Telemark Clinic
Date: Feb 22
Learn the oldest and most graceful turn in skiing. Join us at Hoodoo ski resort for an introduction to telemark skiing. We will focus on a progression of skills and drills that will guide you on your way to learning to telemark.
Skills covered: proper weight distribution, the telemark stance, lead changes, proper hand placement and pole use, wedge to tele turns, telemark to stop turn, step tele, and linking turns together.
We will start by using the very beginner lift at Hoodoo, and the Thrifty Thursday lift pass is $29 for all day. Please buy your lift ticket before the meeting time so as to be ready to meet and greet and then hit the slopes. The slope on this lift is super mellow, great for teaching and learning without being intimidated. If folks are progressing and comfortable, we can move on to other lifts and slopes. We will clinic for 2.5-3hours and break for lunch. You can bring lunch or grab something from the café in the lodge.I plan to free ski after lunch and folks are welcome to join me practicing and learning the mountain. Will stay on greens and easy blues after lunch.
Prerequisites: CONC’s XCD clinic or solid downhill ski control including snowplow wedge and wedge turns, P turns, Step turns and generally comfortable on skis on downhill landscapes.
Equipment requirements: Wide and beefy backcountry set ups with fish scales is OK, skis need to be 110mmwide at shovel (front) and 90mm wide under foot (or wider) with 75mm and 3 pin bindings or cable bindings. All skis must have retention devices or ski brakes. Even better for the clinic would be a true telemark setup: 75mm bindings (cable) or NTN, and tele specific skis with no scales. I have a few pair of loaner 75mm skis if you have 75mm boots for backcountry and want to try a true telemark ski instead. Please contact Woody for this (trailwisdom@gmail.com) as we would need to adjust bindings the week prior to the clinic. REQUIRED: LEGITIMATE RUNAWAY STRAPS, SKI HELMET, ADJUSTABLE BACKCOUNTRY OR ALPINE POLES AND APPROPRIATE DRESS (ALPINE SKIING AND RIDING THE LIFT IS MUCH COLDER THAN A NORDIC TOUR).
Buy your lift ticket before meeting the group. We will meet inside the lodge at the doors exiting the slopes and by Harold the Hodag (can’t miss him). This clinic is limited to the first 10 members who register. After that we will develop a waiting list and will try and find more coaches to accommodate interest. When you register, please list the skis, bindings and boots you plan to use.
Number of students: 10
Meeting time/place: By Harold the Hodag in the Hoodoo lodge, 10 am
Questions to Woody Keen, trailwisdom@gmail.com
