Liftime Alpine Skier Switch to Tele Question

**PDXBen** · 02-27-2007, 02:20 PM

Hey,

So I've been skiing my whole life and consider myslef an expert skier. The last season and a half I have been riding Volk Mantra 184s, but want to switch over to tele since I now ski Mt. Hood and, well, there's not much of a challenge there. So I was wondering if I should put tele bindings on my Mantras, or buy a new pair of telemark specific skis (Havocs, G3 kilowatts, tickets, etc.) Is there a huge difference in skis from Alpine to Telemark? Since I'm a beginner, would I be burdened learning on the Mantras? Also, length wise, should I go down in size for telemark skis? 184 big skis (I think Mantras are like 93mm underfoot) are perfect for me right now alpine wise.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

**mntlion** · 02-27-2007, 02:24 PM

skis are skis, they don't care if you are male, female, or mount them with tele, at, or alpine.

assuming that you will not be as good on tele, as alpine, to start with the mantra's will feel long, but the will be skiable once you are at your alpine ability.
also if you are skiing places other then hood and want to alpine you are SOL.

I'd get another ski for tele (some great deals on some 80ish mm skis in 180 right now.) and just use that.
karhu agent, salomon scrambler, etc for under $200 new if you hunt on ebay a bit.

**mn_teleswede** · 02-27-2007, 02:35 PM

Like mountain lion said - a ski is a ski is a ski is a ski.................

With that being said, to start with you are going to want somewhat of a more forginving ski to learn on. Your mantras will work well if you are not trying to learn on hardpack. I would suggest a ski 78-85 in the waist so you can get the feel of the rear ski carving rather than skidding. Whatever you choose to use, good luck and have a blast. I tried it 3 years ago and have not gone back or regretted it.

Shameless plug- I have a pair of 179 piste pipes over on gear swap that would work well as a beginner ski. THey were the ski that i learned on. 112-80-104

I would sell them to you $150 plus shipping- pm me if interested

**Conundrum** · 02-27-2007, 02:45 PM

Do a search on Kilowatt review. I put my thoughts on both the Mantra (my all time favorite tele ski) and the Kilowatt. You could go shorter/softer but as you progress, you'll want more beef if you are a bigger guy. To learn, you'll probably want something skinnier anyway.

Listen to mntlion, he is the man.

I'll throw another shameless plug. If you need some cheap, good tele bindings, shoot me a pm.

**PDXBen** · 02-27-2007, 02:51 PM

Cool, thanks guys. I'll probably keep my Mantras and mount them up when I'm comfortable. I'm only 5'9 160, but like the big skis since the don't get squirly at high speeds. I wonder how short is too short in tele, or is it the same? I feel that I don't want to go under 178cm or over 185cm.

**mn_teleswede** · 02-27-2007, 03:02 PM

Most stay at the same length or go a little shorter depending on terrain preference and style (low or tall).

Come on over to Telemarktips.com and read up- lots of good beta there

**hemas** · 02-27-2007, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by mn_teleskier

Most stay at the same length or go a little shorter depending on terrain preference and style (low or tall).

Come on over to Telemarktips.com and read up- lots of good beta there

Yep, TTips is a great resource... Just filter everything