Telemark at Interski

Interski 2011 St Anton Austria

Ok, I have done this before, Japan 1995 Nozawa Onsen but it was 16 years ago! Also I was on alpine kit. This time around I’m on Telemark skis and I’m reminded of a quip I made all those years ago to a friend that the next time I would be on Teles.

Basically as Telemark Director for BASI, I’m part of the delegation but after watching the warm up demos and skiing on the main slope the feelings are getting to me that Telemark should be represented on the hill, so I chat with Andi Mccann the team coach, telling him that I would love to be involved in the mixed demo going on with the snowboarders and the sit-skiers, which number 3 and 2 respectively and get to shadow the sit-skier Ben Sneesby in the opening ceremony in fornt of a fairly big crowd along with Mark Petty the boarder.

Then manage to get into demo 1 on our main night, Thursday involving every discipline. Whilst practicing this one the Boarders then invite me to join them in demo 3 where because they only have 3, I will give them symmetry of 4.

Then the closing ceremony rears it’s head. 1 run with the whole team so we re-do demo 3 and then news of another free run is announced!! I ask the other Telemark nations if they think it would be a good idea if we instead of skiing with our nation we make a new Telemark Nation?? Answer, all up for it, so we wait til the end of the evening and ski down in 1 long snake, Norwegians, Americans, Fins, Swiss, Hungarians, Canadians, Kiwis, Aussies, Germans, Bulgarians, sorry if I missed anyone. WHAT A BLAST!!

Another highlight was the workshops, going to others delivering and then on the Friday deliver my own. This was very well received and got a lot of great feedback!

So now back in the real world and trying to put the finishing touches to our new Telemark manual, lots of new ideas and different slants on old ideas too and looking forward to hopefully going to the next one in Argentina 2015 and not waiting another 16 years!!!

Eggs

Hurrah! The Red Eggs are working! Long Live the Red Eggs!
Yes, the new Gondola servicing the Chavannes in Les Gets was put into service for the first time yesterday and very nice it is too.

Men At Work

Men at Work


Well it’s now January and there is still no sign of the new Chavannes Gondola in Les Gets coming into service.

So far there appears to have been minimal confusion but until things get back to normal we thought it worth pointing out the alternatives:

• Absolute beginners or clients who are not yet confident on green runs should NOT use the Chavannes Express. This takes skiers higher than the gondola and once you have disembarked you will need to be able to negotiate green/easy blue runs at the very least.

• The Chavannes Express is however a very viable alternative for anyone who can ski easy runs and will give quicker access to The Ranfolly Bowl or Morzine.

• The Route de Chavannes is a road which finishes literally at the same point as the Chavannes Gondola. There is parking at the top but be aware it is limited and fills up quickly. Useful though if you are just doing a pick up/ drop off or arrive for the day’s slide nice and early!

• The Navette is a free bus service which will take clients to the top of the Route de Chavannes and is probably by far the most sensible alternative for Absolute Beginners and/or low end intermediates.

Let’s hope things get back to normal very soon but in the meantime we hope this helps!