I couldn’t believe that for many sports, when I just started, I didn’t wear any protection gear. I learned to acquire helmets, kneepads, wrist guards, struck by hard experience, such as elbow bruises, skin cuts, and an ambulance ride. Protection gear gives you extra weight but the additional mental strength it boosts definitely makes the weight negligible.

For downhill snow sports, I own a helmet and a pair of kneepads. The helmet has accompanied me for several years, which I bought right after I rolled down a black diamond hill like a ball for about 30 meters. The kneepads were obtained about 2 months ago, because I started to learn telemark skiing this season, and every telemark skier kept telling me “you need those.”

I’ve done some research on kneepads, mostly by reading the discussion threads on the Telemark Talk Forum, and reviews I located on line with Google.com.

I heard plenty of “flex your ankle” and “use your rear foot” during the two-day telemark workshop in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. These two tactics link to motion control and a balanced stance, both are key concepts of telemark skiing; both are difficult to get.

What are you supposed to feel so that you know you are flexing your ankles? I tried numerous times to use my ankles in every possible direction, but I was never sure whether “my shin muscles are tightened.” Those shin muscles did look different but I wish they could be as evident as six-packs; as sensitive as biceps.

Instructors taught us that if we lift one ski and try to shake it, it will move crazily if we don’t flex our ankle, and it will be quiet otherwise. However, when you are shooting downhill, there are too many things to cause you to go out of control. It’s tempting to blame on the ice or bumps because I honestly don’t know whether I’m flexing my ankles.

I spent a weekend in Canaan Valley, West Virginia taking a telemark workshop offered by North American Telemark Organization (NATO) in January. We were supposed to learn backcountry techniques, but there was no snow left in the woods. It was even pouring the first day, and our clothes were twice as heavy as they used to be after the class.

Nevertheless Dickie Hall, the founder of NATO, still taught us ski waxing. Ski waxes are marked by colors: blue, red, green, and so on. They might be soft and sticky or hard. You apply different waxes on your skis based on the snow condition.

Picture source: NATO website

I didn’t realize how much I relied on my alpine ski gear until my first encounter with telemark skis.

Technology is a wonderful thing: Those bindings keep my feet laying flat on my alpine skis at all times. As long as I make sure my shins put pressure on the tongues of my boots and I swing my hips, a smooth run from the top to the bottom is guaranteed. Sometimes I lean too much forward, and sometimes my shoulder is not perpendicular to the fall line, my gear just quietly compensates the imperfect body position without bothering me with a signal of “not to worry.”

I was never worried though I need to worry because if I had brought my gear to intense conditions, such as steeper terrains or moguls, I would have consumed up the forgivingness of my beloved ski equipment. Fortunately before any tragedy could happen, I had my first contact with telemark skis.

提到滑雪，閃進腦中的第一個影像，通常就是搭著纜車到山頂，再一衝而下的景象，夾著速度的快感和溜過兩旁的景色，好不豪邁刺激？若是手邊花差花差，更可以雇用直昇機到無人造訪過的大山山頂，好好享受沒有划過的新鮮白雪。

只是對於我這種市井小民來說，直昇機只會出現在電影和電視影集裡面，想要滑雪只好乖乖地到滑雪場報到。常常在熱門時段，早在我到達以前，滑雪場早就萬頭鑽動，更別提排隊等纜車的無聊光陰了。再說，我這個喜歡戶外運動的人，就是喜歡到深山野嶺中，享受孤獨的樂趣，哪堪在假日時候，還得領會都會風光？

也因此，不知道在何時何地，在網路上看到 backcountry skiing 這個名詞的時候，真如同曙光乍現。才發現，認為ski只是用來往下滑的觀念，還真是井底之見。

簡單來說，現在的滑雪運動分為兩類：Alpine skiing和 Nordic skiing。

Alpine skiing又叫做 downhill skiing，顧名思義，也就是上面的段落提到的往下滑的滑雪。Alpine skiing用的雪板兩頭寬寬，腰身細細，便於在坡度上轉彎。使用的bindings讓雙足固定在雪板上；boots通常是硬梆梆的塑膠材質。有滑過雪的人，一定對於踩著boots在滑雪場餐廳裡，走著機器人般的步伐的經驗不陌生吧。

因為alpine skiing的雪具是設計來往下滑的，踩著alpine skiing的雪具，往上走或是在平緩的地面上往前走，都是相當的不容易。偶爾需要使用的時候，往上可以將雪具以垂直坡面的方向擺放，再像螃蟹一樣一步步地往上坡踩上去。往前進則必須將雪具以外八的方式展開，用滑冰的技巧前進。

Nordic skiing又可以稱做 cross-country skiing。也就是在沒有現代化的纜車可以搭乘的地方，以雪具為主要的旅行工具。再依照活動地方的地勢，可以選擇適當的雪具：touring skis或是telemark skis。

Nordic skiing的雪具和alpine skiing的雪具最明顯的不同：前者的腳跟可以自由提起，後者則否。腳跟提起的用意讓滑雪者可以產生推力，以供上爬以及前進；而腳跟不能提起，腳平面平貼在雪具上，讓下滑時的轉彎容易掌控。

如果你旅行地方的地勢，坡度的上升下降平緩改變不大，你旅行的主要目的也就是在冬天的山林裡，任意自由穿梭，欣賞自然美景，那麼 touring skis正適合你的用途。在美國，人們問說：「你要不要一起去 cross-country skiing啊？」通常指的也就是touring skiing。Touring skis通常細長而輕，主要的技巧為踢而後滑行（kick-and-glide）。

如果你要挑戰險峻的山勢，你可能要考慮使用 telemark skis。有人說telemark skiing 美妙結合cross-country skiing的自由和alpine skiing的刺激。

Telemark skiing雪板的設計和downhill skiing的雪板相近，但是由於滑雪時足部的運動相當多，boots相對來說比downhill的boots來得柔軟。由於telemark skiing時，不論是上坡還是下坡，腳跟都是自由沒有固定住的，所以在往下滑的時候，技巧和downhill skiing有很大的不同。

使用downhill skis下滑的時候，兩支雪具總是平行的，且肉眼難以辨認是否有前後的差異。Telemark skis在下滑的時候，兩腳一前一後，後腳成跪姿，前腳大腿與小腿最大可折成九十度；轉彎時藉著重心的轉移、膝蓋的彎曲、足踝的運動而完成，是所謂的 telemark turns。

最後一個值得一提的名詞，叫做 alpine touring。Alpine touring的裝備和以上提及的 backcountry skiing的雪具的最大不同在於其使用的 bindings。其bindings的設計讓你在上坡的時候腳跟可以提起，在下坡的時候，可以鎖住腳跟，因此可以使用 downhill skiing的技巧往下滑去。

圖：telemark skiing（從google上找來的圖）

參考資料：
Winter Camping (2nd edition); author: Stephen Gorman
Free-heel skiing: Telemark and Parallel Techniques (3rd edition); author: Paul Parker
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)