Telemark
snowNicheNorway, 1868
Skiing with a free heel and a lunging, genuflecting turn that combines elements of alpine and Nordic technique. Telemark is the original turning technique — old, elegant, and deliberately difficult.
History
Sondre Norheim developed the telemark turn in Morgedal, Norway in the 1860s. The technique was eventually eclipsed by fixed-heel alpine skiing but experienced a revival in the 1970s and 1980s among skiers seeking a purer, more challenging form of the sport.
Culture
Telemark culture is proudly anachronistic. Its practitioners choose difficulty over efficiency, grace over speed. The community is small, passionate, and slightly amused by its own stubbornness.