Switching from Snowboard to Telemark to Alpine Touring

Tom:  One thing you said earlier is you switched from snowboard to tele to AT. I understand the switch from snowboard to tele, because I actually have been out with a friend [on a snowboard] on flat terrain and towed him for three kilometers. What made you switch from tele to alpine touring?

Christian:  It was a couple things. One, alpine touring skiing or alpine skiing is easier [laughs]. With your heel locked down you just… you can do a lot more, and the learning curve is a lot quicker. So, that was part of it. Since I really needed that steep learning curve for what I do, I switched. But also, especially at the time, the tele gear was really quite heavy and not very efficient. You know, you had cable bindings, but every time you flexed the boot, as your going on the uphill, you were flexing against tension. So, it's not as efficient as say, a Dynafit binding where you're just pivoting on the toe, and it really has a Nordic ski feel, and that really kind of free run. It's a much more efficient way to travel. And then, also, when you talk about doing kick turns, doing a kick turn with a Dynafit binding, or even a Fritschi binding, is so much easier than doing a kick turn on a cable binding, where the ski is going to stay close to your boot, no matter what you do. You can't really…

Tom:  So, you mean when you're on the uphill, you're doing the conversion to the other direction, you can kick the ski backwards and get it to come up by your knee [with a pivoting binding].

Christian:  Yep. Exactly. So, you know, the telemark gear was getting heavier and heavier. It was going more towards the alpine touring gear — you have heavy boots, you have heavy skis. And then you had a binding that made travel not super efficient. And then on the downhill, the movement is definitely really enjoyable and fun, but it's harder, especially in mixed conditions. So, that's why I switched. The interesting thing now is, with the advent of the 01 binding, the Black Diamond binding that pivots, really unlocks the hinge, well now it's easier to tour on tele bindings. [9:48]

Tom:  Most of the people that I know who are really good tele skiers were really good alpine skiers before they became good tele skiers, and I just… I see a lot of people struggle. Their goal is to get into the backcountry and ski fun stuff, and because of the custom and tradition in America, they default to tele, and I just see them struggle and struggle. You know Theresa [sp], my wife? You've met Theresa, right?

Christian:  Yeah.

Tom:  She was struggling for so long on tele, and finally, a boot fitter in Chamonix put a hole in her tele boot, and I convinced her to try alpine touring, and she just took this huge bump up in her ability so fast.

Christian:  I'm the same story, and I think people latch on to telemarking because it's a unique movement. It's a beautiful turn, and, you know, it's cool. It's definitely… telemarking is cool. But, the other interesting thing that we see around here is that, there are a lot of telemark skiers, but you hardly ever see them doing telemark turns.

Tom:  Yeah.

Christian:  They do parallel turns. When they're in the backcountry, they're skiing parallel. I really enjoy telemark skiing, and especially now that I've become a good skier and have a lot of experience in the backcountry now, that going and putting on some tele boards for a day is super fun. It's really fun, but I still, my main tool, and largely because of my work, is alpine touring gear.

Tom:  Yeah, I actually still do a lot of tele turns, but I tend to… I have a kind of heavyweight cross-country setup with fish scales on it, and I do almost all my tele turns on gear that would have been typical tele stuff in 1979, but is kind of not the tele stuff that people use today. I think that's a blast, because any hill that's steep enough to go down is a challenge on that gear, and so you don't need great terrain, and [you can still] just have tons of fun in the backcountry.…