Jackson Hole

I don't recall if it was Thomas Moran or John Muir or another famous outdoorsman artiste who made the statement, "The Tetons are what mountains are supposed to look like", but I could not agree more. This 40 mile long mountain range is stunning beyond compare on the North American continent.

The last time I was in Jackson Hole, which refers to the geologic formation of the area (the valley that the town of Jackson and it's smaller neighboring townlets inhabit is literally a geologic hole), was 19 years ago. Jackson Hole is the ski resort. Jackson is the town. I remember the trip vividly. Four feet of fresh powder. It was a massive mountain I experienced maybe 40 yards at a glance due to the falling snow. I never saw the entire mountain. Steep runs. Cliffs. Gusty wind at the top of the Tram. Big bumps. Limitless off-piste skiing. A fifteen foot drop and a soft landing. Willy, the father on the television series Alf, walking across the parking lot of the ski area. Indelible memories for a burgeoning ski fanatic. Jackson Hole is paradise for anyone who likes their skiing steep and deep.

Jackson remains one of my favorite places. Jackson Hole has solidified it's place on my top five favorite ski destinations.

Aside from absolutely amazing weather, short lift lines, great snow conditions, and my ability to find my groove, this trip was notable because I finally decided it was time to try something new. I have wanted for many many years to learn to telemark. What is telemark skiing? It's free-heel skiing. Like skiing cross-country downhill only on downhill style skis.

I had this notion that Telemark skiing was "true" skiing ever since I saw a couple guys on tele skis making long GS turns beneath the chair I was riding. There is an undeniable elegance and grace involved in alpine skiing. Athletic ability alone will not make you a good skier if you don't have the ability to master the fluidity of motion necessary to achieve perfect turns. It is this balance between athleticism and grace that I feel separates skiing from other sports. Most skiers are also very good, if not superb athletes, but most athletes are not good skiers. For example, the best athletes in the celebrity athletic competitions are almost always skiers. They beat the pants off pro football, basketball, baseball, and hockey players.

Which brings me to telemark skiing. Alpine skiing is graceful, to a point. No matter how good the skier, there is still a point at which the graceful nature of alpine skiing is interrupted by a purely athletic motion. I wouldn't call Alpine skiing beautiful. The two guys I saw riding telemark skis below me were making the most beautiful turns I had ever seen. Tele skiing is the epitome of grace when it is done well, almost like a ballet. I wanted a new challenge.

A little history: Alpine skiing and telemark skiing, as we know it, was invented by Sondre Norheim in the region of Telemark in southern Norway back in 1866. Skiing has been around since the middle ages, but had never been more than a strictly utilitarian means of transportation and had been in use in the military since the 1750's. Sondre pioneered all sorts of technological improvements to ski equipment and ski technique, but he is credited with something more important... he made skiing a sport. If not for his influence, the sport of skiing would likely not exist today.

So I arrived at the Nordic Center at JH with a smile and healthy dose of excitement. I was thrilled to be starting at the bottom, a beginner. I had missed the morning group and planned to take a two-hour private lesson for $235. Total cost of equipment rental, lift ticket and lesson would have run $300, not including the tip. The girl behind the desk asked if I would rather take their Telemadness lesson which was 1 hour long and cost $20 and since no one else had signed up, I would be the only student. Sounded good to me. To sweeten the pot, she finagled a lift ticket and rental price at their group rate. When all was said and done, including the tip I gave my instructor, the lesson cost me $94. A savings of over two hundred dollars. Not to mention, my instructor gave me an extra hour and fifteen minutes of instruction because he didn't have anything else planned for the day.

I met Nate, local hotshot and telemark instructor, at 1pm and we headed up the bunny slope. It turns out, there is a lot of similarity between alpine and telemark technique. Body position, rotation/counter rotation, weighting/unweighting, and even carving are virtually the same. It also turns out you have more control over your skis on telemark boards. You actually control your uphill ski and downhill ski independently. Balance is similar but having to drop and drag a knee to turn took some getting used to.

Anyhow, 29 years on skis and a stint as an instructor was most beneficial. After two runs down the bunny slope practicing fundamentals, we were heading up an intermediate run. At the end of the first hour, Nate asked me if I wanted to keep skiing. Hell yes. By the end of the second hour, I was skiing down an off-piste expert run, making telemark turns. We ended the day with a ski through the terrain park and couple small jumps.

I had a blast. My legs were burning something fierce.

Goodness knows how long it will take me to master telemark skiing, but my instructor told me I was the quickest study in telemark skiing he had ever seen. It was apparantly unheard of for someone to go from putting on tele skis for the first time to making solid telemark turns down an expert run in just two hours. Cool. Can't wait to get out on the hill again...