Telemark skiing is dead.

[jmedslc]

"You don't know what you're missing!"

Exactly. I'm happy being an old curmudgeon. Four pairs of skis and two pairs of boots. Duckbills work fine for me. Plus, at my age I might not wear out all my gear and need to replace it. If somebody wants to loan me the gear to see if that changes my mind I'll reluctantly try it out.

Fwiw I have several NTN telemark rigs available in SLC for anyone who wants to try it out. Outlaw X, free ride or Lynx. Shell size 27.5 bring your own liners or boots.

The difference that NTN brings is profound and substantial, but not for everyone. Some folks like skiing on leathers and pins, as we’ve heard a bunch lately. [emoji3]

[bio-smear]

I'm excited about a shift to tech toe tele bindings. Just ordered some Meidjos but we'll see if they're enough binding for my big meat. What's lacking is a good pin-equipped ultralight boot to pair with the TTS, like the T4 which I think was discontinued. It would be a game changer for modern leathers-type stuff where edging is a struggle.

I used to not care about puny gear but I find myself more on the biathlon/Finnish hunter end of the spectrum these days than the 45° tree-lined chutes of my youth, mostly due to locale.

[MMP]

forgive the tech talk question; this is a good audience. My friend called today and was told that a shop wouldn't mount an Outlaw on a new DPS. He asked my opinion and I did rip a Freedom out of a Wailer a few years ago, the skis were beat, not the new construction, and it was the binding or my leg that was coming off on that one.

I heard similar about Black Crow from Outdoor Gear Exchange.

Any experience you can share is appreciated and will passed along.

[dschane]

For AXL (So not the same but...) I read somewhere (sorry can't remember) to NOT put locktite on the screws with inserts.

I used standard stainless machine screws. I put a little grease so they wouldn't rust in place. The tighten again after a day or so of skiing. But they were still tight.

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Right, which NTN binding are we talking about? It's different screws for different bindings. For Outlaw, Axl, and Vice, you should use 10mm low head screws.

The blue Loctite melts the particular plastic that 22D uses, so don't use that stuff with 22D bindings. And, for that matter, IMO, it's overkill for inserts, so I wouldn't use it for any binding. Vibratite is way better for that. If you change or check your screws with some regularity, you could go with nothing.

[dschane]

forgive the tech talk question; this is a good audience. My friend called today and was told that a shop wouldn't mount an Outlaw on a new DPS. He asked my opinion and I did rip a Freedom out of a Wailer a few years ago, the skis were beat, not the new construction, and it was the binding or my leg that was coming off on that one.

I heard similar about Black Crow from Outdoor Gear Exchange.

Any experience you can share is appreciated and will passed along.

Generally, I've seen that with light weight skis. In my experience, inserts are the way to go to minimize risk of pullout. Or, stop going to knee to ski (which can happen in bumps regardless).

as a somewhat old somewhat curmudgeon, brakes and step-in were a game changer for me.

I'm on NTN and loving them, but I never quite got this rationale. You spend your day with your knees going up and down, but bending over to snap on a heel and connect a leash is a hassle? But I'd agree that putting on skis with brakes on a steep angle is better.

[jmedslc]

I’ve tried to get those outlaw brakes to work but they were too finicky when trying to get in I ditched them pretty quickly. I do wish I had brakes and no leashes but yeah, not any big deal to leash up. I do get anxious tho when the skis are off my feet cause they could slide away very easily.

[dschane]

I do get anxious tho when the skis are off my feet cause they could slide away very easily.

OK, that has happened to me. Entirely my fault, and I got lucky in that it got hung up about 200' feet below us.

ETA: and it happed to a someone on Shifts when he ripped his skins off before deploying the brakes. It was icy that day and that thing took off a like a torpedo into a tree well.

[bodywhomper]

Every time I’ve thrown a toe on a 75mm binding, I broke a leash. The first time was on a pair of explosives on a beginner run (classic loose spring cartridge issue), the ski rocketed down the run, hit a tree, and bent the ski. The nearly new leash was still attached to my boot.

Eta, I sent a single ski down several hundred vert ft bowl transitions from skiing to booting a couloir. Luckily, it didn’t hit anything. My partner and I change our plans for the evening at that point because we would not be able to complete our objective. That’s a type of instance when you know you have a good ski partner.

[Johnny H]

I threw a hammerhead some years back and a Black Diamond leash snapped. Ski took off, went some 600 feet down the slope and into the trees. This will be fun I thought after hoofing it downslope. It hit a tree about 10 feet off the trail. Lotta snow that year so would have been hard to find otherwise. Yeah, Black Diamond!

[TeleBeaver]

I'm excited about a shift to tech toe tele bindings. Just ordered some Meidjos but we'll see if they're enough binding for my big meat. What's lacking is a good pin-equipped ultralight boot to pair with the TTS, like the T4 which I think was discontinued. It would be a game changer for modern leathers-type stuff where edging is a struggle.

I used to not care about puny gear but I find myself more on the biathlon/Finnish hunter end of the spectrum these days than the 45° tree-lined chutes of my youth, mostly due to locale.

T4 is not discontinued, but very few retailers order them so scarpa doesn't make that many any more. This season they sure seemed like they were discontinued and its just because they were the last priority boot to produce with the supply chain issues. The T4 has much more of a place in the lineup for heavy XCD skiing with fishscale skis and the like. It is also nice to have the T2 for old fogeys/smaller and lighter skiers who like the soft flex of 75mm. If you want the power of a 4 buckle 75mm boot you might as well be on NTN. NTN has much more lateral control, which is the whole reason we switched to plastic boots in the first place.

[bodywhomper]

T3 was discontinued. I believe that the t4 is actually the old purple t3 but in black.

My xcd boot is a system boot, burly Fischer’s with sns-bc. The new rotte xcd system boot is interesting. I’m not sold on that idea of the pins being in the boot, but I haven’t seen them in real life.

[bobz]

My wife got a pair of the black T4s relatively recently; she likes 'em. They're actually not at all like old T3s, which I'm well acquainted with (more on that in a moment). Personally, for the majority of the backcountry I do that isn't bleeding edge steepness, I'm happiest with a pair of Excursions (Garmont/Scott's T4 equivalent). I can handle 'em on the downhills and they're just lighter and better feeling for everything else.

I even kept my first year rootbeer T3s in the mix... until just last month when this happened. Oops! Yeah, plastic does degrade after a few decades:

[dschane]

That picture is hilarious. It's like they melted in the snow.

[jhyatt]

How difficult is teleboarding?

Do regular 75 mm boots works?

Asking for a friend

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Teleboard-T...-127632-2357-0

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[Doremite]

Check the teleboarding died at birth thread

[bodywhomper]

My wife got a pair of the black T4s relatively recently; she likes 'em. They're actually not at all like old T3s, which I'm well acquainted with (more on that in a moment).

I stand corrected. Thanks.

Sorry about your boot. Are you going to look into those new rotte bindings?

[XXX-er]

How difficult is teleboarding?

Do regular 75 mm boots works?

Asking for a friend

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Teleboard-T...-127632-2357-0

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

yes those are some old 75mm Voile bindings which are really cheap, the binding mounts to inserts that fit the 3 hole pattern so they are easy to setup, somewhat like a snowboard, you can either be setup pointed regular or goofy

i bought a Teleboard about 20 yars ago cuz they were on sale so i thot why not try some thing different?

I said this to one of the Fey brothers when i ordered the board he said

" oh yeah you will be different, you will be the anti christ "

Teleboard & I didnt really gel, there was zero resale possibilities so when the friend of a friend expressed interest but had a problem getting it past the wife I said " just take it, try it if you like it send me some post dated cheques " he bought the board & sent the cheques but she found out anyway


that seller has a better chance of being hit by lightning than selling that Tele-board

[bobz]

Sorry about your boot. Are you going to look into those new rotte bindings?

Those Rottes look interesting; hopefully they'll fill the niche between NNN-BC and two-buckle duckbill plastic boots.

I always liked the sole flex of Asolo leathers, but my Summits softened to the point where they had less edge control than NNN-BCs, and both my second and third pairs of Extremes were too hard on my feet and I finally just gave up on them. Not to mention the Glissades, that I loved until the sole separation (long ago) that they were known for. And shopping around more recently, it seems that all the lighter duty three-pin boots (Alpina Alaska, and models from Fischer and Rossi) are also known for sole separation problems; you're better off going with the NNN-BC versions of those boots (I'm using some Rossi BC-X5s in NNN-BC on my XC touring skis, and I'm pretty happy with them).

So yeah, I definitely think there's a place for something with better control than NNN-BC, but without the stiff flex of (even T4-class) plastic tele boots. The new binding would probably be perfect on those Catamounts in the above photo (though it would be a shame to unmount those Chouinards). Or on all the waxless patterned backcountry skis people are basically XC touring on, that are 80 or 90 underfoot, a too wide IMO for NNN-BC.

[bobz]

Oh, and I took another look at the T4s, and they are somewhat similar to the original T3s, but not the same. The cuffs look a bit higher, for one thing. I can't do a direct comparison, as the last of our T3s went into a dumpster in Bishop.

[BCMtnHound]

My wife still has her old T3’s, shells seem OK but the liners badly need replacing. She doesn’t get out backcountry meadowskipping much these days though, so no biggie.
I love my leather scarpa wasatch for meadowskipping, either in some switchback x2, or in some voile 3-pin mountaineers on the skinny sticks. I will cry long time if they ever give up the ghost.

[XXX-er]

I had a pair of the old purple T3's, got them well used from MEC, gave them to a former GF

Then i went AT starting out with some Garmont Xena's, which I gave them to the next former GF

YES, there is a disturbing pattern of enticing seemingly smart women who should know better

to sleep with me by giving them ski boots

[jhyatt]

I had a pair of the old purple T3's, got them well used from MEC, gave them to a former GF

Then i went AT starting out with some Garmont Xena's, which I gave them to the next former GF

YES, there is a disturbing pattern of enticing seemingly smart women who should know better

to sleep with me by giving them ski boots

More disturbing is having the same size boot

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[XXX-er]

did you miss the "laziest AZN "designation ?

small feet from many centuries of foot binding

A real problem trying to find boots in a size 24

but as a fat gwai lo wtf would you know ?

[Core Shot]

Teleboarding isn’t crazy hard. But it just never felt right. It feels different. It looks different.

Mostly I hated just being locked into one position. It’s a permanent monomark all day long.

Lead changes feel good

[petey_]

I love my leather scarpa wasatch for meadowskipping, either in some switchback x2, or in some voile 3-pin mountaineers on the skinny sticks. I will cry long time if they ever give up the ghost.

Left a pair of those boots at my buddy's cottage so they could be used by my buds when we went there in the winter. Bugger gave them to Sally Anne. He is known for throwing things away without much care. Drugs in the pocket? More than once they have been sacrificed to a campfire or destroyed in the washing machine. Oof!