Flaunting her new boots to the couloir, Christy's eager to go and not concerned for the snow.

Christy is always picking on me for having more shoes than she, and when you count all of my old beat up running sneakers she may be right, I could stand to toss a few old pairs. But the most recent addition to the footwear pile in the closet isn’t another set of clunky trail runners, but a new pair of ski boots. And they aren’t mine. Christy decided it was time to get some Alpine Touring boots.

Not to imply that her telemarking days are over at all, she simply came to the realization that in some cases, the locked down heel is a good idea. Several reasons were mentioned when asked about the decision but ultimately it came down to a safety call. As the difficulty of her spring backcountry aspirations increase, so to do the consequences of an accident or mistake, and many feel the free heel only increases that liklehood. For most of us who are already firmly locked down, skiing variable snow on steep and committing terrain after first climbing the mountain can be difficult enough. Adding the telemark factor read more>>>