Old Books Good Tips - Part III: The Early Lead Change

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Of all the dynamics present in a telemark turn, nothing may point to a proficient free-heel skier more than the early lead change - initiating the turn with your back foot, and the weighting of that rear foot before the new turn crosses the fall line. Though the telemark is exemplified best as a two-footed endeavor, not to mention that this technique is full of nuance - what with too early a lead change being a classic beginner mistake - this initiation, this steering with the rear foot, is the free-heel turn at its balanced zenith and most capable form. And its well-timed execution is fundamental not only to skiing on legacy telemark gear, it is necessary for proficient skiing on modern gear, too.

This technique goes by many names - Craig Dostie refers to it as “steering with the rear,” while Dickie Hall has called it “stepping back” into the telemark turn. In his classic instructional Free-Heel Skiing: Telemark and Parallel Techniques, first published in 1988, Paul Parker called it the early lead change. While this notion has various identifiers, the core tenet of the technique remains: that initiating a turn with the rear foot is instrumental to a solid telemark.

In Free-Heel Skiing, Paul Parker actually introduces the early lead change as a hybrid telemark / alpine turn that “begins with a telemark and, using an early lead change, finishes with a parallel.” But used as a technique of linking free-heel turns, this method brings the role of the back foot to the forefront, and as Parker describes, creates “smoother lead changes, more carving, more stability. The parallel turn finish with uphill ski advanced, puts you in the perfect position for a telemark turn initiation with a simple change of edges.”

In his 42nd edition of the Dostie’s View webseries on the Freeheel Life Youtube channel, Craig Dostie dissects the capable skiing of Diana Rivera, founder of We Telemark, an advocacy group dedicated to teaching and spreading the word on the telemark turn. Focusing on her deft use of the early lead change, Dostie echoes the many telemark instructors who note the oft neglected rear ski, quipping “even if you are doing it, you can probably do it better.”

Paraphrasing Rivera’s explanation of how she engages the technique, Dostie also echos the hybrid nature of the early lead change first put forth by Paul Parker, saying “she makes sure she flattens out the skis before she transfers but that flattening out occurs when her feet are together, not one behind or in front and so she gets weight on the rear ski really early.”

Dostie also mentions how angulation plays into the early lead change, a topic long dissected in telemark instruction, saying “you want to be able to get weight on the rear ski and one of the ways you do that is you angulate and that allows you to get centrifugal force on that rear ski.”

In addition to angulation, weighting and timing is of concern to the early lead change. In Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Telemark Tips, the topic is discussed in tip #27, saying in part, “as you end one turn, slide the rear foot forward into the next. Think about putting pressure on it as you move it forward.”

But Parker brings the notion of back-ski focus to full fruition in Free-Heel Skiing, poignantly anticipating the elevated role the rear foot would continue to play, saying “in these modern days of telemark, skiers are determined to ski all conditions using the genuflecting turn, so technique has had to evolve. So has equipment: plastic boots and sophisticated alpine-like skis flexed for the telemark turn facilitate arcs that rival any alpine turn - if you don’t neglect that back ski.”

This has become all the more necessary as the New Telemark Norm’s (NTN) and other sub-norms tend toward requiring an early lead change, something 75mm bindings and their beefy duckbill boots and delayed binding engagement don’t necessitate.

“NTN engages the tip of the ski, by extension, the trailing ski's uphill edge sooner than with 75mm, and with far more pressure/force early in the lead change,” says Craig Dostie, continuing “with 75mm, real heel connections engage slower because the duckbill takes a while to be fully loaded. With TTS (telemark tech system) it is sooner because there is zero slop in the toe connection, so spring tension is experienced earlier. Telemark skiers must be prepared for that early engagement to harness it properly.”

Without an early lead change on the modern telemark norms, the skier is late to employ the edge as the binding engages, leading to awkward engagement in the turn. But if the skier can anticipate the activity of their modern binding via their back foot, the control and power of the new norms can be completely utilized.

With the early lead change comes a turning technique that fully encompasses the two footed nature of the telemark. Steering from the back foot unveils the dynamism of free-heel skiing at its most athletic and dexterous, and is a method that can be utilized in difficult and challenging conditions to great effect. And as telemark gear has become better able to quickly and efficiently transfer the force of the turn to the edge, the early lead change has become all the more important to a skier’s fundamentals. To the point that the new gear and its improved performance cannot be fully realized without the early lead change.

The back foot is where each of the next succession of telemark turns is born, and the utilization of the rear ski is integral to a balanced, powerful, and totally applied telemark. To borrow from Paul Parker once again, “are you using both skis? Get the most from them…Pressure, weight, and arc that back ski for rounder, more controlled turns. You won’t believe the difference.”

For a full immersion in free-heel technique, pick up a copy of Paul Parker’s Free-Heel Skiing and Allen O’Bannon and Mike Clelland’s Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Telemark Tips, both in print and available. And check out Craig Dostie’s work at earnyourturns.com and on the web series Dostie’s View on the Freeheel Life Youtube channel.