Garry Almond

• CANSI Telemark Instructor Level I
• President: Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructors

I was introduced to Telemark skiing while living in Ottawa but became seriously engaged in the sport when I moved to Toronto and discovered that I needed something more to make skiing interesting here. I enjoy the challenge of skiing Telemark with grace and style – something that I don’t always achieve, but goals that I continuously strive for!

It’s exciting to observe the various styles of tele skiing. Through racing, I have learned about the technique required for skiing gates and performing quick turns. As tele becomes second nature to me, I find that I naturally drop into the tele stance when faced with difficult circumstances – such as jumping into a steep run off a cornice! Tele is very graceful, and it takes surprisingly little energy to maintain the continuous movement that it requires.

My teaching style is very supportive and focused on the individual’s needs. I know how difficult it can be to learn challenging sports like tele skiing, white-water canoeing, snow boarding and mountain biking, so I make sure that my students feel comfortable and accomplish progressive goals at their pace. Each one of us comes from a different background (alpine, snowboarding, X-C skiing or no skiing at all), so I find it is important to teach from that starting point, and build confidence and technical proficiency with drills and lots of on-snow practise.