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From:	Kurt Ries on 04/01/98 01:32 PM
To:	fred@valvetech.net
cc:	 
Subject:	The Last Ski Hurrah of 1998?

The Last Ski Hurrah of 1998?

Saturday 3/28/98 -- Back Country Skiing
--------------------------------------------------
 State Truck Trail - Marcy Dam - Avalanche Pass
1.5 plus feet of cover to Marcy Dam
2 to 3 feet plus up to Avalanche pass
Good snow condtions, a few thin spots to the approach of Marcy Dam

Sunday 3/29/98 -- Telemark Skiing
--------------------------------------------
State Truck Trail - Klondike trail shelter
Rained most of Saturday night and the snow Sunday was spotty below 2500' 
and water saturated soup above.

Unless the High Peaks gets additional snow the skiing will involve some 
walking below 2500'.

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous memories of the 97/98 ski season!
See ya on the 2 wheel steeds
	-Kurt

Kurt Ries
Canandagua, NY
Kries@viesystems.com

PS/BS
Still have this recurring dream of mounting the Tele boards to the 
mountain bike to find snow ...could be a new sport Tele-cycling!

============================

Directors Cut:
-------------------
Cruising down the ski trail onto Avalanche Lake, I caught a glimpse of a 
couple in swimsuits basking in the 74-degree temps. Attempting a couple of 
flailing telmarks to slow down for a chat, hydroplaned to a stop in 2" 
water. After this stunt figured I should keep moving before I broke though 
the ice.  Once back on solid ground stop to take a look around.

The intense sun was shinning down the throat of the long and narrow 
Avalanche Lake making it appear superimposed with a virtual reality scene 
from some sci-fi flick. Hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the sheer 
3600-foot cliffs on either side created rainbows that arched across the 
lake.  Avalanche Lake is one of the more popular destinations in the 
Adirondacks High Peaks region of  New York State and only accessible by 
trail. It has been several years since I have had the opportunity to 
visited and today saw the lake and its beauty, anew. 

Taking advice from Brian at High Peaks Cyclery in what could be the last 
ski of the season, opted for the 4.2 K State Truck Trail (South Meadows) 
to Marcy Dam and another 3.8 K to Avalanche Lake. The route has well 
maintained bridges that spanned the overflowing streams for a whitewater 
spectacle of ice mushroomed rocks.  Showing once again that Klister, 
Knobby tires and Paddles can coexist in this parallel universe (Tele 
universe?)

The attire of the day was shorts and a  tie-dye T-shirt and judging from 
the abrasion on my forearms also discovered why the klister works so well 
on the corn snow. The slight wind was strange in the way it would change 
direction from a hot tropical to a cooler breeze. Most of our rest stops 
were in the shade, more like cycling than skiing.

**Warning:**  
The following excerpt has been pronounced a "Technical Foul" by the 
Retrograde Skiers Association of Vermont (RSAOV) DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOUR 
CREDIT CARD IS PAID OFF OR AT ITS' LIMIT!

Afterwards Joe from Cascade Touring Center discussed equipment as we sat 
on their porch absorbing some rays and  Sarnac Black Forest beer. The 
single-track descents have been my Back Country (BC) nemesis since 
attempting to use Tele/parallels verses a snowplow. Even with the wider 6 
'+ ski trails of the High Peaks without a good technique to check speed on 
the descents you'll hit mach 1 in a split second. My Tele turns are mainly 
OF (long arching Old Fart turns) and to check speed on the steep and 
narrows requires quick feet. A narrow BC ski is quicker to shuffle, while 
a wider (Tele) ski is easier to control and snow plow they can actually 
hamper a quick foot change. 

Many of ADK Tele folks are using a narrower metal edge BC ski with a 3-pin 
binding and welt style leather boots . This setup gives best performance 
for kick and glide needed  80-90% of the time on the flats and climbs. The 
lighter weight and the narrower metal edge profile enhances the carve from 
the fast foot work with less effort in the off weighting of the skis. This 
setup still retains good performance off trail in most snow conditions. 
	- Did I mention it slices, dices and makes Julian fries also!

The thought of including a heel cable to this BC setup in an attempt to 
enhance their turning capabilities, lead to a discussion of the fine line 
between BC and Tele skiing. My definition of BC is kicking around the 
woods looking for hills and Telemarking is more of a skin on skin off 
approach, both revolve around turns. The Telemark equipment gets you to 
the deep powder glades, just not as fast. 

...that's what got me in this quandary to start with. Part of the problem 
is many times the BC folks I am skiing with are kick and glide only. Keep 
up with the Tele gear is close to impossible on a longer trek. We Tele 
types are still somewhat of a novelty to many of the recreation skiers. 
However, I have notice after they skied with us they are looking at the 
shiny new Tele stuff on the show room floor.

I decided to retain an unhampered kick and glide and not add a cable to my 
75mm BC setup. Also decided next season to do more Telemark specific treks 
for the downhill action.  On a trip earlier in the season over the 
Klondike pass spotted many open Birch glades in the area around the 
Klondike shelter to introduce my Telemarks to.

 Tested the shuffle theory on Sunday behind the Klondike shelter in the 
rain-saturated soup. While the off trail tree skiing was enhanced by the 
flotation and side cut of the Telemark ski, I felt more comfortable on the 
4-6 ' packed trail descents with the E99 BC skis and some fast 
Parallel/Tele shuffles to check speed and avoid the glide arresters. Just 
when you start getting the hang of something the snow goes away ...Bad, 
Bad el~nino!
	-Any comments/suggestions?

Funny, Fred and I have often discussed how the ski disciplines are more 
the same than they are different.  To better my race times I have been 
working on a faster turnover of my skating cadence; now discovered  I need 
to do the same in my turns.
	-Go figure!

=============================

To:	Kurt Ries/VIESystems
cc:	fred@valvetech.net 
Subject:	Re: The Last Ski Hurrah of 1998? 



Hi, Kurt. Thanks for the fun reading.

> The Last Ski Hurrah of 1998?

No way!

...
> Many of ADK Tele folks are using a narrower metal edge BC ski with a 3-pin
> binding and leather boots . This setup gives best performance for kick and
> glide needed  80-90% of the time on the flats and climbs. The lighter
> weight and the narrower metal edge profile enhances the carve from the fast
> foot work with less effort in the off weighting of the skis. This setup
> still retains good performance off trail in most snow conditions.
>      - Did I mention it slices, dices and makes Julian fries also!

Leather? That ranges from Snowfields to Supercomps. I've now done a
fair amount of horizontal skiing on my T2s and they work. My Snowfield
copies blister my heels unless I wear a full NFL-style foot tape job
and even so, they let the skis have way too much of a mind of their
own. I have some skis with the Voile three-pin cable arrangement. I'm
really coming to the view that this too is not the way to go. I find
that I can tour quite well with my Rotefella 412's and they're a hell
of a lot easier to get into and out of. And, if there's going to be
any chance at all to do some turns, I'm going to take a ski that can
turn. Not an E99, thank you. Summary, use comfortable tele gear for BC
skiing and you're all set for horizontal AND vertical. My opinion,
mind you.  There are undoubtedly godlike personages out there that can
do anything in floppy leather boots and E99s. But I'm a very limited
and humble mortal.
...
> powder glades, just not as fast. I decided to retain an unhampered kick and
> glide and not add a cable to my 75mm BC setup. Also decided next season to
> do more Telemark specific treks for the downhill action.  On a trip earlier
> in the season over the Klondike pass spotted many open Birch glades in the
> area around the Klondike shelter to introduce my Telemarks to.

>      -Any comments/suggestions?

Begin getting ready for all that upcoming tele stuff by putting in a
lot of miles at the resorts ... now. I'm a slow learner and not much
of an athlete, but I get orders of magnitude more downhill practice
using the lifts. I remember how frustrating it was trying to learn
step teles from Gene at Camel's Hump. But I was able to get the hang
of it within a couple of runs at Gore the next weekend. One 8000 foot
area run equalled probably my total for three days down hill skiing at
Camel's Hump. But now that I have that turn in my bag of tricks, I'm
looking forward to using it in the backcountry, and, in fact, already
have. My current challenge is to learn to some form of jump turn. And
then to do it with a good rhythm. And then fast. And finally with
style. So much to learn!  Fortunately the season's not over. There are
even advantages at this point. Crowds are gone and prices are coming
down. With an Empire Card I think it's going to be $19 a day weekends
at Gore/Whiteface.

I relate to your remarks on how challenging narrow trails can be. I'll
be the first to snowplow them. Oh, maybe wedge turns which is a bit
more respectable. I think you've just got to be a damn good skier to
get down some of those trails. You know, the ones that are so narrow
that you can't really even snowplow them. Your tails get hung up on
the trail sides. And what do you do when you've got to come down a
trail that has only been tracked in new powder by skiers going up?
Just two deep slots. Drag your poles? I'm stumped by this situation.

My short term solution is to get into the snowfields above the
treeline. Going to Alaska from the 20th to the 30th. Hatcher Pass and
Denali Park. Not bringing my E99s! :-)

-- al

=======================To:	Kurt Ries/VIESystems
cc:	 
Subject:	Re: The Last Ski Hurrah of 1998? 



> See if I can wet your curiosity. From our discussions I know you are track
> skier also; you know that feeling you get when you have been in the Tele

Absolutely. That's where I started. And I absolutely love skating. But
I sacrificed that stuff this year to try to build up my tele skills.
I'm approaching sixty ski days (ten off piste) and have made major
strides, and I'm STILL a hell of a long way from being a good skier.

> equipment for a while and now how effortless the track skis feel. For a
> style of skiing common for myself in the ADK where you need to get from
> point A to Point B and trying to find a few turns in-between, but for the
> most part are restricted to the trail - is there a comprise on the
> equipment?

You seek the Holy Grail. Possibly the compromise becomes possible when
a certain rather advanced level of skill is attained. Perhaps we'll
see one day.

> Certainly hear your comments about having the right equipment for the turns
> ...that's what got me in this quandary to start with. Part of the problem
> is many times the BC folks I am skiing with are kick and glide only. Keep
> up with the Tele gear is close to impossible on a longer trek. We tele
> types are still somewhat of a novelty to many of the recreation skiers.
> However I have notice after they skied with us they are looking at the
> shiny new tele stuff on the show room floor.

Different strokes for different folks. Kick and glide only is a nice
way to get some exercise out in the woods. We know about that
already. What we're working at is a level of skill and a collection of
equipment that lets us be comfortable and enjoy a greater variety of
terrain. I believe that I can cover really significant horizontal and
uphill distances in my tele gear. And you need to, as many nice hills
have a significant approach to get through. I can't necessarily go as
fast as someone with really light gear, but so what? One of the things
I learned in a week of skiing in Quebec that I mislearned at Camels
Hump is that BC skiing is vastly different than touring center skiing
in one respect. That is, you just can't affort to get yourself
drenched in sweat. I did this my first day in the Chic Chocs on a long
approach to the bowl at Mont Albert and when I got to the top of the
mountain and the wind found me, I was instantly hypothermic and could
do very little about it.

> Tell me more about this Empire Card, you got my attention!

For fourty dollars you get the following: Ten dollars off your lift
ticket every day with the exception of a few holiday periods. And you
get one free day as well, with the same exceptions. This free day
nearly pays for the card. And it's good at both Gore and Whiteface.
You really need to buy the thing on your first day of lift-served
skiing next season. Anyway, we've now entered off peak season when
weekend rates at Gore/Whiteface are $29. Use your Empire Card and that
becomes $19. I think you're down to $14 on weekdays.

-- al


================================

"maintained bridges that spanned the overflowing streams for a whitewater
spectacle of ice mushroomed rocks"

"
The intense sun was shinning down the throat of the long and narrow
Avalanche Lake making it appear superimposed with a virtual reality scene"

English major ???  I thought you were an Engineer ???

--Dick