Telemark

bomber bindings are the shit if you can swing them. you can use pretty much any twintip, especially if you're just starting, and bootwise, i would prolly go for the garmont ener-g

also go to www.freeheellife.com and register and ask there.

K2 skis and Crispi boots is where its at. Anyway I saw a guy on telemark doin telemark turn while skiing switch, so smooth and nice

No man, Scarpa Boots, Black Diamond binders, and K2 Hippy Sticks ( Seth Pistols, but lighter and made for freeheeling)

scarpa boots for sure, the T2 sounds about what you're looking for

i got the t2 when i started two years ago, and within a month i really wished i had gotten a stiffer boot.

im glad your into telemark. its pretty much the shit. haha, anyway, your gear. your a medium sized kid, and even though you charge aggressively(shit, i dont know how to spell) when your skiing alpine, you are not, i repeat, not going to charge that hard with a free-heel to start off.

boots- since your a fairly big kid, with muscle im assuming, youll want the garmont Ener-G. hope your foots wide, cus garmonts have a wide sole. anyway, thats a good mix of stiffness for you. if not, try the Scarpa T1. dunno much about crispi, but im pretty sure they fit smaller width foot than me. my asian friend wears them...yea. asian....small feet.

bindings- since your starting out you need a somewhat neutral binding. but at the same time, ones thats powerful enough to not crap out on you when the pressures on. like twintipteles said before, if you can swing a $300 pair of bindings, its worth it. but for you, im gonna recomend any G3(as long as its not the womens model) maaaaaybe a BD 02, although those are actually kinda soft. look into the Cobra R8 although im not a big fan of them myself. oohh, i keep remembering stuff, the Karhu Power or the 7TM all mountain is a safe, realeasable binding with lots of power.

skis- first ski that came to mind was the Piste Pipe. this sounds absolutly perfect for you. seriously. and if not that, you could go with the more expensive Volkl T-Rock. both are very solid. you dont need a ski over 90 at the waist to begin, turning and everything will be alot more fun with a ski around 85 or around there.

anyway, hope that helped. i felt like typing alot. hope you continue tele'ing. once you get good its sick, just stick it through the bad days.

Good Call on the Scarpas and hippy stix, go with that

how hard is it to ride tele switch?

Hippy stinks not sticks.

STINX **

i got 179 K2 Piste Pipe's with G3 Targa T/9 bindings and will soon have crispi boots.

which is about the perfect setup for lift-serve in my opinion.

for straight pow, i would upgrade to hippy's or made'n

bombertele bindings...if you have 400 bones and ride mostly park/rails, but targa t/9 is the indestructable binding if you cant afford bomber's

P.S. if you have never telemarked before, make sure the bindings are adjusted for you, you kind of have to fine tune them on the hill because everyone is a bit different. when you find the sweet spot you can let'er rip!!

also I am the same as you:
Height - 5'11"
Weight - 168lbs
Skier Type - Aggressive

heres another catch, some of the stuff ill be doing is not lift serve, rather ill be hiking with my uncles about 2 hours into the woods to ski some shoots in vermont.

what do you think is a good length for my skis?

bombers are 300, and come with a three year warrantee, plus i can't really forsee breaking my bombers in less than 5 or more years. also, weight shouldn't be that much of an issue, because you're in the east, and prolly won't be doing huge tours. whatever you do pick, it'll be worth it. enjoy dude

Bombers is the shit, t/9's break all the time. Im usin T2's and I'm kinda happy with them. For the ski id go gor either Hippys or pistepipes

not very hard at all, but super fun. landing in anything chopped up is hard tho.

not very hard at all, but super fun. landing in anything chopped up is hard tho.

hmm, someone dosnt know what hes talking about. T/9's are a hardcore binding. i ride with my friend who rode G3 Revrends and G3 T/9, dude, if he didnt break em, damn near no one would. sure they wont hold up when your huckin gi-nourmous cliffs, but then again, alot of alpine bindings wont either. and sure the bombers are ideal, but seriously...i dont have 300 at the moment for bindings.

not as hard as you think, you just really cant lean forward, youll fall on your face. just lean back, and as long as you have a decent tip on the tail, you should be fine, but like twintiptele said, when you hit chopped stuff, it gets interesting. as soon as you land in that stuff, you want to turn back around. its kinda hard to ride a chopped section out switch after a landing.