My Quest for the Best All Mountain Telemark Ski

A few years ago, I was in my mid thirties and was ripping the mountain.

I remember that I could ski quick turns in tight trees, jump off (small) cliffs, rip throught moguls…

THIS IS WHAT TELELAMRK IS ALL ABOUT.

But in the last 4-5 years, I’ve considerably slowed down. I don’t get the same feeling, the same ripping feeling.

I’ve done a series about the telemark ski evolution and it made me realized that telemark is a feeling and what ever the era of equipement, it remains FUN

But this latest generation of ALL MOUNTAIN SKIS just doesn’t seem to work for me.

Or did I just get older?

Are alpine skiers just getting better and I can’t keep up anymore?

Is it me or the equipment?

This descent in my confidence to ski all terrain, rip and turn heads started when I tried the Black Diamond Helio 95mm in 2018. I choose a smaller size at 173cm instead of the 178cm I’m usually going for.

I have a friend who had the Helio 105 in a shorter lenght and he liked it a lot, praising the small size to manoeuvre in tight trees.

Well the Helio 95mm in a short size didn’t work. At all.

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For general information on ski selectrion I have wrote a blog on the subject here.

This blog will only be covering problems for resort oriented all around, all mountain ski in this blog.

Fat skis used for powder do not suffer from those issues.

These are my evolving thoughts as of March 2022.

This is the story of my quest to find the best All Mountain Telemark ski.

Note: I have a prodeal with Black Diamond Equipment like most industry professional. I can have prodeals with most ski manufacturers but I’ve been skiing BD for 14 years because they serve me well. I still pay for most of my skis.

This is my story, my skis, the thoughts shared here are mine and reflects my experience:

Skier: Rene-Martin
Year telemark skiing: 26
Weight: 200 pounds
Height: 6.1 ft
Days on snow: 100 days a year (around 60 resort skiing, 40 backcountry)

In the resort I ski Le MASSIF:

800m vertical drop Eastern Canada snow of average 6m of snowfall

I would say this is about 30% on hardpack groomed runs

40% of somewhat chopped snow/moguls/tree skiing

15% powder. Always in tree skiing where manoeuvrability is key

15% pur ice that gets your knees to hurt

My Experience with ski brands and testing.

First, I’ve been telemark skiing for a 25+ years.

I’ve tried hundreds of skis over the years.

Some years, around 2004-2006,when telemark was at it’s peak of popularity, I would even go at test events to review telemark skis for specialized magasine.

Nowadays, telemark demos are hard to find.

But I work as a ski patroller at Le Massif where about 20 of us are on telemark.

So even in recent years, I’ve tried a lot of different setup.

Atomic, Volk, Rossignol, Nordica, Blizzard, Salomon, Moment, Dynastar, Armada, Xalibu at almost all Black Diamond skis in the last 14 years…

Even with all this testing, I don’t consider myself a great tester. It takes me some time to identify what works in a ski or a binding.

With years, I’ve become better and better at identifying what works and what doesn’t.

THE QUEST

All Alpine skiers are going faster today, it’s easier than ever to ski powder, to carve. We can see that alpine skiers have really gained from modern ski shapes.

I want a great all mountain ski that performs well in bumps, trees, and somewhat carve on hardpack. Powder is a bonus.

I’ve been looking for a ski that works for telemark in the 85-95mm range. That’s the width of the ski under foot.

Most skis under 90mm are just too stiff and mainly aimed at carving. The industry calls them all mountain skis or front side skis, but really it’s meant to ski 75% on groomers and occasional powder, chopped powder. No moguls, no eastern tree skiing where there’s always bumps, powder or chopper powder

Most 90 to 95mm skis are oriented for light touring. Those skis like the BD Helio 95mm not only have gone stiffer and stiffer but this combined with the lightess makes the skis very unstable for the variaty of snow a resort have. It’s just not damp enought.

There are skis that works but in general, for me at least, I have not found a perfect all mountain telemark skis for a LONG time.

And it made me think, what is the greatest all around telemark ski I’ve ever tried?

Tua Excalibur?

K2 World Piste?

Rossignol Big Bang?

These skis where great but are from another era. Boots where smaller and softer, binding where neutral or barely active.

No one can argue that todays telemark equipment has brought performance to another level.

NTN for sure but also AXL binding have changed the game

Those skis mentioned above worked really good. But the mid 90’s early 2000 skis are not the best skis I’ve own.

I remeber that before active binding, skis wider than 90mm were hard to manage.

So what is my favorite all mountain telemark ski in a recent era?

It’s got to be between the BD Aspect 2010-2011 and the BD Warrant 2012-2013.

I really loved these skis and still regret selling them. (I’ll buy them back Jeff)

Black Diamond Aspect 2011 - @skipass.com

These skis have nothing special really. The shapes are pretty classic. No crazy numbers. No rocker, no tapered tip…

But nobody is making a ski that looks like that!

In 2021-2022, I have:

a slalom ski at 65mm (165cm long) mounted on NTN freeride
a GS ski at 63mm, 170cm on freeride
a BD Impulse 98mm, 180cm on a Meidjo 3 with alpine heelset
A BD Helio at 115mm, 186cm on a meidjo 3 with alpine heelset (I use it only to guide in BC)

The race skis, slalom and GS are specialty skis and only use them on groomers. (I can get by on moguls with the slalom but it’s not the best)

The 115mm Helio is backcountry use exclusively. And whatever the conditions, I pretty much always go with this one. This ski is AWESOME and I’ve been skiing it since 2017. The trend is 105mm skis which I really don’t like. They’re too wide to be nimble and too narrow to float.

Obviously the Helio 115 are awesome for backcountry skiing but they are just too big for resort skiing.

These 3 skis are specialized skis and are no brainer. They do what they are supposed to do, carve or ski powder. But I can’t really patrol the whole mountain on them

So this year, for the all mountain ski, I tried the Impulse 98.

I wanted to go back to a damp ski, with some weight. (4kg)

It’s got a nice radius at 18m in the 180cm. So it should be okay on groomers.

98mm is a bit wider than I’d like but It’s not so much wider than the Warrant that I liked so much back in the days.

But still again, this year, I am not ripping like I use to. The Impulse delivers in a lot of snow condition, but it’s slow to turn moguls and a bit too wide to really carve on groomers without hurting my knees.

Maybe it’s too heavy?

And I’m still not ripping like I use too.

And this tought still comes back.

Is it me getting older?

Can I still ski 800 vertical meters, charging in moguls?

Because of this lack of feeling in the bumps, I’ve spent a great amount of time practicing my carving in the last two seasons.

I really like carving. It’s a great challenge.

The carving skis I have are so fun and it makes the technique so much easier than any all mountain ski can.

Carving skis are meant to carve.

But this is not what I like the most about telemark.

And all the days that I’m patrolling, I need to be able to ski all conditions and all terrain. 50% of the runs are moguls or tree skiing.

Let me tell you that a carving ski is the worst in anything but hard pack groomed runs

This season, especially, I was quite desperate to find a great all around telemark ski.

Here are the PROBLEMS with modern MID FAT skis

1. Shallow Rise Tip

Problem: the spatulla doesn’t rise enough. Note: Fat skis used for powder do not suffer from this issue.

In 2018, I thought that the small size combined with the tip rocker of the Helio 95 was the problem.

The tip rocker problem was easily identified. The tip only lifted a few cm of the ground and the telemark squat would frequently make the tip dive in a bump.

RMT00615

I could make it work but I needed to keep my telemark lead change VERY small. Like less than a boot long. And I needed to be very active to get the skis to manoeuvre around moguls. It was a nightmare.

So I sold the ski to a smaller skier and thought that was that. Well over the years, I’ve realized that there is actually 4 shape changes that have impered our ability to telemark on modern all-mountain shape.

My Quest was only starting.

2. Stiffer Tip

Problem: stiff tip combined with a shallow rised tip makes the tip catch in bumps. Note: Fat skis used for powder do not suffer from this issue.

The next year, I went for a narrower ski, the Black Diamond Route 88. I picked them the right lenght at 178cm.

I moved away from carbon as I realized that it was too light for resort skiing and also that it was just too stiff.

This solved the tip diving problem, ouf!

But even if the ski was ok in moguls, ok on groomers, ok in powder, I still wasn’t ripping like before. For the story, the last ski that BD made that worked for my was the Aspect that was produce in 2014-15. After that the Link, the Helio, the Route all had the same problem.

Stiffer and stiffer tip mixed with a shallow rise tip really kills the energy tranfered to the back ski in a telemark turn.

Telemark carving

See how low the tip is barely off the ground.

You have to think of the back ski as a second point of balance. When turning, we are puitting our skis on edge. On the front ski, our weight is distributed on the whole edge of the ski. It’s centered.

On the back ski, using any modern active binding, our energy is more transfered half way between the center and the tip. We can even see my back ski lifted of the snow in this image.

Screen Shot 2022-03-30 at 7.54.51 AM

Now if the spatula doesn’t rise a lot or if it’s too stiff, it will catch a lot more into things.

But there is more!

3. Rockered Tip

Problem: the ski has no energy to give back to the skier. Note: Fat skis used for powder do not suffer from this issue.

Again, telemark skiing, we transfer half way between the center and the tip of the back ski by the boot-binding combo. If it’s too rockered, the energy is lost in the ski shape. Tradional shaped skis have camber to give energy to the ski. When pushed, it wants to come back into it’s original shape. With a tapered tip, we are pushing the ski into it’s designed shape, just making it rounder, and the ski is not going to give any energy back.

rocker ski image

4. Tapered Tip

Problem, the shape of the tip changes the radius of the turn on the back ski. Note: Fat skis used for powder do not suffer from those issues.

The final factor is the tapered tip. This is when the max wigth of the ski is not at the top of the spatula. On hard pack snow, this changes the way the arch of the edge conduct the ski. It’s like if your back ski had a big belly.

Basically, they move the widest part of the ski toward the center. This has many advantages. It reduces mass at the tip, thus reducing swing weight, it creates a shorter turn radius without a super large tip that becomes bulky and clumky. But for our back ski while telemarking, it reduces grip and edge control. A bit of tapered tip is not a problem, but laterly, ski company have increased it on some models to become a problem.

ski tip tapered

And these 4 problems are not exclusive to Black Diamond. In the last 5 years, almost all brands are going in this direction

There is worst.

This is not working for telemark inbound as an all around ski. If you are like me and ski moguls, tress, powder, groomers, ice, this shallow tip rise and stiff tip is just deadly, rocker and tapered tip definetly doesn’t help. I found that this is NOT a problem for fat skis aimed at powder.

But why are the manufacturers going for those kind of shapes then?

You have to understand it works of the alpine turn. It works really good.

It took me a while to understand that.

THE SKI I WAS WANTING FOR

Watch the video above. This is me trying the Bishop Gonzo.

I had try this ski in it’s first version. I haven’t ask, but I think this is version 2 or 3.

I remembered it being a good ski. But at the time, I was focus on the binding and it was a really great snow year. So I ended up skiing the 100mm Chedi a lot.

With the bishop, I can ski the bumps like I want to. I can charge.

I can turn heads again.

I know this is kinda cheezy, but this is such a great feeling.

And I love the feeling of charging in moguls.

And it can turn quickly in a tree run.

And it’s ok the carve.

Oh and it went way better than I thought in powder. I’d say it was better in powder than on the groomer.

The tip still exited on top of the snow at every turn. This is a definite suprise has I don’t remember this from version 1.

This is the best telemark all mountain ski I’ve tried in a few years for sure.

Hope this helps

Rene-Martin

If I’ve helped you in any way, consider helping me by becoming a patreon here

https://www.patreon.com/absolutetelemark

Modern Telemark Ski Selection and Problems

I have tried and tested dozens of skis with the years.

I’ve been sponsored by Black Diamond the past 13 years, but I’ve still tried a lot of other brands.

In this article I want to talk about what you should look for/ avoid in your quest for the right telemark ski, whatever the brand.

In the last 5 years, more and more skis have early rise tips like shown. These tips can be great on big powder skis but don’t translate well to piste, all around skis.

RMT00615

I think the design is popular on alpine setup because it reduces ski vibration that they call chatter.

For us telemark skiers, the back ski gets a lot of pressure transferred to the tip when we flex in a telemark turn. From this, if the tip curvature is not big enough, like we see on all-around skis (95mm and less), I have found a lot of tip dive.

Telemark modern ski guide

Here are the ski categories I like and the use I make of it.

All Around skis (80mm to 95mm) For inbound, usually ski patrolling

I will look for:

90mm underfoot
15m-16m radius
reduced rocker
traditional tip shape
underfoot camber
Don’t take them short even if you want to play in the trees

Weight is often not important. I will mount these skis with a full frame binding like the BMF from Bishop or the Outlaw X from 22Designs.

I use these skis to rail turns on groomers, ski trees, bumps, all inbounds, with some quick outbound laps.

It’s been a couple of years I have skied a perfect ski in this category.

In the last two years, I’ve tried the Salomon QST 90, the Nordica EnRgy 90, the Nordica Enforcer, Atomic Backland 95, Black Diamond Helio 95, Black Diamond Route 88, Bishop Gonzo.

My favourites were the Salomon QST and the Bishop Gonzo.

My all-time favourites were the Black Diamond Warrant (2013) and the Black Diamond Aspect (2012). See the Philosophy section to learn why

Backcountry Telemark, Touring skis (100mm to 120mm)

I will look for:

110-115mm underfoot
lots of rocker (350mm+) soft shovel. I don’t mind the early rise tips for big powder skis.
some camber underfoot, avoid full rockered ski (banana shaped ski are not the best for telemark)
tail: not a lot of rocker and stiffer . If you lose balance and end up in the back seat, it will be harder to bring back.
radius is absolutely not important but it is usually around 18m- 22m
Weight is definitely important and I will aim for around 3 kg per pair.
Don’t hesitate to go longer than you are used to. 5 to 10cm longer is my general reference. The big rocker will still make the skis quick. In the end, it’s all about the float you need in the deep days.

My favourite all-time in this category are the new BD Helio 115. The old version called the 116 was already my favourites but the new 2020 version is just a notch better in variable snow conditions, the Achilles heel of big light skis.

Philosophy of modern skis, and the telemark turn

These are just the guide lines I found in the last years.

On piste All-Mountain experience.

We see more and more telemark skiers on piste with wide skis. I’m one of them.

Going back to old set up last year, I realized that we are going too wide.

Reducing the ski width for inbound skiing has enabled me to ski with ease, in moguls, carving, even in powder. Yes, I went slower in some conditions but in general, it was the opposite, I could go a lot faster, especially on hard pack and in moguls.

I fell in love with a pair of Salomon Slalom ski, with 67mm underfoot and 13m radius for carving. I had the best feeling in years on piste with these. Of course they didn’t allow for variable terrain shred, so this is not the solution for an all-around ski. Still, I found feelings I had forgotten, carving each turn like crazy.

I will be looking for a true all mountain, good for the condition we get in the East. Carving, moguls, trees. The Icelantic Sabre 89 would be a ski I’d like to try.

Touring Experience

I tried 2 versions of BD Helio 105. These skis are great. They are good in all conditions, jack of all trade, quiver ski for snowy condition. But I really like the wider skis. 115 is so much more fun.

I will still try some 105 skis in the next few years because I can, but if I had one backcountry ski to get, I would go 110-115mm underfoot, light skis.

Some exceptions.

Ski shapes and intended use vary so much. There is one for everyone.

I ski manly East of North America with one occasional trip out West for the big mountains.

If I was out West year round, I would have a 100-105mm ski for inbound and the same 110-115mm for off piste

Also, I have a Bishop Chedi I really like. this ski doesn’t fit in any of the categories I explained above.

It’s not light,
It’s not wide
It’s a 100mm ski, full camber,
with a long radius.

In short, it’s a boring ski.

But it just works. A bit like the BD Warrant I mentioned above. Those kinds of skis seem to work really well for telemark. (Or at least, my style of telemark)

Last word about lenght.

Skis lateral stiffness has increased in the last few years and people are tempted to try shorter, wider skis. For me, this has never produced positive results.

For reference here are my skis lengths. I’m 6’01” / 200 lbs or 185cm / 90 kg. The ski lenght will vary depending on the ski category

slalom racing carving skis: 163cm

GS racing carving skis: 170cm

All mountain skis: 178 to 180cm

Powder, touring skis: 184 to 188 cm

2021, Year of Backcountry Telemark

Yep,

Oh, by the way, this gear selection is often what you guys ask advice about.

This year, I will talk more about my backcountry telemark set-up since it’s this one that I will change this season. Because of the pandemic, this is probably going to be the biggest season ever for earning your turns, so it might apply to you as well.

I can tell you right away that after a very satisfying set up last year, I will go back to what has worked for me in the last few years.

In this post, I share my touring set up.

Disclaimer: I don’t pay for much of the stuff I receive but I can choose pretty much all I want. And I can surely say whatever I want about the gear I use.

Backcountry is the essence of telemark. Skin up, ski down, I first tried in 1996-97 in the Chic-Chocs.

Equipment has evolved and the 2020s should bring a very exciting era. Today’s telemark gear needs to be compared to alpine touring. This industry has made giant leaps in the last 5–7 years and the question is now can a telemark skier keep up with an alpine tourer. This is one of the reasons a lot of people have switched from telemark to alpine setups.

This has been my quest for the last 10 years, trying to keep up with my alpine friends in the Backcountry. Today’s equipment is almost on par, thanks to the binding manufacturers.

My setup for this season is the Helio 115 (now OK to mount with a telemark binding) with the Meidjo. I will keep my Crispi Evo WC boot for a 3rd year.

I received this setup late January 2020, so I’ve actually skied them quite a bit.

RMT00591

Telemark GEAR

Here is what I use and also some alternate choice I think are good options.

Binding

Because of the NTN, you have to choose to go 75mm or NTN before anything else when you build up your touring kit.

If you go 75mm, I think the Voile Switchback is your only real option. This binding is light, provide a free pivot and the feeling of the downhill will satisfy all the 75mm lovers out there.

If you go NTN, you definitely have to go with a TTS like binding or as Pierre Mouyade, inventor of the Meidjo, calls this binding family: TTN. Telemark Tech Norm

Those bindings are the go-to options for touring. I suggest you choose from the original TTS, the Lynx or the Meidjo.

Pins hold the front of the boot, giving the best ROM (Range Of Movement) and resistance-free stride. This alone makes telemark able to keep up with the alpine tourers.

If you go with a TTS like binding, you will have the freedom and Range Of Movement (ROM) to hike uphill like any alpine tech binding.

All we are missing is the ROM of modern alpine touring boots. I’ve heard that Scarpa is working on a new NTN boot that should provide this but it’s not yet ready.

Still the combo of boots, binding and ski makes for a very decent kit to enjoy the backcountry. And I will say that it’s never been better.

I chose the Meidjo. I will change from the 2.1 to the 3.0 when I receive them. Notice that I have the Alpine Heel Set.

Two years ago I skied a 50-degree chute north of Whistler-Blackcomb. Conditions were perfect, 10 cm of fresh snow, avalanche hazard was low, stability tests were negative. The snow was somewhat dense, coastal like. I don’t get the chance to ski couloirs like that in the winter very often. So I charged the first 10–15 turns, tele-skiing in the wider funnel-like entrance. The couloir then narrowed and the center had slufted down. The 10 cm turned into trashed, irregular, firm snow in the center and soft, dense on the sides. It was really hard to keep my balance between the transitions from the snow sides to the center hard pack irregular snow. Skiing down suddenly became a real life or death experience. I tried a few turns, alpine skiing without locking my heel. It was even harder as I entered the sides, I was losing balance forward. I tried a few turns telemark skiing and the center of the couloir was a real challenge to hold the edge in this super steep couloir. Long story short, I stopped on the side, made myself a nice platform and locked my heels in the Alpine Heelset. I skied the rest of the couloir not in an elegant way but felt a lot safer than the few turns I had just made.

On the pros, the Meidjo is the most complete binding for me.

The skiing is just great. Solid laterally, it transfers power like crazy.
Its tension is highly adjustable to get the telemark feeling you want. It won’t beat the super stiff Freeride or other full frame binding like the Outlaw X or the BMF but it can be stiff enough to race with.
There is a release system!!! And the release system is reliable. It’s not 100% nor are any alpine bindings.
The step-in is quite easy (improved on the 3.0 – can’t wait to try)
The combo with the alpine heelset is still releasable. And it keeps the same release values.
It’s very easy to go from telemark to ski and back. This means that I can telemark most of the time but if I feel that I need it, I can alpine easily.

The Cons:

The walk mode is not the most user-friendly.
Bindings are prone to icing in the second heel cup, it’s easy to get rid of it but it builds up in spring conditions
Not the easiest binding to install
The brakes are not for me, just too easy to break (new version this year so this could change.

RMT00611

Boots

This is the missing link. While today’s boot are durable and perform very well on the down, we don’t have the same modern walk mode as alpine tourers. Their boots are significantly better for climbing. You have two routes from here in my mind:

Stay in 75mm boots and choose, light, flexible boots that will provide ease of walking. You will be missing the power to drive the big modern fat skis

Go NTN and use stiffer, higher boots. Here, you will carry more weight, have less ROM. Your stride will suffer but the way down is going to be as good as any modern alpine tourers.

Seventy-five millimeters boots are getting harder to find but Scarpa T2, Crispi XP are very good options.

My Choice: Crispi Evo WC for its stiffness, the fact that it has the tech toe inserts and the heel tech inserts.

The Pros:

wrap around liners for stiffness
has the tech toe inserts and the heel tech inserts.
Very durable [look at the sole after two full seasons.
just a solid driver

On the cons:

heavy boots compared to alpine touring equivalent (like all telemark boots in this category)
old walk mode mechanism compared to alpine touring equivalent (like all telemark boots in this category)
clips are not the easiest to undo. This is not a deal breaker, just something to get used to.
The liner is not the warmest.

RMT00601 RMT00599 RMT00620

Skis

The Helio 115 are my go to this season

Last year I was on the Black Diamond Helio 105 with the Lynx binding.

I really liked the combo and it’s one of the lightest setups I ever had.

For me the 105 is a very polyvalent ski that I brought guiding and ski patrolling, inbounds and backcountry. Of course you need snow for this ski to be fun but I liked how skiable it was in other conditions. If you want one ski, this could be it.

This year, I will go back with a wider ski. The Helio 115. Good news the new Helio revamped line-up is now telemark recommended. [BD actually removed the “not recommended for telemark” tag.] This ski is just a great size for powder. I like to guide with it, it floats, it’s playful, it’s just an incredible ski that gives me the most fun.

105 was a bit too skinny at times, and I just didn’t have the same fun. It worked great, but not as fun. It’s the old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

Because I have a few options to choose from, I want the big boy in the line-up for 2020-21.

The Lynx binding by 22Design is also a great choice that I strongly recommend. Good value, simple design, light, efficient. Step in was not the best for me but I learned that 22Designs have changed a toe piece since my version (I think I had a pre-production version). You can look at my full review on YouTube if you wish.

I will still ski a lot more set-ups like the Bishop’s 100 mm Chedi and their super good binding, the BMF, a few racing skis with the Freeride, a few older 75mm setups.

RMT00613

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Skins

I have used exclusively Black Diamond skins (and Ascension skins prior to that).

In 20+ years, I’ve had maybe 15 to 20 different pairs.

My go-to are the GlideLite Mix.

They’re just a good combo of lightness, placability and grip. These are the important factor for me. Oh and one super important quality is to be able to unglue the skins when they are packed glue on glue.

Last year, because of limited availability when I got my new Black Diamond Helio 115 at the end of January, I had to go for something new.

Skins are a simple product when it works well but it’s a real pain when it doesn’t

I bought a set of Pomoca Pro S-Climb skins.

Pros:

So far, I like them. It’s about the same as the Black Diamond GlideLite but with a better glide. Not a great difference, but noticeable.

Cons:

There are two metal wires that comes in the box. The White is not strong enough, they bent on me and then the modified shape affected how well they stayed in place.

They could just fall off the skins. I changed for the other all gunmetal ones and the problem was solved.

RMT00607

I will probably add a set up in December or January. I will probably go with a 22Design binding and a more biffy setup.

Not sure what to get? you can look at my Modern Telemark Ski Selection and Problems post coming up soon

The Telemark History Ep2: The Evolution of skis and Bindings

This is my Telemark challenge for the season, going back in time with set ups from four different eras.

We will go from the 80s super long skis to today’s wide boards.

Telemark skiing has evolved so much and I’ve kept updating my gear all along.

I want to go back in time and see the advantages we might have lost along the way, or the benefits I get from the modern set ups we enjoy today.

For the 80s set up, we have the Atomic 210 cm ski, with a lot of camber, mounted with the Chili binding from Rottofella. Then, I found my original telemark skis and binding. It is the Karhu Hardbody 203 cm mounted with Rottofella 412, a front-loading binding. I will ride both skis with a Vasque leather boot.

For 90s setup, I have the X-scream from Salomon, a parabolic ski, with the very popular Voile release plate. I also have the Rossignol Big Bang, mounted on the Rainey SuperLoop binding. This ski/binding combo is mine and I have skied it 5-6-7 years, can’t remember. I will ride the Garmon Veloce with these skis.

For the 2000 setup, I have found the Karhu Kodiak, mounted on the 22designs Hammerhead. This is a short ski for me, but it should edge and carve very well. Not in the video, I will also add a Black Diamond AMP ski mounted on a Black Diamond O1 binding. This is a fat ski, very good for powder. I feel that this is the era where people started to buy more than one set up, and choose according to conditions. I will ride both skis with the super-powerful Crispi XR boot.

For the 2010 to today setups are all NTN based setup. We have the Black Diamond Route 88 mounted on the Bishop BMF-R binding. This is my day-to-day patrol ski. I also chose the Helio 105 from Black Diamond mounted with the 22designs Lynx. This is my setup for backcountry telemark and the one I use telemarking in the Chic-Chocs. I might also show you a few other setups I have that are different for that era, plus a surprise. I will ride those with the Crispi Evo WC telemark boot check out the full series for more fun on the telemark history gear review.