Anyone know of a resort or holiday company that has telemark ski equipment for hire.

Just done a day course at the ChillFactor and really enjoyed.

The other obvious alternative is that I buy some second hand stuff.

I have some NTN stuff that is for sale, only had a couple of weeks skiing on it. If you happen to be a size 11/12 (UK) then i’ve got some garmont prophets as well. Bought new from Backcountry UK in Feb 2010.

In answer to your original question…no. The best place i found for tele stuff was the small extreme-ish looking place in St Anton on the high street there. Run by Scandinavians.

Most resorts these days will have some telemark stuff – it is just a little more specialised and you would have to reserve in advance. E.g. in Switzerland, Intersport (who have a shop in most resorts) rent tele skis. It may be worth getting your own boots if you are serious about it.

The difficulty in getting your own boots is whether you go for old style duckbill or the newer NTN system. Points could be argued for both although the duckbill stuff is probably more prevalent within rental shops at the moment.

The other place to ask is on the forum of http://www.telemarktips.com. Although its an american site there are quite a few Euro members on there, including some english, and they’re pretty helpful. Also good for tips and pointers.

I would suspect you could find something at Meribel as I watched a round of the world champs there in Feb this year, just doesn’t look right heals coming up off the ski’s like that……..

You can hire stuff in this country I think. Look at Braemar Mountain sports on the web. Although they are in Braemar, I believe they will post you rental equipment so you can go on your hols and then you can post it back when you return. Probably cheaper to hire in resort though, although difficult to know whether there will be much gear. Telemark is not very big in Europe – we usually go a week and only see a few locals on telemarks – most people have their own gear and dont rent, so shops might not have a great range of gear for hire…

I ski with a group of telemark skiers every year – in 2012 we are going to St. Anton for a week most likely. Most of us are pretty advanced, but you are welcome to join us! We dont have any ‘spare’ gear though…

The Singlespeed of skiing! 😉

I’ve rented in several resorts without problem. We had a good instructor in Val d’Idere as well who. May be able to look up. I’d be surprised if you found a resort without telemark equipment to rent or at least one instructor who also spoke English IME

BTW it really is the absolutely best way of getting down a snowy mountain. I got totally bored of alpine skiing but I absolutely love Telemark.

Good resource for equipment is telemark pyrenese, if you call them they are very knowledgeable and helpful too.

cheers all guys.

CaptainFlashheart – when someone asked me ‘what’s the point?’ – that is exactly what I said.

oddjob – I guess I am an advanced skier as well which just why I have tried and always wanted to give it a go.

ScotlandTheScared – would love dearly to go to St Anton but I reckon but the better half would find it too serious I think.

Gotama – please email me pictures, size, spec & prices of the skis. email in profile.

Good resource for equipment is telemark pyrenees

One of these days I’m actually going to drive to Ax les Thermes purely to drool over their stock. If the shop is as well kitted as their website, it’s got to be one of the best shops in Europe for teles.

Will do it over the weekend.

Try asking on winterhighland. There is always second hand gear. Let them know what you height and shoe size is.

I’ve been Teleing for over 10 years. I love it and never get bored. In Scotland the touring has been excellent for the last few years, so there’s loads to get stuck into.

Anywhere in Norway. I’ve also rented kit in La Plagne, and if you can get hire stuff there (I don’t think I saw anybody else telemarking) you must be able to get it anywhere.

Try http://www.telemarkskico.com/ for courses if you want to learn how to do it well (not done tele with them, but went on a nordic tour which was very good). Alternatively Snowsport England run a course at Kvitavatn in April – mostly XC racing stuff, but when I went they also had a tele instruction section.

I have seen quite a lot outstanding of tele skiers in Chamonix.

Oddjob hit it on the head, there is no better way down a mountain. Takes a long time to learn, but once you have it you will have the biggest sh*t eating grin in 2″ fresh. To get the best from it you need to leave the resort and get out touring, though with big boots even carving on the groomers is great. With modern gear you can also parallel perfectly well, just don’t bother dropping your knee, handy for when you get tired or in tight trees.
After being a snowboarder in Europe, when I moved to Canada in ’03 I took up tele, and have never looked back. I now ski 50+ days a year and spent 3 years designing tele (and AT) gear for G3.
Tele is much bigger in north america than mainland Europe, though it is still big in Scandinavia. Coming over here to ski is another possibility, though even in whistler there are only a couple of shops with tele rentals, but you can get lessons on the hill.
Telemarktips is a pretty helpful forum, I have met and skied with a lot of people on there, and bought gear from the teleturnaround.

Free the heel, free the mind!

Paul

Narrow, icy couloir that you can’t ride straight. Let me know when you do one and I’ll film it to show at the coroner’s inquest.

Telemark skis are an amusing alternative and some people do remarkable things on them, but in some situations you need to be able to lift the heels of your skis.