I'm looking for a good ski for Masters racing with telemark gear!
I'm a long-time telemarker (30+ years, I started when I was 13). This past season was my first in full-plastic boots - I transitioned from my beefy leather Merrell Super Comps into Scarpa TX Pros on 2017 Atomic Vantage 95C 186cm with Meidjo 2.1 bindings. I love the Meidjo bindings, even if they are spendy ($600 to $700 depending upon where you buy them).
Years of skiing in softer leather boots has taught me aggressive angulation techniques just to get a modicum of edge hold, so it's been fun transitioning to gear with actual edge control. I don't think I've lost my slinky style - if you're curious, I got my older son to tail me with a GoPro on a low-angle groomer run and then cropped the video.
This coming season I'm going to race Masters with the Alyeska Ski Club and work on committing and rebounding in higher-energy turns. My kids are in Mighty Mites (an intro racing program) and have turned into serious ski addicts - we got in 30+ days this past year.
I'm working with a local ski shop (Ski AK) in an attempt to identify a solid ski choice for training and racing both SL and GS. It's been a challenge because of a whole host of conflicting requirements. An issue for telemarkers is that it's almost impossible to demo tele gear - there's not really any demo gear around here, and especially not for race setups. Binding choice and adjustment makes such a difference in how a a ski works for a telemarker that I have to make a decision and just hope for the best.
I'm throwing this challenge out to the Pugski community since this seems like a group with a wide range of experience and analysis. Here is what Ski AK and I have come up with for requirements:
I'm a long-time telemarker (30+ years, I started when I was 13). This past season was my first in full-plastic boots - I transitioned from my beefy leather Merrell Super Comps into Scarpa TX Pros on 2017 Atomic Vantage 95C 186cm with Meidjo 2.1 bindings. I love the Meidjo bindings, even if they are spendy ($600 to $700 depending upon where you buy them).
Years of skiing in softer leather boots has taught me aggressive angulation techniques just to get a modicum of edge hold, so it's been fun transitioning to gear with actual edge control. I don't think I've lost my slinky style - if you're curious, I got my older son to tail me with a GoPro on a low-angle groomer run and then cropped the video.
This coming season I'm going to race Masters with the Alyeska Ski Club and work on committing and rebounding in higher-energy turns. My kids are in Mighty Mites (an intro racing program) and have turned into serious ski addicts - we got in 30+ days this past year.
I'm working with a local ski shop (Ski AK) in an attempt to identify a solid ski choice for training and racing both SL and GS. It's been a challenge because of a whole host of conflicting requirements. An issue for telemarkers is that it's almost impossible to demo tele gear - there's not really any demo gear around here, and especially not for race setups. Binding choice and adjustment makes such a difference in how a a ski works for a telemarker that I have to make a decision and just hope for the best.
I'm throwing this challenge out to the Pugski community since this seems like a group with a wide range of experience and analysis. Here is what Ski AK and I have come up with for requirements:
- Somewhere between 70mm and 85mm underfoot, preferably less than 80mm.
- Radius between 16 and 19m.
- Length in the 175cm to 180cm range. I'm nervous going too short because I need to ensure there's enough length to keep the inside ski from slipping behind the outside boot if my stance goes too deep under heavy loading (this is a common telemarker paranoia).
- A little bit of rocker is OK, but not too much. I will still have my Vantage 95C's for all-mountain, pow hunting, crud slaying, etc.
- Stiffness is the hardest one to figure out. Telemarkers split weight more evenly (60/40), and I weigh 150lb, so a good model would be a strong 110lb skier. I want something stiffer with more edge hold and damping than what I've currently got, but I need to be able to flex both skis to get good edge engagement. A bit of softness in the tip is probably helpful for initiation.
- Titanal in the mount area is a must - tele bindings put a lot of stress in the mount area, especially wanting to rip out the rear screws on the binding when in a deep stance with the spring tension dialed up. Titanal in the rest of the ski is desirable.
- Flat ski available - system bindings won't help me and they'll just leave a bunch of holes in the ski when they are unmounted.