Tele Ned, The Pied Piper of Telemark
Our family first experienced Tele Ned and his traveling set of children’s sized Telmark boots and skis when he visited Whitefish Montana to work at a World Cup Telemark Race. My son wanted to try telemark skiing like his older brother, but we could not find gear to fit. Our local instructor knew Ned Ryerson, known as Tele-Ned, and was able to borrow boots and skis from Ned’s hotel room, while Ned was working the race. We didn’t get to meet Ned then, but he got our son started on his Telemark adventure.
Several years later, we did meet Ned when we were in Colorado for the US National Championships in Steamboat Springs. Again, he arrived with child sized gear including orange boots by Garmont that he called tele-dactiles. By the end of the races, he had a herd of young children experiencing the telemark gear that was just their size.