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Army Telemark Ski Association

The Telemark Lark…

Telemark-Lark

I hadn’t touched a set of Telemark skis since my trip to Greenland in April 2014, so it was with a little trepidation that I once again ventured to Rauris in Austria, for the Army Telemark Championships.  You expect snow when you go skiing (after all it is a tad useful), but when I touched sown in Salzburg it was 17C.  Though the highest peaks were clad In white, the valleys were almost tropical.  Higher in the mountains the view was the same as heavy rain had poured for 24 hours.  It wasn’t the start I’d hoped for…

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The Kendal Mountain Festival – backflips, books, slacklines and grand prizes…

Well it was that time of year again.  Time to head to Kendal for the Mountain Festival and volunteer as a presenter.  Volunteer you say???  Well, I may be a professional speaker, but there are times when the outdoor community comes together and works together.  We all give our time for free for the good of the community, and work harder than any professionally paid staff.  Working in engineering, I hear a great deal that ‘Money is the greatest motivator’.  If only these people knew how wrong they were.  Passion drives people, love drives people, people drive people.  And it’s the people I meet at the festival who drive me…

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Making assumptions…

A few years ago on the slopes above Meribel I bumped into some of the RAF Telemark Ski Team.  They asked me if I had a light, I said no, but offered them a hip-flask full of Whisky.  One of them was a medical officer and noticed my shortened fingers. She asked “are you badly injured?” I explained my situation and within minutes I was having tea with a Major and stood surrounded by people shaking their heads in disbelief.  “You can’t ski telemark without toes!” they said.  It sounded like the same voices that said I’d never climb again after suffering severe frostbite. It was the start of a relationship that has seen me ski with the Army Telemark Ski Association, the GB Telemark Team, lecture at Sandhurst and the Royal Citadel in England, and Rauris in Austria.Read More »Making assumptions…