Snowlines: An old friend returns to the slopes at last

By KRISTA HUGHES

The skiing technique known as telemarking is variously described as turning by "getting down on one knee and proposing" or a combination of skiing and ten-pin bowling.

It is also one of the most graceful ways to descend a snowy slope, and after years of being derided as old-fashioned, it is making a comeback, largely thanks to a revolution in equipment.

Telemarking is performed on free-heel skis rather than the fixed-foot downhill skis familiar to most occasional skiers.

Enthusiasts are likely to be longtime cross-country skiers looking for a way to ski down the slope they have just slogged up, as well as downhill skiers who want to try something a little different.

The basic premise of the telemark zig-zag is to drop your knee so your body weight is divided over both feet, face downhill and, voila, turn. Then you swap feet and do it again. It also requires a good sense of balance, a good instructor and, after a couple of hours, new thigh and buttock muscles.

Wilderness Sports guide Karl Drury explains to our group of four that the key is in the weighting.

Easier said than done, especially without the stabilising influence of poles to start with and your heel bouncing up and down with every wobble.

But after two hours on the baby slopes it was getting easier to keep the dropped-knee stance long enough to do a full turn, and even to start linking it to the next.

Drury has noticed a marked revival in telemark skiing, which was born in the Telemark province of Norway more than 100 years ago. Plastic rather than leather boots, wider skis and better bindings transformed the sport since he first tried it in the 1980s.

"All I had was cross-country gear - I paralleled for seven days and on the eighth day I went for the tele and I haven't looked back," Drury says.

Survival of the fittest

Snowboarders' voracious appetite for more challenges has led to an increase in back-country boarding, but with it comes the risks and dangers of venturing into unpatrolled areas. Conditions can change quickly in the mountains and a little knowledge can save lives.

River Mountain Guides Backcountry Boarding in Australia's Snowy Mountains not only takes boarders out for a day in untracked snow, but has overnight trips with clients building the snowcaves for the night's shelter.

Wayne O'Brien, the principal guide, has a Ski Tour Leader Certificate from the Bush and Mountain Craft Training Advisory Board and remote area first-aid qualifications.

For trips longer than a day, clients are taught skills for safe snowcave building that involves picking the right location and maintaining ventilation.

Some of O'Brien's tips include:

* Always construct a snowcave with straight walls and curved roof for strength.

* Have a ski pole through the roof for ventilation and every couple of hours clear the entrance of snow to allow ventilation.

* Carry two snow shovels and leave one outside the cave for rescuers if you are snowed in - it makes it a lot easier when it comes to digging out.

"Boarders are becoming bored with resorts," says O'Brien. "We'll take groups of three or more anywhere."

On the five-day excursions into the Bogong High Plains, the boarders ski Mt Nelse and Spion Kopje, with a special visit to the a secret spot known as "Ripples of Doom," where they ride big ripples formed in the snow.

The trips are based on a ratio of one guide to five clients and fees include a board, daypack hire, lunch, snowshoe hire and, on the longer trips, a tent, sleeping bag, self-inflating mat and courtesy transport from the meeting point to where the trip starts.

Contact: River Mountain Guides Backcountry Boarding tollfree on 1800-818-466.

It's just like magic

Imagine a moving walkway like those at airports, put it on ice and you have the latest addition to the learner slopes, the so-called magic carpet.

Cardrona has one and other fields are also looking to introduce them. Getting on and off lifts can be difficult for beginners, and instructors have welcomed the magic carpet as a learning tool. Instead of walking up the hill, it's used to move people so they can learn skills like stopping, turning and avoiding things. It increases the slide time and makes it more fun.

The gaps between stages require a bit more manoeuvring but at least wobbly kneed beginners don't have to face skiing down the entire slope.

And unlike other lifts, the rubber-topped magic carpet is close to the ground so you can't fall far even if you do lose your balance.