Ask most free-heel industry insiders where the future (or present) of telemark lies, and they’ll tell you the same thing: the resort. The long-held notion that telemark is the gear and ethos of the backcountry long ago evaporated, alpine touring equipment having knocked free-heel skiing from that perch decades hence. And NTN bindings like the Outlaw have become ubiquitous in telemark, many tele skiers now striving for aggressive skiing, often lapping lifts.
These same insiders often eschew the thought that the tech toe binding is the future of telemark, pointing to burley NTN traps as not only already filling the resort niche, but also the direction participation and development are headed.
But what of the argument that free-heel tech bindings could pull double duty – be the darling of telemark touring, and ski the resort?
While in alpine skiing the tech toe doesn’t grant the skier an advantage in the downhill realm – in fact it may be a drawback compared to the stouter connection of a standard alpine toe – in telemark skiing it does offer something more. Compared to a toe cage, the pin arms of a tech binding transmit power more readily to the edge, granting a turn with less slop. Marry that with an NTN connection – like Lynx or Meidjo – and you have a telemark system with beautifully efficient edging. A concept well suited to any form of skiing, including within the boundaries of a ski area.
Telemark tech bindings – specifically the TTS platform – are also an opportunity to market to those who left the sport or those who may view an NTN binding with wonder, unsure of what they’ve come across. The omnipresent tech toe is eminently well known in the ski world, and the classic cable/cartridge heel assembly of the 75mm world is itself widely recognized. Put those two together, and you have a system most any skier could recognize as a modern, light, free-heel rig.
Long outside the purview of most skiers, now the telemark tech system is retail available with Voile’s TTS Transit. And the aforementioned Lynx and Meidjo offer powerful tech skiing in their own regard on the NTN platform. What could further development hold for the tech toe? Could more releasable telemark binding be nigh using the two-pin toe not unlike the Meidjo? Might stouter toes come to adorn these tech bindings, making them more apt for resort usage?
And what others might jump into the tech toe fray? Imagine the burley heel connection and touring prowess of a Bishop tech binding? Or what a redemption of the Hammerhead’s revolution would a 22 Design’s Axl heel assembly be paired with a tech toe?
Perhaps the tech toe doesn’t keep the boot in place like a toe cage can, but aggressive skiing is already being done on NTN tech and TTS rigs. It’s adherents may not match the numbers of the NTN toe cagers, but they are out there, proving out that tech-toe telemark has a place - and one that grows as time goes by.
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