Because free heel skiing is fun!  Before you group in me in with the rest of the crazies, let me explain me background.  I took my first skiing lesson when I was 11, and only went a few times a year with family.  When a grew a little older and got a job, I decided I wanted to give snowboarding a try.  I caught on pretty quick (it isn’t that hard), and had lots of fun.  However, I was always interested in what was up with those telemark skiers who populate the ski slopes of Colorado.

Biting the bullet, I took advantage of a school telemark ski club outing.  I rented myself some K2 skis, some Garmont boots, and set off for the slopes.  My first day learning tele skiing (as we call it for short) was a blast.  It is a cliche, but you do really feel very free when telemark skiing.  Coming from a snowboard, where both of your feet are bound together with their heels squarely fixed, the freedom of movement of tele skiing was astonishing.  Because of this flexibility, every turn with tele feels like a form of self expression rather than a way of just getting down the mountain.

Of course, its also pretty frickin’ hard.  I’d never had so many new and novel looking crashes before I started tele skiing. However, I kept up with the learning, and began to steadily improve.  I’m not a master by any means, but I am getting to the point where I can get into a really good rhythm with my skiiing.  It’s a beautiful thing, and in my opinion, thats the feeling that makes tele skiing worth it.

Of course, tele skis also give you the ability to do things like backcountry skiing, because of the mobility afforded by the free heel.  I chose not to focus on this aspect of tele skiing, because it isn’t really unique.  You can have a great time backcountry skiing using alpine touring gear, which works just like the alpine gear you’re probably already accustomed to.  If you just want to backcountry ski, and you have no interest in the uniqueness of the tele skiing experience, then just stick with an AT system.

On the other hand, if you want to try something fresh and different on the slopes, then why not rent a pair of tele skis and see how you like it.  You might just find yourself hooked for life.