Absolute Telemark is a project started by René-Martin Trudel.
He is a mountain enthusiast that wants to promote telemark skiing. Through this web site, our goal is to share our experience and exchange with telemark skiers from all over.
René-Martin Trudel is a telemark instructor, a ski patroller and a mountain enthusiast. His life has been driven by mountain and snow, professionally for the past 15 years.
I’ve skied my all life.
I don’t remember my first turns neither my first ride up a chair lift. I was 3 years old.
Now 34, I live a mountain life, 15 years full time jobs on ski resorts. That’s all I ever did. I’m a telemark skier. I think that describe me better than anything. Telemark is more than a sport to me; it’s a feeling, a vibe, a community, and an art form. And it rips too.
At age 15, I got my ski instructor certificate and taught alpine skiing for 6 seasons. During that time, I got the chance to try telemark skiing. One year, my ski school director, the visionary Tony Dinelly, bought 15 telemark kits and promise the interested one’s a paid level 1 telemark instructor course. It changed my life, forged a passion. «I quit» I told Tony the next year, I wanted more skiing and less teaching. I never looked back and I became a ski patroller, enabling me to telemark all season long, at my own pace.
After a decade of ski bumming around a few places, living in shacks, travel trailer or converted school buses, I now patrol for Le Massif, Eastern Canada’s highest vertical (2500 feet vertical). It’s got an incredible view on the St-Laurence river and over 1500 inch of powder every year. Not bad for the East. Most of all it’s a small big resort. Just a fun place to be.
On top of that, I now develop backcountry access for Jacques-Cartier National Park in Quebec, Canada. There’s nice tree skiing no problem, but we have to manage potential impacts to this particular forest ecosystem. This is a real challenge and so far everything is going great. This would open more terrain in Jacques-Cartier National Park and in many other park as well (I hope)
The goal as always been to TELEMARK, to be out there.
Working, on my days off, traveling, it’s always been about that. There is nothing else. That’s how Absolute Telemark is born, just another excuse to ski, to get others psyched. If you know what I mean, or if you want to know, see the blog.
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