So after around 15 years since I first put a pair of Telemark skis on in NZ, I get a call from the UK forces, “Would you like to run a course in Norway the home of Telemark??”, You bet!
The JSMTC (Joint services mountain training centre) based near Lillehammer in a place in the middle of nowhere called Susjoen would like a trainer to go there and run the level 1 course. Sounds like an opportunity too good to pass up on. So I clear my calendar for the week and start in an army fashion with a flight from Geneva at 0635am. That means I have to leave my house at 4am, hang on this military thing sounds not so good! My connecting flight from Amsterdam to Oslo is delayed but I finally arrive in Norway to be met by the students and catch the train to Lillehammer. Then mini-bussed to the base in Susjoen. Bed and board very basic but you only need somewhere to rest your head at night. Although I am soon fed up with the myriad choice of fish, dry and wet!
All the instructors delivering, a mix of military and civilian, make me very welcome and we soon find a few common muckers, skiing is such a small world! And we’re soon bantering away.
The slopes are a good 40 mins away at Hafjell so the comparisons with NZ are similar but the roads are not as rare as on NZ. It’s a bit like going back in time for me, as I have not had to drive much of a distance to the slopes for a long time. Hafjell is very picturesque and if anyone remembers the downhill from Kvitfjell, that’s just up the road. On the side of the facing mountain is the emblem for the Olympics cut into the hillside (see pic of Madness style group). It’s cold but not as cold as I thought it might be as I packed every layer I own and never use them as it was only minus 10ish, tee-shirt weather for the locals. Not a vast area but enough runs to keep us busy for the week!
The candidates are all fun military types from differing backgrounds in the Army: Rifles, TA and Comms and range from Captain to Sergeant. Happily Alex the highest rank doesn’t make everyone salute in the mornings. 2 of the guys have very little experience, so just a word of warning for anyone thinking of doing the Level 1, please get some experience before coming onto the course as it is very hard to pass without any!! One, James from the TA takes to it like a duck to water and impresses the hell out of me by becoming a skilled Telemarker in just 2 days, the other, (sorry Rob )takes a little longer but manages to pull it out of the bag by the end of the week. So don’t under estimate this course. Richie the Comms man has a rare sense of humour and keeps us smiling as well as changing from Tele Geek into Mr smooth by the end of the week.
So all pass, I get to ski in Norway, meet some people who very soon will be in Afghanistan (good luck you guys) and also get to long pole in the home of long poling - all be it by stealing (I am a cockney after all) a piste marking pole to use as no-one here does it. And as I said, skiing is a small world, I bumped into Sally Atkinson who I haven’t seen for 10 years or so and lives there. Her boyfriend owns Woody’s afterski bar at the bottom of the slope’ where he managed to find us a Telemark dvd to watch one night. Nothing else to do at night in the mess, thanks Woody! Also a couple at the bottom of the lift who having heard a British accent got talking and guess what, they have a chalet in Les Gets where I live.
Get out there and ski some out of the way places in this small world.
Jose Beer Telemark trainer, www.alpinelearningcurves.co.uk
