D.I.Y. Telemark

D.I.Y. Telemark & The Original Ski Bum

Old school. New school. Whatever school. I’ve heard all sorts of terms over the past twenty years I’ve been telemark skiing. And to be honest, the term ‘school’ doesn’t mean much; not in my world, at least. Many things have changed throughout telemark time, but some things carry over. The attribute with, perhaps, the most power to span generational chasms is the do-it-yourself (DIY) mentality. Freeheel folks old and new all have it in my mind, and it is what sets the stage for both longevity and change.

I’m a complete geek when it comes to how telemark skiing evolves as a sport. It doesn’t matter whether it’s bindings, ski shapes, why we had three-pins or how plastic boots changed everything. It’s all very intriguing to me. And most of it was derived from a DIY approach of trial and error.

The evolution towards plastic boots is a great example. In search of additional support, freeheelers cut up old five-gallon plastic pickle barrels and fastened them like cuffs around the ankle region of their leather boots to improve lateral stability. This eventually led companies like Merrell to create the Super Comp — a hybrid boot comprised of leather with a durable plastic cuff. The next step from there was the Scarpa Terminator — the first boot made entirely of plastic.

 

Old school. New school. Whatever school.

 

I recently traveled back to Morgedal, Norway. Morgedal is the town where telemark skiing began in the mid 1800’s. I visited the ski museum there and one of the first things that caught my eye was a pair of skis with a large metal plate fastened over the top of the ski’s shovel area. I thought it peculiar and out of place. It honestly made the ski look like a piece of junk. But the metal plate’s story, which followed from the museum guide, is what churned my thoughts about the DIY subject again. It also led me down a path of thinking about how frivolous modern day ski culture would look to people from a different time like the 1800s. Like many things in the world, snow sports have started to become image driven and money based, and as a result they have largely abandoned the create-your-own-resources culture.

So back to the metal plate — it obviously was not part of the original ski design. It was simply fastened over a crack or some sort of defect in the wood. “This was one of his favorite pairs of skis,” our guide told us. “He was known for his ingenuity in ski design and instead of throwing things away, he found ways to continue to use them.”

Ingenuity often comes from those with the fewest resources. In this case, ‘He’ refers to Sondre Norheim, the legendary father of freeheel skiing. Though his resources were limited as a poor cotter, Sondre invented many things that are familiar to us today: sidecut, the heel binding and the telemark turn. That metal plate is a reminder of not only why one should ski in the first place — for fun, but also that we should never let the proverbial cracks in life stop our momentum.

I couldn’t help but think of modern day ski bums — the working class heroes of the ski world. They are the people who turn your lifts, sharpen your edges and teach you how to make better turns, generally while having to wear awful uniforms.

When I first saw that metal plate on that old ski I was sure it was junk, unusable. But as I left the building that night, I realized one thing: whether you are skiing or doing anything else in life, there is always a do-it-yourself way to fix, accomplish or solve nearly anything if you put in the time and effort.

 

*This article originally appeared in Telemark Skier #19