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  1. #1
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    Nov 2004
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    YetiMan
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    Seeking Opinions on Cheap/DIY Neighborhood Dick-Around “approach ski” Setup

    Since many of us are bored:

    Purpose: I live adjacent to the little overgrown hills that spawned the Marquette Backcountry Ski, which appears to be the right tool for the job.

    for the last 3 or 4 years I have walked-out a trail system each time it snows, so my tiny-legged dog can have little adventures. It’s really tedious, and I’d much rather be on skis I think. Sometimes I bootpack up and ski/board down. Mostly boarding because I hate bootpacking in my alpine boots. It would be nice to just prowl the whole thing on one comfortable freeheel setup up/down like the Mqt bc ski.

    That mqt bc ski is cheap, but it needs tele gear and I don’t have tele gear, so it would have to be some tele boots and binders too..even used, pretty quick I’m into this for $500/$600 which is about $5-$600 too much for the kind of casual dicking around I want to do.

    I have a snowboard and boots I don’t really use except for those neighborhood hike laps with the dog.
    I have some 188 lib tech freerides that are obsolete to me, and some 191 Pow NAS that are only narrowly useful for weird wind crust days between my qst118 for most pow and 180 Fatypus for serious deep pow.
    Neither Libs are really worth shipping, and really are more ski than anyone wants here in mqt. So they’re kinda dead. I also have some 192 Bro model blems that nobody really wants.

    So I’ve thought about cutting 40cm off the tails of one of those pairs, fish scaling them with a dremel tool (and/or using some skin remnants I saved from trimming?) and making a plate/hinge out of aluminum to mount the snowboard bindings like a Berwin Backcountry binding only probably heavier and hopefully sturdier(?)

    Or would it make more sense to try to sell all this stuff and just buy tele boots binders and a mqt bc ski (or something else?)

    Bearing in mind this is mostly about dicking around, and posted in a time when we’re all bored and stressing out over shit we can’t control, what do you guys think?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Central OR
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    5,963
    Karhu made an approach ski w/built-in skins and universal bindings; I have a pair branded LL Bean. Kinda like the Marquette or Altai skis. I never use ‘em; pm if interested. Not sure if they’re worth shipping due to costs.

  3. #3
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    Nov 2004
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    YetiMan
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    I know, I shipped a pair of skis this year...it was $100, I just about shit a brick.
    I had no idea it had gotten so spendy.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    livin the dream
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    https://www.blackdiamondequipment.co..._source=google


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    Best Skier on the Mountain
    Self-Certified
    1992 - 2012
    Squaw Valley, USA

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
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    SLC
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    5,846
    I'd go ebay, you can get cheap xc or karhu "telemark" or metal edge xc skis for like ~$30, boots another ~$30 if you look around... those 75mm bindings are cheap as fuck too. sawing off some chargey metal alpine skis wouldn't be my vote but maybe that one crazy canadian DIY guy can convince me otherwise...

    e: I mean https://www.ebay.com/itm/Karhu-75-mm...MAAOSwcaZeRFSc this is perfect right

  6. #6
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    Mar 2012
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    Salt Lake City
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    490
    I have no input on dremeling the skis to make fish scales, but I have voile plates that you mount regular snowboard bindings on, to use for splitboarding, and voile touring brackets. Basically it would be a splitboard, in split mode. I think the brackets would hold up just fine, I've split skied a ton in them and they haven't bent or broken. I would maybe be worried about the brackets pulling out of the ski tho, for your use a t nut thru the base may be a good idea. If you wanna try it out I can send the parts to you, I haven't used them in a while and won't either

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Strong and Free
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    548
    Everything but the boots for 2 hunnert bux:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/Head-Alpine...0/192915085783

  8. #8
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    Dec 2007
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    monument
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    6,910
    Don't cut the Big Bros!
    In search of the elusive artic powder weasel ...

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    SW Jongistan
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    447
    Junkboards? Used to be discussed on telemarktips - take a regular snowboard, cut it in half, edge sides on the inside, and put some old telemark bindings on it. That gets you something about the length and width of the Marquette Backcountry ski (which appears to be sold out on their website). You'll need skins, but for low angle stuff I doubt you need wall to wall coverage.

    There are probably a lot of semi-retired 3-pin telemark boots out there, post a WTB?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
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    A LSD Steakhouse somewhere in the Wasatch
    Posts
    13,234
    The fu cat left some free heal freak stuffs at the crib
    And you know I got bros a man cave full
    I haz 4 you og 188 stiff blue bros with silvetta pures and skins
    I have 183 with dimair free rides
    They have a blown edge up near the shovel
    They were luffy the jongs bro pearl jam eds
    I also have 29.5 og red scarpa Denali
    Or dyna titans in that size
    And a bunch of blem lhasas as well as big bros 179 and 188 or models
    Give me an address and what you want
    "When the child was a child it waited patiently for the first snow and it still does"- Van "The Man" Morrison
    "I find I have already had my reward, in the doing of the thing" - Buzz Holmstrom
    "THIS IS WHAT WE DO"-AML -ski on in eternal peace
    "I have posted in here but haven't read it carefully with my trusty PoliAsshat antenna on."-DipshitDanno

  11. #11
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    Nov 2004
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    YetiMan
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    Thanks for all the input!
    So here’s a related question: I’ve been getting uphill at the closed resort with daymakers, but I’ve found that my really comfortable old fulltilts, same size shell I’ve skied since 1992, become painfully short when not buckled and leaning on the tongue. So I wonder if the same size tele boots are going to feel toe-cramped, or if that kind of fit/motion is kinda built into the design.
    The prospect of trying lots of size 12ish tele boots on in small town Michigan is about zero, so it’s guesswork.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    665
    Quote Originally Posted by ill-advised strategy View Post
    Thanks for all the input!
    So here’s a related question: I’ve been getting uphill at the closed resort with daymakers, but I’ve found that my really comfortable old fulltilts, same size shell I’ve skied since 1992, become painfully short when not buckled and leaning on the tongue. So I wonder if the same size tele boots are going to feel toe-cramped, or if that kind of fit/motion is kinda built into the design.
    The prospect of trying lots of size 12ish tele boots on in small town Michigan is about zero, so it’s guesswork.
    Any boot with a cuff that provides rearward motion will push your toes forward a lot less. Are you downsized in your Full Tilts from measured mondopoint? If you are in a Fun tilt classic 99 last the older Scarpas T2/T1 will fit you better than the wider older Garmonts. Most Scarpas break on the half size IE 25.5/26 is a shell size 26.5/27 is a longer shell. Don't know how far back in time that sizing goes. I'd just order a cheap ebay tele boot. in my mondo measured size. The T1s had a lot less rocker than the T2s and will feel less tippy toe in an unramped binding.
    Buy a cheap 3 pin or older cable binding and mount on a short fat cheap ski.
    Just use a piece of skin scrap with a piece of Gorilla tape at the front for propulsion.


    I have a blast on a Pennsylvania 100 vertical foot cow pasture hill when it snows.

    I skied a great pow day at Nubs one time in the trees when I briefly lived in Ann Arbor. I would think you could find countless tree runs like those all over the UP and you have the snow.

    If you find you are into it then spend though dough on a real pair of fat fishscales from Voile or the Altai Hok.

  13. #13
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    Feb 2005
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    665

  14. #14
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    Feb 2005
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    Fat fish scale Michigan fun-
    Don't know where these guys ski, but they've got the Michigan ski thing down-

  15. #15
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    Nov 2004
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    Ugh.
    We’re legally on lockdown now.


    Thanks again for all the input.

    As far as sizing goes...I guess I need to measure. I’ve been getting the same shoes and ski boots for so long I’ve kinda lost touch.
    Sz 14 romeos
    Sz 13 Vans
    29 (bsl 326) Raichle Flexon then Fulltilt classic

    Edit...my foot is 30cm. So I’m presuming 30.0 tele boots.

    Anyway, this is all useful and I thank you all. Nobody likes being a jong and you all are being very cool about it.
    My first season in crested butte 1995, right away in the early season, 3 guys at work had avalanche incidents. Then a kid from my high school died in a slide the next year. Then I moved to Taos and Tim from Tim’s Cantina had died in a slide and it was a big deal there.
    I’m like incredibly claustrophobic, so the terror of a live burial is extra intense, I just got a physical shudder thinking about it. And I was a racer and a mogul skier and was always, I guess, interested in and had fun skiing hard snow inbounds so I just never made that move into backcountry that the whole ski industry made.
    It turned into a thing where not knowing anything about any of it made me a gaper, so I just gave up.

    So hey...uphill...figuring it out. 20 years behind the curve.
    Last edited by ill-advised strategy; 03-23-2020 at 10:38 AM.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by turnfarmer View Post
    Fat fish scale Michigan fun-
    Don't know where these guys ski, but they've got the Michigan ski thing down-
    Yeah, kinda this. I have to be honest, I like that kind of skiing in powder, but most of the time where I live it’s some kind of sketchy breakable crust. I hit some trees so hard at bohemia in bad snow a few years ago (Joey Wallis has footage of it, I haven’t seen it, I’m sure it’s a worrysome thing to watch) I’ve kinda lost my zest for the really tight slow speed tree skiing people seem to really like around here.


    This is kinda where and what I’m trying to make more better.
    The frequency of uphill/downhill transitions make me really want a “no fiddling” kind of setup.

  17. #17
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    Apr 2007
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    So much talk about cutting snowboards in half... more talk about "making your own rig."

    You want to cut the tails off of Bros?

    The amount of work you're willing to put in sure does seem excessive compared to the amount of old gear you could just buy.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    PA
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    Yeti - Buy some Marquettes, used tele boots and some 3-pin binding w/ or w/o a cable.

    I'm in a much lower snow area than you, but relatively similarly terrain when we do get snow is a blast and totally indestructable. Picked up Scrapa T1's for cheap on ebay <$100, Marquette's and Voile HD Mountaineer (non cable) 3-pin bindings all in for around <$250.

    edit - should add that i picked up my Voile & Marquette's on sale, looks like they're a bit more expensive these days, but available on Backcountry.com now (despite the backcountry mess from a while back)
    Last edited by VTskibum; 03-25-2020 at 09:05 AM.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Bottom feeding
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    Seeking Opinions on Cheap/DIY Neighborhood Dick-Around “approach ski” Setup

    I should probably just send you my Fisher Outbounds or Karhu Catamounts with Voilé 3 pins and T2’s. Haven’t used them in years.

    AT stands for after tele, btw.
    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  20. #20
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    Mar 2008
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    northern BC
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    Quote Originally Posted by gaijin View Post
    So much talk about cutting snowboards in half... more talk about "making your own rig."

    You want to cut the tails off of Bros?

    The amount of work you're willing to put in sure does seem excessive compared to the amount of old gear you could just buy.
    This ^^ you probably want to find some 20 yr old tele gear depending on what fits the old green T2 or purple T3 or the old grey 3 buckle garmont (forget model) tele boots are probably a better option than a leatehr boot,

    some old 67mm under foot skis and bindings and some narrow skins that didnt wear out before skis got wide
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  21. #21
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    I still have boots to use these. Kinda my BC progression L to R, followed by 4 sets of tech binding setups.
    All still work really well for what you’re doing.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by gaijin

    You want to cut the tails off of Bros?

    The amount of work you're willing to put in sure does seem excessive compared to the amount of old gear you could just buy.
    I have free time, not money.
    Last edited by ill-advised strategy; 03-25-2020 at 04:30 PM.

  23. #23
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    Nov 2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by XXX-er View Post
    This ^^ you probably want to find some 20 yr old tele gear depending on what fits the old green T2 or purple T3 or the old grey 3 buckle garmont (forget model) tele boots are probably a better option than a leatehr boot,

    some old 67mm under foot skis and bindings and some narrow skins that didnt wear out before skis got wide
    I‘m too big to ski long narrow skis in breakable crust.
    Edit: I did my share of that when all skis were narrow. At this point with the area I’m talking about I’d rather snowshoe than fight with narrow skis.


    I’m thus far unable to find a used tele boot cheap.
    It’s fine. This season is over. I’ll find something before next year.
    Last edited by ill-advised strategy; 03-25-2020 at 04:27 PM.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
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    80
    Well, if you've really got time on your hands, you can always go back to the old, old school. Cost, however much it is for a good straight-grained log in your local area:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-wF2U-W6xs

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXdbqa65GhI

    ... I know this is a comedy option, but I'd legit love to see someone try to do this and compare/contrast with all our high-tech gear. I'm sure they're trash on the downhill but I'll bet the Russian is right about their touring utility outside of some super-expensive rando setup. Dunno where you'd get all the moose fur though. Also I highly recommend the doc, personal favorite but also really good viewing for cabin fever relief.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    northern BC
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    check out these skis Thuntuk made, and it looks like cousin should sue DPS for patent infringemet eh? This guy is 77 and he looks pretty good,

    Maybe not so much for going DH but for hunting I seen a vid where the hunters were easily able to run down a deer in a meter of snow, the deer couldn't move and these guys could just walk up and slit its throat


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    Thuntuk is my doppleganger
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

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