Telemark skiing mas fun with Franosch

By Dave Leonard

Have you ever wanted to try telemark skiing but didn’t know where to start? Well, help is at hand for the tele-curious in the form of a new instructional DVD entitled “Modern Telemark: Art and Technique” by local freeheel legend Urmas Franosch.

Urmas has an impressive resume: he is a former member of the US National Professional Ski Instructors of America Nordic Demonstration Team, a senior examiner and instructor at Mammoth Mountain with more than twenty years experience of teaching, coaching and guiding. Urmas is the real deal and this video is a great introduction to the sport of telemark skiing.

Urmas draws on his twenty years of teaching experience to present a well organised, step by step approach to learning modern telemark skiing. Like any good ski instructor, Urmas focuses on efficiency and economy of movement to teach good, functional telemark technique. He presents a series of clear and concise progressions with both remedial and developmental exercises to help the student master each step.

This may sound too structured but, despite his years of teaching, Urmas is no ski school poodle or mechanical drill master; he rips. Urmas is clearly passionate about freeheel skiing and there is plenty of high energy skiing footage to inspire you to hit the slopes. There are also many valuable tips for upper level tactics in the bumps and steeps for the already competent freeheel skier. This DVD is expertly filmed on Mammoth Mountain and part of its appeal lies in trying to identify where every run was filmed.

I would highly recommend this DVD to alpine skiers looking to try something new as well as to experienced telemark skiers hoping to improve. It is just like having a private lesson with Urmas which you can revisit time and again.

Speaking of which; Urmas conducts telemark lessons and workshops through Mammoth Mountain Ski School.

Pick up a copy of his DVD at Booky Joint in the Vons shopping Center.