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Local telemark skier up for the competition

Video premier to raise money for competitions WHAT: Unparalleled II Free World WHERE : Maurice Young Millennium Place WHEN: Dec. 27, 7 and 9 p.m.

Video premier to raise money for competitions

WHAT:

Unparalleled II Free World

WHERE

: Maurice Young Millennium Place

WHEN:

Dec. 27, 7 and 9 p.m.

Telemarking has been on the fringe of winter sports ever since people started locking their heels down and riding chairlifts – different strokes for slightly different folks who prefer the backcountry to the ski resorts.

A handful of freewheeling, freeheeling telemark enthusiasts, taking a page from the book of snowboarding and new school skiing, is looking to bring telemarking into the mainstream. They enter big mountain freeski competitions, slopestyle events, skier crosses, even halfpipes, showing everybody that telemarkers can truly do it all.

One of those new school telemarkers is Steve ‘Crazy’ Leeder, who moved to Whistler from Kamloops this year to be closer to the competitions. Until he tried telemarking three years ago he was an avid snowboarder. Now he finds snowboarding "boring."

"I just wanted to try something new," says Leeder, 23. "From snowboarding, it’s pretty easy to make the switch to tele’s. The stances are pretty close. I watched a couple of people to see what it was supposed to look like, and pushed myself to make it happen."

He started competing soon afterwards, entering big mountain freeski events. Last year was his first real competitive season, starting with the U.S. Freeski Open in Vail. As he travelled, he branched out into other events.

"I was the only guy on tele skis," he says. "At a competition at Snowbird, there was another girl, but I’m usually the only one. I get a lot of funny looks, freak a lot of people out.

"There’s not too many guys jibbing on tele’s at a high level, maybe six of us or so. We’d just like to see it go the same way alpine skiing is with the new school tricks. We want to see the sport keep growing, keep getting better, keep getting sicker. Cooler lines in big mountain skiing, bigger drops, bigger tricks at competitions.

"We can’t throw ourselves like (new school skiers Rex Thomas or Tanner Hall) yet, but we can keep up and do it with a lot of style."

Leeder, and other telemark skiers who have latched onto the idea of fat powder skis, twin tips, and trips through the terrain park, are featured in Unparalled II: Free World , a sequel to the last year’s Unparalleled – the first all-telemark movie to show the next generation of skiers.

The goal of the movie is to show off the cutting edge of telemark skiing, introduce the athletes, and to dismiss the popular misconception of what it means to freeheel.

"There used to be the old granola stereotype, the telemarker with the skinny skis heading off into the backcountry. That’s gone by the wayside. We’re skiing fat skis in deep powder, we’re going big, and we’re spending time in the terrain park," says Leeder.

The proceeds from the Unparalleled II: Free World premier at Maurice Young Millennium Place on Dec. 27, will go towards Leeder’s entry fees and travelling costs for the competitive season. He has a full list of events to attend, starting with the Canadian Freeski Nationals in Whistler. If he does well, he qualifies for dozens of other contests.

Admission to the premier, which is sponsored by Leeder’s employer Escape Route, is $8. There will be shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Escape Route, as well as Leeder’s sponsors will be donating prizes and items for a silent auction.

Unparalled II

includes footage from Alaska, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Canada. Some of the scenes are from Whistler and feature the work of local videographers including M.C. Bourgie. While Leeder is the only Whistler local in the movie, the Canadian Telemark Team will also have a presence at the premier.

"It was fun shooting a movie," says Leeder. "You get your lift ticket paid for, and the best lines are reserved for you. There’s a whole crew of people there to make you look good, and you push yourself to do the best job you can, hold the trick a little longer, go a little bigger."

During the course of his competitive season, where he expects to be on the road with his RV one week of every month, Leeder will be making footage for Unparalleled III , plus some more mainstream production companies that have taken notice of Unparalleled’s success.

For Leeder, he hopes the videos will turn on a younger generation to telemark skiing.

"Most of the people you meet are over 30, there’s not too many people my age out there doing it," he says.

"Whistler’s a little different. There are a few kids out there on tele’s, and it’s great to see. If I can, I want to inspire more people and more kids especially to give the sport a try and see for themselves why people are making the switch."

While the sport is definitely growing, says Leeder, it should be growing faster.

In the meantime, he’s skiing every day and living in his RV. If anyone has a driveway and an electrical hookup for rent, he’d like to hear from you.

His Web site is www.stevecrazy.com.