Off-track in Norway
We both come from a hill walking background and were converts to cross-country skiing three years ago. We had been down hill skiing once before, about 25 years ago, but skiing friends had been trying to persuade us to take it up again. Our anxiety was the risk of an injury that could compromise our other outdoor pursuits. However, after a few google searches we came across cross-country skiing and for our first trip set off to Venabu (courtesy of Headwater) with two of our children. We had a great time and by the end of the week knew we wanted to do more. We also had an intriguing glimpse of marked, but uncut, tracks heading out into the Rondane National Park.
Last year we went back independently to Gala over New Year and started to extend our range with the help of some tuition in Norway. We had planned a second trip but this had to be cancelled as Peter was not fit. Over the summer we devoured the ski brochures and came across XCuk who run an introduction to off-track skiing. It was apparent that this company would take us places where no sane, conventional cross-country skier would go. So this year we organised our first track-skiing trip to Sjusjøen in January, then the introduction to off-track skiing towards the end of March.
In the meantime we had come across the Manchester Cross Country Ski Club, again through one of the google searches. We made inquiries and turned up one Saturday morning at the cycleway to be inducted by Ros. We were duly kitted out and Ralph was lumbered with 2 more novices. He coped in his usual style and managed to get us upright and moving forwards on the roller skis remarkably quickly. We also had a go at Telemark skiing at Chill Factore, but that is still very much work in progress.
The first trip of the year to Sjusjøen went much better than last year’s venture and we were able to increase our range with some confidence. We were both now keen to experience the off-track. After a Sunday evening at Chill Factore, polishing our parallel turns, we headed back to Norway.
The trip leader, Raymond Simpson, has been skiing for 30 odd years all over Europe and North America and can do a mean Telemark turn, even on the relatively skinny touring skis. But for the 5 beginners who turned up, the set up at Nordsetter was ideal. The hotel is small, comfortable and family-run. It has its own small ski slope and drag lift attached. The lift came into its own each morning when we had a preliminary “technical” session, trying to get us used to the slightly different techniques, before heading out into the hills on the edge of the Rondane. The main skill that we needed to pick up was equal weighting of the skis in the turns on the soft snow. It challenged both those of us from a track skiing background and the downhill experts. The skis themselves were a little wider than the track skis that we had been used to but considerably thinner and longer than the Telemark variety. Even Raymond had some spectacular somersault falls when we were out on the mountain terrain.
We used the tracks for access, but fairly soon branched out and were introduced to skins. These made going up hill relatively easy once the wax stopped working and granted us some awesome views across to the higher peaks of the Rondane and the Jotunheim. The descent was more interesting, due to the variation in snow and everyone had numerous close encounters with the ground. Time and again we wondered at the lack of other people and the rugged beauty of the landscape. The weather was far from sunny most of the time and the summits were cold and wind-blasted but well worth the ascent.
So how did Anna find it day by day…
Morning of Day 1: So far, so familiar. The little ski slope beside the hotel is ideal for the five of us booked onto the “introduction to off track” course. Raymond, our instructor is a good coach. The snow is fresh and I feel happy in the knowledge that I am no longer a complete novice. Naively I think that my parallel turns are going to come in handy on the mountain. We do some figure of eights to practice our track skiing and there is no doubt that the roller-skiing course has helped our efficiency enormously.
Afternoon of Day 1: Oh ****! This is not working out. I tried to transfer my skills to the mountain and the terrain is very different. Not only is it different but it is never the same in any stretch. Weighting my outside ski to execute a turn ploughs my skis into a nose-dive in soft snow. There are stretches of ice with lichen and rocks poking out, then soft snow, then snow that looks hard but collapses underneath one. No technique is a perfect solution and “thinking on your feet” when thinking on fast-moving skis just isn’t happening.
Day 2: more of the same. I can see Peter is relishing the challenge and is already thinking about returning for the “Intermediate Course” next year. I am not enjoying this.
Day 3: Oh, this is fun!!! I am becoming more adept at picking myself up after a fall in deep snow and am astonished to look back up the mountain and see how much ground I have covered.
Day 4: This is exhilarating. The views, choosing my own route down virgin snow, the company, the laughs, the hunger, the full tummy at the end of the day, the sleep.
Day 5: OK, so I am still falling over lots, but I am improving. Raymond calls over to me on the mountain, “Anna you are really skiing!” He has said some other less complimentary things to me on the ski slope during tuition, but let’s not dwell on those.
Day 6: I am not ready to go home, and amazingly I am uninjured.
Day 7: It is Peter’s Birthday and the five of us (and Raymond) are sitting in a café relishing hot chocolate and cake. It sounds as if all of us are hooked on cross-country skiing.
Now I can’t wait to return next year and do the intermediate course. But first, I need to buy some Fischer skis and get some practice using them at Chill Factore. Telemark turns would come in really handy in the soft snow.
How did our sessions with the club help? For a start we had our balance and weight transfer largely sorted out which gave us a considerable amount of confidence. The sessions at Chill Factore helped with the basic techniques on the snow.
We are both inspired and are looking forward to going back and doing some more next year. The skills learned have allowed us to swap our walking boots for a pair of skis and get into the hills in winter as well as summer. We enjoy this new challenge - we are not sure that we will ever master it but look forward to improving. A couple of years ago we were sitting having lunch on one of the summits above Glencoe when some young, fit, army types came steaming up at great speed. One of them flipped open his phone. We thought the peace was about to be shattered but instead he turned to his friends and showed them a photograph, saying “and this is what it looks like in winter”. We have now had a similar experience.
What are we thinking of doing for the summer? Well, we can get those Fischer skis in Braemar and the Cairngorms are close by…
author: Peter and Anna Billings
publish date: May 2009
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