Wearing away 1/2 of inside tip of my skis??

[cyclingoalie]

I switched to telemark this season and I am stoked totally reenergized this season. I found the transition to tele was not that difficult I was able to make turns from the start not bragging just did a ton of reading up on tech and watching videos etc. however fine tuning and progressing has been slow. One issue that I'm having is that I am wearing away the inside tip of my ski. This is happening on my trailing ski as I seem to hook up on the edge of my downhill ski in both turns. I read an post at telemarkeast that talked about how tight or close your knees should be and Im wondering if this might be my issue, I was a pretty advanced alpine skier (again not bragging) but I wonder if I am tryingto keep my skis to close. I work hard on keeping my shoulders heading down the mt. and focus on big toe little toe and squeezing the pencil btwn hip and rib techniques that I read up on in the off season but seem to catch or hook up a ski everynow and then in my turns any advice would be great.

[Williamtele]

I switched to telemark this season and I am stoked totally reenergized this season. I found the transition to tele was not that difficult I was able to make turns from the start not bragging just did a ton of reading up on tech and watching videos etc. however fine tuning and progressing has been slow. One issue that I'm having is that I am wearing away the inside tip of my ski. This is happening on my trailing ski as I seem to hook up on the edge of my downhill ski in both turns. I read an post at telemarkeast that talked about how tight or close your knees should be and Im wondering if this might be my issue, I was a pretty advanced alpine skier (again not bragging) but I wonder if I am tryingto keep my skis to close. I work hard on keeping my shoulders heading down the mt. and focus on big toe little toe and squeezing the pencil btwn hip and rib techniques that I read up on in the off season but seem to catch or hook up a ski everynow and then in my turns any advice would be great.

Hi. Many of us who learned to alpine before the advent of shaped skies carry a legacy of a narrow stance with us. Telemark aides and abets that type of style because we are stronger when our legs work together. Allen and Mike's book, at least the version that I have, even recommends tucking the trailing knee in behind the lead knee. A narrow stance, coupled with shaped skis, pretty much guarantees that your tips will be making contact on every lead change. Most every one of us has experienced the ridiculously awkward body slam when that interaction between the skis mysteriously disconnects us from our edges and we land in a heap.

Technically speaking, a slightly wider stance is good on most terrain. To get there requires rewiring your muscle memory through repetition. You can try something called "cowboy" turns where you pretend you're riding a horse and your knees are as far apart as you can get them. But it's a huge exaggeration and not very practical. I think a better exercise is to slow down your lead change and really work on pressuring your outside ski throughout the turn. You'll be forcing it into a wider arc which gets it on a higher edge AND keeps it further away from your inside ski. As with any new movement, practice it on easier terrain until your comfortable.

Good luck.

[cyclingoalie]

Thank you, that, "disconnect " that you talk about happens to me a few times a day. I wonder how far should the trailing ski tip be past the lead ski boot/binding or is it another, ..."it depends on personal style and flexibility/leg strength and terrain type answer." It seems that when I talk to tele guys who are really good telemarkers they give me really good feedback on fundamentals but there is always the, "depends on your personal preference and style and terrain" I guess that's why I enjoy it so much thanks for the help and feedback.

[Rene-Martin Trudel]

It seems that when I talk to tele guys who are really good telemarkers they give me really good feedback on fundamentals but there is always the, "depends on your personal preference and style and terrain" I guess that's why I enjoy it so much thanks for the help and feedback.

I have to say that's what I like the most about telemark, it does have more than one way to do it

I use the inside tip of my skis a LOT and I have always been doing it (since parabolic came around like Will said)

This is not a problem at all. I ski a lot of moguls and I like to carve at High Speeds a lot. And I use a narrow stance. Harder to balance sometimes but easier to use a strong pivot (moguls) and to edge the inside ski (carving)

But I do not recommend this to my students and as Will said, a bit wider stance is to be considered for a better balance

But if you like what you get, and you consider yourself advanced, I don't see any problems.

Note that in crud, sun crust, heavy snow, or wind crust or any hard to predict kind of snow, a narrow stance will help among with other things. It will create a one ski effect that will save a lot of energy. Other than that, it can be considered a personal preference.

Cheers

Rene

[Bern]

As I began to telemark, I began to ski that back ski over the front ski. This leads to a very awkward feeling spill as that back ski tries to twist your leg in a direction it will not go. I found, for me, the tendency was to initiate the turn by stemming the front ski which does produce a turn, sort off. Eventually, I learned to use the back ski much more, steering it by pointing the back knee in the desired direction of the turn. In fact, Paul Parker talks about initiating the turn with your focus on the back ski. When I'm skiing well, sometimes as often as once per season, I don't think about the back ski at all.