When in Norge, do as the nordmanns do

Well, I finally got to use my rented cross-country skis today! I went with my friends Lixian and Mila, and man, was it ever a trial by fire!

I have been cross-country skiing before, but certainly not in the last 10 years, possibly not in the last 15. Where I went skiing before was peaceful and devoid of people. Oslo? Not so much. At least, not on a Sunday afternoon. Holy shit, do the Norwegians love them some skiing! The trails at the north of the city were crowded with people, and went down and up and sometimes CURVED on the way down and it was exhausting!

So, knowing this, did we go for an hour or two? No, we went out for 6 hours, from which we only took a 1 hour break at a chalet along the way. We skied almost SIXTEEN KILOMETRES. Remember, this was essentially my and Mila's first time out! (I think Lixian over-estimated our abilities a bit since she's already gone a few times this year...)

I did really enjoy myself, but man was it difficult and frustrating at times. Allow me to make two lists, first of the things that sucked, then of the things that were great.

Things that sucked:

• Well, me. At cross-country skiing. This is fine though, cuz it was my first time out in a long time
• My gloves -- I had snowboarding gloves which kept my hands warm but aren't really good for gripping ski poles
• Too many other people -- I really have no problem making an ass of myself, but going down a steep hill I was more concerned about crashing into complete strangers. This meant waiting til the coast was clear, but with the number of people around that sometimes took several minutes. Also, it's not a very relaxing trip through nature when you're surrounded by others and terrified of hurting them
• Glasses -- I was producing so much heat that my glasses kept fogging up in the cold making it hard to see. This didn't help when I was already frustrated at falling over so much
• Soreness -- I honestly don't know if I will be able to MOVE tomorrow
• Getting passed by 7 year olds -- seriously, there were kids flying by us who were amazing! So disheartening! But maybe it's like learning a language, it's easier if you start at an early age
  
• Brand new skis -- you think it would be a good thing that my rented skis were brand new (still had the price tag on them!) but this meant that they weren't waxed properly and I sure don't know how to wax skis! I didn't apply enough in front of the foot area which meant I kept sliding backwards on hills for the first half of the trip, even when I did the V-walk thing
• Lack of food -- I woke up late so I only had a bowl of cereal before leaving. That is not enough food for a 16km ski!
  

Things that were awesome:

• Flat skiing with no people -- we did find a trail for a little while that was mostly flat with no one else around and that was great. We got into the rhythm and really enjoyed the view.
• Long underwear + Snow pants -- my mom got me long underwear for christmas (both top and bottom) and it was perfect! I wore my snow pants over my legs and rain jacket over top and it kept me warm without being too bulky
• Exercise -- WE SKIED SIXTEEN KILOMETRES! I used muscles I didn't know existed. That's probably healthy for me (what's probably not so good is the double whopper with cheese I had for supper immediately afterwards!)
• Going downhill -- when the way was clear, going down the hills was lots of fun! It didn't matter if I wiped out and sometimes I actually managed to stay vertical!
• Cute Norwegian girls -- there were lots of them out! But there was another group of 2 girls and a guy who sucked as much as we did, so we kept running into them along the way. I chatted with one of them at the chalet where we took a break, but lost track of them after that :(
• Faceplants -- yes, believe it or not, getting a face full of snow bank was kind of fun (after faceplant number six I stopped counting). I was frightened off by stories from Camilla and my mother of breaking their tailbones by falling backwards so I always made sure to go forwards. There was lots of snow and it was very fluffy so it didn't hurt very much. And once people knew I was ok they seemed to laugh along with me
  

I've got these skis until May, so hopefully I will get many more opportunities to practice! Although next time I think I will try somewhere that is more remote and level.

I end with some photos that Mila took:


Us in the chalet (lens got a little bit foggy!)

What I looked like for most of the day.