If you are determined to try to learn telemarking, you need a qualified instructor. But the most important is first to get free-heel skiing equipment and to try the telemark turns after watching the others that can do it well. In general, you can use the same ski gear as in the other ski activities, but there are some elements that are more specific. Thus, in the beginning of your telemark learning your skis can be regular skis for alpine skiing, not necessary for telemark discipline. Nevertheless, the skis have to be relatively wide and not too long, as well as light and flexible to provide easy movements and turns. Regarding the boots, the most widely used in telemark skiing are the plastic boots. Important feature is that in this ski discipline the ski boot is not connected to the ski, so you need to find a combination of ski boots and bindings that allows you to raise freely your heel from the surface of the ski.

Technically, the telemark turn resembles the parallel turn, but in temarking the outside ski is the leading one, while you trail the inside ski. You can use your poles to indicate your turn for a left turn, place your left ski pole downhill and vice the versa to take direction to the right. Keep your hands in front of the body. When you begin to make the turn, lift the heel on the inside ski while keeping the outside ski a flat heel and thus shifting the inside ski backward. The weight is distributed mainly on the toe-part of the feet and the novices to the telemark skiing experience difficulties to lift the heel up of the inside ski, to put enough weight on the trailing ski and carve simultaneously with the inside ski. What is important to remember is to rotate your knees, hips and ankles for an easy maneuvre and to distribute evenly the weight on the upside edges of the skis. Advanced Telemark skiers take a position, turning downhill while linking turns, with straight upper part of the body to avoid too much turning. Keep in mind that you do not have a fixed heel, which means that you can easily go headfirst and fell in the snow if you come upon a hard terrain or thick powder.

FIS administers some Telemark Disciplines, among which are Telemark Classic, Telemark Sprint Classic and Telemark Giant Slalom. Telemark Classic competition features one jump, one 360o turn and finally one uphill run.

The skiers that take part in the Telemark Sprint Classic event should perform downhill skiing, afterwards a 360o turn and runs for about 200 meters, using the cross-country skiing's classical technique.

Telemark Giant Slalom resembles the Giant Slalom and includes the same techniques, except the fact that the Telemark Giant Slalom has an additional jump, judged by the jury on the basis of style and distance.