Canadian national telemark skier Shane Landreville has finished his first full season of world cup racing. While he might not have had the season he wanted, his last race on BC’s Silver Star Mountain has more than made up for his disappointments.
“It’s bittersweet,” said the 22-year-old Lund resident.
Telemark, also known as “free-heel” skiing, is a hybrid between downhill alpine and cross-country Nordic skiing. Telemark bindings, attached to wide alpine skis, connect the toe of the ski boot to the ski but allow the heel to come up. Because the heel is free, it allows the skier to go into a lunge position in order to turn.
Landreville, who grew up alpine skiing in Fernie, BC, started telemark skiing as a teenager and fell in love with the sport. He is captain and one of four elite level telemark skiers on Telemark Team Canada. When he is not skiing he is organizing skiing events in his role as president of BC Telemark Ski, and board member of Telemark Canada, the governing bodies for telemark skiing and racing in the province and country.
He went into the season hoping to finish in the top 10 in the world, but hit some rough patches.
The World Cup circuit took him through France, Norway, Slovenia, Austria and to Spain for the championship.
Only two of four Canadian racers, Landreville and 19-year old Camile Waechter from Montreal, participated in circuit events this year in Europe. Each year, World Cup events sanctioned by International Ski Federation (FIS) are organized throughout Europe and the United States.
This year Landreville based himself out of the southern German town of Oberstdorf, a snow sports haven in the Bavarian Alps, to train with the top-rated German team.
“The last three years they have just dominated the World Cup,” he said.
He lived with them, skied their training courses and tried to pick up as much as he possibly could. By the start of the season in January, his practice times were fast enough that he was keeping up with his hosts.
“It’s motivating to know the more I do this the better I get,” he said.
However, raised expectations, problems with his equipment and skiing unfamiliar mountains on the circuit all took their toll. He finished the season 26th in the world according to FIS standings.
He raced Chamonix, France this year, a familiar mountain from his past. “I was trying to pull myself together after a difficult first race series but finished disappointed again,” he said. “I was very excited for the classic, nice course, good show and a jump I’ve been practicing for two days. I skied well, but did not race well. I made many mistakes which took a few gates to recover. Fortunately, I skated well and finished in the top 30.”
It was, however, a better result than the last time he skied the mountain. In March 2012 he broke his ankle after his ski caught a gate on the giant slalom course and ended his season. He spent the next six months trying to recover from the injury and maintain his fitness for the coming season.
Telemark skiing is less well known as a competitive sport in North America than Europe where it enjoys wide popularity.
Landreville said that only about 100 skiers participate in the annual Whistler Mountain Telemark Festival, but in Austria he witnessed over 1,000 people at a season opening festival.
“You see many people 40 and over doing it,” he said. “It’s less popular with the youth right now because they don’t know about it. When they see the older guys doing it, they think it’s not cool.”
The story is the same at the elite level in Canada, where because telemark skiing is less well known and a smaller discipline than alpine, it does not receive the same levels of support from Canadian Snowsports Association, the national organization to develop elite amateur skiers and snowboarders.
Because of this, racers have difficulty finding sponsors to help pay the costs of travelling, equipment and race fees, and race organizers have more difficulty securing hill space.
Last season Landreville spent over $22,000 in expenses. He spends his summers working to save money to pay his costs.
He has been returning to Lund for the past four years. “I came up to visit my dad,” he explained, “then I decided to come back the following year. I found a job with Terracentric [Coastal] Adventures and I’ve been coming back every summer since.” He teaches team building and outdoor education to students and takes adventure seekers on sea kayak trips.
He said that he also hopes changes to telemark races will make the sport more interesting for the audience and attract more attention from potential sponsors.
“We’re developing a program that supports racers in Canada,” he said, “but we still don’t have any money. Racers are still paying for everything themselves.”
Landreville might have been hindered by his equipment this season. At Chamonix he raced in a pair of ski boots he borrowed from his German friend because his were broken at the time. “It’s tough to buy new boots when you’re strapped for cash,” he said.
Landreville is particularly excited about the creation of a parallel race where racers compete head to head through a course of giant slalom gates, over a one-metre jump, through more gates, into a 360-degree roundabout and then flat out cross-country-style “skating” to the finish line.
“People want to see action and traditionally we didn’t have that,” he said, “but jumps are getting bigger and courses faster. It’s pretty cool to watch.”
World Cup disappointments aside, Landreville won his last race of the season. While it wasn’t on the World Cup circuit, for Landreville victory was something far sweeter—to win big at home.
Silver Star Mountain, near Vernon, BC, hosted its Springloaded Telemark Festival recently which also doubled as the Canadian National Telemark Championships. As an FIS-sanctioned event it attracted competitors from four countries.
“We had an impressive field of competitors in both race disciplines this year,” said Guy Paulsen, Silver Star Nordic manager. “The annual two-day event saw telemark racers from as far away as Colorado making the trip to race in both the [Giant Slalom] and Sprint Classic disciplines.”
Landreville claimed the Sprint Classic title with a two-run combined time of 1:22:96.
“When I’m in the start gate I want to go all out and get to the bottom as fast as I can,” he said. “The aggression is there, but the overall atmosphere is a little more relaxed...mentally more forgiving...I think that contributed to my success.”
Silver Star Mountain, with its extensive Nordic skiing facilities, has become his home mountain and a centre for telemark skiing in the province.
Landreville attributes his win to more than just having home mountain advantage though. “I skied the best I have all season,” he said. “I’ve done the whole world cup circuit this year, trained full-time and invested myself. There was quite a gap between my time and the others. I think that’s experience.”
