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January, 2025

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What makes a mountain a Tele mountain?

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hamsauce
Posts: 301 - Karma: 2,605
I was thinking to a couple seasons ago where I skied almost all the small resorts around Montana. It was what you would expect: MSU rippers/Bozeman locals at bridger, rich tourists at Big Sky. Red Lodge was twice a year families from Billings and some die hard locals, etc.

I could not figure out Discovery. underrated mountain for sure. Great steeps, some cliffs, great vibe. But why are there so many Tele skiers? Not just old heads. I'm talking mid 20s to mid 30s dropping knees down some of the steep back bowls like their life depended on it. It wasn't just one crew. It was every single limelight lift ride, every time I've been to Disco.

If its Missoula, why don't Lost Trail and Snowbowl have near as many. Plenty of Tele bums at Bridger, but if its Bozeman, why are people driving 2 hours just to drop a knee? Is the radiation from the Berkeley Pit really just turning the whole town of Butte into Tele Skiers?

Any other mountain seem to attract a way higher proportion of Tele skiers than normal? Is it the terrain at Disco that makes them come out of the woodwork?
Oct 16 2024 6:24PM
4 0
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OregonDead
Posts: 6969 - Karma: 25,404
sounds like they have a crew going. I don't think any particular terrain is better for telemark. The telemark guys I know like to tele ski everywhere they ski. Seems like if there are other people doing it it'd be easier to get into it though. Also people will travel to ride with a like minded crew. I've traveled a couple states over just to ski with a crew of monoskiers. Skied an afternoon a tele guy once who told me it's his dream to travel to a telemark meetup
Oct 16 2024 6:48PM
2 0
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Dani-B
Posts: 250 - Karma: 2,194
Paging @SendyMcSendyface
Oct 16 2024 10:44PM
2 0
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Lemuel
Posts: 14537 - Karma: 11,061
All terrain is good terrain on tele. It’s probably just a squad, or maybe you went during some event or meetup. I’m almost convinced to drive from Maine to the UP for Midwest tele fest
Oct 17 2024 5:37AM
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hi_vis360
Posts: 5194 - Karma: 53,430
Seems to me like tele skiers gravitate towards small areas that are low key and have a good mix of terrain, like not the most extreme freeride mtns but also not big resorts with tons of blues. BMoM has a pretty good tele scene
Oct 17 2024 7:17AM
3 0
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keagan.karstens
Posts: 1621 - Karma: 35,144
They must have a pride week
Oct 17 2024 9:37AM
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SendyMcSendyface
Posts: 2966 - Karma: 25,931
Dani-BPaging @SendyMcSendyface

Careful, summon me too much and I'll turn you into a tele skier
hi_vis360Seems to me like tele skiers gravitate towards small areas that are low key and have a good mix of terrain, like not the most extreme freeride mtns but also not big resorts with tons of blues. BMoM has a pretty good tele scene

Yeah this was pretty much what I was going to say. All the other guys I've rode with seem to avoid the big corporate resorts, and aren't as into super gnarly terrain. Targhee has a pretty good tele scene, but 22 Designs is also based there, so it's a bit unusual in that aspect. Other mountains that come to mind are Sun Peaks, and Glen Eden (ok yeah I know you cant call this a mountain, but there were a ton of other tele guys there. Ofc this was pre-covid, and I haven't been back since so I've got no idea how it looks now).
Oct 17 2024 12:01PM
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skiP.E.I.
Posts: 7898 - Karma: 22,521
For a while a lot of tele skiers got into it because alpine touring bindings and boots were terrible and it was easy to just use the same tele setup you'd ride the resort with to tour.
Oct 17 2024 3:37PM
3 0
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Goretex_Vidal
Posts: 854 - Karma: 12,058
hi_vis360Seems to me like tele skiers gravitate towards small areas that are low key and have a good mix of terrain, like not the most extreme freeride mtns but also not big resorts with tons of blues. BMoM has a pretty good tele scene


This checks out; BMoNH and Magic also have solid tele scenes. Big but low key, Cannon has a pack of tele skiers too.
Oct 18 2024 12:50PM
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triplecork1440
Posts: 10 - Karma: 14
hamsauceI was thinking to a couple seasons ago where I skied almost all the small resorts around Montana. It was what you would expect: MSU rippers/Bozeman locals at bridger, rich tourists at Big Sky. Red Lodge was twice a year families from Billings and some die hard locals, etc.

I could not figure out Discovery. underrated mountain for sure. Great steeps, some cliffs, great vibe. But why are there so many Tele skiers? Not just old heads. I'm talking mid 20s to mid 30s dropping knees down some of the steep back bowls like their life depended on it. It wasn't just one crew. It was every single limelight lift ride, every time I've been to Disco.

If its Missoula, why don't Lost Trail and Snowbowl have near as many. Plenty of Tele bums at Bridger, but if its Bozeman, why are people driving 2 hours just to drop a knee? Is the radiation from the Berkeley Pit really just turning the whole town of Butte into Tele Skiers?

Any other mountain seem to attract a way higher proportion of Tele skiers than normal? Is it the terrain at Disco that makes them come out of the woodwork?


go to snowbowl in missoula
Feb 3 2025 1:05PM
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