Although by stemming you can make either up or downhill turns with perfect ease either on a hard icy surface or in shallow loose snow, you will find it very difficult, if not impossible, to make a stemming turn in loose snow of more than a certain depth or density—unless you drag yourself round with the stick. By means of the Telemark swing, however, you can easily make turns in any sort of loose snow, and can do so on any slope, no matter how steep it may be.
If you can already both run and stem in the Telemark position, with either foot leading, you will find it a very simple matter to learn the swing. In fact you may be said to have learnt it after a fashion, for to stop by Telemark stemming is to make a clumsy Telemark uphill turn. For practising this swing, find a moderate slope where the snow is soft and, for choice, deep or dense enough to make a stemming turn difficult.
Uphill Turn to the Left.—Run at a gentle gradient across the slope with the hill on your left and the weight on the lower (right) foot, not, however, in the normal position, with the left foot advanced, but in the Telemark position, with the right foot leading.
Fig. 36.—Uphill Telemark swings to left (a from a traversing, b from a direct descent).
The blackened parts are those which should be weighted.
The left ski should then be so far back that its bend is level with the right ankle, the left heel should be raised, and the left leg perfectly relaxed, with the knee nearly touching the ski. The right knee should be perpendicularly over the foot, and both knees be pressed inwards. This is only preparatory, and you should, in this position, be able to run directly across the slope at whatever gradient you choose.
As soon as you are fairly under weigh, make the swing as follows: