Lift-assisted skiing has very specific fitness demands. The first is eccentric leg strength. In Alpine and Telemark skiing, gravity “bounces” you down the hill. From a strength perspective, your legs first fight gravity from being forced into the mountain, and then pop up, out of the hole. This workout trains both eccentric and concentric strength. Be careful, the athlete in the video below, Pip Hunt is a pro skier and hammers through full leg blasters. Start slowly and learn the movements. If this workout gets too easy, you can add a 10 or 20 lb dumbell in each hand.

Mini Leg Blaster

10x Air Squats

5x In-Place Lunges (5x each leg, 10x total)

5x Jumping Lunges (5x each leg, 10x total)

5x Jump Squats

Repeat 5 times with 30 second rest between sets

Full Leg Blaster

20x Air Squats

10x In-Place Lunges (10x each leg, 20x total)

10x Jumping Lunges (10x each leg, 20x total)

10x Jump Squats

Repeat 5 times with 30 second rest between sets

Work up to 5x Full Leg Blasters, with 30 seconds rest between each effort for your dry land ski training. Be careful, Leg Blasters train eccentric leg strength and will make you sore, so don’t start at the end. Instead, perform Leg Blasters 3x/week, with at least a day’s rest between training sessions, for the 4 weeks before the season starts. This means 12 total training sessions.

 

This program consists of five, 3 hour sessions for intermediate telemark skiers. The series features expert coaching, proven instructional tips, and video analysis in a positive mutually supportive learning environment, along with lots of fun skiing!  Space is limited, so please sign up early for this popular program.

Participants should be able to comfortably ski groomed blue runs on telemark skis using either parallel or telemark turns. Sessions are held on Fridays and Sundays (see schedule below).

Cost: 5 session season-long workshop is $425 plus tax payable to Mammoth Mountain by or before your first session.

Here are the proposed Telemark Workshops dates for this Winter at Mammoth.

Jan 10 and 12

Jan 31 and Feb 2

Feb 28 and Mar 1

Mar 13 and 15

Mar 27 and 29

Location: All groups meet in front of the Mammoth Community Foundation building at Main Lodge next to the Broadway Express lift (Chair 1) at 9 AM.

While it is recommended that participants choose one group, missed sessions can be made up on any scheduled day.

To sign up: Contact Chris directly at (760) 914-2657 or send an email to: reesoski@gmail.com