YES!!!!!LoveJohnny wrote: Simply put:
- If you rely on your shins or your boot's cuffs, buckles or tongues, you are doing telemark.
- If you rely on your ankles and feet, you are doing XCD.
On XC shoes, there is no cuffs, no buckles and the shins are free. So you have to use a totally different technique to control your skis and turn. That's the only difference between XCDing and Telemark skiing. That's why I keep saying its two different sports, with different techniques, using different parts of your body to turn.
This is true whether your boot has a duckbill clamped in a bail; or rails that slide into the sole of the boot.
NAILED IT LJ.You just need to get rid of your tele habits. It's all in the feet, toes and ankles...
My biggest struggle in learning XCD was my "Telemark" and Alpine habits and muscle memory.
There are techniques that work with rigid powerful downhill boots that just cannot work on with soft flexible XC boots.
Or should I say "shoes"?
