A post by Nick

So why do you telemark is a question that I have been asked occasionally and there is no one correct answer. If you ask Jim Shaw a telemark instructor at Winter Park he will tell you the answer is “because I can”, Lesley Beck, one of Britain’s best, says it is “because every turn is a challenge” and Nick Etheridge of G2 in Aviemore says “because it looks cool and chicks dig it”. My own response is all of these and more, I really like the fact that it is different and that it is difficult. I have been trying to sort out my left turn for over ten years and it is finally coming right. I do think that you can feel the snow underfoot better in a telemark turn but then I don’t ski well in alpine style so I am not best judge.

Usually when you ski tele in a resort you are one of the few telemarkers on the snow and everyone else looks on in either wonderment, awe or indeed bewilderment as to why you should make it more difficult that it needs to be. When you go into a ski shop to look at kit or leave your skis for a service the ski techs look at your boots and give you respect – even though they have not seen you ski. Yet out at the GB Telemark Championships, where there are about 170 telemarkers around and you never know who is watching from the chairlift, everyone has to up their game here and it shows.

The telemark turn was the original turn, which telemarkers will never tire of telling you. Time has moved on and so has the available kit, now we have releasable bindings both at the toe and the heel so why not lock down the heel and take advantage? Why make learning to ski more difficult than you need to? A lot of skiers have asked these questions and bought alpine gear without a second thought yet telemarking still survives. It took a dip recently with the growth of strong, lightweight and reliable backcountry touring gear. Since you could ski the backcountry without needing to learn to telemark then why bother. Well, telemark kit has evolved, more slowly perhaps than alpine kit but it now offers the Rottefella NTN binding system, the New Telemark Norm which gives a second heel behind the sole of the boot and now we have step in convenience and a release, although not a DIN certified release. It gives us the benefits of a plastic boot but with the feel and flex of a leather boot. There is a lightweight version of the binding, the Freedom, for backcountry touring as well as the Freeride version. More recently a new binding was developed by a French telemarker called the Meidjo with a “Dynafit” style toe piece and as accessories offers a ski crampon along with a lock down heel piece so you can keep up with your alpine friends.

The other big advantage of telemark gear is the comfort you have both in your boots and in the way you can move around in your skis. The boots flex behind the toe so walking around the resort or when ski touring is a big advantage. As your bindings are free at the heel by definition it makes it easier whilst moving on the flat or across the slopes a bit easier. Of course this works against you when you are skating or skiing. You can often see parents who have taken up telemarking when they start to teach their children as they have more flexibility on the hill when on tele gear. It also gives them an excuse when the kids start to overtake them and it’s a case of “Hey, wait for me, remember I’m on teles”

At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference. Why do you Telemark?

Remember that you never meet an unenthusiastic telemarker!

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