Telemarked for Success

When Rob Steinmetz completed his run on Capitol Peak on April 20, 2022, he accomplished something only a few dozen people have ever done: notching ski descents on all 58 of Colorado’s named 14ers. On top of that, he joined an even more exclusive club—a club of one, becoming the only telemark skier to achieve the feat.

The odyssey took him nearly 17 years to complete. A few times a year, on average, he’d make the long trek up a 14er early in the morning to prepare for the descent. He completed exactly half of the journeys without a partner. “Spring ski mountaineering in Colorado requires a very early start, and ideally, you get to take in the sunrise up high above tree line or on the summit,” says Steinmetz, a professional defense attorney with McConnell Van Pelt. “I am most present in the moment when taking in a sunrise alone on a Colorado mountain after the physical effort to get there, and then reaping the reward of skiing down.”

Just as in law, there was a learning curve. “When I started out ski mountaineering two decades ago, I was probably occasionally out a bit too far over my skis,” he says. “But by the end of the project, I had acquired the necessary skills to handle the most difficult challenges Colorado could throw at me.”

In telemark skiing, a skier’s heels are free to lift off their skis, allowing for the discipline’s trademark kneeling technique. “With skill, tele skiing is also a fantastic means of navigating steep, technical descents, as the movements one can make without a locked-down heel are at the same time natural and precise,” Steinmetz says. “Nothing can beat the floating feeling of tele skiing through powder—it’s like flying.”