skiing was practiced in Norway to move in the snow from one house to another or between towns, through flat valleys. No one had thought about going down steep slopes, since they considered it very dangerous. And it was.
But a key character in the history of telemark arrived, Sondre Norheim, born in Morgedal (Norway). In a jumping competition - a sport that was beginning to emerge - he surprised everyone by performing a funny curve with a technique never seen before. It involved advancing one ski and doing a kind of genuflection with the knee of the other, a position that the entire audience considered very practical.
With this, this Norwegian showed the world that you could also make curves with skis and gave rise to downhill skiing. From then on it was possible to change valleys and reach the highest towns in the mountains.
This competition took place near Oslo in 1868, in the province of Telemark (Norway), and that is where this form of skiing takes its name. Later, in the neighboring region of Cristiania, a way of turning was developed that was based on not advancing one ski or the other, but on carrying both skis at the same time. This modality is called Christiania ski.
The telemark was more successful and its practice spread rapidly throughout the world. Very soon sliding down snowy slopes began to be practiced in the Alps and, although a little later, it also reached Spain, at the beginning of the 20th century. It also spread to the United States, where the story is told of a famous Norwegian postman in the Sierra Nevada (California), who always delivered the mail with telemark skis.
The beginnings of telemark
The Germans, Austrians and French - tireless researchers - developed the necessary technique to travel the great slopes of the Alps and soon, based on the ideas that prevailed in the region of Cristiania, what is called Alpine School.
Telemark was later relegated to Norway, and only for movements on flat terrain, evolving into what was called cross-country skiing or Nordic skiing. From then on it was forgotten, until in the mid-seventies when some American mountaineers unearthed it and began to reconstruct the ancient techniques and materials.
This fever spread at great speed returning to Norway, where the resurgence of this sport, new and old at the same time, began. The materials, possibilities and technique are in continuous evolution and are now awakening passions. Proof of this is this section of the website and many other events that will come in the future.
In Spain, although always behind, we are creating an environment and, little by little, people are getting to know it and practicing it.
Go ahead, get out of your chair and the next day you go to the snow, at least think about it. If you are not yet addicted, the day you encounter telemark, you will be hooked, like everyone else who tries it.
