Switchbacks: How do you do 'em?

How exactly does the issue of moral courage enter a thread on kick turn mechanics?

Indeed. :'(
My brother tried to teach me the subleties of what he called 'the euro turn' which tries to combine all of this into two motions that are somewhere in the continuum between spastic and flowingly elegant. He claimed this 'euro' turn was based on rando race technique, and when done right (like, by HIM and not me) it is in fact both fast and efficient. Despite my own euro heritage I am still mostly in the spastic end of the range, but I would be at a loss to try and describe it in steps. If I did, actually sounds vaguely like Lowell's steps but flowed together.
The question of return/rebound in the bindings even beyond AT/tele is a big one, particularly on steeper slopes, and that alone probably causes variations in technique.

Ha ha, oh yeah trees are totally in play. I do a version of that but just transfer the poles to my uphill hand, with the free hand I pull off the tree, then when even with it stem with a straight arm to balance my turn. I did one of those yesterday. I hope you remember the name because I would love to call it something official sounding when I do it.

Nice one, Larry. The "tree assist".
I like it.

Reminds me of one that a friend of the maddog and I claimed to have invented, the "Mack butt kick turn", which simply consisted of falling uphill into the slope, lifting up one's legs and rolling over onto the other side, then standing back up. Pretty simple and it seemed to work (ice axe assist required on hard snow).

I sometimes suspected he "converted" falls into this "trademark turn".

I sometimes suspected he "converted" falls into this "trademark turn".

Heh -- I read that quote as he "converted" falls into this "telemark turn" -- that fits perfectly with my memory of the early tele learning days.  Hell, that still fits today, for that matter.

Everyone I know who is on AT does it the way you show Lowell (without getting too particular about the differences), and I do it the same now that I have free pivot tele bindings, but before i couldn't which always was the cause of angst. All you AT skiers would get out ahead of me! Ha. Really, though, someone asked how to do it with tele and that's the answer: free pivot bindings. They are so much better and help you become much more efficient at touring. Part of my knee troubles were from the tension in my bindings which were very strong cause I skied hard. Now I don't have to worry about how much resistance I have cause it doesn't matter. If anyone has more questions about them, let me know in a PM. I've used a few of them and like how they work for the most part.

Can't believe I just read an entire thread on switch turns though.

it can be done pretty well with 3pin hardwires with the heel piece released in tour mode. Not as well as a free pivot, but I'm starting to get it.