In May 2008 Telemarkzone is visiting Svalbard, the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic. One goal is to learn about the outcomes of global change to the nature and the daily life on Svalbard and to communicate the findings in visual and spoken impressions. Climate change but also socioeconomic changes influence the way people live in the Arctic. Tourism for example is in the increase leading to opportunities for the local economy but also to problems with the fragile environment. One focus of our trip is low-impact tourism. We assume to test opportunities for non-motorized access to ski touring sites. We will approach hot spots of ski touring by dog sleds, sailing boats and with kites. Svalbard is prone to growing tourist demand with motor scooters polluting the air and the landscape more than necessary for local life. We partner with Vilmarkssenter, the biggest dog sledding company in Longyearbyen. Stay tuned fo stunning pictures and reports.

Telemarkzone is partner of the new ski company Grown Skis designing and producing high tech eco freeride skis. Learn more about these beautiful skis at www.grownskis.com .

Telemarkzone presented the results and recommendations of the UNDP/WWF Ski for Nature expediton to Kamchatka at the Global Ecotourism Conference in Oslo. The Holmenkollen was the venue of the three days conference. More info here and on the website of the conference.

These days the Telemarkzone Team was skiing in the High Sierra of California. The meeting is about finishing the first house of the Swall Meadows Integrative Design Project (SMID), a project in designing a demonstration "work and play" retreat in the high desert of California. Telemarkzone is part of this housing project being used to train groups of the concept of sustainable development.

77 pictures are now online from the Zone Iceland and our expedition "From Sea to Sky" from 2001. "Zones" -> Iceland.

Together with Ame Skis from France, we designed skis with a beautiful wooden veneer - natures beauty combined with high tech. See more.

The first pictures and the new film trailer from the successfull "ski for nature" trip to Kamchatka in May 2006 are online. Visit the "Zone" Kamchatka to dive into a fascinating landscape with very friendly people of a modern Russian society.

The Telemarkzone website is being relaunched in 2006. Parts of the site may not work perfectly. New zones are coming up - expect Iceland, Norway, the Black Forest and Bavaria.