From: mr@delfin.com (Mark Rosenberg)
Newsgroups: rec.skiing
Subject: Re: Telemark skis
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:07:42 GMT
Organization: Delfin Systems, Sunnyvale, CA.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

steinman@is.morgan.com (Jan Steinman) writes:
: ...
: The good telemarkers don't look too much different from gravity slaves
: from a moderate distance. The "burning thighs" days are over -- pick
: up a copy of Paul Parker!

: Saying "the" tele position is like saying "give me 'the' salad" at a
: salad bar! There's no such thing! If the outside ski is somewhat ahead
: of the inside one, and you can slide a credit card under the inside
: heel, it's telemarking. But for heaven's sake, mix it up! Someone who
: has only one telemark probably can ski only one path through the snow
: condition/steepness/turn radius matrix.
: 
: However, the extremes are useful for illustration. As one approaches
: the extreme down position, on gains front-back stability, at the
: expense of "terrain ignortion". That's why jumpers land into a fairly
: extreme telemark -- they want the stability, and they soak up the blow
: by going down. Notice how rapidly they come back up, however!
: 

Right on! One of the most enjoyable aspects of telemark technique is the
ability to choose among a wide range of turn initiation techniques, pole
plants, lead change timings, etc. to match current conditions. I've been
pinning for almost 10 years and although my "gravity slave" ski companions
will generally beat me down the hill, I'm never too far behind. Besides,
skiing fast is only one yardstick of proficiency.

I have two sets of tele boots: an old pair of well-broken-in Asolo Snowfields
and a not-so broken-in pair of Asolo Extreme Pros. Although I almost always
use the heftier Pros when riding the lifts, I sometimes think that my
tele technique is cleaner and more effective with the Snowfields. Ankle flex
is key to good turns of whatever kind on any kind of skis. When you wear
macho tele boots like Super Comps or Extreme Pros, the height and stiffness
of them hinders your ability to flex your ankles.

A strong telemark position is not necessarily a low one. It has more
to do with weight distribution on *both* feet. Beginning tele skiers
are generally easy to spot (even when they are not covered with snow).
They drop into a low telemark position with the trailing ski so far
back that they are unable to put any weight on it to control it and
get it to carve. The strongest tele positions maximize foot contact on
both skis. In addition to keeping the heel down on the lead ski, you
want as much of the foot down on the trailing ski as well.

If you experiment with these ideas without any boots on, you discover
that with maximal ankle flex, you can assume a strong tele position
with a gap of a couple of inches between your front heel and rear toe,
a comfortable amount of knee bend, and *both* heels down.
Given the moderate knee bend and ski separation, this position would seem
to be great for situations where you want quick lead changes.
Unfortunately, when I put my boots on, I can't get into it. With stiff
boots the position looks more like bad parallel technique than at tele.

I'd like to hear from other expert tele skiers on the net about
whether they agree that this is an effective position. Also, it seems
to me that if the sole of the boot is torsionally rigid, the
biomechanics of a fully flexed ankle can effectively substitute for
high, stiff boots.
--
Mark Rosenberg
internet:mark@delfin.com
phone: (408) 562-1126	fax: (408) 748-1140
snail: Delfin Systems, 3000 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054-1814