Category Archives: "Telemark Lessons"

My Passion for Carving on my telemark

Telemark carving

One of the most difficult techniques to master is

Carving on Telemark Skis.

Compared to moguls or steep skiing, I feel that carving is a more complex technique to master.

And in the last 4-5 seasons, I really focus on improving my carving.

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I’ve been carving for 20 years but the ability to carve on any surface and slope is definitely still a challenge. I would say that my first passion as always been powder tree skiing. Then, I spent a lot of time in moguls,it is only in later years that carving has become a real passion.

I’m lucky enough to have probably the best technician in Canada, Denis Vezina, teaching at my home resort. He represents Canada at Interski. His telemark technique is flawless, and he has the ability to dissect my skiing better than anybody. His knowledge has allowed me to improve significantly my technique.

Here are the things I think I’ve changed or improved over the last five years. Note that these are tips are what made a difference for me. It’s areas I focussed and that has given me results.

If you want more general tips on how to carve, check this post here.

Telemark Carving Skis

OK first I got real carving skis. One GS and one Slalom ski that I mounted on NTN Freerides. This is a game changer for sure, especially my  Salomon slalom with 13 m of radius.

Here are my quiver for 2022.

From left to right:

Black Diamond Helio 115 (2020-21) with Meidjo 3 and alpine heelset. Powder skis used almost exclusively in the backcountry

Black Diamond Impulse 98 (2021-22) with Meidjo 3 and Alpine heelset. All Mountain skis that I mainly use for resort skiing, ski patrolling, slack country.

Dynastar Speed Course Comp 64 GS skis (2007) with Rotofella NTN Freeride (with switch plate)

Salomon X-RACE 65 (2013-2014) with Rotofella NTN Freeride (with switch plate). This is the ski I use the most to focus on my carving.

telemark ski 2022

 

 

Those two skis although older are SO much better on groomed snow than any skis I’ve ever tried. Really, it’s cheating compared to a 90mm modern ski.

Both hold an edge like crazy and speed is not a problem.

I use the Salomon the most. I love the short radius feeling. But I will spend a lot of time of the Dynastar GS ski in this season to try to master this beast of speed. It’s crazy how you need some serious courage to really push a GS ski.

I have them mounted on the NTN Freedom which are Okay but I’d love a more progressive binding such as the Bishop BMF 3 or even a Meidjo 3 with its incredible lateral stiffness.

TELEMARK CARVING TIPS

Outside Ski

Telemark skiing in all conditions, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to stay balanced in variable conditions such as moguls, powder and I was a big proponent of having your body weight distributed evenly 50% – 50%. I still think that this ability is great in a lot of situations but for carving I’ve definitely moved away from that to focus on 70% on the front ski which in terms of technique is described as being the outside ski to the centre of the turn.

There are many reasons why this is helping, but the main reason is definitely edge pressure. The other one is the way you can increase your angulation.

70% is just a mental reference, and I have never measured the actual percentages. And there is a limit to how much pressure you can put on your outside ski to keep your telemark stance efficient and balanced. Finally, I would say that the weight distribution varies during the turn and depending on turn shapes, so I could say a lot more on the subject.

Rotating the femur

This was a new concept for me

I am very good to angulate from the knees and I love to use my back knee to create a good edge angle. But this tip uses the biggest articulation in the body and for this reason is super strong to oppose the forces of carving.

At the start, when I feel that I’m strongly edging, I will focus on rotation my femur on my outside leg (front leg). This will help a lot to create opposing force to the turn and to start turning. I’m still exploring this feeling so more to come in the future.

This can only work if you have a good weight distribution, meaning that you need 70% on your outside (front ski). So here is another reason why overloading the outside ski is great.

Early Edging

Focus on horizontal extension at the start of the turn to get the new lead change edging as fast as possible.

I did understand the advantages of horizontal extension, but I now understand the advantages of an earlier extension to gain earlier edging.

I focus on the moment of release at the end of a turn. This needs to be a combination of letting the skis go under you into the new turn a bit passively and to put pressure immediately on the new outside ski (this will become your front leg). This weight shift is the key to get the early edging and this allows the skis to bend into the carving arch sooner, creating a nice constant turn.

So really the goal is to preload the ski to arch sooner so that when the pressure builds up in the turn, the ski is already in the right shape to push against the snow. I would say that this is the key to start carving in steeper terrain and at higher speeds.

FYI, this early edging is right before the femur rotation I talked about above.

Breathing

Focus on breathing out at the end of a turn.

This tip has helped me tremendously and it was the first tip that Denis gave me that I was like: Okay, this guy really knows his stuff.

Telemark is a lot about coordination. To breathe out at the end of the turn as many advantages. First and foremost, it helps synchronize the most important part of the turn, the lead change. I feel that by exhaling at the end of the turn, it gives me a timing and rhythm to consistently start the sequence of the turn.

Second aspect might be psychological, but it works for me. Actually, it works really well. I feel that by breathing out, I have more room to angulate at the end of the turn. Try it, it’s fascinating. It’s like if my body is freer and it gives me a last little movement to really help close the turn.

Closing the turn means that you slow yourself by completing the circle of the turn a bit more like if you were going more uphill. (This is just a figure of speech as most often we don’t literally go uphill.)

I like to play with the breathing out speed, exhaling slow on long radius turns and exhaling super fast in short radius turn.

Different angulations

Breathing leads me to talk about different types of angulations.

Explain briefly, angulation puts your mass over your edges by moving your upper body in a C-shape. You can angulate from the knees, from the hips and the spine.

For this article, I want to focus on hips vs spine. I never understood that there was a difference between the spine and the hips moving to counterbalance the forces of the turn.

This year Denis was focusing a lot on my hips moving at the start of the turn. He then told another participant in our clinic to stop using the notion of squashing an orange into your rib cage. This is what I will call spine angulation.

This is a tip given by Mike And Allen famous Telemark Tips book.

I was surprised by Denis comment and we didn’t get the chance to talk about why he gave that telemark skier that tip.

But it struck me that this was actually two separate movements.

So I started to experiment. At slow speeds, moving only the hips is definitely not working as it’s just too big of a body part. On the opposite moving only the rib cage into the hip bone (Spine angulation), squashing an orange is not strong enough at higher speed and is a more complicated movement for steeps than simply moving the hips.

So here is where I stand and that I’m experimenting with. I now start the turn focusing on moving my hips, like if I was sitting inside the turn. This movement focusses on keeping my upper body straight and to angulate more as the turn progress. This is what I call hip angulation. It typically happens between the start of the turn and a bit pass the fall line at the middle of the turn.

At one point I will be limited on how much I can angulate from the hips, and depending if the turn needs more angulation, I will then start to arch my spine, moving my chin over my outside ski. This will get my spine to arch more and more and to cork my upper body over my edges. This is where the tip to breathe out actually helps create even more of this spine angulation.

Sharp Edges vs Race Sharp Edges

I’ve always known that sharp edges are important but this next tip is the real cheat code.

Getting new skis every year, I know that sharp edges are a game changer. Over the years, I’ve gone from sharpening my own skis carefully, to sharpening then very crudely, to not sharpening them at all.

You have to understand that as a ski patroller the chances of hitting a rock during a day are very high. So the dedication to keep edges sharp are mostly a waste of time.

Having dedicated carve skis have changed that.

The Cheat code I’m going to share now is definitely not for everyone.

Read this carefully, you need to be very confident and skilled to do this safely. But Oh my God, what a change.

I started to have my skis sharpen at an aggressive angle like ski racers.

ski edge angle

Ski manufacturers typically have angles that will enable the average skier to perform on any terrain. Those angles are the base angle of 1 degree and the side wall angle of -1 degree. Technicians usually refer to this side wall angle saying 89 degrees.

I went from a side wall of 89 deg to an angle of 88. This per se will not make major improvements.

I went from a base angle of 1 deg to an angle of 0.5 deg.

This combination is the cheat code. Edging as become SO easy. The difference is CRAZY. Really.

But it comes at a price. Your ability the slip in and out of your carve is drastically reduced, meaning that your skis will want to edge and to stay on edge. To reduce that, you can unsharpen the edge at the tip and tail, but in my mind, it defies the reason why you got them to sharpened this way.

Racers will even go to even crazier angles such as 87 and 0 degrees, which I am not ready to try. This is how they succeed in staying on their feet when completely off balance on crazy steep icy slopes. Because you can clearly see the off balance is supposed to make them fall.

AAAAAH Now I know how they do it.

Here is a progression I would suggest trying as you improve your skiing.

All levels of telemark skiers who want to carve: Keep your edges super sharp, sharpening them every couple of days on the slope. If you can, use a diamond stone after every day on the mountain.

STEP 1: You want to start to learn to carve on green runs, keeping both skis arching and leaving two tracks behind you – » keep your edges at 89 and 1 deg which is the manufacturers recommended angles, unsharpen the tip and tail about 10 cm.

STEP 2: You want to start carving on blue runs, keeping your skis arching and leaving track behind you in good grooming condition. – » Keep your edges at 89 and 1 deg but do not unsharpen the tip and tail.

STEP 3: You want to start carving on green  and blue runs in hard-packed conditions (not icy yet) -» increase your edge angle to 88 and 1 deg (or 88 and 0.7 deg if your ski tech can do that) do not unsharpen the tip and tail.

STEP 4: You want to start carving aggressively on blue and maybe black runs -» increase the edge angle to 88 and 0.5 deg. do not unsharpen the tip and tail.

STEP 5: you want to race and carve aggressively no matter what – » well I’m not there yet and I would use caution here advising you on something I’m not familiar with. Maybe it can come back in the future and keep you updated.

I would suggest you take these steps very slowly, maybe trying one setting for at least one season.

Also, changing edge angle will remove a lot of metal on your ski edges, using them prematurely, so make sure you don’t go back and forth too many times.

Did you like this kind of format of blog?

I understand that this is not going to help as many telemark skiers than other lessons I’ve given. I give you my perspective, what I’m working on and what I have improved lately.

Leave a comment if you have any question or to share your perspective on carving on telemark.

 

My Teaching Philosophy for Telemark Instructors

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Hello Telemark Tribe,

 

I was contacted by CANSI, the Canadian Association of Nordic Skiing Instructor to write a paper to my fellow instructors. Unfortunately, it never got published so I taught I could share it here.

Here is what I wrote for my fellow teachers.

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When I teach telemark skiing, my number one objective is for every student to retain a clear learning objective and to know precisely how to achieve it. 

Too many times, I have taken the wrong approach by trying to have my students find instant results with advice such as: “Do this, move like that…” Sometimes it works. But often, it does not.

As telemark skiing instructors, we want to give our students several tools to achieve a given movement. Our goal is for them to be confident in the way they improve.

Introduction— The Absolute Telemark Way:

Every time I meet with students, I want to know two things: What they feel good about (their Positives) and what they want to improve (Their Objectives).

 

The positives

First, I will ask them about their experience, their strengths and what they have improved on recently. My goal is to quickly assess their mental game, because learning starts in one’s head. I am looking for positive thoughts. I will ask about things that they feel good about:

  • Types of terrain (groomers, steeps, trees…)
  • Types of turns (short, long, speedy or not…)
  • Types of telemark stance (low, active, high…)

I only ask specific questions if they cannot seem to bring positive ideas. I want to know what makes them feel good before what they want to improve.

If they are new to telemark skiing, I will ask them about their skiing or snowboarding abilities, or other sports they practise. 

 

The Objectives

Subsequently, I will ask them about their expectations and what they hope to improve.

All this takes about three minutes. If I have a large group of students, I will shorten this part and go for a direct question:

“Describe your telemark skiing experience and comfort level.”

Once I have compiled everyone’s input, the lesson starts. 

I could go many ways from here, groups, first timers… But for this article, we will use the example of a one-on-one lesson with an experienced telemarker searching to improve.

 

Initial Approach

We start with a warm up run. I will lead for the first third of the way. Then, I will stop to see how my student is doing. I will then let them take the lead so that I may assess these points:

  1. What is making them waste energy?
  2. How is their body balanced?
  3. What path or choice of lines do they make going down the mountain?

I want to integrate the student’s requested areas of self-improvement to what I observe and apply it to a specific type of terrain. 

 

The Path to Improvement

People like to know promptly what you think of their skiing. I will often stop my students before the end of the first run to give them immediate feedback. If you both see eye-to-eye, their confidence in your teaching skills will be boosted.

Be forthcoming in your evaluation but, formulate it so that they feel their past efforts were not in vain. Remember to remind them that what they are doing is working for them. 

“If you do something and you feel it’s working, then it’s working. If you feel like you are doing something wrong, then it’s most likely wrong.”

It is that simple!

 

Then, introduce one thing that they could improve on. It has to be related to their learning objectives. It does not have to be directly related. But it needs to be brought up as part of their progression plan. For example:

“I see that you have good balance and that your telemark stance is solid. This is good because it will enable you to gain more rhythm, make tighter turns in the steeps like you talked about achieving. One of the keys to really improve your rhythm is how you use your hands.”

BOOM! 

 

You just reminded them of their positives, you have pointed out a possible solution for them to reach their goals. The direction: better rhythm, and the way to get there: your hands, are clearly pointed out. 

You now have their full attention. They will focus on doing precisely what you suggest, knowing that it will lead to them achieving their goals.

 

Building a Plan

This is the “easy” part. This is what we do as a telemark skiing instructor: Build a series of exercises that will get your student to discover new movements, thus getting them to where you think they should be.

Here are a few things that make a plan work regardless of the selected drills:

 

Share the Plan Before Doing the Exercises. 

Take a minute to explain to your student the expected outcome of your plan. 

What will they gain? If the exercise is about hand movement to increases pivot or rhythm, tell them. Relate it to the end goal; Hands = one step closer to their objectives.

 

Move Quickly From One Exercise to Another. 

Do not stick with one exercise, even if it is working. If it is working, find a variation. If it is not working, find out why and try to address it in the next exercise. 

Find “Ah! Ha!” Moments. 

If you feel that your student has had a great gain, celebrate it. Talk about the success. Try to integrate it to their skiing.

 

The Psychology of Learning

 

Remember the moment you learned something new and how you felt about your past struggles, your previous failures and successes? That is the teacher’s challenge!

Now that your students have been working hard for an hour or two, get them back to something they feel good about: terrain, types of turns, body position…

 

Finish With a Positive. 

Find a way to reveal their original skills at the end of the lesson. Link the newly acquired skills to their original positives. If you did it correctly, your student will feel like they have improved one or more aspects of their telemark skiing technique. They will know what to work on to keep improving. They will associate their learning to you, the instructor.

The worst scenario is a student leaving the lesson more confused than before. They will feel frustrated because they just do not get it. 

Or worse, they will think that they have to learn something completely different because they had it wrong all along. This mindset will not lead to a quest for improvement.

 

Remind yourself the following:

  • Everybody learns at their own pace.
  • Everybody can execute something in the way their mind tells them to; But the mind has to send the correct instructions.
  • You are responsible for the message in their minds.
  • Practice remains the number one factor for improvement.
  • There is more than one road to progress. 
  • Remember that your taught approach is not the only way to success.

 

Finally, you have to remind your students the number one rule of learning:

“If it feels good, it probably is. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.” 

Because you finished the lesson on something that your student already felt like they were good at, the positive effect will create a good mental state to keep working and improving. 

 

But there is more to it… It is called proprioception!

I will talk about proprioception next time. In the meantime, you can Google it if you are curious.

That’s it for now,

René-Martin his a certified telemark instructor. He is the creator of Absolute Telemark. You can book a private lesson here

 

 

 

How to telemark in moguls

Moguls telemark picture + PLAY

Hey Telemark Tribe,

Here is a series on how to telemark in moguls. More videos will be added along the season.

I will try to explain my philosophy to understand the bumps like never before.

You will learn and get great tips along the way.

Skip the videos you don’t like but remember that this is more than pointers, it’s a concept that makes a whole.

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to full tutorial videos, I got a great deal for you, here:

Mogul Telemark

 

 

THIS SEASON: SKI WITH RENE-MARTIN

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Hello telemark tribe.

For this season, I have set myself some goals.

I do this every season.

This season, I want to experience the community like never before.

You have been so awesome supporting this website and I now feel that it has grown into something bigger.

During the winter, I get 20 or 30 emails a week specifically thanking me on how my teaching has changed your telemark technique. Most often, people will talk about how one of the 7 flaws has solved a lot of little bad habits.

This is great but this season, I want to experience something new.

I want to invite you to ski with me in Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

This is a mountain in Western Canada, and I have never been. I’ve heard a lot of great things from Cristina Gareau and Stephane Riendeau, two past guests on the Telemark Tips Podcast.

And so here we are.

Ski with Rene-Martin in Revelstoke

This is made possible by Gendron Travel, Quebec’s biggest ski travel agency.

I’ve partnered with them to organize one week of Telemark skiing in Revelstoke.

 

WHO IS IT FOR:

  • Strong intermediate and above, you have to be comfortable going down in a strong telemark turn and have experience skiing in powder. This destination is not for beginners. Much of the territory is composed of glades and alpine terrain. Expect moguls, powder and long runs.
  • 19 years old and older

WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT:

  • This is not a private or group lesson.
  • This a guided trip with teaching so that you can improve your telemark technics significantly. I will film you, teach you, give you tips, exercises to do BUT, in the end, expect more skiing and less than two hours of teaching a day.
  • Expect resort inbound skiing. No backcountry with the group, but you can always choose to leave the group and ski by yourself.
  • I’m not a travel agency, that’s why I’ve partnered with Gendron Travel. In the end, they will be responsible for putting together your trip, booking your insurance, taking care of cancellation if the need arises… Make sure you address all questions to them regarding these topics. Gendron Travel can also book your flight and offer advice.
  • I will take up to 11 telemark skiers.
  • The price does not include flight, equipment, meals and alcohol. It will include lodging, transportation, ski tickets and my services.
  • The Sutton Place is a 4-star hotel. So, Tele-ski bums are welcomed but will have to shower.

Want to join?

Easy.

All is explained on this page.

Price, what’s include, visit http://ski.voyagesgendron.com/en/2017/09/28/13768/

If it’s meant to happen…

This is my goal

Have a great season.

Rene

 

Elle Telemark, Girl ripping on Tele and A Milestone for This Blog

Elle cover 2

An Anniversary

Last year, at a certain point, I was wondering about the impact of this blog and how I could do better.

I set myself three goals with one of them having more people to start Telemark…

Une partie de la gang

Une partie de la gang

In it’s second year, the Elle Telemark is about the go live.

This year again, it’s Maryse Paquette, a good friend of mine and a true telemark passionate reached out to organized the event.  She also happens to be an ambassador for Oakley Active. Great stuff!

Just to give you an example, last week she organized a White Lips event where she got 60 gals introduced to the Backcountry on alpine, telemark and split board.

So this year again, she organizes every details of Elle Telemark (literally She Telemark) . Once again, it should be a blast.

Great Partners Makes The Difference

With incredible partners like Black Diamond Equipment, LeYéti.com who helps a lot with the rental equipment, Mont Sainte-Anne who is the perfect place for this event and who came back this year really wanting this event to grow… WOW. and it has. We have doubled the number of subscriptions to 40.

It’s a small drop in an ocean of skiers and boarders and it’s nothing like the impact of Dickie Hall with NATO but the goal here is just to have a statement. Telemark has a great image and a lot of people are just waiting for an opportunity to try.

The Next Step

Here and now, I will make a statement. My next goal is going to organise a Kids Telemark event. I’m not sure when, I have no idea how, but it will be my next goal. (maybe I can get Maryse to help me!)

Telemark is the best feeling. There is no reason not to believe it’s going to KEEP growing in the future years

 

 

I’m Pumped, Here’s Why

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Hey Telemark Tribe

This is it.

The moment a lot of you have been waiting for.
I’m so so excited.
Here are a few example of people emailing me about it

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This years Telemark Foundation is going to be out of this league
I’ve been working  VERY HARD and I know you’ll LOVE IT.

But more on that in a little bit.

A little bit about me:

When I started telemark skiing, I got hook instantly.

But it took me a couple of years to become comfortable on my telemark. I was not instantly at the same level that I was alpine skiing but I was out there doing it full time. At that point I had left the ski instructor position and moved out west in the Canadian Rockies. That first year, I had a hard a time on my tele.

Yes I enjoyed every moment, but I also struggle to ski the things I wanted to ski.
I can’t count how many times I cart wheeled down the slope or how many times I fell head first for memorable face plants.

Looking back, this was the most dangerous time in my progression. 

I wanted to improve but I didn’t know how. 

And I now realize I could have seriously injured a knee, my back or a shoulder. 

I had  a few people around to show me but it was always the “just do like me” technique. 

Today people usually do not believe  that I have no real talent for telemark. 

But it’s true. If you look at my progression, I was not different than the average skier. 

But I skied a lot. That’s really all I did.
More than 100 days a year for 15 years. 

I’ve built a shack, camped, lived in trailers to work as little as possible and to ski as much as possible.

The best season was 1999-2000 in Whistler. I got a job at the ski school. In those days, if you told them you had a place to stay, they would hire you.
But on the first day when I told them I did not have a pair of alpine skis, they were dumb founded. They put me with the 3-4 years old and told me I could keep my winter boots. Perfect.

I worked 2 days a week, lived in a shack I built literally between two runs, and I skied every day I could. That year, I met a lot of really good telemark skiers, and skied with them. They showed me around but also, I got to watch them and try to execute. 

If I’m not the fastest learner, my real talent is to analyse others.

How they do it, what they do that’s different, and I started to analyse every part of their skiing.

I remember one guy name Simon, a local that could do anything from jumping of 90 foot cliff to ski 65 degree slope to carve on ice. He was and still is today, the best telemark skier I’ve meet. And he was dedicated to being out there, in the mountains, day in and day out. I immediately hit it off with Simon.

moi sur whistler

Me on Whistler Peak

me and simon

Fissile Me and Simon heading to the Fissile’s North face

Simon in north face of Fissile

Simon dropping in the North Face couloir

I also skied with a lot of other telemark skiers.

From looking at Simon and other great telemark skiers. I realize something.

That something became the basic element of how I teach telemark, how I analyse people’s main problem or flaw as I like to call it.

This is so powerful yet so simple.

Here’s why:

There’s only ONE THING that separates very good telemark skiers and the average telemark skier I was.
Only one thing.

Can you guess what it is?

It’s not talent

(When someone tells me they can’t progress it has nothing to do with pure talent. Even at high competitive levels, talent comes second).

It’s not equipment.

(The average telemark skier can spend 1000 to 3000$ a year on equipment, some way more. Good equipment is fun to have and it has improved greatly in the past decade but there were awesome telemark skiers before that).

It’s not where you ski or who you ski with

(Too many telemark skier focus on looking around to see who’s doing it and not)

So what is it?

It’s knowing what is killing your telemark right NOW

It’s having the ability to understand the steps to get where you want to be.

Not just being good,

Because, like Henry Ford said: Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re RIGHT

Here’s why:

Telemark is unique. The flow is unique.

Remember when you first got to link a few turns and just got that Haha moment.

And as you progress, it only gets better. The feeling of a great flowy powder run, or carving so much that your uphill leg touhs the snow is hard to beat. 

And that’s often leading to not knowing what to focus on, what to do next in order to get that feeling

And we all know the reward: the feeling of the FREE HEEL, the energy created from those turns…

The best part?

Imagine you could know for sure what is killing your telemark skiing. 

Know exactly the steps you need to do to improve like never before.

Once you start on this path, it become addictive.

But the truth is, the path to becoming a great telemark skier is not that complicated.

You only need to focus on the keys that will get you to the next step.

If you’ve have been telemark skiing for a couple of years, it becomes harder and harder to improve.

That’s a big problem.

Because when the good times comes, you want to enjoy every turn.

Whether is that trip that you have been planing or when the conditions are heaven like:

… I want to feel like I’m surfing down the hill.

… I want to carve that groomer,

… I want to float through powder and get those face shoots

… In the spring, I want to enjoy that perfect corn snow just soft enough that I can rail those turns, just hard enough that I can blast at high speed.

When the good times come (and there’s only a few a year) I certainly don’t want to feel insecure
(Am I going to break my leg and miss three weeks of work?)

I want to be on my A game and enjoy that flow so unique to the telemark turn.

The BIG question is:

How can you make this season the best in your life.

 … without loosing the fun of the free heel turn

… without waisting days being burnt by noon

… without being frustrated spending time on tips that won’t work for you. 

That’s where my project comes in.

I’m dubbing December “Biggest Change in your Telemark Month.”

And beginning on December 7th, I’ll share my recipe on how to create dedication, improve dramatically and find that light bulb moment you had that day. There will be HD videos, all-new webinars, and more.

More specifically, here’s what to expect:

This tutorials are based on the 7 flaws of telemark.

Through out my 17 years of teaching … I’ve discovered theses flaws kept coming back. 

The 7 flaws are so powerful because they focus on what is not working NOW

Telemark is a complexe synchronization of movement.

Your main flaw is looking you down, whatever you try to improve, it’s not going to be easy.

Sometimes, focusing on the wrong problem can even get you in the wrong direction and do even more arm than good.

I’ve developed this method to rapidly and efficiently solve people’s main flaw. 

Yeah that’s right. 

We all have a main flaw that is really killing our telemark technique, and by simply eliminating that flaw, you will improve dramatically. 

In this three video series, I will show you all the flaws.

I’ll also take you behind the scenes of two people that have followed this method.
Plus, you will get access to the exact sequence I use to improve year after year and how to effectively apply it to you.

This all means that I’m going to send you a lot of email over the next few weeks. And there will be work for you to do.

Right NOW?

You see, we’re starting the 2014-15 season, and if you’d like to CRUSH it on telemark from day 1, you’re going to LOVE the material I prepared for you.

But if you feel like you’re already skiing great, and you don’t need to know how really fast forward your path to improvement, feel free to click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email. No hard feelings.

Still here?

Great.

As I said, I will begin sending this material to you starting on December the 7th. In the mean time, I want you to do two things:

Thing #1

If you are not on my Newsletter, you need to subscribe to get all the content.

Here’s the link.

If you already receive my emails, great you’re all set

Thing #2

Are you going to join me (and the rest of the Telemark Tribe) on this journey towards passion and dedication  ?

Leave a comment BELOW

In that comment, I want you to do one simple thing: tell us what is your greatest challenge on telemark. That’s it!

I’m still putting the finishing touches on this material, and this will be your chance to get your question answered by me personally.

Go leave a comment now.

Talk soon,
Rene-Martin

P.S. Look, if you are interested in improving massively this winter, don’t miss this. Over the next few days, I’m going to send you a TON of FREE training on how to telemark

The Telemark Foundation

cover foundation

-Update- click here to check the up to date tutorials including the 7 flaws

The First Telemark Members have graduated!

I’m really proud of the first class of members we had.

 

Registrations are closed for now but a new class will be up in November 2015.

If you want to be part of it, Don’t miss your chance and register to our Telemark Foundation newsletter. We’ll keep you posted.

If you have any questions, please ask away at info@absolutetelemark.com

 

 

In  the 15 years I’ve have been teaching telemark skiing, I’ve always though we could do better. I Love telemark festivals for the buzz they create around our sport. But I always felt like we couldn’t serve the community on a regular basis. What if life could be a every day festival ?

 

In my last post, I revealed my new Project:
The Telemark Foundation

In my quest to make a better difference in the telemark community, I’m launching a project where you can REALLY improve your telemark skills.

And in the little survey about what you want to accomplish, you said that your biggest fears or problems were:

  • The main challenges for learning telemark is learning to balance yourself on a good centered position while always being in movement. No fear at all, just gliding down a mountain on a pair of telemark skis is something worth more than a million $$$$.
  • My main problem with learning tele, other than lack of opportunity to ski, is weighting my back foot properly. Biggest fear is that I will fall wrong and wreck my knee.

And maybe the most revealing

  • Very limited opportunities to ski with other skilled skiers and to continue improving skills and knowledge to continue improving. Biggest fear is to lose the motivation

More precisely, I was ask to solve these different problems:

  • getting enough weight onto the inside ski. This issue always resurfaces when I start to get tired,
  • failure and not being as good as in alpine skiing
  • being able to do fast sharp powerful turns and mastering the stance and keeping it on steep icy run and glades
  • not falling and getting a knee injury
  • not having a good first experience.
  • on steep terrain, on my weak side, I have issues committing to the lead change.
  • how to land after jumps

 

  • and even...icy bumps in the steeps

What a challenge…

So here I though that in front of a big problem, WE need a great solution.

As I said, I’m going all out in giving YOU all the secrets that have always guided my teaching, the 7 flaws of telemark.

In these seven flaws, I will cover all the flaws one telemark skiers can have from beginner to expert. In fact, every flaw is affecting your technique in one way depending on your skills, the terrain and the snow condition.

 

The project is going a personalize program:

The Telemark Foundation

>> Click Here to register to the TELEMARK FOUNDATION <<

The Telemark Foundation will reveal the 7 flaws that is killing your telemark technique. Improving only one of these flaws will improve dramatically your telemark technique, guaranteed.

It is the first time that I will reveal those flaws, as it’s always been kind of my little secret. I use it to analyze  what people need to improve. I’ve been successfully using this approach for 15 years now.

There is actually nothing like this on the web right now.

 

This is the intro video of the 7 flaws.

Wednesday, I will post the first flaw, for FREE

Spots are limited

Because of the personalize approach, their is ONLY 20 open spots.

This first version of the Foundation is going to be unique. As Founding members you will get more for your money than we will ever give,  promise.

Subscriptions are NOW OPEN andcloses Thursday, February 20th at 11:59 pm
The Program is now closed, subscribe here to get all the news regarding the next group
 

HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

  • This program will be over 5 weeks starting Friday February 28th and ending April 8th
  • I will disclosure the 7 flaws and tell you what is your main flaw. (week 1 and 2)
  • I will not only tell you what your main flaw is, but I will accompanied you through out the way with exercise for you. I will provide detailed tutorials just for you what ever your level, to solve at least one of your flaws.
  • I will ask you to film yourself telemark skiing, analyze your technique and provide personalize exercises that will really make the difference. (week 1 and Week 4)
  • I will answer two of your questions through high quality videos just for you. (Week 2 and 5)

DISCLOSURE
We will set precise date for our communications, especially at week 2, 4 and 5. Communication will be by Google Hangout and email.

  • because of my busy schedule; skiing, having a family, traveling,
  • because of the amount of work required to help you as much as humanly possible
  • because this has never been done, I want to take extra care and time to set this right. I want you to understand that this is a complete program that will need your full participation.
  • as with all our products, the Telemark Foundation is covered by our 100% money back guaranteed. Note, because of the teamwork associated with a personalized coaching program, I will ask for a detailed reason for your withdraw of the program. I’m very confident that this is going to be just awesome AND I want seriously dedicated telemark enthusiast to joint

BONUS

  • You will get every tutorials we have ever made. (Beginner, Fast track and Fakie)
  • I will give you a step by step check list of the exercises and abilities you need to practice
  • And some surprises

What will the program cost

  • It costs 497$. 

  • As I said, I’m going all out. Considering that I charge 100$ for a one hour of private lesson, I think it’s a pretty good deal.
  • When I compare the price people pay for equipment and lift access, I’m very comfortable of the small investment this program is.
  • You have to understand that this first group will be founding members. This will be a first for me. I’m really motivated to create something for real people that I can interact with.
  • This is going to be a one time founding group. It will never be repeated, especially for this price.
  • Place are limited to 20.
  • You have until Thursday to register

My project revealed

mur en cross

Finally, I’m ready to announce my project I have been talking about for like two weeks now.
And I’m telling you I’m going all out.
If you have been reading this newsletter, you know that it all started by a little disappointment from my part. I want absolute telemark to have a greater impact…

I though of organizing a telemark festival, but it would only affect the people around Quebec (I will still do that but that’s another story)

I thought of organizing a day of clinics, to introduce women to telemark. Same problem (I will also do it anyways… :)

And then it kind of came with your input. We need to go to a hole new level…

The project is going a personalize program:

The Telemark Foundation

The Telemark Foundation will reveal the 7 flaws that is killing your telemark technique. Improving only one of these flaws will improve dramatically your telemark technique, guaranteed.

It is the first time that I will reveal those flaws, as it’s always been kind of my little secret. I use it to analyze  what people need to improve. This is no , I’ve been successfully using this approach for 15 years now.

There is actually nothing like this on the web right now.

I told you I would make a free product just for you so I will reveal the first flaw for free
To be honest with you, when I said that, I never though I would make this program. But a promise is a promise.

HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

  • This program will be over 5 weeks.
  • I will disclosure the 7 flaws and tell you what is your main flaw
  • I will not only tell you what your main flaw, but I will accompanied you through out the way with exercise for you. I will provide detailed tutorials just for you what ever your level, to solve at least one of your flaws.
  • I will answer two of your questions through high quality videos just for you.
  • I will finally ask you to film yourself telemark skiing, analyze your technique and provide personalize exercises that will really make the difference.
  • I will give you a personalize email and a phone number so that you can reach me almost every hour of the day

BONUS

  • You will get every tutorials we have ever made.
  • I will give you a step by step check list of the exercises and abilities you need to practice
  • And some surprises

What will the program cost:

  • It’s going to cost 97$.
  • As I said, I’m going all out. Considering that I charge 100$ for a one hour of private lessons , I think it’s a pretty good deal.
  • You have to know that this first group will be founding members. This will be a first for me. I’m really motivated to create something for real people that i can interact with.
  • This is going to be a one time founding group. It will never be repeated, especially for this price.

Spots are opening Next Monday.

Because of the personalize approach, there is a very limited number of places available.

Early Birds: If you want to reserve your spot, you can email me at info@absolutetelemark.com

Until then, we are expecting a big snowstorm, so I’ll be gone skiing.
Can’t wait for Monday…

Rene-Martin

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