Summit County Citizens Voice

Drew Hauser carves a powerful tele arc around a gate at a race in Idaho a few seasons ago. PHOTO COURTESY TORY HAUSER. Click on the image to see a series of tele racing photos from the 2009 World Championships.

Classic, GS races set for Feb. 25 -28 at Keystone, as Tory Hauser helps bring telemark ski racing full circle in Summit County; a few volunteers still needed for top-level free-heel comp

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — For the the first time ever, World Cup-level telemark racing is coming to Summit County, as free-heelers on the tour swing through Keystone Feb. 25-28, with four races on the schedule.

After the opening ceremony Wednesday at the Silverthorne Pavilion (6 p.m.) racers from around the world will compete in Classic tele races on the Go Devil trail, with Giant Slalom races set for Saturday and Sunday at the same venue.

Thirty five racers from Europe and Japan will join 20 American racers, most of them members of the U.S. National Team. Five U.S. racers competed in Norway last month, where 17-year-old Lorin Paley of Steamboat Springs had a third place podium finish in the classic event in Bjorli, Norway. Lorin is the first US racer to stand on the podium at this level of racing since 2003.

“She will be a racer to watch during these races in her home state,” said race organizer Tory Hauser.

Since telemark racing is not Olympic event, the World Cup races are the top level of competition for the racers dedicated to this sport.

Silverthorne is the host town for the event and the home of Drew Hauser, who was crowned junior world champion last season. Hauser is looking forward to competing on his home mountain, where he’s trained since he was in sixth grade.

“It should be fun,” said Hauser, now a student at the University of Nevada in Reno. “All these racers are from ski towns, too. It’s going to be nice to show them my home town.”

He said he knows some of the women racers are going to enjoy visiting the factory outlets in Silverthorne during their stay in Summit County.

“I know those girls love to shop,” he said.

As a junior at UNR, Hauser said he hasn’t been training as much this year, but he’s still been making turns. Sugar Bowl Ski Area and Vail Resorts are among his sponsors.

“All that powder skiing makes me happy,” he said, referring to some of the ski days he’s enjoyed at Sugar Bowl this season.

For Drew’s dad, the World Cup races at Keystone will help bring the circle of telemark racing full circle in Summit County. Tory Hauser was one of the early Colorado revivalists of the time-honored Norwegian free-heel technique and was the president of the original Summit Series telemark races that eventually led to an international renaissance of tele racing.

A fun story on the Friends of Berthoud Pass web site features some info on early tele skiing in Colorado.

Read bit more on the modern revival of telemark skiing (not just racing) here on the TelemarkTribe web site.

Hauser said so much time has passed since then that most of the racers on the circuit today don’t realize that modern tele racing grew in part from Summit County roots. The Keystone races will provide a chance for the current generation to reconnect with that heritage.

“That was the first tele race series ever in the world,” Hauser said.

Modern tele racing includes several events that combine elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing. The GS races feature gates set similar to an Alpine race course but include a Nordic-style jump in the middle of the run Racers have to reach a minimum distance or they’ll have penalty points added to their results.

The classic race also features a GS section, combined with a 360-degree banked turn called a reipeløkke (pronounced rap-a-loosh-a, or rap for short), and then a grueling nordic skate section. At Keystone, the reipeløkke will be located near the bottom of the course, with great viewing from the Mountain House base area, Hauser said.

There are a surprising number of YouTube tele racing videos here.

Hauser said he’s still looking for a few volunteers for the course on Thursday. He can be contacted at tory@ustsa.org.

More info on the U.S. Telemark Ski Association is online here.

Drew Hauser on the top podium spot, crowned as the 2009 Junior Telemark World Champion. PHOTO COURTESY TORY HAUSER.

2009 Junior Telemark World Champion Drew Hauser in fine form rounding a gate in this photo by Tory Hauser.

Filed under: Keystone, Ski Resorts, skiing and riding Tagged: | Keystone, ski racing, skiing and riding, Summit County skiing, Summit County telemark skiing, telemark skiing, Telemark World Cup races