Harvery44 wrote:
Nice group of shots. Looks like your groups was at least half tele.
On Saturday our group went from 3 alpine and 1 telemark to, 5 alpine and 5 telemark. Yup, that's half alright. Though 2 of our less-experienced alpine skiers didn't do the slides. We were 3 alpine and 5 tele in the slides on Saturday, clearly outnumbered by those hard-working telemarkers.
Two of the tele-chicas were significantly challenged but managed to get through the tough spots and enjoy the sweet rewards, as you can see from my pix. One of the guys used exclusively p-turns. The other guys dropped the knee and made it work for them.
From observation, it seems that the alpine skiers had the easiest time...but isn't that always the case?
While I also telemark on occasion, for the most part, it is just too much work for me. I'd rather ski low-angle (Greek Peak) groomed or powdery snow on tele...but I've learned after 5 yrs of telemarking, that I'd rather just lock the heel and ski for real

...especially if I am going to ski all day with the rippers.
I'm nervous just looking at those pics.
I was nervous going into the slides, especially the first couple of times. But what I found was that the hardest part was getting in. The traverse and the choke points that you had to get through before it opened up (except slide 1 that was open from the top...slides 2, 3 and 4 have tricky entrances). The slides got easier and easier with each run and the softening snow also helped.
Mark, if you can ski the woods next to Lies, Double Barrel, Lower Steilhang and Rumor, you can ski the Slides...especially when soft. It just doesn't start off with flowing turns, as you must pick your way through some tight spaces. But once in the open, it can be very sweet. I don't think it is any harder than those trails at Gore I mentioned, only in that it may be more of a combination, as it is steep with obstacles.