at 2500 ratings? (50:40)
RELATED LINKS:
For the 2500 rating challenge I propose a race! But not on a single thing (ie , just skis or bikes).
How about this : Each participant starts at the top of a ski run on snowblades WITH tele bindings. They ski/crash/flail down to the bottom where there is a splitboard AND a pulk with , lets say , half of their body weight in it. They switch to the splitboard/pulk and they travel uphill for 500-1000 vertical feet. After they reach the top of the second run , ITS MONOBOARDING TIME! They send it to the bottom of this run on monoboards with shaking legs and shredded lungs to the final event , which is a mountain bike race. But the twist to this race is that the bikes are single speeds AND coaster brakes. To cap it all off , each person must chug a beer of their choice at the end of the bike ride. May the best masochist win!!!
Also , just an FYI for the Alaska trip. If you REALLY want to get back there but are nervous about the terrain the heli might drop you in , Alyeska has a cat skiing operation that is much cheaper (because budgets are a thing) and the terrain can still be relatively mellow.
Watch out! Here comes some unsolicited advice from an intermediate tele skier, who went through this learning process recently!
On the point of “even weight distribution” vs. “weight your uphill ski as much as possible”: I think the goal is get even weight distribution, but it’s hard to know what that feels like when you’re just starting out tele skiing. Go ahead and try to put all your weight on your uphill ski; unless you’re actually lifting your downhill ski off the snow, you’re probably closer to even weight distribution than you think.
As far as depth of knee-drop goes, I think it’s worth dropping the knee straight down until you feel like the boot and binding are supporting your weight. That should help with weight distribution, and also give you a sense of how far you can push your boot/binding system as you try to avoid rocketing over the handlebars.
The best advice I’ve received on tele stance is to keep it compact in length, but deep enough to use the boot/binding, and not just your muscles, to absorb bumps and control the uphill ski. Watch yellow pants’ stance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPcZsH7k_Z0
Lastly, you should try out NTN gear on modern skis if possible. I know 22 Designs and Sego both have demo fleets, and Freeheel Life in SLC has a demo program. Not sure if Bishop (bishopshreds.com) does demos, but they’re over in Vail and might be a good bet to try out some made-in-CO tele bindings.
This is pretty much the exact comment I came to leave. This is legit good advice as decided by the world telemark conference 2016.
Exactly! Join the 2000’s – NTN!!!! lol
The coolest person I’ve ever seen on the hill was a guy tele skiing a pair of Reckoner 122s, total badass.
Blades are easy mode, they’re so much fun to just be silly on. I once just spun in circles down a green run until I got too dizzy and collapsed. Do have to watch out for powder though, ripping full speed down a groomer only to hit soft snow and have to the blades come to a complete stop is… an experience :P
Weight vs. pressure on the two skis is an important distinction. It is also going to change constantly depending on snow conditions and type of turn.
Super low? being low all the time = no dynamic weight / unweight = no shock absorption. Need to move through tall / small even if you are in a lower movement range.
Funny video tele-mark-jongs!
FWIW : I am also an alpine skier who sucks at tele.
However that wont stop me leaving 2 comments about “getting low”.
1) What I see in the video is skiers who are stuck in an alpine position and not bending the bellows of the boot. This is entirely normal for first day. Alpine position is where most people feel balanced on a ski. So you return to the alpine position as a crutch, rather than trust the telemark position which is actually very balanced fore-aft.
2) Getting low on telemark kit is considered “old-school” style. It is actually a bad idea to get too low as it leaves little room to absorb bumps etc. Modern telemark skiers may look like they are touching the snow. But they actually get knee close to the ground by moving laterally across the ski (exactly like a ski-racer might).
That was awesome guys!!
Nice to see some video of your home mountain even if it wasn’t the hi point of your ski careers
Hope to make it out there for the summit next year
Love the podcasts btw
I’d love to see some Firngleiter action in the snowblade video. They’re like Snowblades, but without a tail. Usually they are the front 40-60cm of old skis
I think at 2500 challenge should be to make your own skis and ski them.
The 1000 or 1500 challenge should be Skijoring, what would be better than being pulled around a course by a horse? That would make for excellent video.
Was thinking ski jumping but not realistic. What about skiing CBMR on ski jumping skis?