Those Tele Guys

People often ponder the mysteries of this big ol' world and Google has become an avenue to find the answers to such conundrums. At the touch of a button, we have a library at our fingertips to make us more informed and educated about certain topics we find interesting and valuable. Telemark skiing is apparently one of such topics that have confused the brains of many, and this is evident when perusing the catalog of previously asked questions that Google has filed away ready for any curious and shy alpine skiers on a path of enlightenment.  In this episode, we go through some of the most commonly asked questions and see if our own knowledge of telemark skiing matches the internet mastermind of Google. 

Over the past two years, back-country skiing in Australia has been thrust into the limelight due to the global pandemic. Many feared the resorts would not open and began collecting essential items to start learning how to earn your turns in the Australian Alps. People are also curious to learn where it all began in Australia, and exactly how long have skiers been seeking the solace of the mountains. Unfortunately, some people are lamenting that back-country skiing is a relatively new prospect that has only been made accessible due to modern equipment available to us today. It has certainly made it more accessible, but we must acknowledge that skiers have been hiking up hills in Australia in search of snow for a long time. In this episode,  we talk about the early days of skiing in Australia, where it started, what they used, and where they went. We also share the story of Cleve Cole, an early skiing pioneer, that sadly lost his life after an ill-fated Hotham to Bogong crossing attempt. 

This week’s guest was first spotted in the distance free-heel skiing at Falls Creek. His distinguishing bright yellow pants and futuristic Bishop bindings make him easy to identify amongst the telemark crowd. He works for Tourism North East, a group actively working to strategically grow, enhance and promote the High Country tourism offering, and is also one of the main drivers behind the Bright Mountain Film Tour. 

We ask Eddie where his love for telemark skiing began, what Tourism North East is currently working on, how he got involved with the Bright Mountain Film Tour, but most importantly, what it is like stepping into the modern era when using Bishop bindings. Please enjoy Riding the High Country with Eddie Wilson! 

These are dark days for resort skiing in Australia. New South Wales and Victoria are both in lockdown and all ski resorts are closed. Events have been cancelled, lifties are getting the boot and Vail are extremely busy processing refunds for season passes that were little used. Will restrictions ease enough to allow resort skiing to return for harvesting September corn? Unfortunately, nobody knows what the future holds, but with cases continuing to pop up all over the countryside, it is looking increasingly harder to see restrictions being lifted. Thinking about the future is somewhat unnerving at the moment, so in this episode, Those Tele Guys contemplate the good times had in the past to get us through these rough times. We take a stroll down memory lane and have a laugh about some of our finer moments shared on telemark skis. Thinking about these memories sure made us smile, and hopefully, they provide a few laughs for those listening too. 

In this week's episode, we welcome Tim Macartney-Snape to the show. Tim is famously known for his mountaineering pursuits, particularly in relation to his two summit trips on Mt. Everest. His first summit of the mountain was made in 1984 with Greg Mortimer. The pair were the first Australians to reach the summit of Everest without supplementary oxygen via a new route on the North Face . In 1990, Tim completed his second summit, but this time he started in the Bay of Bengal and walked every single one of Everest's 8848 meters,  becoming the first person to walk and climb from sea level to the top of the world. 

We talk with Tim about these two journeys, ask where his passion for adventure began, chat about ski equipment but most importantly, ask if he really did summit the highest mountain in the world wearing an old pair of leather telemark boots. We hope you enjoy our chat with Tim Macartney-Snape.

In this week's episode, we chat we Rouchelle Gilmore from the Mountain Cosmos Podcast. Rouchelle is a rare Western Australian skier that has made the annual pilgrimage across the country for as long as she can remember. She is a ski instructor currently working at Mt. Hotham but has also spent a significant amount of time working Northern Hemisphere winters in Japan and America.  The Mountain Cosmos is a show about 'life in the mountains, the ups, downs, and everything in between' and is definitely worth subscribing to if you have not done so already. It showcases mountain-loving people from all walks of life that offer different passions and perspectives that makes listening intriguing.

We catch up with Rouchelle to hear about her backstory, find out what motivated her to make a podcast, see what it was like living in a lockdown resort town, and finally, discuss future projects. 

We also provide a little snippet of Telemark therapy time for anyone stuck in lockdown to help them get through these tough times.  We feel for you. 

In the words of the great band Abba, 'Mumma Mia, here we go again.' Things were going so well here in Victoria. We had powder days, bluebird days, and even ordinary days but Victorian snow lovers skied them all just to feel the white stuff beneath their feet. Our premier was gloating about having no cases one day and then shutting us down the next when eight cases popped up in Melbourne.  Needless to say, after 9 days of operating since the last lockdown, the resorts had to shut their doors once more. 

In this episode, we talk about the most recent lockdowns and conduct a mid-season review of the 2021 season. What will the future hold? To be honest, we have no idea but we can probably bet on more lockdowns and lost time on skis.  In the long run, it is for the best of everyone, but it is just so sad to see an industry we love squirm under the giant, soul-crushing foot of COVID-19. 

We also release a tear-jerking song to help all skiers get through this lockdown and promotional snow also features to bring you the latest gags. Enjoy. 

This weeks guest will help provide you with some jaw-dropping images if you have ever stumbled across his Instagram account. Steve Leeder, also known as Steve Crazy amongst the skiing fraternity, has been hucking everything thrown at him on telemark skis since horses were cars, plays were movies and boots were leather. He can be found at Perisher chasing powder and promoting the fact that you can go big on tele gear without a problem and do it with style. In his spare time, Steve works at Wilderness Sports in Jindabyne, a well-known institution for back country skiers and adventure junkies.

We catch up with Steve to find out where he is from, where his journey with telemark skiing began, get this thoughts on gear and findout his future plans. Please enjoy as we huck it with Steve Crazy. 

Ahhh, lockdown 5.0 is being enforced in the state of Victoria and our resorts have shut down. Needless to say, many snow-loving people are growing tired of this scenario that continues to plague our powder dreams. To top it off, the Australian Alps are getting absolutely hammered with pristine snow and could easily be the best lamb chowder for the season.  Nevertheless, we are all playing our part and staying home to avoid this disease from spreading. In this week's episode, we provide the listeners some details about the recent lockdown, but more importantly, we introduce a new segment called 'Australian Alps, this is your life.' This segment aims to share historical skiing information that influenced how we experience the mountains in the modern era. In the first installment, we discuss the Summit Hut, Mt. Bogong.  

We also get a song for the Freeheelers from Morgs featuring a parody of 'Am I ever gonna see your face again?' by the angels.  Enjoy! 

Those Tele Guys reside in Australia and love skiing on their own home soil, however, they have also spent a little bit of time on the land of the long white cloud and realise it is about time to catch up with somebody from their Southern Hemisphere neighbours.  In this weeks episode, Rich and Morgs head 'Across the Ditch' to catch up with Ash-Weyman Jones (a.k.a Soyboooy) to hear how the NZ season is going and to learn what the telemark scene is like amongst the general population of sheep and hobbits. 

Ash moved to NZ a few years ago from Australia and immediately was hooked on Telemark skiing. He loves spending time in the mountains during winter and is doing everything he can to help protect our winters for future skiers by making small changes to his lifestyle that can create massive change. Those Tele Guys learned a lot off Ash and they hope you do too. 

Please join us as we host our first-ever session of telemark therapy. As telemark skiers, we standout against everybody else and are sometimes scrutinized for being different. Our motives are questioned while our equipment is ridiculed, and while this is all in jest (most of the time), this can really start weighing down on the shoulders of all the telemark skiers in the world. It is for this reason that we decided to host our first therapy session, so please, join us as we look to heal the wounds inflicted on us from our friends with training heels on. 

It is time to bring out the leather and lace...

...but it is not what you think! 

In this weeks episode, Those Tele Guys talk about one of their most recent escapades into the realm of pinheads and leather boots. For the very first time, Rich and Morgan ski telemark on equipment that is older than time itself and recorded this episode to share their experience. 

Also, Those Tele Guys get together once more to record another tune for 'Songs for the Freeheeler.' Please enjoy, 'Stuck in the liftline with you.' There is also a bonus track sent to us from Ottawa, Canada from a huge fan of the show. Enjoy! 

The Mountain Safety Collective (formally known as the Mountain Sports Collective) has gone from strength to strength since its inception a few years ago and has made a concerted effort to educate, train and promote backcountry enthusiasts to stay safe in alpine environments. This year, the MSC has gone a step further by announcing their new Avalanche Training Center at Mt. Hotham. We catch up with Rolf Schonfeld, a committee member of the MSC, who has been working hard to make this crowed funded dream a reality for many BC goers. Rolf has literally grown up with skiing and is extremely passionate about spending time in the Alps. He has a wealth of knowledge from touring in alpine regions all over the world and has learned that educating people is one of the most important steps to keeping people safe in the BC. 

Congratulations Victoria, you have done it! We have made it to winter and the ski resorts have opened! It may have felt slightly different without our Melbourne friends skiing beside us, but we made the most of the limited snow conditions for the much anticipated 'Opening weekend.' Hopefully, our friends from the city will be able to join us for thousands of laps on Towers Chair in the near future. 

In this episode, we talk about a really big storm that rocked Victoria, reflect on the most recent COVID skiing rules for Victorian resorts and discuss some highlights from the opening weekend. We also bring back...SONGS FOR THE FREEHEELERS! This time we use Elvis as our inspiration. Enjoy! 

We are not sure which direction our season will head this year and we need all the advice we can get, so we travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to catch up with Taylor Johnson (a.k.a Tele Tay) to hear what it was like skiing during a Pandemic. Taylor is the store manager at the Freeheel Life, is a regular on Josh Madsen's Podcast show of the same name, and loves freeing his heels (and doing it well) at Alta ski resort. He also hosts the Lowdown, a series created by the Freeheel Life to share news and information about all the latest telemark equipment available. 

Taylor provides us with some fantastic insight on their bumper season and what snow-loving fans did to make it feel somewhat 'normal' in a world where rules change quicker than Miranda Kerr at a Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. We also talk about some gear choices, the Smelly Kneepad, and the parallels between Telemark skiing and golf. We expect that you will enjoy listening to this chat as much as we enjoyed recording it, and hopefully, our season will unfold much like theirs where everyone did what they could to allow the resorts to stay open and keep the industry alive. 

Winter is here, and so are 'Those Tele Guys!' We last graced the air a few weeks ago for our season 2 prelude and we were looking quite optimistic about the season ahead.  We had already received some big dumps, the resorts were pumping out promotional snow content and most importantly, life had gone back to some sort of 'normal' after the covid lockdowns of last year, however, this was not to last. Like Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day, Victorians have recently woken up to something all too familiar. Covid, lockdowns and facemasks are all back in the mix and are threatening our season yet again. Could this be the death of resort skiing for a second consecutive year? 

In this episode we share our thoughts for the up-and-coming season, discuss the seasonal outlook for winter and have a laugh at some of the best tourism campaigns (promotional snow) that we have recently found.

We also hear from a Falls Creek Ski Patroller (and telemark skier),  Jamie Armitage. Jamie is currently living at Falls Creek and we caught up with him to hear how the snow conditions are and what the general vibe was like after the recent lockdown news. 

It certainly has been a long time between drinks for Those Tele Guys. Morgan and Rich have been busy throughout the summer with no time to spare for recording episodes, but suddenly their perspectives on life change with the early season promotional snow. In the blink of an eye, they bust out their microphones and blow off the dust to get into the swing of things for season 2 of 'Those Tele Guys.'

In this episode, we chew the fat, become familiar with our recording equipment once again and layout our plans for the up and coming winter season.  This is merely a prelude for season 2, which will officially begin at the start of June. 

A wise telemark skier once said "all good things must come to an end" and it is time for Those Tele Guys to do the same. The sun is shining and the birds singing, so our attention has been drawn to other recreational pursuits such as mtb-ing, climbing and finishing renovations. In this episode, we review the season and look into the future for Those Tele Guys. Will we return for another season? Will you ever get to hear the subtle tones of your three favourite free heelers ever again? Your questions will be answered.

We also present one last song for the freeheelers, as well as some bonus material if you make it to the end of the episode. 

A few weeks ago, one of those tele guys managed to purchase an absolute bargain on facebook market place. A set of Line Profits mounted with our beloved 22 designs AXL. They were purchased from none other than professional mountain biker and telemark skier, Andrew Blair. Andrew has represented Australia all over the world in XC races and has won two national titles. In the off-season, he loves to earn his turns in the backcountry setting of the Main Range. We had a great time chatting about his passion for mountain biking and skiing and how it all began for him. He even shared some stories of how the two sports can be combined to make some memorable human-powered adventures. Please enjoy, a ride with Andrew Blair.

We also feature songs for the freeheelers once again, along with a new segment called "The mystery sounds of Telemark."

This is one of our favourite episodes of the season. George Turner is an avid telemark skier from Adelaide that has been in touch throughout the season. At some point, he highlighted techniques to get kids into tele, drawing from his own experience when teaching the turn to his two boys, Lenny and Albert. George sent us some photos of his kids absolutely slaying, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to interview one or both of them and find out why they like tele so much. We ended up getting Lenny (13 years old) on for a chat and we were blown away by the enthusiasm and wisdom he presented to us. We give you Lenny Turner, the future of telemark skiing in Australia.