Interesting comments. IMO, it all depends if you want to learn the Telemark turn to be able to ski steep terrain in a ski area or on a day trip in a backcountry with a lot of skiing down. If that is your plan, Telemark is as good (or better) than AT. But if you want to go on tours or even better, on mountaineering tours with skis, if you want to carry multiday pack in the backcountry or approach climbs, AT is the only way to go. The steeper the touring terrain gets, the more icy, uneven conditions, the better AT gets. We all have various experiences and they color our opinions, but there is place for Telemark and another place for AT. Most people have experienced skiing via downhill in a ski area, so they are familiar with the alpine skis and turns. AT is the same, except you can free your heel, put skins on and go up. Telemark turn is totally different. It needs to be practiced. So if you want to spend time practicing the turn, fine, it's beautiful, but needs to be practiced. If you want to get into the backcountry now, get AT set up and go. One season at the ski area with AT set up and you will be (most likely) ready. Telemark in one season? I think not.

Here is a great site with some of the best info in the business by one of the best BC/AT Skiers to have ever put on two planks and ski em...

Lou Dawson's "Wild Snow"

try teletips on the net. loads of "beta" ....

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:

tfarkas wrote:...hard terrain, including steeps, tight trees, bumpy stuff, shitty coverage/ice, cliffs, and heavy pow -- often there's a nasty ... combination of these out there. ....

There's no such thing as bad snow. Only bad skiers.

I did not see breakable crust on that list! I consider breakable crust "bad snow".
Tele turns in powder are better than...you name it...tele turns in powder are better!
It takes at least a full season on area to get even reasonably proficient enough to head into the backcountry.
The OP asked a question about the differences of skiing in Sierra, PNW and CO, and I might add Utah, and Montana/WY
There is a huge difference in snow pack analysis and avalanche conditions. Learn from a local!
AT is better for climbing approaches, but if you want to ski, think tele.

You forgot the addendum and provisos mattski! To-wit, if you ski well, and you are in great shape, and you are a natural athlete, and you have cat like balance, and you can laugh at yourself, and you have lots of patience, you have a genuine desire to learn, [and I know there are more provisos] then you will pick it "pretty fast", which is a subjective statement btw.
And also btw, you can only scream wooooooohoooooo if your dreds are dragging in the snow!

mike_lindacher wrote:try teletips on the net

As a telemarker since 1985 ( and never again AT skier ) I suggest you two of the funniest and best books about skitouring
http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Mikes-Really-Cool-Telemark/dp/1560448512
http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Mikes-Really-Cool-Backcountry/dp/1575400766

I found Tele skiing to be much more natural than alpine downhill. It shares a lot of movement with surfing and has the same kind of feeling and flow. There is a joy to it that is akin to dancing.
I know that most people find it difficult, and I've heard over and over how it takes so much time to learn, but I learned in 1 day and was on advanced runs on my 3rd day. I never went back to regular downhill skis.
I know 2 other people who picked it up almost instantly as well. I find it actually EASIER than downhill skis.
So, I guess you never know til you try it.
Do you surf? You might be tele skiing after an hour.

Despite that, I would never take my tele gear to go mountaineering. asmrz is right on that! AT (randonee) is the only way to go.

mattski wrote:^ Funny, but you can pretty much learn in the back country, because you can ski them just like alpine skis if you don't want to drop a knee, just like they say free the heal fuck the face!

Sounds to me like you will be learning to ski alpine on tele gear in the backcountry. A couple of things about trying to learn in the BC...a big part of learning the teleturn involves falling until you figure out the correct weight distribution, and develop the musculature to make quick adjustment to that balance. Hiking up to fall all the way down can be very frustrating not to mention tiring. Also it is not that easy to find slopes that are long enough to give a person a real chance to work on technique from one turn to the next. Now the safety factor, when skiing in the backcountry, a person needs to be able to ski a slope [that can potentially avalanche] without falling out in the middle of it. A person also needs to be able to ski in a sufficient rhythm on a fall line in order to attain slope conservation, there in not much more disgusting than to watch a beginner put huge Z traverse turns across a beautiful bowl of powder! Learn the turn on area, then go backside!

wallspeck wrote:I know that most people find it difficult, and I've heard over and over how it takes so much time to learn, but I learned in 1 day and was on advanced runs on my 3rd day. I never went back to regular downhill skis.
I know 2 other people who picked it up almost instantly as well. I find it actually EASIER than downhill skis...

I could ski only blue diamond runs in California, Washington, and Colorado on alpine gear. Took more private lessons than I care to admit.

When I switched to tele I was skiing double black-diamond runs at the end of my first season. I dropped the U-Notch, Thunderbolt Couloir, Mountaineer's Route, etc., on 3-pins and leather boots.

What the hell? I don't get it.

Now I just parallel all the time on free-heel gear, in all conditions. It's wonderful shit.

To me, telemark is just a kind of turn on XC skis. The joy of XC isn't carving teles down groomed slopes to gain the admiration of onlookers, it's just one technique used to get around the back country, well away from the madding crowd.

I loved the speed that was possible over relatively flat ground (Note I use the past tense - I gave away my skis when I moved to Queensland) It was like speed skating. Trippin' through the Kosciuszco National Park faster than you could probably run with a bladder from a wine cask (bag-in-a-box) packed in with yer camping gear which served as a pillow and social lubricant in the evening.

Great days.

wallspeck wrote:I found Tele skiing to be much more natural than alpine downhill. It shares a lot of movement with surfing and has the same kind of feeling and flow. There is a joy to it that is akin to dancing.
I know that most people find it difficult, and I've heard over and over how it takes so much time to learn, but I learned in 1 day and was on advanced runs on my 3rd day. I never went back to regular downhill skis.
I know 2 other people who picked it up almost instantly as well. I find it actually EASIER than downhill skis.
So, I guess you never know til you try it.
Do you surf? You might be tele skiing after an hour.

Despite that, I would never take my tele gear to go mountaineering. asmrz is right on that! AT (randonee) is the only way to go.

I know a few guys who have been surfing for decades. They've picked snowboarding to emulate the flow and movement in snow. There are some good split boards that allow boarders to skin up-hill too.

Q: How many telemarkers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 7, 1 to turn in the bulb, and 6 to talk about how cool the turn was!

Anybody remember the Alpina binding system from the seventies?

I think it was a Yugoslav design, The traditional three pin duck bill was replaced with a stainless steel bar extending from the toe of the boot (at right angles to the direction of travel) which clipped into a retaining lock in the ski. There was also a notch in the boot just about where yer big toe is which located on a bar on the ski. It worked well and the boots looked so much cooler and "high tec" than the old black leather boots, but the system never caught on. I think I've still got a pair of those cool boots in the shed somewhere though.

dadndave wrote:Anybody remember the Alpina binding system from the seventies?

I think it was a Yugoslav design, The traditional three pin duck bill was replaced with a stainless steel bar extending from the toe of the boot (at right angles to the direction of travel) which clipped into a retaining lock in the ski. There was also a notch in the boot just about where yer big toe is which located on a bar on the ski. It worked well and the boots looked so much cooler and "high tec" than the old black leather boots, but the system never caught on. I think I've still got a pair of those cool boots in the shed somewhere though.

http://www.telemarktips.com/Bindings.html