/r/telemark
Hello everyone!
I managed to get a new ski with Rottefella Freedom bindigs from a local rental shop for basically free, and since I always wanted to try telemark skiing, I thought I would give it a try.
This is a Small sized binding, meaning the maximum boot size that fit would be mondo 26. My only problem is that my foot is around 26.5 (or 264 mm to be precise) and I am using a size 27 for alpine. I decided to get a small size NTN boot to try out the technique since I was lucky with the ski and the bindings, and I thought I would ask here for some advice. Unfortunately I was unable to get a used one because nobody uses telemark skis in my country.
In your experience which boot has the most foot space with mondo point 26? I am hoping that with moulding and some diy shaping of the liner I will be able to fit my foot in one, even if it will be a little uncomfortable. I have found a webshop which is close enough and offers some selection:
Mostly I just want to try out the binding, and if I am able to learn the telemark technique I will get a large bindings and a proper sized boots next year and give away the small sized setup for someone.
Any reply is appreciated!
TL:DR: Can I remount the same binding model in the same holes on a ski?
Hey Tele-bros, looking for advice on mounting my first tele set up.
I have a pair of 22 Designs Bandit bindings I mounted, and after the mount I noticed that I couldn’t get the slic pins in, the holes on either side of the binding don’t align. After closer inspection both toes of the bindings seem to be slightly warped, like they were squashed in storage or something. I spoke with 22 Designs and they sent me a new pair of Bandits.
I am wondering if I can unscrew the old pair of bindings and mount the new pair in the same holes? I used water proof wood glue so the screws should come loose. Will the screws still hold if I am careful to use the same threads already in the ski?
My only other thought is trying to bend the toes back straight and getting a nut and bolt to replace the slic pin and mount the flex plate.
Ski techs, what is your opinion?
Well, it finally happened to me. Both cables on my TX Pros broke on the same run. I’ve had them for 6 seasons so probably around 150+ days on them. Fortunately, I found a comment by u/ok-telemarker that detailed his repair. He helpfully listed the McMaster part numbers and dm’d me pictures of his repair. I bought a cheap pair of crimpers off Amazon.
Here's a link to the comment: TX Pro Cable Repair
Parts:
My boots are 28.5 so I cut the cable to 17 3/4" (45 cm) which works well. I pulled the old cable out, threaded the new cable through that channel without removing the screw, stripped the ends of the new cable, crimped the compression sleeve over the ends, and put the plastic pieces on. The plastic piece with the Scarpa logo that goes over the buckle is a little loose on the cable when the cable is unbuckled, but it's secure when buckled. The 1/16" cable that's 1/8" diameter with the coating might fit in that piece a little more snugly, but I'm not sure.
I skied on them 2 days this weekend, one resort and one backcountry, and they worked great! I'm super happy I was able to fix them so quickly, easily, and cheaply. Big thank you to ok-telemarker for his help.
Picked up some alpine skis for resort teleing. They have a boot center mark which is quite a bit further towards the tip than on my telemark skis. My question is where should I position my bindings in relation to the boot center mark. Thanks
Sweet sweet pow. Year two on telemark! Feedback/critique welcome
Just thought I’d post since finding good boots seems to be a challenge these days. Before these I tried the scarpa T1, T2, used garmonts, black diamonds in 27.5 and 28 and none of them even remotely fit my foot. As someone with a wide, short foot with an extremely high arch. The scarpas absolutely squashed my foot from the top, garmonts were cutting in hard from the side with too much room up front, the black diamonds were ok but felt a bit small. So I ordered these, $599 from backcountry. Immediately upon trying them on the fit was perfect. Nothing crushing from the top. Just enough room on the sides. Toes barely scraping the end. The liner is extremely comfortable, way moreso than my alpine boots. I wear 10.5 shoes and the sizing was spot on. Pleased to say I won’t be returning them.
For anyone else struggling to get boots especially if you have a high instep, these just might be the ones.
I've been telemark skiing for around 2 seasons now, usually getting in maybe 8-10 telemark days per season. I'm an otherwise intermediate level alpine skiier.
I'm still finding telemark skiing incredibly exhausting, and quite challenging in the icy/hardpack conditions I often ski in. Would switching to NTN make my experience more pleasant, or do I just need to suck it up? For context, my bindings are G3 targas and I'm using some old (extremely well-used) Garmont synerGs.
The Coombacks seem to be mounted pretty far fwd imo but we’ll see how they ski
I am looking to ski on mostly ungroomed trails. I want to be able to use it for both flat trails and downhill touring.
I’ve alpine skied for 30 years (Racing & recreational) and went Tele skiing for the first time yesterday and it didn’t go as well as I thought it might as an experienced skier. I felt like a baby deer walking for the first time. I had a hard time grasping the stance, weight distribution, and sequencing. In a Tele stance, my uphill (heel up) ski would point towards the other, occasionally skiing back up hill. I had a really hard time keeping them parallel. I feel like I’m not grasping the stance/weight distribution properly making balancing difficult. Watching some videos on YouTube and just going out and relying on my past experience probably wasn’t the best way to go about it. Any advice? Thanks
Edit: I’m floored with all the feedback! This sub is amazing, you have truly built a special community here. I’m super thankful to be a part of it. I really appreciate all the feedback and I’m stoked to get out and give it another try using your advice.
Hey everyone! I just got back from 10 days in the Alps, and had a couple of issues with the Meidjo bindings. Thankfully they were both quickly fixed, but thougt I'd share so you can put them on your checklist.
Issue 1: The 2-pin Great Escape
Two of the steel pins were loose and could fall off. I was super lucky to see that before I put the skis on: Losing a pin would have been a bitch.
I went to the ski shop 20m from the ski lift, they had no experience with telemark at all, but since the issue was with the 2-pin, I thought they might help. They very kindly put some loctite, the problem was solved, I went skiing straight away.
The shop is Bozon Sports in Chamonix, next to cabin to the Brévent area. I owe them that advertisement, they were awesome! See below:
Issue 2: The floppy brake
I noticed that one of the brakes was floppy, it wouldn't go down fully, and had almost no force. I thought the spring was broken, but on closer inspection, the plastic plate that covers the brake had 2 very loose screws (the top ones). They were almost completely out, and the plate lifted so much that the spring wasn't held against the ski and simply rotated with the brake.
I went back to the same shop, they recognised the bindings, they let me use their tools and we tried to figure out how to put the brake spring in the right position and screw the plate back.
The problem is that the flex-plate of the binding is over the screws, so you need to lift it to access the screws.
Buuuut, if you lift the flex-plate, you have to rotate the brake, and that moves the spring out of position, because the brake axis isn't held down...
It looked like the only way was to essentially remove the entire binding from the ski, which I really didn't want to do. Luckily I found a way: when the brake is in the "down" position, almost 90° from the ski, the spring is in the right place on the ski.
You then need to hold the brake axis down with a pair of spring clamps (be careful not to damage the base and edges).
With the brake held down against the ski, it can rotate in the "up" position, parallel to the ski, and you can lift the flex-plate to finally access the brake-plate screws. I will probably add some super-glue to those screws, they are short and are easy to strip.
Hope that helps!
I was really feeling the deep stance today, much deeper than usual.
I was still in walk mode.
Just an observation, but I’m curious on the collective’s thoughts. I worked as a ski tech while I was in college and helped out with rentals/sales. Every season we would do 100’s of rentals with boots and skis that have as much if not more days on them then the old telemark gear that is always pushed on inquiring minds.
There would be countless complaints about how the boots hurt their feet, the gear sucked and it was just overall a bad experience. When you were able to convince these people to give it a second shot and buy some boots (that fit) and skis that were applicable to their level they would come back raving about how much better their ski day was and how they wish they had done that sooner.
Why is it as a collective the we push gear that is sometimes older than user? Why not say “hey, if you want to get the most out of this, wait until the end of season and pick up some new gear on the end of season blow outs.”
I think that would get a lot more people into the sport and also help it grow.
I have rented an NTN setup so far this year and thinking of buying instead. Is this a reasonable price?
And would say T4s fit these cable bindings? I am toying with going new for boots basically to be more confident I get a good fit.
Their graph was missing the most important data.... 🤷
Anyone know if the meidjo heel is compatible with any other NTN bindings like Lynx? Thanks!
Hey is anyone skiing Crispis with leashes? Where do you attach the thing? I added this flexible wire but I don’t think it’s strong enough.
Cross posting from Telemark Talk:
https://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7035
Sweet little teles/ski shoes. Upgrading to the Koms!
Any tips would be much appreciated. I was also wondering if switching from 22 designs vices to bishop BMF 3’s would be worth it. Thanks:)
I’m a little late to join the party so options are scarce in my neck of the woods for the new holy grail boot (although cripplecreekbc says they get restocked early February, not sure if that’ll be the case anywhere in up north)
I’ve only skied duckbills as of now and would like to know if giving that 28 a try would be worth risking the return fees or if I should wait for a 27 to become available. I’ve played around with what I have a bit, here’s what I figured out
Old 26.5-27 t2x with intution pro tour tongue liner 27 mv is a great comfy fit. Crispi xr 26.5-27 with the same pro tour as above are too tight.
My feet are 270mm on the money, 104 wide if I recall correctly So what do you think, would a 27.5-28 shell be too big ?
You know this old joke: -How do you know someone is a telemarker? -Don't worry, they'll tell you about it
I've been pondering this, because I am definitely in that category. But when I think about it, telemark is so different to alpine skiing, I feel compelled to point it out. If someone asked me if I drive a car, I'd say no, I ride a motorcycle.
Well I find that telemark is very much to alpine skiing what motorcycles are to cars: taking a bend feels completely different, and I get the same feeling when I make a smooth and elegant tele turn as I get from getting a motorcycle around a bend. No need to drive fast to have fun on a bike, whereas in a car, unless the tires squeal, it's just no fun at all. Same on alpines: unless I'm going fast, i'm not having fun, whereas on teles, slow elegant turms are pure joy, and i can have the time of my life on a sloshy beginner slope. So yeah, if you ask me if I ski, I'll say no: I'm on telemarks.
Thoughts?