Telemark

…an ancient and elegant style to enjoy the charm of the “free heel”. This technique was invented by Sondre Norheim, a skier from the Norwegian county of Telemark in the mid-nineteenth century. The invention of telemark is commonly regarded as the beginning of skiing as a sport. It was in fact with this technique that the first ski races took place in 1843 in Tromsø (Norway). Before the invention of Telemark it was very difficult for a skier to turn or brake. To tackle descents, skiers would use long sticks which slowed down the skis acting as a “rudder”, while steeper descents had to be faced on foot. This was predominantly because of the equipment that was available during that period, notably the flexible leather boots that did not provide any foot support. Prior to that moment, skiing had primarily served as a means of transportation across flat snow-covered surfaces. Telemark instead allowed easy changes of direction, thus opening the doors to downhill and speed. The free heel technique was the only method that enabled skiers to navigate steep slopes and execute turns effortlessly. Until the advent of the Stem Christiania technique (Derived from Christiania, the ancient name of Oslo), in 1910, which consisted of rotating the ski uphill to start a turn. Parallel ski techniques with a locked heel were developed only after the mid-twentieth century. Telemark skiing suffered a sharp decline in the 1940s, while alpine skiing gained momentum. This technique began to come back into vogue in the United States in the 1970s, when a “back to basics” trend was observed in response to the development of increasingly technological alpine skiing equipment. Telemark was also adopted by the Professional Ski Instructors of America association, who gave a demonstration of it at the Interski held in Italy in 1983.