Telemark skiing, Lake Placid, New York, 1921.

Skiers showing “Telemark Turns” technique at Lake Placid, New York in 1921. The Telemark style was introduced by Sondre Norheim in Telemark, Norway in 1868, Telemark skiing, also called “free-heel skiing”, is a techinique based on the Telemark turn in which the heel of the ski boot is not fixed to the ski.

“The Telemark is a tricky turn that can’t be performed properly unless the heel of the rear boot can be raised from the ski. It is a steered turn, executed by advancing one ski and twisting it at an angle to the other. Its narrow base does not provide the stability given by that other steered turn, the snowplow. Furthermore, it is almost useless, except in soft snow where its narrow base works to advantage.”
(W.L. [Bill] Ball, “I Skied the Thirties, p.3).