Hello Telemark Tribe,
I just published the second episode of the Podcast where I share my journey to become a level 4 CANSI telemark instructor.
CANSI or the Canadian Association of Nordic Skiing Instructor is the governing body that certifies telemark instructors in Canada.
This is a new level for telemark instructors, and I will be among the first to try it.
You can also subscribe to our podcast on all major podcast distributors like Apple or Spotify.
Here is my jouney to the level 4 telemark intructor course
I’ve been watching a lot of different videos over the last month to prepare for my level 4 course like mentioned in Ep1 of this series
So along my journey I want to share the steps I’m taking for this PhD in Telemark skiing.
In this blog post, let me share my approach to get inspired and learn from other telemark skiers. CANSI as just release very good videos that show the Canadian standards for telemark. Most and foremost, this is what I’ve been watching. I can’t share those videos here because they are not public.
But I thought I could show you other videos that have inspired me lately.
I’ve now telemark skied for almost 30 years. And I can easily say that I have a good understanding of what works, what I’m doing to make it work.
But I still need to find ways to improve. And to get those 5-10% marginal gains, I feel that I need to challenge my understanding of the freeheel turn.
For example, I once thought that, when mastering telemark, I would ski without any unbalances all the time. Ski perfect. Then, my mentor, Denis Vezina made me realize it was not the case. At all levels, unbalances are happening. But good technique can reduce the frequency of unbalances and the strength of each.
Here are a few of the really good videos I’ve been watching again and again.
First this old video is simply stunning. The quality of the technic of this skier is just outta this world. I challenge anybody to replicate his skiing with the equipment used. Just WOW.
And it’s amazing to see how much still applies today.
Then I have these videos of my mentor Denis Vezina, showing different exercises and technique. In my mind, he is the best technician I have ever seen. Please send me your thoughts about this, or if you have another telemark skier that does it better, let me see it.
Denis was the technical director for CANSI for many years and has developed a lot of what the Canadian telemark ski instructors are teaching nowadays.
This led me to be curious about other countries. I found two very interesting videos.
And then finally, I’ve watched a lot of alpine ski videos, starting with JF Beaulieu’s vision to develop new motor patterns. I think, I kow, that alpine skiing is so very close to telemark skiing. I’ve been telemark skiing full time with little or no alpine for more than two decades and I can definetely say that I’m a way better alpine skier today than when I was a certified level 2 ski instructor.
With JF’s approach, It led me to see alpine skiing from different eras and how the turn shape evolved.
Here is a generational idol, Scot Schmidt skiing in the 90s. A lot have changed since then, but the extended outside leg is very similar to what all the top skiers are still doing today. I found this VERY suprising and interesting.
Telemark is a mix of three pilars in the CANSI approach:
I feel that Scot Schmidt skills showed these three elements so much. Of course he is not 100% of the time balanced. Not all is direction changes are prefect. But look what he is skiing, with what equipment and how aggressive he is skiing those lines. On a technical basis, he was so strong.
To conclude, I feel that I’ve always learned by watching others do. This is a very good way for me to try and execute. This si just a small survey of what I’ve been watching lately. Winter is barely here so I have to feed my urge this way.
Next, hopefully, I will be on snow.
Rene
What others think about it