Telemark's Reliable Innovators

Moving toward the future isn’t always a straightforward process in telemark. Marked by a fiercely independent user group with never ending opinions on what gear is best for the turn, and without a trade organization to chart their spending habits, hitting any target in the space can be challenging. As such, much of the manufacturing innovation in the sport has come from small entities that are close to the pulse of the scene, be it DIY garages, or tiny, innovative companies, like 22 Designs.

As twenty-something Jackson Hole transplants, Valiante and Pringle picked up the torch from Russell Rainey, inheriting the HammerHead after the pioneering telemark designer moved on to new ventures. Both mechanical engineers, they brought not only a tinkerer bent to their firm, but from the beginning a willingness to innovate. They greatly revamped the HammerHead, adding a touring mode to what evolved into their Axl binding at a time when few free-pivot options existed in telemark gear.

Innovating has been core to 22 Designs from the beginning, with Pringle saying the process starts by “just kind of trying things out, you know. We’ve always made our own prototypes, just trying stuff and skiing on it ourselves.”

Valiante elaborates: “I feel like since we are both tele skiers and most of our employees, too, we always kind of have a pulse of what needs to happen next, what the next binding should be.”

Being a small, telemark-specific company has afforded 22 Designs an ability to pivot toward new advents, building on their previous designs as constant works in progress. This process led to the release of their Dynafit-style two-pin NTN trap - the Lynx - in 2019, a touring binding with all the trappings of modernity. And their industry-leading cage NTN trap, the eminent Outlaw X, born in 2015, followed a similar arc.

Not unlike Rainey’s HammerHead, the Outlaw X has marked a turning point in telemark gear. Though not the first binding on the platform, the durable and sweet-skiing Outlaw X has become the gear of choice for NTN telemark skiers, especially stateside, with many a ski patroller, guide, and aggressive shredder calling the binding their favorite. It’s been instrumental in changing the tide in telemark thinking from 75mm defensiveness to acceptance of modern gear via the new telemark norm.

“Now it’s been our top seller for quite a while now,” says Valiante, modestly concluding “and it’s kind of like the rest is history.”

With that Valiante and Pringle have moved toward a svelte if cutting-edge set of offerings that compliment the wide range of preferences in telemark. “With the Lynx we saw that possibility with the tech-toe, tech inserts on the NTN boots, and we were like ‘okay, it makes sense with already having the Outlaw to have a light touring binding,’” says Valiante. “It was the same thing when we came out with the Axl – we knew we needed a free pivot binding coming from the Hammerhead.”

Part of this process naturally leaves old offerings with a fraught future. And 22 Designs - long known for making some of the best regarded 75mm bindings in the sport - is poised to leave the old norm out to pasture as the promise of NTN supplants 75mm - something Valiante and Pringle undoubtedly have contributed to with the ascendance of the Outlaw X.

While the NTN vs. 75mm argument often is one based on the individual’s sensation, Valiante and Pringle see the modern norm’s promise as directly tied to its mechanical characteristics. “Look at how a boot and a binding interact when you’re up on your toes, with the 75mm bindings that’s it, you're just kind of on the toes on that duckbill, the rest is just held in with a cable. But with the NTN bindings you're connected in two different ways so you really can control the ski better,” says Valiante.

“It’s not a piece of plastic in a wedge shape holding you side to side, which is all 75mm has to go on,” adds Pringle.

While the schism between 75mm lovers and the new guard in NTN continues to wage on - though more quietly as NTN becomes the gear of choice for most new telemark purchases - 75mm’s time at the top may finally be coming to an end, in no small part because 22 Designs will be moving away from the platform. Valiante and Pringle themselves have become full-time NTN skiers. “For gear we’re pretty much NTN now all the time,” says Valiante. “Yeah, there’s not too many 75mm boots around here and hasn’t been for a while,” Pringle adds.

With that their 75mm bindings have been put on notice. “It’s been a long steady growth pattern for NTN and the opposite for 75mm,” Valiante says. That change in consumer’s tastes has come with what seems like a swelling tide for the telemark vibe. “Tele overall – it’s hard to tell - there’s no great numbers out there, and we have a sense of what our sales are but overall it's always tricky, but, yeah, anecdotally it seems there’s a lot more buzz around it the last year or two,” Valiante observes.

As the shift to the new norm becomes more pronounced, many are seeing NTN as a stronger and more responsive platform, and are happy to make the switch so long as it can provide the sensation they love and are used to. “A lot of [people] are convinced this is an improvement,” says Valiante, continuing: “We had a guy come in today who liked them but felt like they were kind of stiffer and couldn’t get down as low as he could with his old 75mm setup. And so we’ve been coming out with different options for folks, softer springs, and things like that to kind of make sure we cover the gamut of skiers. Kind of all styles you know.”

In this new paradigm the Outlaw has reigned as a supreme example of ingenuity in telemark. Asked if he feels like the binding played an outsized role in NTN’s ascendency, Valiante quietly says “yeah, I definitely do….from what I understand the Outlaw X has been the top selling tele binding in the world, and [that] has helped bring NTN to be the most prominent system.”

The Outlaw continues the legacy of innovation Russell Rainey built through bindings like the Superloop and HammerHead. Though those models weren’t the first on any one platform, they marked seminal moments in telemark binding innovation. The Outlaw is in the same vein.

When presented with that notion, the modest Valiante quietly takes the compliment, shuffling in his seat before looking into the distance and pausing. “I guess I’d have to agree,” he says laughing.

With the rising tide in telemark and the long-coming ascension of NTN as the gear of the future, Valiante and Pringle decided the time was right to capture the growing aggressive resort skiing cohort. With that they’ve announced the release of their inbounds iteration of the Outlaw X, the Bandit.

“It’s an NTN binding, similar to the Outlaw X, but more of a resort-oriented binding without the free pivot. But it’s got some really nice retractable brakes and easier step-in, so it’s really a nice kind of simple, easy to use resort binding and easy to get in and out of,” says Valiante. “We think it will be a great binding for kind of stealing alpine skiers and getting them on a tele setup easily,” he says with a smirk.

The decision to add the resort-bound Bandit to the lineup was borne on both rounding out 22 Designs’ offerings, but also as a response to the growing ranks of hard charging resort telemark skiers.

Speaking of their continuum of offerings once the Bandit is retail-ready, Pringle says telemark skiers will “kind of have their bases covered from the resort binding, it’ll be really strong and easy to use – all the way to the Lynx that theoretically shouldn’t be used at the resort very much, just be used for touring, so kind of have the whole spectrum of tele skiers.”

But even as Scarpa is set to discontinue their resort-oriented Tx Comp and release their revamped Tx Pro telemark boot - complete with its touring-focused higher range of motion, light weight, and nearly decade of anticipation - Valiante and Pringle see much of telemark’s future as on-piste.

“I think people for a long time have been wanting something like that Scarpa boot, the range of motion for touring in particular, since it’s something that they’ve seen in AT boots, but not so much in tele boots. And so there’s some excitement there that’s finally coming out,” Valiante ruminates. “But, you know, the flip side of that is that, when we took over, and tele was really the primary way to get into the backcountry, with AT skiing tele has moved more to the resorts now and we’re seeing most of our customers spending most, if not all of their time at the resort. So having a binding for that really makes sense.”

“The people who want the lightweight boots, there’s definitely a lot of people who tour, but I think there’s more people on the resort and the people who want lightweight stuff just make a lot more noise about it,” says Pringle with a smile. “It makes you think that everybody is touring, but most people are actually riding the lifts.”

22 Designs’ direction points to a constant welcoming of telemark’s future - both in terms of the gear paradigm and the cultural zeitgeist. With that, Valiante and Pringle have done much to prop up the scene’s new guard. “I think it’s always important to support a lot of the younger skiers, and folks who are sort of on the cutting edge of what’s going on,” says Valiante. That includes newschooler outfits like TELE COLO, as well as athletes like newcomer Will Enterline, and Ty Dayberry, still amongst the most innovative telemark skiers.

In an interview for the companion magazine to TELE COLO’s film “This is Telemark'' - a film he was prominently featured in - Dayberry was asked if he had any shoutouts, to which he responded, “22 Designs for making the most durable telemark bindings while successfully sustaining conscious business practices. Without their support, I wouldn’t have been able to ski at the level that I am.”

Moreover, Valiante and Pringle have an eye toward recapturing the vibe telemark had when they first took the reins from Russell Rainey; a time when telemark festivals were in full swing, and participation and the verve were strongest. They’ve created a new demo program to showcase their gear at several ski areas, and have been trying to reclaim the atmosphere that telemark festivals once held. “Tele festivals is another thing that was historically a big thing and we’re trying to support the growth of those again now with the demo tour we’re running, kind of hitting a bunch of the tele festivals that do exist and adding a couple new ones, planting some seeds for that all around the Rockies,” says Valiante.

Adding to the building vibe, 22 Designs recently celebrated their 20th anniversary. Though the affair was stymied that Saturday due to mother nature - and the first closure of Grand Targhee resort in 29 years - the group reconvened the next day for a scaled down party.

Part of that was an athlete meet-up, something 22 Designs had never put together before. “We had almost four different generations represented right on down to Will Enterline, who’s one of our youngest and newest athletes,” Valiante recalled.

And the thread between each of the skiers completed a continuum that spanned decades.

“The oldest one was Scotty McGee - Adam Ü talked about how he had looked up to Scotty McGee when he was younger because Scotty was really at the forefront of tele and teaching and a lot of stuff around the Tetons back in the day,” Valiante said. “And then Dayberry had talked about being aware of Adam Ü and had met him early on and they had connected a bit. And then Will Enterline talked about how Dayberry was sort of really his only - he started teleing pretty young - idol to look up to. So it was really cool having all those folks together.”

The intimate group of athletes completed a chain of innovative skiers whose influence rose generations ago and whose tide flows into the future. And while their influence cannot be attributed to 22 Designs alone, the stature of these athletes illustrates the company’s tenet of constantly supporting the new wave and never resting on yesterday.

In a telemark world often marked by schism and opinion - of practitioners attached to their gear and its sensation with an almost fatalistic quality, what with the lack of manufacturers in the space - Valiante and Pringle bring a distinct approach. Instead of hanging on to sentimentality or resting on a notion that the existing gear is good enough, they instead move forward, giving the newer guard in the sport not only gear to use, but a mentality to relate to.

But true to their modest form, Valiante and Pringle mostly let their work do the talking as they quietly bolster the new vanguard in telemark. It’s something they have been doing constantly for twenty years, fostering the sport’s future through partnerships and innovation. That work has undoubtedly propped up the telemark scene through ebb and flow, with a renewed rising tide seemingly upon the sport.

“Anecdotally… a lot more people are tele skiing and learning how as a new fun thing to do,” Pringle says. “Hopefully with this new Bandit binding more people just start tele skiing just for the fun of it. Hopefully that’s a trend,” he concludes.

Just as telemark rises and falls, its core continues to be strong, with local hotbeds fostering telemark scenes the world over - from 22 Designs’ home in Driggs, Idaho, to Mad River Glen; from the Swiss Alps to Hoikaiddo.

“It’s cool that it has the hotspots where it kind of keeps percolating, and then we hear about new areas where it’s growing, whether it's different countries in Europe, or North East US, or wherever. Hopefully that sense we’ve had is true and we’ll start seeing more telers everywhere,” Valiante notes.

As ever, things move along, and in telemark it has often moved along both countercultural lines and gear advents. Just as the vibe to get off trail has evolved into an ethos built on going out on one's own and making a tougher turn for the love of it, boots and skis have also progressed. And as bindings have had their own innovative arc, several stand out. More than a few of those were products of the ingenuity of Chris Valiante and Collins Pringle - a creativity that has done much to deliver telemark into a new day.