In the early 90s while on an early summer climb of Mt. Shasta a friend and I had hauled randonnee gear up to our snow camp near Helen Lake, and were up on the very steep slope above camp trying to make some turns on the horrible bathtub-like sun cups, and not having much success or fun, even with lifetimes of alpine skiing experience. As we were standing there some guy came from somewhere above, flying along on what looked like very light, skinny XC gear, just hitting the rims of the sun cups. He as quickly disappeared, leaving me with this image of something that seemed impossible being done at high speed and with such amazing élan. This image would bother me whenever I tried later to turn my damn cross country skis, suggesting I must be a total klutz.
When I committed to learning free heel skiing and started getting modern tele gear several years ago, this heavy duty approach to learning free heel turns seemed to easily overcome the perpetual problems I had turning with XC gear, progress was being made and my enthusiasm was and still is very high. But still, the image of that guy on Shasta was there somewhere in the background, suggesting an alternative I might be overlooking. A couple of weeks ago in Eugene, while visiting our daughter, I was checking the used book section of the Goodwill store there, mainly for any possible tele-related items, while wife and daughter looked for great finds. The only related book was one by Steve Barnett called Cross Country Downhill, Second Ed., written in 1978. I had downloaded an interview with Barnett from TT a year or so ago, so should have recognized his name. I nearly rejected this book as the title only reminded me of my frustrating 40 year inability to turn those damn skinny skis. Since the book was only $1.25, I took a chance on it, and am very glad I did. His path to back country skiing, through mastery of technique instead of increased technology I find very intriguing. After watching the interview again, and yesterday discovering Craig Dostie’s excellent profile of Barnett on Earn Your Turns, People, I have been thinking more about this seeming split in the tele world. On EYT Forum there seems to be a lot of tele skiers that have gone over to AT, at least part time, and I am reading some comments that suggest others are moving back toward at least somewhat skinnier skis and lighter boots. For me, being the same age as Steve Barnett, it may be too late to acquire the sort of skills he has or to go through the prerequisite lengthy period of crashes to do skinny and light, since I am having trouble enough on my new heavier gear.
It would be great to see some forum discussion about this apparent divide, and what the future of free heel skiing might be, since the popularity of tele skiing seems diminished some in the past several years.
When I committed to learning free heel skiing and started getting modern tele gear several years ago, this heavy duty approach to learning free heel turns seemed to easily overcome the perpetual problems I had turning with XC gear, progress was being made and my enthusiasm was and still is very high. But still, the image of that guy on Shasta was there somewhere in the background, suggesting an alternative I might be overlooking. A couple of weeks ago in Eugene, while visiting our daughter, I was checking the used book section of the Goodwill store there, mainly for any possible tele-related items, while wife and daughter looked for great finds. The only related book was one by Steve Barnett called Cross Country Downhill, Second Ed., written in 1978. I had downloaded an interview with Barnett from TT a year or so ago, so should have recognized his name. I nearly rejected this book as the title only reminded me of my frustrating 40 year inability to turn those damn skinny skis. Since the book was only $1.25, I took a chance on it, and am very glad I did. His path to back country skiing, through mastery of technique instead of increased technology I find very intriguing. After watching the interview again, and yesterday discovering Craig Dostie’s excellent profile of Barnett on Earn Your Turns, People, I have been thinking more about this seeming split in the tele world. On EYT Forum there seems to be a lot of tele skiers that have gone over to AT, at least part time, and I am reading some comments that suggest others are moving back toward at least somewhat skinnier skis and lighter boots. For me, being the same age as Steve Barnett, it may be too late to acquire the sort of skills he has or to go through the prerequisite lengthy period of crashes to do skinny and light, since I am having trouble enough on my new heavier gear.
It would be great to see some forum discussion about this apparent divide, and what the future of free heel skiing might be, since the popularity of tele skiing seems diminished some in the past several years.
Comment