Teleboard

Developed during the winter of 1996 by Martin and Erik Fey, the Teleboard consists of a long, narrow, snowboard, or wide ski, with two free-heel telemark bindings arranged one in front of the other at a slight angle to the longitudinal axis. When experimenting with successively narrower alpine snowboards to allow for quicker turns, the Fey brothers ended up with a board that could not fit hard-plate snowboard bindings, and tried telemark bindings instead. After a successful trial down a mogul run at Killington (one of the only remaining open trails in New England at the end of that ski season), they continued to refine the design. The Teleboard earned them two patents between 1997 and 1999. The Fey Bros went on to found Telemarkdown.com and continue to sell Teleboards as well as Telemark and AT ski gear in their two New England shops.

The unique binding alignment coupled with the use of free-heel bindings on the teleboard allows the rider to face forward and have complete freedom over weight distribution. The rider can focus their weight down on the center of the board to flex it and carve tightly, or distribute weight over the length to keep the board straighter. Also, weight can be shifted vertically, by standing tall or kneeling. This extension and flexion is an essential part of carved turns, and the extent of them that the teleboard allows lends itself to deep or extreme carving. The extremely close angle of the bindings, along with the long length and narrow width of the board make the Teleboard extremely easy to use for quick edge changes, rendering the board ideal for riding bumps, carving tight turns, and reacting to unexpected obstacles. Also, the edge radius of Teleboards tends to be very small, comparable to slalom skis, which is unusual for skiing or riding devices as long as a teleboard. Because the bindings are mounted almost in-line with the direction of the board, it is possible for the rider to use poles, which can aid the rider in learning the sport.

The patent for the Teleboard is held by Uniboard, Inc. (US Patent #6000711)

The abstract is as follows:

A skiboard system is provided, which includes a divisible skiboard having left and right skiboard halves and left and right loose heel binding. When the skiboard halves are joined, the skiboard has a central, waist portion and an upward curving front shovel area. The left and right loose heel bindings may be secured on the left and right skiboard halves when the skiboard halves are divided, oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes or the skiboard halves. When the skiboard halves are joined, the left and right loose heel bindings are mounted on opposite sides of the skiboard waist at an acute angle less than 35 degrees from the longitudinal axis.

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