WELCOME STUDENTS TO TELEMARK’S GATED COMMUNITY BY J. SCOTT MCGEE
A
lot of people think of telemark skiing as a graceful dance with gravity on a
snow-covered slope. It’s that, for sure, but when you add racing techniques and go fast, you pump up the fun factor and give skiers a means for practicing more tactics for all-mountain skiing. If telemark lessons tend to be a small subset of the overall demand within ski schools, students with telemark racing aspirations are an even rarer breed. Tey mostly have alpine race backgrounds, and telemark adds a new level of mountain mastery to their skillset.
HOW TO ASSESS READINESS Before setting out to teach telemark racing, assess your student’s tele skills. Tey should be able to comfortably ski steep blue terrain or groomed black terrain, and be able to make a simultaneous tele transition. To warm up for those first race-centric runs, have students ski round turns… and ski fast (within safe parameters).
THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS TO TEACH Solid telemark racing technique relies on the skier’s ability to: 1. Make round turns with the optimum degree of carving, and minimal skidding.
2. Tactically set up for the next turn by making two-thirds of the turn prior to passing the gate.
3. Stay on or regain the chosen line through the course.
To help skiers master the necessary skills, present tactical drills that focus on technique for applying early edging, adjusting edge angles, and timing the lead change to get on the new set of edge early in the turn. One great drill, shared by the U.S. Telemark Team’s Ty Upson,
is the “snakebite” drill, which emphasizes a quick lead and edge change, mimicking the speed with which a snake would strike from a coiled position. Because tele racers incur a 1-second penalty for making non-telemark turns, the speed of the lead change minimizes the chance that a gate judge deems a slower lead change to be an alpine/ parallel turn. Te quick edge change helps establish a stable stance against the new edges early in the turn. Practicing this on comfortable terrain prepares the skier execute the technique in the gates. Getting late in the course is a common miscue, so encourage skiers to preview and memorize the course, practice looking ahead, and work first on line choice and going where they want to go at
On ONE CONDITION
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lower speeds before trying to go fast. Also work on how to make adjustments to regain one’s line if tossed around by the terrain. Tis can be a matter of slowing down or traversing to get back on the ideal line, which might cost a little time, in order to be on a faster line for the gates ahead. Use video and feedback – first on short sections of the course and later on the whole run – to help clarify effective performance and technique that warrants further refinement.
HONE YOUR OWN TELE TALENTS IN THE GATES With experience, you’ll undoubtedly come up with your own best practices for teaching telemark race tactics. Be sure to: 1. Get in the gates as much as possible to develop your own race skills.
2. Watch video of top racers and yourself. 3. Join a local race league to gain confidence and refine skills (which not only aid your technique, but can also help with certification.
Telemark racing is a lot of fun, adding speed and even more precision to that glorious dance with gravity.
J. Scott McGee is the former coach of the PSIA Nordic Team and is the director of Wyoming’s Snow King Mountain Sports School. A former telemark competitor, he now dreams of perfect corn on spring backcountry skate ski tours.
THESNOWPROS.ORG | 33
MIKE VISNICK
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