The Freeheel Life Podcast

Kevin Templin grew up moving around and skied a little bit before taking a job in the Carrbassat Valley where he worked at Sugar Loaf Ski Area in Maine. His brother had moved out to Alta, Utah and eventually convinced him to head out west where he scored a job at Alta Ski Area. During his stint there was when he brewed his first batch of beer with some Alta friends. They used to put it in an old m...

As we start heading out of summer and towards fall and winter, I wanted to give a message specifically to the beginner Telemark skiers out there.  I talk a little bit about my first experiences on Telemark equipment nearly 30 years ago and my tips for those just starting out.  Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on  Insta...

On Today's show I recap a quick trip to Norway last week where I visited the new Rottefella HQ & Holmenkollen Ski Museum.   Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on  Instagram , Facebook , and  Twitter   Telemark Skier Magazine on  Instagram ,  Twitter  and  YouTube Freeheel Life on  Instagram  and  Twitter Shop  The Freehe...

Today I'm joined by my good friend and Telemark legend Ty Dayberry. We chop it up about all things Telemark  related to tricks, park, urban, never-been-done moves, and more.  Ty himself brings a plethora of knowledge to the table when it comes to freestyle Telemark skiing, both in the terrain park, as well as urban and backcountry.  We spend the entire episode debriefing on the past two decades of...

Alex Johnson grew up in Salt Lake City, UT in a family full of Telemark skiers. Skiing was a way of life growing up and part of the regular family routine. Aside from moving around the mountains in the winter on skis, he's passionate about hockey and grew up playing that as well. Post high school he kept Telemark skiing and then graduated from Westminster College with a Finance degree. He found hi...

Darrell Finlayson has been a ski patroller for 28 consecutive seasons at Deer Valley in Utah, many of those years on Telemark gear. He's also a full-time bike patroller at Deer Valley during the summer.   He's originally from New York State where he grew up skiing and enjoying the outdoors. After college he picked up his first Ski Patrol job at Mount Snow, Vermont for a few seasons before heading...

Hayley "Shred" Smith is originally from the east coast. After years of visiting her older brother, who was attending college in Utah, she also decided to head out to the outdoor Mecca   herself after high school. She spent time working at the outdoor recreation center at the University of Utah, as well as in internship at the non-profit organization Ski Utah. This gave her various glimpses into th...

Art Burrows hails from the beautiful state of Colorado where he grew up on the front range near Golden. He started skiing from a young age with his family and by the age of 12 would even hitchhike to the resorts by himself to get some turns in. He was exposed to nordic-style backcountry touring some time in the early to mid-1970s which later led him into discovering the Telemark turn. By the late...

Christopher Ulm is originally from York Beach, Maine where he learned to alpine ski at places like Sunday River. Once high school was over he decided to pursue a degree at the University of Maine and also participate in a ski industry certificate program. It was during this time he developed an interest in the education side of skiing, which later led him to move to Alta, UT and get a job as an in...

This week FHL GM Taylor Johnson helps me dig into the mailbag to answer some questions. We tackle everything from "when should I upgrade my gear?" to reviewing customer's binding modification ideas.  Tune in the get the scoop! Follow Taylor Johnson: @teletay  Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on  Instagram , Facebook ,...

Danny Walton is originally from Cleveland, OH where he learned to love snow and ski. In the mid-1990s he made his way west to the beautiful ski resort of Sun Valley. It was here that he really began to focus his on-snow time to Telemark skiing and eventually took over running the Sun Valley Telemark event series.  During his time running Sun Valley Tele, Danny was also an ambassador for companies...

On this week's podcast I respond to a forum thread called UTN: Universal Telemark Norm along with some listener emails about last week's podcast. It's a continuation about the need for a single norm in Telemark and how that could benefit the market, culture, and more. READ THE THREAD: HERE Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  J...

In today's episode I follow up on a listener suggestion about a possible roadmap back to a single Telemark norm.  EPISODES TO REFERENCE:   #60 - What is Telemark skiing? | The Turn, The History, The Word #4 - 75mm VS. NTN Telemark Boots & Bindings #63 - Is 75mm Telemark Dead Response & Comments #116 - The Death of 75mm w/ Taylor Johnson Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList C...

This week Freeheel Life GM Taylor Johnson and I sit down to debrief on his adventure to the Telemark Only festival in Schiltorn, Switzerland. This trip was his third to the festival, so it was the perfect time to cover some of the travel hot tips for this festival and ski travel in general.  Follow Tay HERE Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeh...

Inspired by the philosophies and techniques of the 19th century Hudson River School of artists, Ian's artistic vision is one of revival. He works to restore the classical landscape movement with a modern insight on preservation ethics and reverence for wild spaces. Ian's goal is not to create a perfect likeness of wild places, rather to communicate the unique feeling of time and place. More often...

Sun Valley Tele is a loose collective of like-minded skiers keeping the freeheel faith alive in the historic telemark bastion of Sun Valley, Idaho. The current roster took the reigns from local tele personality Danny "Irie" Walton in 2011, with 8-10 "board members" keeping the good times rolling for the last 11 years, mostly via one obnoxious group text. Though details remain hazy, the "organizati...

Mike Russell grew up in the farmlands of Delaware, as an athletic kid who was introduced to the Outdoors through Boy Scouts. This exposure to the outdoors at a young age, eventually led him to move to Colorado to pursue big dreams of big mountain skiing. It was in Colorado that he took an instructional clinic and absolutely fell in love with the tele turn. Not only does Mike pursue ski goals for h...

Connie Marshall is originally from Ohio where she was first introduced to skiing. As a young adult she headed west to Utah where she landed a job in the ticket office at Alta Ski Area.   What she thought would be a couple of seasons in Utah's powder Mecca, turned into a 44-year career at the iconic ski area in Little Cottonwood Canyon. In the early 1990s she became Alta's first Marketing & PR Mana...

Ashley has been with Freeheel Life since day one and helped lay the foundation for the brand and retail shop that we have today. She is originally from Arizona and prior to working at FHL she had only skied once in her life. Although she isn't the one on the slopes as much as the rest of us, she's played an integral role in not only getting the business off the ground, but keeping it moving over t...

Today I'm joined by FHL GM Taylor Johnson to discuss the Freeheel Life Protector skis. We just dropped a fresh batch for pre-order on the website!  We go even more in-depth about FHL's commitment to manufacturing, what goes into our skis, and reviews from customers who skied on these during this past season. PRE-ORDER PROTECTORS HERE For reference you can find some past podcasts about the concept...

Nate Nordell is one of our great Freeheel Life employees. He just completed his 3rd year here at FHL as one of our lead sales people and go-to-guys for Used Telemark Gear. He has recently been promoted to our FHL Manufacturing Manager and will be heading up our product production over the summer which will include our Protector line of skis. Follow Nate: HERE Sign-up for the mailing list: https://...

In this episode I'm going to take you through the Freeheel Life ritual of The Smelly Kneepad. Where skis can't be over 70mm underfoot and must be 200+ cm in length. All bindings must be pre-G3 Targa i.e. 1997 or earlier. Leather boots only, but plastic cuffs are acceptable.  I also share some of my thoughts about the history of Telemark, why it's important, and why often times it's not always the...

Madi McKinstry   is former Telemark World Cup racer, Telemark Freeski competitor, & current Ski Patroller. She grew up skiing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado but now is a resident of the beautiful state of Montana, where she works and plays in the winter months. In the summers she is guiding on the river.   Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freehe...

This week I've got Taylor Johnson and Miles Shaffer on the show to wrap up Freeheel Life's 7th season. What a year it has been and we couldn't have done it with out all of you out there — THANK YOU!  Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on  Instagram  and  Twitter   Telemark Skier Magazine on  Instagram ,  Twitter  and  Yo...

This week I've got Taylor Johnson and Miles Shaffer on the show to wrap up Freeheel Life's 7th season. What a year it has been and we couldn't have done it with out all of you out there — THANK YOU!  Sign-up for the mailing list: https://bit.ly/FHLMailingList Connect with Josh and the Freeheel Life Family  Josh on  Instagram  and  Twitter   Telemark Skier Magazine on  Instagram ,  Twitter  and  Yo...