I know there are a number of telemarkers lurking out there.
Are any of you interested in meeting up at Flumseberg this Saturday?

I would suggest an event in the calendar and linked back to this thread so that people actually see it sooner (the calendar is quite popular). Post this at the wrong time of day and it'll have disappeared off most people's radars pretty sharpish.....

It had the word telemarking in it , so it has disappeared off my radar faster than an uncorrelated plot.

dave

Ah, but you're suggesting a parallel thread, I'm not sure that's possible when one is Telemarking.

Seriously though, are there that many tele-skiers here in Switzerland? I got some interesting looks when I tried it in the Black Forest year before last.

Anyone know of a good telemark instructor who speaks English in Vaud/Valais for an intermediate telemarker who wants to become advanced/tele powderhound?

There is a guy who works at the Stockli Store in Vevey who reckons he is an intermediate telemark instructor - he is Swiss but his English was pretty good. I will try and dig up his name and let you know. He works at a ski school in Villars.

Hope to be on the Teles again this Sunday (Leysin or Diablerets) - once all the bruising has gone from my knees after learning how to snowboard

sorry, what means telemarking?

It's a kind of turn done on skis. It was developed in the days of old leather bindings, before metal edges on skis, and before bindings had methods of keeping the heel of the boot on the ski.

Basically, you kneel down on the uphill knee whilst simultaneously turning the downhill ski in front of the uphill ski.

It is an amazingly beautiful and graceful turn to watch when done well.

There are modern ski, boot and binding setups for telemarking, though I haven't seen any here in Switzerland.

When accosted by telemarkers, just hang up - it works for me.

DEFINITIONS:
Telemark: Norwegian for "Wait for me at the bottom".
Randonnée: French for "Can't do telemark turns".

OK, there are two ways of skiing in the back country, often going uphill as well as downhill under human power. Each method has its true believers who believe that the other method is evil. Listening to their "discussions" (sequential monologues rather than dialogs) can be amusing for those who don't care