Telemark skiing is a form of skiing in which the heel is not attached to the ski binding. To perform a turn, the skier drops the knee and lifts the heel of his downhill ski, sliding it backwards while the uphill ski remains in a forward position, allowing him to turn.

Telemark skiers are drawn to this form of skiing as it offers an exceptional workout and is elegant and artistic. Compared to the fixed heel alpine ski, the telemark ski offers many more dimensions to the physics of ski turning, offering the skier a potentially deeper and perhaps more inspiring experience on the mountain. An analogy for telemark skiing to traditional downhill skiing could be driving an automatic car to a standard stick-shift vehicle, as driving a standard offers the driver greater dynamics to control the vehicle.

Telemark skiing is said to have been invented by Norwegian Sondre Norheim (1825-1897) in Morgedal, which is located in the Telemark region of Norway. Actually, according to archeology, skiing has been practiced from all over Scandinavia and northern Russia for more than 4,000 years on wooden skis for transport, work, hunting and military purposes. However, Norheim was credited with developing and introducing a revolutionary binding that included a strap around the heel in addition to a toe box. Norheim was known for his graceful dance-style ski techniques, ski jumping, and fun personality.

Telemark, also called Nordic and freeheel skiing, remained mainstream through the 1920s, with freeheel ski jumping and Nordic combined being the two ski events at the first Winter Olympics in 1924. Heel or alpine skiing was introduced in the 1930s in the European Alps, as alpine skiing was better suited to steeper slopes in that region. Eventually, alpine skiing became mainstream skiing, as Austria and Switzerland developed the first alpine ski resorts after World War II and Telemark skiing faded over the next few decades.

However, beginning in the 1970s in the United States there was a renaissance in telemark skiing when ski patrol workers in Crested Butte, Colorado found it easier to use lighter freeheel skis for climbing. up and down the mountain to perform avalanche control operations. This soon led to a revival of free-heel skiing that swept across the United States, particularly northern Vermont, and into Europe. During the 1980s, telemark skiers wore leather boots and long, straight-edge skis, making turning a difficult task. However, in recent years freeheel skiing has become much easier on the body thanks to the development of plastic boots and shorter parabolic skis. Today, freeheel skiers can be seen at most ski resorts “dancing” down the mountain and even performing tricks in terrain parks. Telemark skiing has become popular to the point where it has an almost cult following and thousands of skiers now try it for the first time every year.

Give Telemark skiing a try and see how fun and rewarding it can be for you!