Telemark Skiing

Within the skiing/snowboarding community there is a small but prevalent sect of skiers; Telemark skiers. Telemark skiing is defined by what the equipment allows the user to do. Also known as free heel skiing, It differs from alpine skiing because the skier’s heel is not locked to the ski. This allows the skier to have a lot of options in turns that they can use, primarily allowing the skier to drop one knee into a lunging position and turn in the direction of the knee that is down.

Telemarkers have dubbed this method, “The Turn”, and it is what truly sets Telemark apart from the other modes.

Gee’s Seven Building Tasks Darcy Fiano brought up in her paper, “Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student”, as well as James Gee’s paper “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics” will provide sufficient insight into what defines a Discourse and how Telemark skiing is it’s own Discourse.

Telemark skiing is usually enjoyed as a hobby outside of work or school; a way to escape from the everyday busyness and relax. People Telemark as a way to enjoy the outdoors and have a good time with their friends, whether their friends Telemark or not.

I can attest to Gee’s statement that a non-dominant Discourse brings “solidarity with a particular social network” because almost every time I get on the lift to go back up the mountain for another run with another Telemarker is on the lift with me, I end up having a wonderful conversation about where the other skier is from, how long he or she has been Tele-ing, what they like the most for bindings, the trails they’ve skied that day, and numerous other topics.

It’s always amazing to find another diehard Telemark skier because they are always so open to talking to me, almost like they assume that we are already acquaintances because of our alike attire. This is a clear example of the solidarity within the Telemark skiing Discourse that defines it as secondary non-dominant.

When analyzing a Discourse, Fiano has allowed us to understand that we can use Gee’s seven building tasks to understand our artifacts better. The building tasks include significance, which defines things as important or worthy of attention within the Discourse.

There are several significant pieces to Telemark skiing that distinguish it from the other modes of skiing, but they all link back to the equipment. All the specialized things about Telemark (The Turn, the short poles, etc.) derived from the free heel.

The equipment really influences everything that happens in the Discourse, as well as marking various speciation events within the evolution of the sport, and therefore is marked as significant. The equipment really dictates the pace of Telemark, as well as the coordination of the user, the reason why it is so hard to master, and how it is so useful in backcountry skiing.

Unlike alpine and racing, Telemark isn’t about how fast you can make it down the mountain. It is more about enjoying the ride as much as possible. Matt Hansen described it well in his article, “Endangered: Tele Skiers” from Powder Magazine hits on that fact very well.

“The Turn did not generate unusually high amounts of speed. But that was never the point. Done correctly, it was intended to be fun, goofy, weird, dorky, utilitarian, and even somewhat stylish”

Hansen sort of contradicts himself here when saying it was intended to be utilitarian, but at the same time stylish, but this is more applicable to Telemark’s first documented rise in popularity back in the 90’s. Back then, before the advent of the plastic boot with a flexible toe, Telemarkers used leather boots which did not attach to the ski with as much stability as the current boots offer. There was less control and therefor, Telemark seemed somewhat goofy or lacking control, but that was what was stylish about it.

The outside-of-the-box, goofy Tele skiers seemed to be having an immense amount of fun doing throwing their knee down, and those who were good enough could use the goofiness in ways that looked good. Now, with the addition of the plastic boot with a flexible toe, there was an addition of yet another option for Tele skiers: precision. The option to be goofy is still there, but now with the addition of stability and control over the skis, Telemark became even more stylish. So this is what sets Telemark apart from alpine; the fact that the intent is not to go fast, but the goal was to look different in a stylishly goofy way, diverge from the norm, and go with the flow through the mountain.

Diverging a little from skiing done at resorts with lifts that bring you up, there is another style of skiing that explores unmarked areas of the mountains called backcountry skiing. It is a type of skiing where you don’t go down organized trails, but rather go down through the woods or simply any place that is not managed for avalanches or patroled by safety personnel.

This style allows for skiers to find deep powder that nobody has skied on before. This is the reason I said “through the mountain” at the end of the last paragraph. When backcountry skiing, Telemark allows skiers to ski up the mountain with the addition of a “skin” to the bottom of their ski, and that is why Hansen threw in that word “utilitarian”.

It became practical when trying to get up a mountain that doesn’t have a lift to get you to the top. With the addition of the “skin” to the underneath of the ski, Telemark allows going up and sideways using the free heel and incorporating parts of Nordic skiing (cross country skiing) as well.

The skin got its name from the norwegian founders of backcountry skiing who originally used the skin of marine seals. Today, skins are usually made out of synthetic plastics or fibers that acts sort of like velcro, allowing the bottom of the ski to grip the snow and let the user march up the mountain.

This contributes to the versatility that Telemarkers find significant about their mode of skiing. C. Dostie, a writer for EarnYourTurns (another skiing magazine), talks about the significance of the versatility of Telemark when he says,

“The telemark turn isn’t merely about athleticism and challenge, it is about flowing through the mountains. Not only the smooth sensation of the turn, but a Nordic perspective on how you move through terrain, by incorporating the ability to kick and glide, skate, or skin, with a natural, flexible sole” (C. Dostie).

What he is saying here is that the important part of Telemark skiing is having the ability to go with the flow. If you need to go across the mountain, you can by skating or if you need to go up through the backcountry to find deep, untouched powder, you can. It’s the freedom that the free heel brings that draws so many people to it and keeps a good number from returning.

Going off of Gee’s description of a Discourse, the “saying(writing)-doing-being-valuing- believing combinations” (6) what most people will notice about Tele skiers is that they are extremely loyal to their style. Dostie talks about the loyalty and devotion of Telemark skiers as well as those in the early lineage of Telemark:

That passion is rarely fueled by how easy something is. We all know the saying, “the harder they come, the harder they fall.” It accurately describes the loyalty and how outspoken telemarkers can be when describing their dance of choice in the mountains… consider Sir Arnold Lunn who pursued his passion for skiing with such zeal he was knighted, and he is on record as a telemarker. The correlation is hard to dismiss (Dostie).

What Dostie is saying in this is that Telemark skiers are some of the most passionate skiers out there because of how much time that they have put in to master the art. One Telemark skier was even knighted because of his passion towards the sport, being the only person to be knighted for skiing. But they are usually not passionate about the intellectual side of the sport.

A Telemark instructor for NATO (National American Telemark Organization) said that for him, “Telemark isn’t an intellectual pursuit, it’s a feeling and all the things we play with are just to create different sensations” (Russell 5:15).

He is saying is that he doesn’t ski to learn more and have more knowledge about the sport, but that he only cares about the feelings that arise from the different things he can do on the skis. Because of the difficulty and variety of options made available by the free heel, the feelings that come from The Turns (once The Turn is mostly figured out) are what are valued by Telemark skiers.

There are numerous other nuances about Telemark skiing that I could go into but like any other full Discourse analysis, it could be written to the length of a novel. The most important part to take away from this, and the part that most people witness when they talk to someone who is Tele skiing, is that they are laid-back, calm people who just go with the flow of whatever happens. Unlike the downhill skiers, their goal isn’t to get down the mountain as fast as possible. The goal is to enjoy every aspect of it, to embrace the goofiness The Turn and all of the different sensations that come along with it, and most importantly to have fun with it. The equipment provides immense variety that allows individual skiers to figure out what they like the most and to build off that, but every way chosen is still a form of Telemark skiing, and that is what makes it a Discourse.