What is the point of Telemark skiing?

Answer 1

The #1 reason people Tele is because it looks cool...any Tele skier who says otherwise is self-righteous. We do it to be different.

However, the practical applications are:
1. Use in the backcountry. One can attach skins to the skis for climbing uphill, thus eliminating the need to strap the ski to a pack.
2. If forced to strap the ski to a pack, tele boots are much easier to walk in than alpine boots.
3. Once good at tele skiing, there is more control.
4. Tele skis and bindings are much lighter than regular DH set-ups.
5. Strangely enough...it's easier on the knees. I tore an ACL a few years ago and didn't get surgery. When I use my Alpine set-up the torque on my knees is really painful. When I Tele, I have little to no pain.

Alpine Touring (Randonee) skis are similar to Telemark skis in the fact that the heel is free while touring, but then buckles down for skiing. Until lately, this has been the worst of both worlds because the boots and bindings aren't as good for climbing as Telemark boots and bindings, and the bindings used to blow out. However, the recent years' have seen better bindings. I'm even slightly AT curious.

Self-righteous telemark skiers (like myself) will say that AT is only for people too lazy to learn to Tele.

The coolest set-up I ever saw was a guy who had a hardwire telemark binding mounted to an edged, double camber, backcountry XC ski. That guy owned one pair of skis and took them EVERYWHERE.

FYI: Tele skis are more akin to DH skis as they are only single cambered. Unlike XC skis which have double cambering, Tele skis do not give the user that "springy" quality needed for good for kick-and-glide.

Answer 2

Telemark skis are downhill and XC skis combined. If you're going to really remote areas on the slopes, it's much easier to XC ski up to them, then reattach the heel part for the downhill portion.
However, people who ski downhill without attaching the heel do it because it allows for quicker and more controlled turns.

Other than that, it's just a recreational activity just like snowboarding and skiing. What's the point of those? Enjoyment I think.