A Steadfast Free-Heel Voice Has Gone Quiet

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There is someone missing in the world of telemark skiing. And you probably know who they are if you pay any attention to the comings and goings of this little subculture. But even if you don’t know of them, you have undoubtedly felt their influence via osmosis if you are a telemark skier of any sort.

This one figure has broadcast more on free-heel skiing than nearly anyone else over the last twenty-some years, proclaiming it their duty to preserve, protect, and promote the sport. Their role in telemark retail has stood unmatched, offering more services, products, and visibility to the sport than any other entity. And they have played a gigantic role in free-heel content over the course of decades in film, print, and podcast, spreading their vision of telemark with consummate gusto. But now they are missing in action–having silently and mysteriously faded away from visibility.

Telemark is missing Josh Madsen.

For those who may not know, Josh Madsen’s telemark pedigree runs deep. As a teen in the early 90s, Madsen became smitten by free-heel skiing, discovering telemark on his dad’s old gear, leathers and all, all the while Steve Barnett’s Cross-Country Downhill sat folded in his back pocket. From instructor to sponsored tele skier, he eventually shifted into a feature athlete and filmmaker role during the rise of the newschooler telemark scene that rose as the sport’s second wave crested in the early 2000s. He then became editor of the sport’s leading print outlet, Telemark Skier Magazine, then owned by Backcountry parent Height of Land Publishing . Madsen thus became a bridge between telemark worlds old and new, growing into an ever important part of the modern telemark discourse.

Madsen eventually came to own Telemark Skier , but his biggest impact would come later, as the owner of Freeheel Life , the telemark-specific ski shop he founded in Salt Lake City in 2014.

From a pulpit built from bricks like being Scarpa’s leading telemark boot retailer the world over, Madsen augmented his store-front presence with a robust content arm, including multitudes of videos on his YouTube channel –from how-to’s to gear reviews–to his Freeheel Life Podcast , looked forward to each Monday by the free-heel throngs for over four years. It took the deepest of dives into telemark during its nearly contiguous run, adding to Madsen’s standing as the leading voice in telemark. Long interviews of historical telemark luminaries–like Russell Rainey and Art Burrows–joined in-depth discussions on gear philosophy and industry ethos. While the podcast was indelibly linked to his retail apparatus, it nonetheless had a breadth and depth that few other avenues in telemark have approached before or since.

But things changed in November of 2023. Madsen released a controversial podcast entitled “ Three Top Reasons Telemark Skiing Struggles To Grow ,” resulting in pointed reactions. In the episode, Madsen dove into issues he felt were counterproductive to telemark’s growth, including how manufactures interact with retailers and the scope of newschooler telemark’s treatment of free-heel history. In the process Madsen criticized three widely known entities in telemark. Though not mentioned by name, most anyone familiar with the scene could easily discern who he was taking to task.

Many stood by Madsen, proclaiming his right to call a spade a spade. But a large subset regarded his comments as self-serving and betraying, with some calling Madsen’s behavior out as hypercritical gatekeeping. The small world of telemark social media became embroiled in this fight. Madsen even took to responding to the melee and continued his podcast for a few more weeks before quietly fading from view. He disappeared from social media and YouTube as the online ruckus reached immature and trolling levels on all sides, even including the creation of an anonymous Instagram account whose only role was to bash Madsen.

The Freeheel Life location has since been found listed for lease on a real estate website without explanation, leaving the telemark world guessing at what Madsen’s next move may be.

This episode has wrought confusion for some, sadness for Madsen’s supporters, while some of the new guard feels he finally received his comeuppance, allowing for new leadership in the sport to emerge.

But regardless of anyone’s personal feelings regarding Madsen, one thing has become brutally clear in his absence: telemark misses him.

No other figure in free-heel skiing kept the conversation flowing as much as Madsen has, and no one in telemark has been so central to its content and dialog, which has sputtered since his departure. And this vacuum has yet to be filled in any meaningful way. While spring and summer may be times for shifting into other activities and mindsets, Madsen’s stalwart presence – previously year-round and always telemark-only–leaves the sport at a quiet crossroads this June.

Telemark remains bigger than any one individual, or any one entity. But what this absence brings to light is that in the small, insular, passionate world of free-heel skiing, losing one big voice, one important retailer, or even a single manufacturer has an outsized impact on this little sport we all adore.

As always, telemark will move on. It always does and always will. It is an endeavor not beholden to any fad nor style, keeping the flame ever alive for the right reasons. And its ethos of fierce independence renders the notion of singular leadership superfluous.

But the leading voices in telemark’s past–from Sondre Norheim, to Rick Borkovec, to Allan Bard and beyond–live on. And however you may feel about him, Madsen’s will, too–whether he emerges from hiatus or not.

And the discussion about telemark will certainly be more interesting if and when he indeed returns to the fold.