After just a day of telemark skiing at the 2009 PSIA National Academy, I got hooked on it. It’s still skiing but a TOTALLY different set of movements and balance requirements than regular downhill (alpine) skiing.
The off-season is always the best time to buy anything. Buy shorts in September, leather jackets in April and buy your ski equipment when there is no snow on the ground!
A while back the K2 World Piste telemark skis showed up on TrackDock.com and I was able to claim a pair of those. Telemark boots must be in relatively short supply since it is still a rather niche sport so it was a bit harder to find those. It was impossible to find anything to try on locally. After searching and searching, I finally came across a company I never heard of before - MountainShop.net based out in Portland, Oregon. They have a simple site, doesn’t look like much effort has been put into promoting it and I managed to find it on page 10 or so of search results.
Since it was impossible to find any boots to try on locally, I emailed them and got a few very helpful responses and just ordered the Garmont Syner-G tele boots.
They were on clearance, ship free and can be returned if they don’t fit. They are the same ones I used out at the 2009 PSIA National Academy so they should, just can’t remember the size I used out there. Now that the boots are taken care of (hopefully) that just leaves the bindings which are much easier to come by.
Many thanks to Al at MountainShop.net for the help in picking boots! Here’s hoping they fit and we get tons of snow on which to use the tele gear this season!
