How do you describe telemarking?

You gotta tele til your smelly. I never dabbled, but I do love seeing a ripping tele skier just cruise down the mountain.

I have skied plenty of big boy terrain on my tele boards, but part of the point for me if to increase the challenge and reward factor while not increasing my risk exposure. I have to push harder to have the same amount of fun with my heels locked, which means taking more and higher consequence risks. Many BC skiers regardless of gear get satisfaction from pushing ourselves, and for me tele gear allows me to do that more safely.

To each their own I guess but it seems like if you purposefully seek out heavier more inefficient gear and technique you aren't going to be skiing as challenging of terrain as you would otherwise.

If you just want to ski hippy pow or take the kids out for a day on the bunny slopes, telemarking seems great. But if you want to ski big boy terrain get some binding that aren't broken.

The kicker for me is that AT gear is now lighter than tele gear! Add the quick release and the ability ski the crud better - I decided it's time for the old dog to learn a new trick.

I'll keep the tele gear for the powder days and spring skiing. Nothing wrong with learning something new.

The kicker for me is that AT gear is now lighter than tele gear!  Add the quick release and the ability ski the crud better - I decided it's time for the old dog to learn a new trick.

I'll keep the tele gear for the powder days and spring skiing.  Nothing wrong with learning something new.

Easy to say. Typical "big boy" AT: Marker Duke, 4-Buckle Cochise boot, and 120 mm waist ski = 20+ lbs.
Old school "big boy" tele: 3-pin or 3-pin cable, brown Karhu Outbound (90-70-890), & Super comps = <<20 lbs.
New school "big boy" tele probably still less the the big boy AT.

light weight option: 3-pin vs Dynafit, 3 pin is less; Cho Oyu, the same; boot TLT6 vs Old 3 buckle blue T-2s, 6s win. Overal weight the same.

I skied NNN, NNN-BC, SNS-BC, 3 pins, 3-pin cables, 3-pin hardwires, Riva cables, beta tester for Hammerheads, 7tm releaseables, used the oil voile releaseables with 3-pin cables, ultimate telemark binding, and the free pivot hardwires and always came back to 3-pins but now I use Dynafit speeds on XCountry ski patrol!

But you are right: no release on a 3 pin (but maybe less danger of massive damage to MCL, tib-fib, ACL etc. cuz the pins on AT don't release--have to release from the heel. Still safer, much less likely to fall for sure. And the big deal to me is on the up: no weight on the heel, no flexing of the boot bellows, free pivot--AT rules.

I started backcountry skiing in the late 70s when telemark skiing dominated the sport. But I never telemarked in the backcountry. I used alpine touring gear with Ramer bindings and climbing boots in the early years.

Even though I've never personally been into telemarking, I recognize that this branch of the sport drove the revival of backcountry skiing through the 1980s and beyond. So you won't hear me bad-mouth telemarking. It's been an important branch of the sport, historically.

Skiing is supposed to be fun, and if you have more fun telemarking today, then god bless you.

While creating the Ski Mountaineering exhibit at the Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum, I used telemark gear to represent the period of the 1960s through 1990s, when the backcountry revival occurred.

If you visit the museum, you can watch a film of Don Portman and Steve Barnett skiing Mt Rainier on super skinny skis and leather boots (with heel locators) in 1980. It's amazing to watch them ski on that gear. As Portman says in the film, "If you have this basic gear and this basic technique, you can ski on the golf course, on the hill in your backyard, or on Mt Rainier. It's all skiing. And it's fun!"

"Right on" to that.

With respect to the OP,  telemark is to skiing as hangliding is to aviation..  it is personal expression that cannot be achieved in any other way.