Telemark Turns at Timberline

[ski3pin]

Something to get my mind off our dismal snow pack and warm weather.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Free those heels!

That was a fun 4 minutes.

 

[MarkBC]

A friend of mine who lives in Portland tele skis at Timberline, including most of the summer on that that year-round snow field.
He skins up.

 

[pvstoy]

In my younger days that was me. Run mogals, jump off crest, race alpine skiers because they said to get off the mountain. This was their mountain and we did not belong here.

Fun times riding to top of Mammoth Mountain and jumping off the cornice.

All with leather boots and skinny three pin skies. Boy I wished I had the technology today back then.

Thanks for sharing, brought back memories!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

A friend of mine who lives in Portland tele skis at Timberline, including most of the summer on that that year-round snow field.
He skins up.

Timberline has superb corn snow. It carves like butter, gets sloppy late morning to early afternoon, then it’s time to head for home, because you’ve made so many runs yer thighs are on fire.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

In my younger days that was me. Run mogals, jump off crest, race alpine skiers because they said to get off the mountain. This was their mountain and we did not belong here.

Fun times riding to top of Mammoth Mountain and jumping off the cornice.

All with leather boots and skinny three pin skies. Boy I wished I had the technology today back then.

Thanks for sharing, brought back memories!

The days of 215 cm Epoke (Slopoke) skis and Asolo boots with the soles cracked behind the pin holes. One linked turn was considered excellent skiing.

 

[ski3pin]

In my younger days that was me. Run mogals, jump off crest, race alpine skiers because they said to get off the mountain. This was their mountain and we did not belong here.

Fun times riding to top of Mammoth Mountain and jumping off the cornice.

All with leather boots and skinny three pin skies. Boy I wished I had the technology today back then.

Thanks for sharing, brought back memories!

Yup, we've skied off the summit of Pyramid Peak riding the cow on fischer touring crowns. Then came the red Chouinard Valmonte and things began to change.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Yup, we've skied off the summit of Pyramid Peak riding the cow on fischer touring crowns. Then came the red Chouinard Valmonte and things began to change.

I don’t know about your experience, but I hated the Touring Crowns. There was so much secondary camber, you needed extra weight to get all the edge down on a hard pack

 

[ski3pin]

I don’t know about your experience, but I hated the Touring Crowns. There was so much secondary camber, you needed extra weight to get all the edge down on a hard pack

They were absolutely awful for turning. It took sheer willpower and the willingness to stomp that camber out of them. To achieve a turn was a miracle. It also took perfect snow. The touring crown was what we had. People spoke in hushed terms about the Phoenix ski at that time. But then came Chouinard, Tua skis, Scarpa T2's, and Paul Parker's book.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I went from Touring Crowns to Tia Toute Niege, Karhu XCD GTs, Kazamas, Moutain Noodles, K2 Piste Stinx. I did have a pair of single camber pattern base that did ok for turns, just don’t recall who made them. (Edit: Trak T600?)

Prefered leather Merrell Ultras for pure touring, Scarpa T2s for turns.

 

[JWL]

IMHO there is nothing as elegant as a nicely executed telemark turn. That is all we did for many decades. We were actually at Timberline standing in the lift line with Karhu Extremes and Asolo 3 pins when someone exclaimed “Leather boots! Cool!” I knew my time was up.
I also remember saying to a manufacturer’s rep Who was showing us the new revolutionary plastic tele boots “gee, now if we can figure out how to lock our heels down we’ll have it made!” I guess I don’t accept change well
Thanks for taking me on a run I enjoyed that!

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Agreed…I really enjoy watching someone drop a knee and carve a beautiful GS turn down the mountain. There were several in Mammoth last weekend.

 

[Atlin]

Ah, memories. I recall my first tele "race" at Copper Mountain CO using wooden Bonna skis and floppy leather boots. Many backcountry expeditions on those old skis as well.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Haven't been on my skis since 2011,last of the great snow winter/springs.

I did a great weekend many years ago on "corn". Fun stuff.
Sharon and I have Karhu half steel 3 pin skis.
What great memories of time on the white stuff.

After many years of little or no snow plus selling the cabin we haven't been out in a long time.

We got spoiled back from the mid 80s into the early 2000s.
Cut a lot of trails in the Bear Valley area.

Thanks for the video.
Frank

 

[Lighthawk]

Ahhh...the good old days. I went through two pairs of Asolo Extremes and a variety of three pin bindings; some with cables like Voile and BD, using homemade heel lifts or wire bails. I didn't jump the cornice at Mammoth but skied the 'Noids at Mammoth on Pre skis with three pins. Later I had Chouinard Toute Neige, Atomics, and some stinky K2's, using three buckle boots with wall to wall carpet when earning turns. I bagged a few Sierra classics like Bloody Couloir, Matterhorn Peak and other Yosemite gems.

I thought it was interesting how big powder days at the resorts went from fat alpine boards ruling the roost with a few of us granola types skiing the pow off piste, to snowboarders being somewhat dominant, then finally a mixture of all three disciplines. I was always thankful I could ski back into "bounds" after following a powder run past where the fixed heel crowd dared to go. I'm old enough now I consider the NTN system.

My current touring rig is a two buckle Garmont boot on a set of Fischer Rebound skis. They are snappy and can do a quick turn, but have enough camber to enjoy touring the meadows. This year has been poor, but we've done three or four ski days, nothing at the resort.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

So…the wife needs new alpine downhill ski boots and I take her to Footloose (Mammoth) to check some out. Yes, I know it’s late in the season and their inventory is slim. She does get to try some on for a general idea of length, volume, etc. Both pairs she tried were alpine touring with heel release and combo soles. Lighthawk’s observation is spot on.

 

[fuzzymarindave]

Thanks for sharing. Very pretty turns. My style is more upright and I stay away from the metal lift columns even if they have padding! I started skiing with nordic gear around 1990 and used Paul Parker's excellent book (..think it was "free heel skiing")as a guide. First setup was fischer gts skis, cable binding, and Asolo Extreme plus. I've never actually used the "pins" always had cable binding and tried many varieties. Several trips off of Mt. Shasta, several eastern Sierra routes; and a 5-day Sierra High Route make for good memories. As I got more proficient with parallel turns I found myself mostly skiing heel down (except for touring). About 5-years ago I switched to another dark side and mostly use alpine touring with Dynafit binding. My other dark side is snowboarding, and of course I still have my quiver of tele boards with my Scarpa T1 boots.

 

[Ted]

Donna and I are not skiers. No problems with the sport, just did not grow up with it and didn't pick it up as adults. That being said, we tried to read this thread but can't understand much of it. Tried Google translate but it did not help. What language are all of you using???

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Telecrash is the native language used in this thread.

 

[fuzzymarindave]

It has been said that you have to free your heel to free your mind.