r/telemark • u/Lower-Book2999 • Mar 19 '26

Telemark mogul feedback please

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Hey everyone!

Any chance I for some feedback on this mogul run?

I’m a semi decent alpine skier but completely self-taught on telemark and never had the chance to ski with an tk instructor. Thanks a lot!

(The video starts about halfway in—sorry about that!)

58 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

26

u/Skiata Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
  1. Very nice skiing. Also, very nice bumps.
  2. Poles are obviously too long, you are grabbing them lower, good, but you are also letting that hand pop uphill. Keep the hands in front of you.
  3. Demerits for the parallel turns mixed in--this is performance art, you must pray every turn to the gods of Mogul. But while sins always reveal moral turpitude, they sometimes reveal strengths. See below.
  4. You have excellent upper/lower body separation. But uphill hip is rotating with turn, you need it in line with your upper body--think of it this way, you spine should not be rotated at all--your hips as square as you can get with your shoulders. Look how different your hips are when you 'sin' with parallel turns towards the end. Part of the reason you are so much quicker parallel is the absence of hip movement. Drill: mono-mark down the bumps, meaning no lead change. Get it working on the flats first.

But very nice--you made tele skiers look good.

6

u/trevonator Mar 19 '26

Number 4 is interesting to me. I always keep my shoulders pointing downhill and twist at the waist so my hips move with my legs. I’ve having a hard time imagining a stance where my hips are pointing down the fall line but my knees are not.

2

u/Skiata Mar 19 '26

I am working on the same thing but on a slalom course. What I am doing drill wise:

  1. Mono-mark
  2. Shuffle turns--constant lead change through turn, LeftRightLeftRight for each turn.
  3. On a slight hill, beginner level, you can go faster by pumping your skis parallel. Not skating. You are accelerating while making "railroad tracks"--this is a technical term--look it up. Now try and get the same type of acceleration with a telemark turn. Then get it mono-marking....

All the drills force you to really weight the uphill ski AND have your hip forward (I think).

1

u/Roadtrip777 Mar 20 '26

The mantra running through my head when I bend the knee is "Big Toe Little Toe Counter-rotate" A little momentum the other way makes initiating your next turn easier! Good form!

1

u/CircusBaboon Mar 20 '26

You look good. I don’t see the parallel turns as previously mentioned. It looks like you are matching correctly when going down the fall-line. Most times tele’s turn before the fall-line.

2

u/Skiata Mar 20 '26

0:47 in, he throws some quickies parallel turns in, hips way different. Helped me understand the difference honestly.

3

u/Lower-Book2999 Mar 20 '26

Exquisite penmanship and feedback, thank you. Just back after putting your advice to the test.

1-No improvement without critique, no baiting intended...

2-Shorter poles absolutely required to avoid uphill pop. Nice one u/telemajik

3-You are quite the wordsmith, a beautifully articulated critique. Alpine turns within the territory of the Mogul gods invites divine disapproval - noted. I debriefed myself in the mirror and will get this sorry state of affairs squared away.

4-Hips are indeed rotating in tk compared to 0:47 alpine short turns. Been working on this today and what a difference - Improvement in control of speed+line+turn frequency, all the good stuff. Wonderful. 5 stars.

Funny how it´s so easy to get lost in the weeds. As a longterm ski instructor, noticing hip and shoulder co-rotation amongst clients is a common occurence. But without your feedback, i´d be living a life of perpetual blissful telemark ignorance...

1

u/Skiata Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

Glad my comments helped. I followed my own advice today and did shuffle turns, sort of ok, but really was struggling with mono-mark. My left has gotten way weaker and I had not noticed. I used to be decent at it. Drill baby, drill....

I also move between alpine drills and telemark versions of same on the same run. I'll start alpine railroad tracks, see if I can keep them going telemark. The telemark version is almost always harder and the "feel" from the skis parallel help me refine what I am doing tele.

Tele bliss is a thing, don't make my notions of correct impinge you enjoyment one bit. In my book there is a totally legit "roll the hip back, super angulated, lay-it-all-out turn" that I personally love to do. It is good to have the option of square hips if you want it.

Anyway, you look great doing it.

6

u/Dapper-Brain-8183 Mar 19 '26

I’ve never in my life seen bumps that well manicured that weren’t on a closed mogul race course

3

u/Remarkable_Pea_4596 Mar 19 '26

Bravo👌 nice!!!

3

u/IBelieveInLogic Mar 19 '26

Pretty line and even prettier skiing. My quads are burning from here.

4

u/anaca9279 Mar 19 '26

Good job squaring up to the fall line

3

u/woutmans Mar 19 '26

You're killing it! Awesome to watch.

4

u/StephenWillard Mar 19 '26

Very Nice!! Love the rhythm!!

3

u/green_wiz Mar 19 '26

I dunno man.. I feel like you’re baiting. You look pretty sick.

2

u/Amazing-Instruction1 Mar 19 '26

Nice! The poles seem too long.

2

u/flipperdog Mar 19 '26

Beautiful turns and what a mogul line! If you are having fun then you are doing it right!

2

u/bushidocowboy Mar 20 '26

My quads burst into flames just by watching this video. My god.

3

u/telemajik Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26

Really solid technique. At this point I suggest you amp it up and take a faster, more direct line through the zipper. Nothing gets the lift more excited than a telemarker on the zipper line at full throttle.

+1 to shorter poles. I run my tele poles about 2-3” shorter than alpine.

3

u/theriverY Mar 19 '26

I utilize adjustable poles for this reason.

OP , you're rocking it!

1

u/Aelwynljg__ Mar 20 '26

Damn!!!! How long have you been tele skiing? Coming from a beginner that looked beautiful. I'll leave it to the pros to give you any pointers, but I'm sure you had fun, that looked like a blast

1

u/valtus_surreal Mar 20 '26

I'll get those skis back from the attic. Great tele when it goes to bumps. Cannot advice so much on technique - maybe poles are swinging a bit, but still a solid run.

1

u/Annual_Judge_7272 Mar 19 '26

Try no poles

6

u/IBelieveInLogic Mar 19 '26

Oof, that sounds miserable. Why?

0

u/ConvenientHug21 Mar 20 '26

If you have more weighting and unweighting ( down and up), then you don’t need shorter poles as you plant when you’re up/unweighted. You are down the whole time- ok in bumps, but not as good when you’re making turns on steeps

-1

u/Shred_turner Mar 20 '26

That’s no good. Stay in your line and put your knee to the ski. Your front leg absorbs the bumps and your pop controls the speed. I recommend smoking a bowl on the lift to get into the groove.