วีดีโอ

@@UkuleleSioni Thanks, that is a great spot! It takes a while sometimes for all the undergrowth to get covered on the lower slopes there, but it’s pretty sweet once everything fills in, and it goes for miles from 7,500’-12,000’ (3,600+ in meters, not that I’d ever make it that high in the winter).

@@alexmacdonald258 Thanks for offering your perspective. I could hardly tele back when I had the Hoks, but I agree. They seem best suited for backseat alpine turns with a tiak/lurk. Especially for taller folks, it doesn’t take much to get too spread out in a tele turn with them (the new Tao might solve this). For quick, surfy turns in ideal conditions they’re awesome! But they aren’t stable on hard snow and aren’t fast enough for deep snow.

@@jamesprobus3195 Thanks for the input! Merry Christmas and happy New Year. I agree, captions just feel less intrusive. The only disadvantage is when I’m playing a video while doing the dishes.

@@tomm9850 Haha, thanks. Trumpet accompanist is always available for hire. Merriest of Christmases to you guys as well.

@@RiverogueLander For sure, especially in a downhill context. But even the tour is tough if icy. I don’t mind them when they soften a bit with warm or a couple inches of fresh snow, and it beats breaking trail in deep snow.

@@jamesnewsom5899 Sweet! I was in your shoes not too long ago. You live in such a great place to take this sport up. I’m excited for you.

@@merrittwhite4189 Thanks for the tips! I’m at the point now where I still don’t weight my uphill ski enough sometimes, but I can also feel when it’s happening in the moment and address it sooner rather than later. I hear different views from various folks who know way more than I do concerning exactly how much weight to put on the trailing ski, so I think I just need to feel it out and see what works. I suspect my own ideal weight distribution may shift as my overall abilities and style shift accordingly, not to mention differences in snow conditions.

@@maxwelllucas896 Oh, that’s cool, thanks for mentioning that.

It’s not something I’ve fully grasped, but I’ll make an effort (I’ve been meaning to anyway): As far as I can tell, people categorize unweighting into two types-up and down. Up unweighting involves first extending your legs (raising upper body) to then retract them, and down unweighting involves lowering your upper body as you retract. Most folks do up unweighting because it’s easier, but racers and experts do down unweighting because it’s faster. In my opinion (I could be wrong), the two categories are helpful, but all unweighting probably exists on a spectrum from a big conspicuous hop to an imperceptible raising of the upper body followed by retracting the legs. If you have the space to carve a turn in a long arc, unweighting is maybe really only needed ever so slightly to change edges. If you need to swing/pivot your skis around in a hurry for tight turns, you’ll need more unweighting to keep the edges from catching on the snow as you pivot. The jump turns telemarkers made in the past and couloir skiers make today are really just vastly exaggerated unweighting to free the skis from contact with the snow so they can come around faster. My best advice from personal experience for people who are having trouble unweighting is to first be balanced: if you’re leaning too much (usually uphill at the end of a turn), it will be hard/impossible to rotate the skis to move in the direction of the next turn. You need to keep the skis under you for that. I found parallel turns and hop/step telemark turns to be helpful for getting both the concept and the feel from two different approaches. This guy explains it pretty well I think: th-cam.com/video/WKG3V55KPp8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=88pT94uFQazkvSiR .

@@zackspate8935 Wow, I’m flattered! I hope I did the topic justice. And congratulations!

@@tomm9850 Thanks for the high praise! It was a lot of satisfying work to put this together.

“Death march” captures the feeling perfectly.

Yep. That recent storm sure had some thick base-building snow, but it could’ve used another day or two of settling before I skied it.

@@jamesnewsom5899 Nice story, thanks for sharing! I bet that area has lots of great snow and just the right sort of mountains.

Do it! Even if those skis aren’t available, I’m curious how well the dremel pattern will work for you. I did a hasty job on some skis that I need to revisit because I could barely tell I did anything to the base. (Makes me think most base scratches are inconsequential.)

@@rearct Yep, but it depends on the resort. Double check by searching online for the resort’s uphill policy. Pretty much all resorts used to allow uphilling for free until it got popular and presented a liability issue. Now, most resorts sell an uphill pass separately or allow folks with season passes to uphill, but a few do allow it for free outside of operating hours.

Yeah, seems like a spot to avoid anytime there’s wind in the forecast. It was windy enough this day to be a bit of a bother but still plenty manageable.

@@andrewrose4946 I’m sure your family will think you’re just taking one for the team if you send them all to Disney and happen to stay behind.

@@rockymountainwoman2618 Agreed. I would have gone somewhere else and missed out if it weren’t for the snotel suggesting it would be worth it.

@@mtadams2009 Hope you get yours before too long. I guess you must ski generally around Mt. Adams?

@@JaredManninen Conditions are improving rapidly, but it’s a catch-22 between getting enough snow to ski up high and getting so much that I can’t drive to it anymore. I don’t think the lower elevations will be able to retain the snow just yet, even if they do get decent amounts this early.

@@GoTeleOnTheMountain We've been getting slight dustings in Tahoe this past week, but still waiting for a first big storm. I went out yesterday above 8,000' and the coverage was between 4-8 inches depending on aspect. Fun, but lots of hidden obstacles lurking just beneath the snow's surface 🙁

@ It’s not bad here, but for the most part, the snow this season seems to be cleverly avoiding the places where people actually ski. Who needs 3’ of snow on the plains of S.E. Colorado? Not even the ranchers want that. Maybe a bureaucrat in charge of water management is happy somewhere.

@@GoTeleOnTheMountain Haha! Yeah, mother nature tends to do as she pleases 😜

@@tomm9850 Thanks, Tom! Excited to see what you have in store for us once the snow gets a bit deeper.

@@rockymountainwoman2618 Thanks, RMW! Exciting times ahead.

@@kayakutah Thanks for the encouragement. I’ve spent a couple days at the resort over the last couple years, but it mostly highlighted the issues I was having which I didn’t notice as much in soft backcountry snow. I don’t think I improved much while at the resort, and yet it was beneficial feedback for me. I bet I could actually improve a lot faster now with a day at the resort since I would be practicing some better technique.

@@tomm9850 Thanks, I let her know you appreciated her segment and she was rather proud of herself.

@@ashleyroscoe6257 Sweet. Someone at Ski Haus knows their stuff based on the gear they sell, but I’ve often found that people at ski shops don’t necessarily know much about the lighter tele or cross-country downhill options. It’s possible you’d have to talk to the right person there to get the right information. I think Backdoor Sports could also be a place worth checking out in Steamboat. I have a quiver of skis, boots, and bindings. I ski either NNN BC boots/bindings on thinner to medium skis, or 75mm tele bindings (either just the 3-pin part or with the removable cable/spring for the heel) for medium to fat skis. In this video, I’m skiing fairly fat skis (Voilé Hypervector BC), old Scarpa T3 boots (2-buckle plastic 75mm tele boots), and Voilé 3-pin Hardwire bindings. My take: go with NNN BC if you’ll only do really gentle slopes, Xplore if you have enough $ and want slightly better downhill edge control, or 75mm tele for even better downhill performance but maybe slightly less touring efficiency. Get either the most supportive leather/synthetic boots, or else the lightest plastic 3-pin tele boots. For skis, I’d say anything roughly 90-130mm in the shovel, with a waxless pattern for grip. Extant examples include the Fischer S-bound 98, Madshus Panorama, Voilé Endeavor BC, Altai Kom, and many others. Have fun! If you haven’t seen it already, I attempt to explain my quiver here: th-cam.com/video/hbIIsshLNxA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bZZZjDLWdOzlRG5r

@@ecole146 Okay, that’s exciting that it’s getting close. It seems all the storms have been pushed way up north so I kind of assumed it must be snowing up there. I guess I feel better knowing we’re not missing out. We might get snow next weekend, but it’s usually not substantial or widespread in the mountains here until around Thanksgiving.

@@curtl1694 Sweet. Xplore does indeed seem like a good upgrade from NNN BC, especially for downhill performance. I’ve only seen a couple skis on the secondhand market mounted with Xplore, but they were still beyond my price range for now. I haven’t seen any secondhand Xplore boots yet. I feel like some of the old 3-pin boots were so indestructible that it was bad from a business standpoint because those boots have stayed in secondhand circulation seemingly forever. I’m wondering if boot manufacturers will get wise with Xplore and have a little planned obsolescence built in from the get-go. TTS seems intriguing. I don’t prefer free-pivot on the tour generally because I ski a lot of rolling terrain even on my Voilés. But if I start seeking more direct up-and-down routes as my skiing improves, that’s probably what I’d want to be on.

Cool if your ever in Laramie, Wy area hit me up this winter for skiing!

@@ironore8677 I’d say either could work and it depends on the niche this ski fills in your quiver. If you’re using the Alpina Alaska boot, then I’d lean towards NNN BC because the Alaska BC is a comfortable, durable boot for kick and glide and moderate downhill. That setup would be sweet for everything right in the middle of the cross-country/downhill spectrum. The xplore boot/binding could also work for that, but durability is still a question mark. But if you wanted to really push that setup to max out on the downhill, then I’d go with 3-pins and an even stiff leather boot, possibly with a cable on the binding.

@@6846E Haha, right? If art imitates life, you’d think the ancients could produce something a bit more realistic, unless maybe “carrotism” was all the rage prior to cubism or something.

@@Nathaniel13095 Cool, I’m interested how you feel it compares to those other apps once you get a chance to try it out. The Flat Tops are such a great ski spot for those of the backcountry XCD persuasion. Everybody else overlooks them and that’s fine by me. There’s great skiing all winter here, and then late spring opens up a completely new set of spots that would require a snowmobile or a multi-day in the winter. Love it!

@@GoTeleOnTheMountain Yes, I've been thinking that I want to hit the area for spring skiing, if I can get the timing right. Ideally when snowmobiles are no longer on the road, but I can drive a ways up east of Buford. I don't know what the policy is with the road closure, but I plan to investigate at some point.

@@Nathaniel13095 I just drive past the closure once the road is plowed, unless it’s still really muddy or the weather’s bad. This seems to be a time-honored habit of the locals. I believe ranches and businesses behind the closure drive it all the time to get ready for Memorial Day weekend. I think the closure is more of a “don’t say we didn’t warn you” than a “none shall pass” situation. If it were a dirt road in the national forest, I would wait until it’s open. But it’s more of a gravel road that doesn’t get rutted out.

@@GoTeleOnTheMountain Interesting info, thanks. Maybe I'll see you up there next spring!

@@andrewhicks6712 Sweet, glad to hear folks from out of state find it handy.

@@maxwelllucas896 Awesome. Hopefully it comes soon because I’m itching to glide.

@@utbronell Oh, it can definitely get overwhelming! The good thing about skiing being a spectrum is it’s highly personalizable. The bad thing for beginners is there aren’t many straightforward answers. Because my skiing is largely in the backcountry and my downhill usually consists of short runs that I do repeatedly, I use either NNN BC boots/bindings (when I’m doing more cross-country than downhill) or 3-pin (75 mm telemark) boots/bindings. If you’re buying gear, those options are cheaper and often available secondhand. I also use skis that have the patterned bottom (so I can go up, down, and across without transitioning) and are either wide cross-country skis or downhill skis. No matter what gear you choose, you’re making compromises to one aspect of skiing in favor of another aspect. My recommendation: start with something affordable and easily available to you that does it all fairly well so you can figure out which aspects of skiing you want to favor and then refine your gear accordingly over time. Perhaps something like a Fischer S-bound 98 ski with a simple 3-pin telemark binding (either Voilé or Rottefella)) with a somewhat stiff leather 3-pin telemark boot (something by Asolo, Alfa, Merrell, Alpina, Fischer, etc.). Hope that helps! For what it’s worth, here’s a look at the gear I’ve settled on over the years: th-cam.com/video/hbIIsshLNxA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Y_5wtxGWqqGeAtJQ .

@@GoTeleOnTheMountain thanks so much for your detailed reply. That is very helpful. I will check out your recommendations. The season is almost at an end (we don't have a very long season in Australia) but hopefully we'll get up to the mountains one more time before it ends. I think this is going to be my new favourite activity!

@@utbronell That’s awesome. I always get the impression from social media that the free-heel skiing culture is alive and well in Australia.

@@AlexPerier Thanks for the enthusiasm, user! You sound like the target audience I envisioned for my summer content. There isn’t a lot of info for many of the off-the-beaten-path routes, lakes, and peaks in the Flat Tops, and even less that’s presented in a way that really conveys the in-person experience. You’re lucky if you can find a backpacking blog or summitpost article from a few years ago. My hope is to do more camping/fishing/hiking videos since that’s what most people seek to do in the Flat Tops. That said, we’re having a baby in 2 days, so that’ll limit my opportunities to get out for a while. Have fun!

Sweet, I hope you get the chance. It really is a unique range in CO for having so much easy alpine terrain with so much water.

Again, great content! The Colorado flat tops are a gem. Let's hope only the kind visit.

The slope I wanted to get to was going to require a 15 mile round-trip hike with skis and boots on my backpack, which seemed questionably reasonable until I found out how much of it would be over snow (and mud).

It depends somewhat on the ski and boot pairing, but I suppose I opt for 3-pins more often. There’s a lot of overlap, but I’d say the bell curve for 3-pin skews further towards the downhill end of things, with a broader range of uses overall thanks to boots. NNN BC skews more towards xc touring, but it can still be great for light downhill turning with a higher-end boot. I’ve never skied a ski that was too much for 3-pins, but I have maxed out my NNN BC before when skiing downhill. Considering the topic of this particular video, I’d say it’s usually cheaper to put together a used 3-pin setup than NNN BC, especially considering the need for a high-end NNN BC boot to really push it beyond xc to xcd. If money isn’t much of a consideration, then the rottefella xplore binding could be the right solution.

@@GoTeleOnTheMountain thanks for the feedback. At the end of this season I bought Salomon 83s, then rottafella NNNBC bindings and a higher end Salomon nnnbc boot (all 50% off). The bindings and boot feel pretty solid and the boot has considerable flex, so hopefully that equates to better turning!

@@andrewhicks6712 Sweet. Seems promising, hope it works out well.