Telemark in Val Gardena

Posted on Dec 7, 2010 in News | 38 comments

While surfing the net I found some crazy videos about Telemark and Freestyle in Val Gardena dating back as far as 2007. “Telemark” is skiing using the so-called Telemark turn, also known as “free heel skiing” – the binding for telemarking (skiing using telemark skis) only connects the boot to the ski at the toes.

Telemark turns are led using the heel flat on the exterior ski (the downhill ski right at the end of the turn), whilst the inside (uphill) ski is pulled beneath the skier’s body having a flexed knee and raised heel. The skis are staggered however , not quite parallel, and 50% to 60% of your body mass is distributed on the exterior ski, determined by snow conditions.

The Telemark turn reached the interest of the Norwegian public in 1868, when Sondre Norheim took part in a ski jumping competition. Norheim’s approach of fluid turns soon dominated skiing, and in Norway it continued to do well into the next century. Starting in the 1910s, newer techniques based on the stem gradually replaced Telemark in the Alpine countries. Newer techniques were easier to master and enabled shorter turns better suited for steeper alpine terrain and skiing downhill. The Telemark turn became the technique of ski touring in rolling terrain.

The technique is named after the Telemark region of Norway, just as the stem Christie turn was named after Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. As well as inventing the Telemark turn, Sondre Norheim and his fellow skiers used and refined parallel skiing techniques. Thus, while the Telemark is part of early skiing’s foundation, parallel techniques are of equal importance. To get a better idea take a look at this video:

Short clip about telemark skiing in Val Gardena in January 2007.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Young freeskier 1993 living in S. Cristina Val Gardena Dolomites, actually most of the video takes place on Alpe di Siusi.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

With material from YouTube and Wikipedia.