![]() Perhaps by immersing myself into the dark side mentality, I could understand their conversion and discover a way to bring them back. ![]() Not even burning some blessed herbs could stir them from the evil grip of locked down heels and robotic stiffness. Or, perhaps, I was panting to loud for them to discern my hopeless pleas as I struggled to keep up in my lowly telemark gear. I hoped that a spark of memory would ignite the cold ashes of what once was a burning passion.Īlas, on their AT gear they were always too far out ahead to hear my plaintive remarks. When out touring, I would remind them, what about the good old days? Remember the elegance, the purity, that feeling of righteousness? It was almost as if they had been possessed. The siren song of that previously ridiculed euro-dog Randoneé get-up beckoned strongly. Soon, it was parallel city, anywhere and anytime. In hindsight, this was the first sign of the dark side’s ominous pull. The gear was still pure, but it was logical, they reasoned, in certain conditions or terrain, not to drop into the requisite stance. I believe it may have started with a few parallel turns. And soon these poor souls were lost in a world of bliss like nuns discovering the joys of masturbation. Just ask Sondre.īut then the dark side beckoned. The telemark turn is so graceful, so elegant, they claimed. Minds would follow, they said.īack in the day, if you weren’t dropping knees, you were pretty much dropping bombs. Yes, I’m sad to say I know a few skiers who used to expound endlessly on the merits of telemarking almost to the point that you figured they believed world peace could be achieved if everyone simply freed their heels. Perhaps you know a few of these lost soul types. Well, they have to fill those backcountry ski magazines with some sort of fodder.īut, in my opinion, what is really more disconcerting than all the background squabbling is the sad circumstance of a few former pinners who have converted over to AT gear while forsaking their freeheel roots. ![]() Unfortunately, things like this can never be so simple.Ĭomparisons are made. Not that telemark gear has ever held anyone back, right? This was just a case of more arrows in the quiver. It seemed like an excellent option, particularly for ski mountaineering. I figured over the years I would eventually acquire an alpine touring setup at some point. Randoneé for fifteen minutes and I already felt sorry for them. See, my companions were on telemark skis. In fact, I was worried that not only would it be so easy, but it would look obviously so, and thus I would have to break trail the entire way. The advantages of an alpine touring (AT) setup when it comes to ascending are obvious from the get-go. The difference was immediately noticeable. It was a relaxed start, nothing remarkable, even considering the six inches of new.Īfter over 15 years of touring on telemark gear, I had gone over to the “dark side.” Here I was trying out a pair of alpine touring boots attached with Dynafit bindings to some Atomic skis that used to be mounted with cable bindings for dropping knees. The morning brought light snow and low clouds. Two friends and I began making our way up “the cache” – a 4,000-foot, north-facing shot. After a week of torrential and monumentally depressing rain turned Christmas into Slushmas, cold from the east brought December back to the way it should be in these parts. Right before the end of the year, I went out skiing.
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