I got the AT set up, now I just need some natural. If I catch smiles then I got soul.

Rob, let me know when Laurel and/or Mt. Washington incline have a big snow and I'll be there.

Denis,
Great flick. Make me want to give AT a try. Does Chip rent AT equipment?
And what are the boots like?
The Colonel

No, Chip doesn't rent it - yet. Most, if not all of the north country boys who came down and skied after Sandy were on AT gear. And, it no longer turns heads when you see it. Still, most of WG's terrain is rolling and light tele gear works better. With AT you can stomp steep up hills with relative ease, but most WG skiers, most of the time, don't climb the steepest routes, they like to ramble a bit and enjoy the up as much as the down.

The boots are very comfortable. I swore off "Lange Bang" years ago and now use AT boots with Marker bindings for the little bit of skiing I do on alpine gear. Shops will not indemnify it but the combination works just fine due to the way the Marker toe releases. many World Cup coaches use this combination for comfort when standing beside gates for hours. I like the soft forward flex with stiff torsional flex. I am using a pair of Dynafit boots. Dynafits are expensive. I don't know anyone who rents them in this area but Ski Center sells them. They have several knowledgeable staff who use them.

Entertaining vid, I think.

But, the locked heel skiing in the last minute or so kinda sucked. WTF? Sorta defeated the point of the vid.

Not to mention the downstemming at 8:20 & The angulation-less head-steered porpoising at 9:40. We gloss over the locked-knees mermaiding at 10:00 because he's actually engaging the edges to turn. The guy at the very end has the most excuse for skiing like he's auditioning for a Toni Matt movie - he's probably in some 40- 50 or 60-flex Nordica (great climbing!) and a negative ramp angle binding. Might as well be in leathers for all the boot spine he can use to get his weight forward.

Ok, there's a bit of Tua-nostalgia (We see Megas, Crossride 110s and Sumos all mounted with fixed heels), but, seriously?

*has a Andre Leon Talley Moment*

First of all... Its been a very bleak week so far its been bleak streak over here in America ! You know what ? It's the famine of beauty ! Its the famine of beauty ! The famine of beauty honey ! My eyes are *starving* for *beauty*!

edit- something to cure JohnL's achy eyes: https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10150295462107358

I should note here that both Salomon and Black Diamond have had replaceable sole blocks since the 2010/11 season; it is perfectly possible to swop a rockered tech sole for a flat DIN-spec sole and vice versa. I believe this option is now available on Lange boots with walk mode. I do not know about Technica.

I am currently in 110-flex BDs; I bought a pair of Intuition liners for them but I couldn't be rsed to get the Intuitions moulded - the stock BOA liner is that comfortable and convenient. Peeps with narrow feet or tapered feet (thin heels) might not find the fit quite as comfy.

I laughed my @$$ off. I posted it for a bit of summer fun and the eye candy of those high open slopes.

I've been with tele for about 25 years now, not even sure about exactly when we started. It was low cut leather boots and 3 pin bindings in those days and a serious challenge. For most of us the expression, "telemark - a license to suck", applied. Only in my dreams could I ski like Chip. Then came plastic boots, Terminators, the purple and green ones that didn't have a number or a suffix in their name. Suddenly it was possible, if one had high enthusiasm and modest skill, to blow up every telemark binding ever made, and every one that would be made for the next 15 years, snap skinny skis like toothpicks, etc. I was given my own Voile test team T-shirt after years of free replacements. Russell Rainey, inventor of the Superloop binding, knew my voice on the phone and would say Hi Denis; no need to identify myself. Once while in midair scissoring my legs in the bumps on Extrovert, my Superloop failed, the ratchet wheel teeth ripped out, and that ski shot into the woods like an arrow. My landing was interesting. Finally the bindings caught up with the boots. Russell took everything he learned about bindings by means of failure and designed the Hammerhead, then he sold the business. I haven't blown up a binding in 10 years. The modern equipment is capable of skiing parallel turns as well as alpine gear. I do it all the time and sometimes forget what kind of gear I'm on.

Sorry that all of the above was not recorded for your viewing enjoyment. You'll have to watch the posted link instead.

Oh we got it...and it was quite fun ... until one realised that TTtips' dying gasp called more for empathy than the smug gleeful tone of the video could quite give. It's kinda hard to laugh at jokey material after the joke has really hit home in a serious way, you know?



Exactly...so the implicit question that I probably should have stated outright so my above posts wouldn't get misinterpreted is:

Why in the world would one bother switching to AT from Tele *now* that both awsum teleboots and awsum telebindings are on market (assuming even moderate tele-competency)? It's not like said switchers are getting visibly improved turn quality?

Sorry, I'm more than a bit sad to see this trend (particularly now that ski engineering can give skis meaningful tele-specific enhancements to catch up with both boots and bindings) and I thought that mood would be more obvious or evident. Evident enough to colour my above comments with the properly intended amount of tongue in cheek anyway.

EDIT: Imagine a computer analogy. Imagine a video about switching from Apple to Windows. By analogy, what JohnL and I were doing is making fun of the cr@p tabletty interface that is held up as proof of 'Windows is better'

- snip

Switch? No, not on your life! Curiosity? Another tool? Yes. I had been using the Dynafit boot - Marker binding combo for several years. I had also bought my son a Dynafit setup when he got his Masters a few years before. I wanted to borrow his skis to try it but there was not enough adjustability to accommodate my boots. The catalyst was when I learned about these adaptor plates, learned on telemark tips BTW. http://www.dobishsolutions.com/Products.html
So, I bought a set of Dyna bindings and mounted the plates on my much used much loved Volkl Explosivs. I've only climbed 2 days with them, one at WG and one at Hood. They climb better than Axls. I don't know why since the setup is only about a pound lighter with the Dynas. When the mountains are big and the powder is deep there is simply nothing with the feel and flow of tele. I'd never give that up. My Megawatts are set up for free heels but turn just as well parallel. When the trees get really tight I go parallel. I once skinned up with them at Patsy Marley (Alta) and discovered that I don't want to skin a 14.5pound ski + binding. It's too much work, but with a lift assist I love the downhill performance.

Where am I going with this? Well, probably AT for big mountains with long sustained climbs. Heavy Tele for lift served sidecountry. Cross country downhill (XCD) scaley bottom skis like Rossi BC 125 for rolling terrain and doing laps on small stuff, like Whitegrass. Dyna is now making a binding that weighs less than 1 pound per pair. The telemark tech system, using a Dyna toe piece plus cable is an interesting idea that I'm watching but it's hard to see tele matching the big mountain climbing plus descending performance of the presently evolved Dynafits.

The demise of telemark tips is a sad thing. It succumbed to Gresham's Law of the Internet, bad content drives out good. It's not the first time and won't be the last that a big, vibrant, national ski site has succumbed to this. Google rec.skiing.alpine if you have the stomach for it. I know Mitch and skied with him at the NATO Telefest at Mad River. He is a good guy who worked hard at this and I hurt for him. Thanks for your passion on this subject.

I used to be on RSA - up through maybe '97.

I just cked out this vid..Funny Dude!..
Yep...AT or a randomlay..(spelling?) is what Ive been waiting for...Brought it up last year in a thread since I plan on having more time up in the mountains in the near future. Now...How much is in my budget?..Hmmmmmmm..

slap some bindings on an older pair of skis and buy some skins?...Naw...fork out some mulla for a new set...who's buying what?

I'm still trying to figure out which sticks to put my Diamirs on now that the Chubbs are retired. Suggestions welcome. 105mm brake clearance.