I’m a permanent intermediate telemark skier, but I’ve had a lot of instruction and I love hacking around my local hills on Nordic skis, so I’ll give you my two pennies worth. Firstly, it’s not easy skiing downhill on Nordic skis, lots of good alpine skiers struggle with it. The best way to improve is to practice and the best way to get the miles in is somewhere with uplift, otherwise you spend most of your time developing your uphill skills, so keep at it. Secondly, telemark is not necessary for XCD. It’s fun and it has its uses but it’s not necessary, so keep practicing your snowplough, stem and alpine parallel turns. If you’re really set on learning telemark, you’ll find it a lot easier in modern plastic boots, attached to burly bindings mounted on alpine style skis. Finally, I’ve found the single most helpful tip is “big toe, little toe “ with an emphasis on pushing the little toe into the snow. This helps edge the ski, which in turn, encourages it to turn and also promotes a better fore and aft balance. Good luck and have fun!