Hintertux-Ausgabe 23-24

Telemark Journal
International Volume 4
A TELEMARK ANTHOLOGY
My first-ever season in Europe 1987
marked a tectonic-shift of everything I
knew about skiing. From Los Angeles
skiing to Alps skiing was a shock to the
system. In the Best way possible. I was
dumbfounded. Astonished. Skiing is part
of the fabric of Europe. Fundamentally
different than anywhere else in the world.
A way of life. A normal part of living. The
Alps. Scandinavia. The Pyrenees. After
that insane Alps season, I was back in LA.
Back to the real world. Work. My mind
spun at what I’d experienced in the Alps.
It was seared into my ski soul. I worked a
second job. Sport Chalet Beverly Hills. In
the Mountain Shop. Here I met Dostie. I
met Joe McBride. Serious LA guys who were of the same
mindset. To me, I was stoked to find guys in our huge
city that were similarly focused. Back up in Mammoth -
the Eastern Sierra…
There was this tight group. And they meant everything.
To me. To many skiers. Writing articles, squeezing
every possibility out of the light equipment of the time.
Writing phenomenal guide books. One of the astonishing
Kingpins I met was John Moynier, author of Backcountry
Skiing in the High Sierra. The thinking and hijinks, the
motivation and execution, of this amazing early era of
telemark…was incredible.
Paying my dues. Focused. Learning everything I could
about Telemark. In the 80’s. For those of us at a certain
age, it is still as vivid and crisp as yesterday’s lightning,
cracking above the high-mountain summer evening.
There was no YouTube, no quick-access videos. Films?
A few. But no way to easily watch and study. That left
books. And skiing with other, better, telemarkers. If you
could find them. Telemark Technique books? They were
few and far between. Why? Because tele was still esoteric
in the 80’s. Exotic. Not only was telemark strange to runof-the-mill
alpine skiers, it was a twilight zone to many
of us trying to learn - that did *not* live in Colorado,
Canada, the Sierra, or hanging-out day-to-day with
Dickie Hall back East. For me, there was an immediacy
to gain knowledge. But I had few resources. I came to
telemark by way of alpine skiing. Stuck
at a plateau, I came to the conclusion
that the best way to step-up to the next
alpine level…was to get a telemark setup.
This would be my training. I figured,
toothpick skis and ankle-high leather
boots *has to be the secret* to perfect
balance alpine ski nirvana. It was only
logical. Backcountry Skiing by Lito
Tejada-Flores was my first tele book. I
devoured it, reading and re-reading. The
small tome fit perfectly in my ski jacket.
On an LA ski club trip to Telluride, a
local friend Sharon Scibz, caught wind
of my Lito fixation. She picked me - the
LA boy - up, and we walked to Lito and
his partner Linde’s home. I was so stoked! Meeting
Legends! Lito and Linde running through slides for an
upcoming book, listened to my story. I told Lito how
I’d pull his Backcountry Skiing out of my ski jacket
pocket every lift-ride up, studying. Trying to internalize
- whilst skiing Southern California. Lito cracked-up.
Loved it! He wrote an awesome note and signed my copy
of Backcountry Skiing. I was floored. Then, in 1988 Paul
Parker released the First Edition of Free-Heel Skiing:
Telemark and Parallel Techniques for All Conditions. I
was blown-away. To say the least. Paul, in his perfectly
described direct and simple style…wrote the Telemark
Bible.
For me, it was the incredible line drawings,
Paul’s logical, pure, explanations, and a
book mojo that consolidated everything
telemark meant to me.
We at Telemark Journal are proud to
present writings from John Moynier,
Lito Tejada-Flores, Paul Parker, Yvon
Chouinard, and many others, in Telemark
Journal International Volume 4.
Order one, or all, Telemark Journal
international Volumes by using the QR-
Code. Or, you ca go directly to lulu.com
and enter ‘Telemark Journal’ in the
Search Box.
Bob Mazarei &
Luca Gasparini
Order one, or all, Telemark Journal International Volumes by using the QR-Code.
Or, you can go directly to lulu.com and enter ‘Telemark Journal’ in the Search Box.
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