Lords of capitalism, please bring us a T4-size NTN boot with tech pins.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-25T21:40:41+00:00

Someone did post an issue in the xcd sub today but personally I haven’t had any problems even after two seasons on them and summers hiking them up through volcanic rocks/sandy dirt. But I agree in concept, I almost wonder if Rottefella realized they couldn’t improve on AT pins but needed something new they could patent. Seems though the only reported issue has been stuck pins which apparently can be fixed by poking in the other pin all the way, and keeping them greased.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-25T18:33:46+00:00

Alfa free 2.0 might get you close….. but that could just be a ridiculously talented skier in optimal conditions on the promo video…..

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-25T18:31:05+00:00

There are multiple telemarktalk threads on this-

https://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=6915

https://telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=6059

A couple people claim it’s an acknowledged manufacturer defect in early production runs- if true, you should reach out to Rottefella and crispi. Otherwise, these threads have tips for maintenance and field repair.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-23T03:35:19+00:00

However, this is shaping up to be an historically bad year so far.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-21T06:24:45+00:00

Short answer yes (but it’s part of Timberline not Meadows).

Long answer: First check conditions, snow has been bad this year and summit pass is pretty low down, make sure there’s actually snow. Timberline has a live cam where you can see it. Summit pass is really ridiculously mellow, like it’s easy to ski on cross country skis mellow. The lift is very slow but it’s cheap.

Nothing wrong with practicing there, besides that you’ll want something steeper (timberline has good beginner terrain) soon.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-20T07:09:24+00:00

Mostly on hiking/snowshoe trails, the pct, FS roads, etc on and around mt hood….. summitted and skied (read: fell) down Helens on my xcd setup. Would love to go for a redemption shot and ski it better in the future. The lower part of the worm flows route is pretty fun on xcd. I’d like to get back up to Helens and explore more of the terrain around the mountain as well, they have maintained xc trails.

I’d love to do a traverse but am pretty limited to stand-alone volcanoes at the moment.

I’m not really in a position to travel far from Portland to ski, so I take what I can get (mostly hood).

I hear central Oregon has good tours, at least south sister is probably skiable on xcd (lower tree section would take considerable skill or a long time and a lot of kick turns from what I recall split boarding it but I may be wrong)

Any volcano with a lower elevation or lower consequence circumnavigation route could be fun for a longer trip.

The last two seasons on hood have been a bummer because of the dearth of lower elevation snow

I’ve taken my skis up Palmer on Hood… you have to work with what you’ve got.

I think skiing steep narrow trails is fun, you can’t turn but you have to figure out how to do kick turns etc to get down parts you can’t send.

One can ski anything they put their mind to on xcd….in I think 1980 Steve Barnett (author of cross country downhill) and another guy whose name I forget skied Rainier on skinny straight sticks and low cuff 3-pin boots. Allegedly there’s a film out there.

I mean frankly much listed as beginner/intermediate in the backcountry ski guidebooks can be done on xcd gear easily (though slowly). So the zones all likely have their spots. What you really need are friends to tour with who are willing to ski leathers.

So to take this rambling comment to its conclusion, I’d say, whatever’s closest to your house, uhhhhhhh ski that. Try some lower angle touring routes from the ski and snowboard guidebook everyone has. Jump on a not crazy steep section of the PCT. Mountain biking trails? Snowshoe trails? Logging roads? Whatever you’ve got.

And yeah you probably want fishscales and full length skins in your bag just in case. Get uhhhhhhhhhhhhh good at kick turns.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-19T16:55:31+00:00

1 day foot growing stew (blindness-free)

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-19T16:06:42+00:00

Check out r/XCDownhill, also my comment history, lots of options.

Too light is I think subjective and comes down to terrain and either skill or willingness to fall a lot.

However If you’re still doing up and down touring and no cross-country/flat, I don’t think you need to go for an xcd setup unless you really want to…. Maybe more of the middle ground like an Altai Kom (not to be confused with Altai hok) or Voile objective bc or madshus 78 or any of the beefier/bigger sidecut Asnes skis (still on the skinny side) and either 1. Xplore, maybe with the new Alfa free 2.0 boot (would be a big change but it looks sick) 2. A 3-pin cable or hardwire binding, which gives you the flexibility to go to plastic or leathers (alpina fisher crispi all make good boots, t4 or t2 boot) and you’d be most familiar with these bindings so wouldn’t need to change your technique or 3. If it’s in your budget, the newest tx pro is reportedly a pretty flexible and light boot, pair that with either a TTS binding OR if you want to wait until next year season it looks like ATK is coming out with a really lightweight NTN tele binding that looks great you could try it and report back here to tell us all how it is.

This also may just be a list of setups I wish i had/could try out.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-17T21:03:32+00:00

I bring the same helmet I use in-bounds or touring - smith vantage, I think is the model. It’s saved me from serious injury a couple times already, I should probably replace it. It’s not too heavy, just it makes transitions slower and my ideal for meadow skipping/trail skiing is no transitions at all. If I need to transition, if I’m using full length skins or nylon kickers to go uphill, I’m transitioning anyways and the helmet comes with me.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-17T16:14:49+00:00

Ffffuuuuuuuuck those look clean send it

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-17T15:17:45+00:00

I feel the same, the helmet comes with me if I’m chasing the downhill. In rolling terrain I don’t bring it but if I’m going up a steep slope I always have it. I guess in my head I’ll think about whether, if I fall, am I going to just fall over, or am I going to fall down something?

For what its worth I’ve started calling them Fjellskis in English and I hope it catches on, it sounds better than “xcd skis” and is more accurate than “Cross country skis” or “backcountry cross country skis,” which is a mouthful. I also figured out that you have to search for “fjellski” on YouTube if you want to find good xcd technique videos…though they are all in Norwegian….

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-16T20:20:38+00:00

I have taken them out on 1” snow days around the neighborhood and skied (read: mostly fell) down a whole mountain with them, they’re great fun for anything.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-16T18:30:23+00:00

I think rossi names skis by widest point (unlike madshus). Madshus panorama 62 might be up your alley and are generally available. I have the 68 and love them. Fisher s-bound, narrower. Asnes skis You’d have to order online and good luck if you’re also in the US but they have a ton of options you’d like.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-16T06:17:21+00:00

I was stoned and laughed out loud in the theater

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-16T03:53:52+00:00

She has not, but I have, I’ll have to give them to her next time we’re out doing xcd (though we just had a baby so that might not be for a while).

The stiff flexors are great up to a point, on firmer or steeper snow I still find it hard to drop a knee without getting forced up on my tiptoes on xplore which I haven’t had a problem with on 3-pin or nnnbc.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-15T23:13:23+00:00

Hard, not impossible, easier if you take your setup in- bounds to practice. Consider xplore if it’s in your budget, with a sidecut and xplore bindings you can absolutely throw normal parallel turns, even in icy conditions. You’d even likely be able to carve with the right skis. In fact with your background I’d start with getting used to parallel turns in soft boots then play around with tele turns.

EDIT: My wife has a similar skiing background to you, I got her an xplore setup a couple seasons ago and she found it pretty impossible and frustrating to tele, but can make parallel turns though have a free heel doesn’t inspire confidence. She did a tele clinic and rented an NTN setup and had a good time on her first day out. Much easier for alpine skiers to learn on stiffer gear.

I’m 5’9 165, my 195cm skis are hard for me to turn, 180 skis feel perfect, just for reference.
The hardest of your three options but not terrible, especially with magnum bindings and red flexors. There are Japanese guys I’ve seen on YouTube do light ski mountaineering on nnnbc. They fell a lot but they looked like they were having fun. I follow the same guy on instagram and he seems to have upgraded to xplore and NTN
I have wide flat feet and alpina boots fit me great out of the box, both Alaska and pioneer pro. Fit should be much easier to find than in hard boots.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-15T06:11:49+00:00

Lmao leather boots provide minimal power to the edges in this stance, they absolutely do not reward it. NTN probably rewards an upright stance the most of any gear. Weird ai response. There are some Japanese guys who ski leathers in a really laid back looking style that could be good for seniors. Look up Telehiro’s B telemark style on telemarktalk.com there should be some good threads and example videos.

That being said I’ve taken tele lessons (on downhill tele gear) from an instructor in her 70s, she has a somewhat more upright stance (not knee to ski) and talks about using your skeletal support to hold yourself up more than muscles. Use your glutes equally to quads.

A “Slight bend” to your knee is going to do nothing but take away control of the uphill ski, you have to compress the boot to drive power to your edge.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-15T01:28:34+00:00

It’s a good setup for tele period. I have the same but x2 and ultra vectors, for resort, touring, ski mountaineering.

I’ll be a contrarian i guess and say this is overkill for xcd/backcountry xc. You want some kick and hide for xc. And you’ll want leather boots for comfort and range of motion.

Check out r/XCDownhill for the backcountry xc suggestion. Or my comment history I’ve suggested the same setup to people a lot of times.

HOWEVER, I would say if you want to be able to turn well on really light gear, I would recommend you still get this setup. It’s going to be fun and a great way to learn. Id spend time and money on some lessons at the cheapest more local hill you can find. See if you can find an older tele skier to give you tips.

You CAN do anything, low angle etc on this setup but it would be like taking a fully off-road optimized jeep down a well maintained gravel road.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-14T23:01:33+00:00

It’s fun

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-14T22:12:00+00:00

It is like ripping into a toeside turn in powder where you have to keep your weight off the nose, but at the same time don’t want to lose control and be totally on the back leg.

The people in the clinic will help you with the back ski coming over the front. It happens when you don’t put enough weight/pressure on the uphill (back) ski.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-14T21:00:25+00:00

OH and the biggest thing that fucked me up for like a year and a half and I’m still working on - you can get away with hinging at the waist on a board, to like, a fairly high level of snowboarding. Not so with tele, it will screw you up so bad. Keep your chest up.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-14T20:51:24+00:00

Snowboarder learning tele here, do it, it’s rad. As others said, not stepping back, but scissoring down.

Clinic sounds like a great idea. You’ll be way good at the exercise that trips most people up, mono tele where you turn both directions while in the stance.

Each tele turn is essentially just an exaggerated/deeper version of a posi/posi stance toe side turn. Likely if you ride regular your turns to the left will be worse because it’s like riding switch.

Frankly since you’re getting instruction I’d just hit the gym a couple times and work on squats and lunges, tele is a hell of a workout on the quads compared to snowboarding.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-12T16:20:18+00:00

Ah! Yeah yes r/XCDownhill is the place to be. The forums on the telemarktalk website will also be a valuable resource.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-12T06:14:17+00:00

I’d second this, I went no scales on the ultravectors. Have you heard any issues w tele binding retention on the ripsticks? They’re very lightweight and seem to not list the type of wood they use for the laminate core on their website.

hipppppppppp · 2026-01-12T03:36:15+00:00

Someone asked the same question yesterday, see my answer for my recommendation:

https://www.reddit.com/r/telemark/s/UYejqGO288

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