Have any Snowboarders here learned to Telemark?

loving the vid. Switch tele FTW. slight hijack but what’s the deal with releasable kit? Last time I seriously looked at getting into it it was just coming out. I’ve already had one ACL reconstruction and don’t fancy another.

aracer – Member
Anywhere a ‘ski tourer’ can go a ‘splitboarder’ can go. They are absolutely fine on long flat stuff,
But a lot slower than tele kit, let alone proper Nordic touring kit… I certainly can’t think of anywhere I’d choose to use a split board rather than some form of free-heel kit.

Maybe they’re not the ideal choice if you want to go rando racing, but in the real world (i.e. touring with your mates) the biggest difference in speed between a skiier and a splitboarder is going to be in fitness and technique, not in equipment. A splitboarder with decent kit and a dialled changeover system is not going to be holding up skiiers. If he is, he can just get fitter and faster, so he’s not last to start his transition.

And there’s a great deal of variation in snowboard kit too, plenty using hard boots and dynafit bindings. Add carbon layup boards and you can have a considerably lighter set-up than and average touring ski set up.

There have been a couple of mountain guides to qualify in North America on splitboards, and a few people doing very arduous and ambitious undertakings on splitboards, so there are plenty who are pretty happy that they’re a decent system.

I think the difference is more or less noticable on terrain and skill. On steep continuous stuff there is almost no difference. Where split boards struggle is if it is rolling. E.g last week the descent I did had one short 50m climb in the middle. The skiers just about got up with out skins through a combination of speed and thrashing, the split boarder didn’t; as soon as he stopped he had to make a mode change. In powder with flat sections they need to accept they go at the back to use the skier track, and they need the skill to hit the track and stay in it.

But in deep powder they can set a great up track as they are often wider than skies so it is like a highway behind. 😀

Supersaiyan,

For releasable bindings check out 7tm bindings. I’ve been using them for 5 years as I didn’t want to risk my ACL again. They’re not as good as NTN for control and power but I get along with them no problem. Also plenty of attachments available for them such as crampons and ski touring hinge plate.

yup, that’s fair sweaman. Nothing to diasgree with in there!

Last tour I did was in waist deep snow. Shouldn’t have been a tour at all, really, ridge walk from the lift and downhill all the way from there. We happened to have touring kit because this was a second ioption after we scked off our first. Couldn’t have done it without!

Downhill skinning needed on the sections which are usually nice mellow taverses with the odd turn. 2 splitboarders and one skiier, he kept his skis on and thrashed, we took a bit more time and transitioned back and forth. We overtook him while he was thrashing, put in a packed track for him to follow (slower, still no skins) then he caught us up while we were transitioning back. Worked quite nicely!

Looking ahead and keeping poles out for flat sections helps a lot. One of the aforementioned splitboard guides doesn’t use collapsible poles, but lighter rigid poles that are always in his hands.

DAB,
To quote a very experienced telemarking mutual acquantance, on seeing an NTN setup for the first time:
‘That’s not Telemarking’ 😛

Like most snowsports in Scotland, any telemarking is all about extracting maximum enjoyment from the available snow. Uphill, Teles are a bit lighter and a bit better than Alpine touring kit- that’s proper teles, by the way, not those supercharged NTN monstrosities that give you as much downhill control as an Alpine binding would. Look at the Tele world cup- everyone is on NTN, no-one uses cable (traditional) tele bindings any more.
It’s all good, so get out there and try it.
Whichever ‘it’ floats your boat.

It’s buying a whole new set up that puts me off NTN. Would like to give it a try to see the difference though.

+1 for splitboarding. Only disadvantage is the cost involved, but if you are a crafty DIY type then look out for the Voile “Split kit”.

Take one old snowboard and a circular saw, et voila! All in all I reckon it cost me sub £200 (inc buying a behemoth of a 179cm board from ebay!).

Have since toured around Chamonix several times, Glacier d’Armancette, Domes de Miage etc and can wholeheartedly recommend splitboards.

Stupid question here but is telemarketing essentially lunging on skis?

If so, I can do about 100 lunges before I am stuffed. How the hell do you do a whole day of it?

There is a rhythm to it, like pumping a bike. It’s not quite as brutal as it looks. It is a lovely combination of fore-aft, side to side and up and down transitions. Plenty to think about and always something to work on.

I didn’t like 7tms. I found them to be too neutral and I always thought I was going to faceplant. My wife used them but didn’t realise they released. She wiped out in great powder on Envers du Plan in the Vallee Blanche. You should have seen the look on her face. She thought she had ripped the binding off the ski in the middle of nowhere…

The very day I had a conversation on a t-bar about the cost of switching to NTN, and how I thought the cost was prohibitive, I bought the bindings and boots in a sale at Mountain Spirit. Hypocrite.

The only other tellie bindings I used were old NATO touring ones. They had better control but as I said, I’ve already grubbed my ACL in the past and I’m using everything I can to not do it again.

I’ll keep an eye out for NTN in the summer sales. Ski Bartlett have s massive stock.

Hmm… 7tm. I’m another one who didn’t get on with these DIN releasing tele bindings, and in the two seasons that I persevered for, they never released once. Now sold on and replaced with Hammerheads on the holiday skis and Rottefella Cobras on the rock bashers. Both give a lot more control; there just isn’t enough metal in the 7tm for me.
So says the guy who who doesn’t like NTN coz it gives too much control. Oops..

Anyway, I need to go skiing. Feeling the lack of touring conditions here in Scotland. Guess I’ll just have to go biking instead.

I would agree with the 7tm comments. (I don’t have any issues with their performance though.)

I have a them and they have never released in the 5 odd years I have used them. Although I don’t fall often. And if you do it is different from Alpine skiing as you tend to fall on your arse, mostly you can just push with your hand to get back up. Or straight over the front face plant which is more interesting.

Part of the reason I took up teli was a knackered knee. (Former Racer.)
The best thing for me is there is no or limited pressure or jarring on your knees as there is nothing to resist against. Your legs act like shock absorbers all the time. The light boots and light skis are great. Much better too as on steeper slopes you really need to move your feet quickly to do tight turns.

It is a bit like doing a load of lunges but as you don’t really stay in the same position as your legs change position constantly.
It is considerably more energetic and tiring than alpine skiing.
But if you are too knackered just stand up. I have no difficulty at all doing regular stand up skiing in Teli gear.

Some tips for teli skiing. Keep switching your stance. Don’t think of single turns, it is a rhythm of switch switch switch. Wide or tight turns same applies. The least stable position is when you are standing like an alpine skier. Quiet upper body, (shoulders) facing the fall line all the time, exactly the same as alpine. Although you may well wave your arms about for balance if going fast. And there is quite a lot of twist in your shoulders on steeper slopes.

Get low, I often see people switching from Alpine skiing with the good new Teli gear. They don’t bend enough or forward enough.

Get rid of your poles, you don’t need them. (Or hold them in the middle.) Improves balance and less to worry about. In my opinion pole planting is not really very important in teli skiing.

Save energy. Easy wide turns on the less demanding areas. Shuffle, stay low and slide your feed for turns rather than so much up and down.

Teli is a bit different from alpine skiing as you can do both carved or drift turns. Like someone else said more like snow boarding in feel.
You can control your speed on steeper stuff by deliberately sliding in the turns.

Impressed with the video of teli going backwards. Will need to give that a go.

My DIN are set quite low so I’ve had no problem with them releasing. My only problem was with the retainer strap snapping when they did release. Spent an hour digging my ski out of a small ravine in austria.

You can get brakes for 7tms. I HATE leashes.

Skiing switch on tele is not easy. It isn’t just a case of the same position but backwards. It is the opposite position AND backwards. The most I’ve ever managed is 4 or 5 linked turns then BAMMM…

Fingers crossed for a ‘snow event’ in the mountains.

I dint get on with 7tm since they weren’t active enough
Cobras were nice but then Hammerheads were pretty much a revelation when they arrived and I had a good few seasons before going NTN and only released 3 or 4 times in big spills

Ianahhhhhh – some good points about the dis association of lower / upper body but new kit means the old low stretched out style isn’t necessary, it’s just another trick in the bag

Mix up the frequency, radius and style of turns and there’s a huuuuuuge pot of fun to be unleashed, normal p skiing locked in seems so one dimensional

Biggest issue I see is folk looking at their ski tips – look up / forward as you’ll “feel” when it’s right
Watching the skis just messes with your head & you can do that when you get home and watch your go pro footage lol

It’s been a lean season so far in Scotland but things are looking up 🙂

Good to see a few tele heads around tho

djtom – Member
+1 for splitboarding. Only disadvantage is the cost involved, but if you are a crafty DIY type then look out for the Voile “Split kit”.

Take one old snowboard and a circular saw, et voila! All in all I reckon it cost me sub £200 (inc buying a behemoth of a 179cm board from ebay!).

Have since toured around Chamonix several times, Glacier d’Armancette, Domes de Miage etc and can wholeheartedly recommend splitboards.

Just finally flushed off the epoxy and pretty much ready to try out my DIY K2 zeppelin. As much as I’d like to hit Cairngorm summit on it’s first outing I’m a bit wary of making a **** of myself! Did you manage a good tight gap between each ski? I have found a little bit of movement here and there but I reckon with both bindings slipped into the pucks it’ll do the job fairly well.

edit: My Voile kit was £240 with skins and I decided not to use a Salomon 159 with a tweaked edge and splashed out on a 2nd hand board in great condition. Its also pretty stiff before the cut too!