Rottefella has signed an agreement with Backcountry Access Inc. to become the exclusive distributor of Rottefella telemark and Naxo alpine touring bindings in North America. BCA will begin distributing the products in 2007-2008, starting at the 2007 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City, where BCA will launch Rottefella’s much-anticipated New Telemark Norm.

“The introduction of NTN and the increased interest for free-heel skiing in North America made it necessary to focus our telemark distribution on one company,” said Rottefella CEO Ulf Bjerknes. “We also see the need to more clearly divide our distribution between telemark and cross-country skiing.”

Rottefella will continue to use Rossignol, Alpina Sports and Garmont for distribution of their cross-country (NNN) products, with Fischer also coming on line in 2007.

BCA will take over distribution of all 75mm and NTN telemark products as well as Naxo, which BCA has been distributing for Swiss manufacturer Naxo AG since 2003. Rottefella acquired a majority interest in Naxo AG in April 2006.

“Reaching an agreement with BCA seems to be a perfect match,” said Bjerknes. “Their genuine dedication to backcountry products and education made them an obvious choice. We feel that their highly qualified organization of technical reps and their well-matched product line will benefit both companies in North America.”

“We’re extremely excited to extend our product line into telemarking,” said BCA Vice President Bruce Edgerly. “Especially the introduction of Rottefella’s NTN.” He said the company looks forward to meeting the same exciting challenges it faced eight years ago when BCA revolutionized the transceiver market with digital technology. “Our approach has always been to market through education rather than hard-selling. This approach is ideal for the introduction of a revolutionary new telemarking standard.”