John Olav is our newest team member from the birthplace of our sport, Norway. Sondre Norheim would be blown away by what this dude can do in the park.
Where are you from, when did you begin skiing and telemarking, and where do you ski most now?
I´m from Karmøy, Norway and started telemark skiing when I was 16 years old. The last couple of seasons I have lived in Trondheim and have mostly skied Vassfjellet.
What do you love about telemarking?
My love for telemark skiing is hard to explain. Telemark skiing just makes me feel good about myself, and that is more than a good reason for me to spend as much time on my skis as possible. .
What do you like about our bindings?
Here's what I love about the 22 Designs Outlaw: the flex and how easy it is to adjust and switch to a softer/stiffer setting is amazing. The flex is important for me as a park skier. I want the binding to be stiff for switch landings, but I also want it to be soft enough for telemark specific grabs and slides. The Outlaw binding provides a sweet combination of both stability in switch landings and the flexibility for tele grabs and slides.
When I´m skiing in the park I often hike rails to learn new tricks. The step-in function on the Outlaw is a nice touch as it saves me time and energy when taking my skis on and off.
What do you like to do for fun when you’re not skiing?
Besides skiing I like skateboarding, surfing, climbing, fishing, and buying cool stones for my stone collection (mainly Ethiopian opals).
Accomplishments, awards, and sponsors:
I have not competed, mostly because there are no competitions for telemark skiers in the park. What I do is to show the world what is possible on freestyle telemark skis. I guess my biggest accomplishments are getting publicity in newspapers, skiing magazines and other media.