We're fortunate enough to live in Crested Butte--some say the birth place of Telemark skiing. We've grown through Supercomps to T1's, BD Boundary to the Kilowatt, from the Voile 3-pin to the BD O1. We've listed our suggestions of telemark skis for different skier and snow types below. We've broken it down into Hard Pack, All Mountain, Backcountry, Powder, Freeride, and Superlight. Don't see your favorite there? Feel free to mail us and tell us why we should have included it. Want to know which skis Telemarkski.com employees use? We've tried them all, and listed what we have chosen for ourselves in
What TelemarkSki.com Skis.

Utah readers can just skip this section. . . We know that not everyone can have a different pair of skis for all conditions, but if you know that you will be skiing mostly firm snow, spring corn skiing, or glacier travel, you want to be shopping for a slimmer ski. If you ski primarily in the east coast or the midwest look for skis with a narrower waist so that you can really set that edge. Even Colorado will have dry spells (everyone go buy an electric car please), and it's nice to have a ski that won't slide out when you hit an icy patch. A strong performer in this category is the Volkl AC-T, a favorite for firm snow. Other contenders are the Atomic Tacora, the Atomic Pumori , and the BD Machine. These skis are built to carve.

All Mountain means a solid ski in a variety of conditions. The quintessential 'quiver-of-one', the jack of all trades. If you need one ski to do it all, you want something that's moderate at the waist, something with some girth in the shovel, and a snappy turn radius. These skis can move easily from 4" of fresh, to cut up crud, to boiler plate and still have you turning with grace. Probably the most popular in this area is the K2 World Piste. The World Piste is a great ski for a wide range of abilities, from beginner to veteran. The Atomic Kailas, the BD Havoc, BD Crossbow, G3 Ticket, Rossi Powder Bird, Rossi Rip Chick, and the Volkl T-Rock and T-Roll are also suggested.

Burgeoning Telemarkers should look at the K2 Super Stinx, K2 She's Piste, Rossi Hip Chick, Rossi Dirty Bird, G3 Siren, or the Atomic Saipal for skis that are a little softer flexing--easier to learn how to flex that tele turn.

Soft flexing powder specialists-we're talking about the perfect skis for epic powder days. Wide platforms that will float you effortlessly through 12"+ and keep you hootin' and hollerin' all day long. Look towards the K2 Anti Piste, BD Zealot, Karhu Team 130, Atomic Janak Bro, K2 Dawn Patrol, and the Volkl Mantra.

Backcountry skiers generally want a lighter weight ski that will be energy efficient to tour in, but still plenty of stability for dicey traverses or those first steep turns off the top. Backcountry conditions tend to be softer than area conditions, so some allowances are made for that as well. Most manufacturers are catering to the growing market of backcountry skiers and doing their best to shave some weight off of their skis without compromising performance. Some of our favorites are the BD Kilowatt, BD Joule, Atomic Kailas, G3 Ace, Karhu Jil, Karhu Jak BC 100, Rossi Powder Bird SE, and the Volkl M-Rock.

For big boots and aggressive skiing on wild days of mixed snow conditions from firm to frozen chunky to deep crud to perfect pow. These are the all-mountain skis of choice for many expert skiers at western resorts. If you like to ski hard, make big open turns, occasionally straightline it, turn is quick when you have to, and list 'skiing' as your career category, check out these skis. Volkl Mantra, BD Zealot, BD Joule, Karhu Jak BC 100, and G3 El Hombre.

Park and Pipe riders should browse over the K2 Piste Pipe, Volkl Bridge, Rossi Sick Bird, Karhu Jak Team Edition, Karhu Bertha, Fischer T-stix, and the Atomic Janak Bro.