The Skippy Report

During this episode, my good friend Trey Clauss shares his story of growing up just outside of Buffalo, NY, and skiing at Kissingbridge.  Trey was so fortunate that he has understanding parents that they moved to a ski town just as young Trey was getting into skiing the bumps and competing, and where he was able to work at the hippest ski shop. Trey shares the history of The City Garage and the rationale and history of the shop's former owner and originator, Sean Lowes. The City Garage is a well known Telemark shop in Western New York that services Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ontario, and beyond. When looking for Tele gear show them some love and hit them up. Enjoy!

Meet Julia Larson in this episode of "The Women in Telemark Skiing" series. Julia hales from Alberta, Canada and is a hard charging Telemark Free Skier. She shares her backstory about getting into Telemark skiing and why she likes it so much, as well as how she is doing competing as a Telemark Free Skier competitor. Enjoy!

I talk with longtime friend and Telemark skier Cam Evanoff in this episode.  Cam shares his story of how skiing is in his DNA, yep, thanks to his parents. Cam tells us about his early days of skiing in Southern Ontario, Western New York and family ski trips and making his way to becoming a ski Coach for Milton Heights Race Club. He also shares how he discovered Telemark skiing by watching this crazy Canuck, and mutual friend Dave  Kilbourn, slamming slalom gates on his Telemark gear on week nights, and how he got into it. Cam now has his son and daughter Tele-skiing.

The cool story, in my humble opinion, is how Cam volunteers as a member of the Sled Dogs and Tremblant Jack Rabbits, who are two volunteer groups who prep and maintain the race courses when the Alpine World Cup Circuit comes to Canada. Enjoy!

Sara shares her backstory of Skating on the Bronx River as a very young girl, taking up snowboarding, playing on some super long skis, growing up at Mohawk Mountain Ski Area, in Connecticut. She also shares her story about moving out West, securing a job as a Land Surveyor and educated as a Geologist and how this profession allows her to be on skis many days a year as well as her introduction to Telemark skiing.  She also shares some of her experiences as a senior member of The Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue Team.  

Larissa shares her backstory of growing up in Switzerland and taking up skiing as a child and progressing through the racing scene and naturally taking up ski instructing as a young person to earn spending money. Larissa shares how and why she came to Canada where she started to dabble with hosting Telemark events which ultimately lead to what she is presently doing with Tailgate Tele, based out of Golden, British Columbia. We get to hear about the struggles and accomplishments of putting together a demo fleet of Telemark gear as well as the development of a unique athletic movement assessment and prescription programme based on Telemark skiing as the assessment tool and prescription delivery mode. Enjoy!

Kurt shares his backstory of growing up in Southern Michigan and going to College in the Upper Peninsula, and taking up skiing. He shares his story of becoming an Alpine Ski Instructor with The Professional Ski Instructors of America, {PSIA) and how he was introduced to Telemark Skiing. He quickly realized how much of a Telemark gear dessert he was in, just on the outskirts of Detroit, and what he chose to do about it. He chose to invest his own hard earned cash and slowly started to build a demo fleet under the name of Motor City Tele. Finally, Kurt shares his accomplishments and this years plans for Motor City Tele. Enjoy!

Per shares his story of growing up on a farm on the Southwest coast of Norway and Nordic skiing the fields as a young child, eventually learning to also alpine ski, and then to Telemark Skiing.  Per also shares his travel stories along with telemark racing. As Per gained more experience and knowledge he developed the TShark binding just as Rottefella was developing and bringing their NTN binding to market. Per's love of Telemark skiing continues with his own fleet of demo equipment, TShark, that he travels around Europe offering the Telemark experience to the Tele-curious.

9 months in the making, and finally Adrian Ball gets to share his story of meteoric climb from Telemark newbie to World Champion in just 5 short years here on the Skippy Report. Adrian also shares the commitment it takes to achieve this momentous goal, as well as sharing the story of getting his own boot innovation onto the World Racing scene. Enjoy!

Meet Serge Baranovsky owner of Rise of Tele, and some of the Rise of Tele crew, Molly and Brian Hitchens, in this episode.  Serge, Molly, and Brian each share their own stories about making their way into Telemark skiing and some of their adventures since taking up our sport.  Serge shares the story of why and how he started The Rise of Tele and the development of the crew that helps with groups activities.  One in particular activity is the festival they hold at Mission Ridge Ski Resort in Wenatchee, Washington. The Festival is called The Wenatchee Telemark Festival, or as I like "The WT Festival". Enjoy!

Meet Murray Sovereign, longtime Telemark Skier, avid outdoor enthusiast, and owner of Valhalla Pure Outfitters in this episode of The Skippy Report. Murray shares his backstory and his journey to becoming one of the premiere Telemark retailers in Canada.