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Freebird
12-30-2003, 05:20 PM
About 3 weeks ago I was screwing around on my tele skis and I tried a few things that I hadn't tried in the past couple years and while aren't earth shattering I just thought were fun. I figured I'd share them with any telemarkers on this site, and maybe others could share things that can only be done on telemark skis.

Of course, there is the ability to telemark, parallel (somewhat), etc... One of the things I tried was a telemark turn in one direction, and then just turning the other way while still holding the telemark turn for the opposite direction. To me it felt more like a better way to parallel in telemark skis, but I accentuated this and found it quite weird but yet fun at the same time. Am I the only freak?

I still haven't mastered backwards on tele however it does look easier than backwards on alpine gear. (of course once one gets it all worked out).

I was also playing around with dropping my knee so low that I was literally sitting on the heel of that foot. As anyone tried this but with BOTH knees bent under? My guess is that control would be next to nill in that scenario.

Snowboarding has standard and goofy footed variations. I think we should call alpine skiing "standard" and telemark skiing "goofy footed." I always feel like it's ok to be goofy and act like a "goof" and be childish while telemarking. (more so than while alpining that is, although skiing in general brings out such happy times)

Again, am I the only FREAK? What other childish things does everyone else try?

RR
12-30-2003, 05:23 PM
Naw..all good stuff. Some folks use oppo-tele to make themselves better at telemark turns and cure tele-fake issues.

One can take it further and start liking oppo-tele turns in rapid sussession, it's very like mambo, but on tele gear.

DMC
12-30-2003, 05:25 PM
On the snowboard side of the house...

I've always been told NOT to drop my hand to the snow while on the outside of a toeside turn... But when I'm really cranking I find myself touching the snow all the time..

Feels good to touch the snow - I like to touch the snow...

I got Tele boots from a friend and a slew of people that want to let me borrow tele skis.. So I may be telemarking this weekend..
It's gonna be ugly...

RR
12-31-2003, 10:53 AM
As long as you are smiling, tele is beautiful!

Bon Chance!

el-bagr
12-31-2003, 11:50 AM
Freebird, sounds like you have discovered the fun of what I've heard called mono- and reverse-o-marks. Do a run holding one position (monomark), then the other (monomark), then switch to the "wrong" side for each turn (reverse-o). A useful drill for sure, though if you do it long enough you will feel a bit funny on switching back to regular-side turns. For beginners, it may be easier to do monomarks as a garland-type traverse rather than as a fall-line run...

In this vein, the falling leaf drill that is used in alpine skiing is also valuable on tele gear.

I find backwards skiing much easier on alpine gear, but ymmv.

TheOctopus
01-03-2004, 11:19 AM
Discovering the Monomark from first principles! Excellent! There's a recent thread on this on telemarktips.com (http://telemarktips.com), with complete details on how to execute it and its benefits as a drill. Eric, over there, is a big fan.

As to p-turns on tele skis, Mrs. O has decided to forgo upgrading her alpine boots this season in favor of spending more time on tele gear. When I made the point, "Well how are you going to ski all that steep gnarly stuff, since you won't be good enough to tele it (I was thinking of Tucks)," she just replied with, "Well, you can make perfectly good parallel turns on tele gear." We'll see.