Transition from Alpine to Tele

[bennettc14]

If you're a strong Alpine skier what's the transition like to tele. I've always wanted to try it and I hear mixed opinions. How hard is the switch? I hear of a lot of people dropping a knee and never going back to alpine.

[hemas]

About a day or two and you should be pretty good at tele.

Though, to reach a high level (ie. high level of alpine skiing), well it will prolly take longer (like seasons).

[bio-smear]

It's hard. About 15 minutes after starting you just wanna run like a bitch back to your fixed heels. But, you can't. That's why I suggest not bringing backup skis the day you go.

[Telemarketeer]

I switched over from snowboarding. It took a while to get the feel but after about 5-10 days on the hill I got it. I've alpined probably less than 50 days in my life.

Having good gear helps the learning curve a lot. I know "It's not the arrow it's the indian" but when I got a new pair of boots and skis instead of the worn out hand-me-downs I was on, I really improved.

Now, two years into it I probably 80/20 snowboard/tele they are both fun but I'm just better on the board still.


Just make sure you drop that knee, a lot of people that go from alpine to tele are just "telepiners"

Also learning to use to the search function will help your skills tremendously!

[Dromond]

It seems to take a season or so to pick up the technique but the inexplicable feeling of superiority is immediate and long-lasting. This is of course from viewing others.

Have fun

[laseranimal]

it'll take a few runs to get the feel but if you're a good skier you should be able to figure it out. With the new gear its really not that hard to make parallel turns if you have too.

Head over to Maple Ridge for an afternoon and you'll get the hang of it

[bio-smear]

It seems to take a season or so to pick up the technique but the inexplicable feeling of superiority is immediate and long-lasting.

Before long, you won't even need gravity, because your own sense of self-satisfaction will allow you to actually ski uphill.

[bmordski]

I was shredding pretty well after a couple of hours but once you get tired it gets real tempting to revert to your downhill stance. Do yourself a favor and don't do it. Take a break and come back out when you feel your knees can handle it. Making downhill turns on your tele boards is a surefire way to ruin your form

[Telemarketeer]

When I tele I curse those punk ass nuckle draggers and when I board I throw snowballs at those self-rightous teletubbies!

[wi3dzmin]

If you're a strong Alpine skier what's the transition like to tele.

Smooth after you accept the fact that you'll still fall down a lot.

[Mudfoot]

Because of your alpine instincts you will tend to jump with most of your weight on the front ski. This will make you turn and allow you to get down the hill proficiently in a couple of days but is not really tele skiing. It takes a while to get used to riding the magic tele spot between your skis where you don't have the security of all your weight on that one solid edge. With alpine I feel like I am always working to keep moving my weight forward, and with tele it is just the opposite.

Once you learn to trust the feel of balancing between your skis it is an amazing experience. After a couple of days you will start to feel the spot as you pass it going forward and backward with your weight, but it will probably take the better part of a season before you can "live" there while skiing any kind of terrain or snow condition.

[Doremite]

NO tele-pining. Get that knee down! Takes a few days to start to get the feel and be comfortable dropping the knee and engaging the turn with your uphill ski. Be sure to keep less than 40%ish of your weight on the downhill skis tendancy is to control your speed with that downhill ski and this will lead to bad technique Bottom line - give it a try. I've alpined for over 25 years and picked up tele last season. Fun stuff. Start slow and work you're way up once you're slay'n the blue squares. Free the heel

[hemas]

Oh, a few pointers.

The tele-stance is not actually a staric position, you're weight is constantly shifting from front to back-leg (though not solely on either leg). Iniate the turn by having more weight on the leading leg, and as the turn progresses gradually shift more weight on the trailing leg. At the apex of the turn, you should have about even weight on leading and trailing legs.

Don't poodle, so keep the trailing leg close. Yer bum and yer trailing legs heel should be about on the same line (which is from a straight angle from your trailing skis plane).

And heaven forbid, don't try to read or post any of that garbage in TelemarkTips forums. The actual site will have some nice info though.

[telepow]

It definitely takes longer than a day, but don't get discouraged. I had an old hippy chick teach me when I was gaping it. You'll be decent after about a season and can master it (ski anything you would alpine) in 5 seasons I think. I'll warn you though, you'll get addicted

[Northway]

I'll just second what most here have said.

I was suprised to find upper body/balance remarkably similar to alpine, and was able to get to a point where i could get around pretty well on most terrain w/in a half dozen days. To actually get really good at it takes some dedication. In the end I didn't dedicate enough time to it to ski things the way i wanted to ski them and drifted back to full-time alpine. Had fun learning it though.

And yes, no tele-pining. If you do you're just a shitty backseat alpiner.

[TeleMang]

Same upper body as alpine so that part shouldn't be a problem. Hands in front, shoulders facing down fall line. The biggest difference is in the counter rotation at the hips. In alpine this is barely noticeable... in tele you have to "squeeze the orange" so to speak (This is one of the better starter books).

As others have mentioned, weight that uphill ski rather than the downhill. That is what i had the hardest time with when i first started (especially when the going got rough). It will piss you off for a while until suddenly it just clicks and you have an, "Oh, that is what they were talking about" type moment.

Have fun, and give into the addiction. I haven't stepped into alpine bindings for 4 years now.

[Storm11]

It's kinda like coming out of the closet....hard and humiliating at first, and eventually you'll get the hang of it....but at the end of the day, you're still gay.


Telemarking is for hippies

[Greguar]

It's kinda like coming out of the closet....hard and humiliating at first, but you get the hang of it....but at the end of the day, you're still gay.


Telemarking is for hippies

HAHAHA!!! Nice one!

Dude it is easy and fun, good shit to pick up and get strong at the begining of the year. It is super sweet to have under your belt for cheating your way into face shots on a 10" powder day.

[irul&ublo]

Just quit bathing. In about 10 days you'll speak fluent French. After two weeks douche yourself with patchouli, put a "Jerry Lives" sticker on your beater car and...voila...telemarker.

[hemas]

Just quit bathing. In about 10 days you'll speak fluent French. After two weeks douche yourself with patchouli, put a "Jerry Lives" sticker on your beater car and...voila...telemarker.

Forget the beater-car, all telemarketers drive Audi's these days. Just search TTips and you'll see.

[telepow]

To alpine you simply sit like you're taking a shit and go downhill...speaking of downhill this conversation is about to go downhill

[grskier]

I was surprised how long it took for someone to make fun of tele....

So, you're thinking of switching over to telemarking... are the alpine skis too fast for you?

[bennettc14]

It's kinda like coming out of the closet....hard and humiliating at first, and eventually you'll get the hang of it....but at the end of the day, you're still gay.


Telemarking is for hippies

Thanks I'll keep that in mind...

[Below Zero]

How hard is the switch?

Is this a trick question? Why would you want to switch?

[irul&ublo]

Forget the beater-car, all telemarketers drive Audi's these days. Just search TTips and you'll see.

So....they don't deny the stinky part.