Before Easter

Time has really cruised right by the last couple of weeks.
The culmination of my Friluftsliv class was a 2 day excursion to Rauland ski area with a night spent at the Telemark University in Rauland. As always with Friluftsliv, very interesting things were learned and talked about.

Norway is filled with thousands of small huts or cabins that have this general appearance. Most have grass roofs and some, such as this one, even have pine trees on their roofs.

I have recently been finding out that Norwegians really enjoy riding their bicycles when the roads are passable. Unfortunately it looks like this rider will be snowed in for a while to come...

An outlook from our lodging at the University in Rauland. Kind of reminds me of Wisconsin's north woods. 

(Minus the mountains in the background of course)

Another picture of the grass on the roof. I haven't gotten to speak with anyone about their pro's and con's yet, but it is evident from the regular shingled houses that I have seen that some sort of greenery (i.e. moss or lichen) will grow on your roof, whether you want it to or not.

The fruit of our wandering around the Rauland campus building late at night: Josie plays the keyboard as Kim watches and Kelsey reads up on the fascinating courses you can take at Rauland including "Cooking with Hot Dogs".

After a good couple of days at Rauland, it was off to Rjukan and then Gaustablikk for my first Hyttetur (Cabin trip). Tone, my friluftsliv intructor, has raised my expectation level for a classic hytte, and this was definitely not a classic hytte, it was an absolutely beautiful second home hytte. Tone's definition of a hytte is a building which is not accessible by car and typically must be walked or skied to for at least a half of an hour. On top of this requirement, the hytte should not have electricity, running water, and least of all a television.

Gaustatoppen is up to the left, covered as always in a layer of clouds. Rjukan is in the valley in the back right hand corner.

As I said, our hytte was definitely outfitted. I don't think we were missing a single household appliance and this includes a waffle iron as well as the all important sauna. I have really started to learn that all of those stereotypes that people assign to Norwegians- they are all true. Norwegians love waffles, coffee, sauna's, kviklunsj (a chocolate bar like a kitkat), making fun of the danish, and of course skiing.

Eating waffles with Lise, Ingunn, Ellen, Ulrik, and Andre and playing Geni with Andre and Ulrik. I do NOT recommend sour cheese on waffles with your brown cheese and jam. I do however highly recommend the more common concoction of waffle, brown cheese, and jam!

The same valley as above, only a day later and shrouded in cloud.

With spring time comes spring skiing. The Bø freeride club sets up an annual competition which comprises of three separate races on three different mountains on three different tuesdays. This last Tuesday the 23 was the final race. We hiked up Glekse, approximately 1.5 hours I would guess, and proceeded to ski down as fast as we could. The winner came in a little under 3 mins, myself in 4th at 3:09.

Daniel, trying to model with his one piece suit and 4FRNT VCT's.

The top of Glekse is just up to the right. This picture shows just how beautiful and windblown it really is up top.

Most of the fjellracecup participants nearing the top of Glekse Fjell.

Spring has begun

About two and a half weeks ago we had our first day above freezing. Since then the sun has been out nearly everyday, slowly melting Jack Frost's winter work. The hard packed snow turns to mush by the middle of the day and ice by the middle of the night, creating a treacherous pure ice that looms on every slope.

These are the Breisås 1 buildings where a majority of the international students choose to live. Despite the fact that it was maybe 40 degrees out, the Spanish students are still out catching sun at the picnic table.

My Telemark Culture and History class was taken to a Bunad shop for out latest class. Bunad's are the traditional clothing of Norway and are used for the 17th of May (Constitution Day, which is much like the 4th of July for Americans) and also for other important church related events such as Baptisms. These pieces of clothing are incredibly beautiful and vary from county to county in Norway. Telemark is often referred to as being the most Norwegian of all Norwegian counties and therefore the following are great examples of Bunad's from Norway. They are all handmade here in Telemark; embroidery, silver and all! A typical Bunad will cost you 60,000 NOK which is roughly 10,000 USD. For the handmade silver buttons or purses add another 10,000 NOK ~6,000USD, and even more for shoes, knives, umbrellas, and other accesories!

I cannot begin to fathom how long it would take to embroider all of this by hand. A bunad is specifically made to each and every different person and typically takes a year to make.

All of the sewing is done in house by a handful of ladies.

Despite being sick for the last few days, I couldn't resist a jumping day in the nice spring weather and sunshine up at Lifjell with a great group of friends. I have no idea what Aleksander is up to here, but I can definitely say that the others are about ready to push him from his place.

Kjartan: being sneaky as ever.

 This was definitely my best picture of the day, as Vemund boosts it.

Glekse Top Tour

We drove up to the mountains not exactly knowing what we wanted to accomplish. We settled for skiing up and then down Glekse Fjell (112o meters). Blue is the route up and red the route down.

Johan and Nacho on the way up. Johan had telemark skis but Nacho braved it out on fjell skis, basically a beefed up xc ski with edges.

Johan and Nacho picking out places from the top of Glekse.

The following photos are from my Telemark 2 culture and history course. They are Hardanger fiddles that were hand made in Norway. Their craftsmanship is out of this world: the attention to detail and materials used are absolutely incredible. The darker fiddle belongs to Anne Svånaug Haugan, a brilliant folk fiddle player from Kongsberg. The other belonged to her teacher (whose name escapes me at the moment), and to his father and so on. It is over 200 years old and is still fully functional!

the cradle of modern day skiing

Skiing has existed in interior China for thousands of years. The modern day telemark binding however, was invented here in Norway, in the very region that I am currently living: Telemark. Sondre Nordheim further improved this system and I am convinced was the first ski bum in the world, supporting himself and his wife with winnings from ski jumping competitions.

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera at the time when we visited Morgedal (Sondre's home) and the museum there, but I have since snapped quite a few photos of the different aspects of skiing going on here. Cross country skiing truly is just about every Norwegians passion.

Enjoy.

The one and only chairlift at Uvdal with the "After Ski" tent right at it's base.

This lift accesses over 1500ft vertical drop

The "After Ski" tent is aptly named Ragnarokk which in old Norse Tradition means the battle that marks the end of the world. A metaphor perhaps? All of the trails at Uvdal are named after gods from Norse mythology.

Standing atop Uvdal skisenter with a great group of friends.

A jump that I made with some friends just outside of the school which is behind the trees on the left.

No speed checks aloud.

Telemark University College.

It's all in one building, about a mile from where I live, which makes for a nice walk to school everyday.

skiing

Tone, our robust friluftsliv professor whose age I will not divulge, demonstrating techniques for getting up hill.

Tone, one of the most fit and skilled grandmas that I know, showing the Kyrgyi students how to wax on. If you don't know where Kyrgyzstan is: google it. It's a truly beautiful country.

A little solitude on a beautiful day. Professors and students often take a ski break or leave work early to hit this nice trail loop which is right outside the school.

I couldn't pass this image up, just too beautiful.

Taken from near the bottom of Gaustatoppen. Telemark's tallest mountain and most popular

top tour. The summit is hidden in the upper right corner though the ridge is well outlined by the sun. Daniel and I had to settle for half of it due to the oncoming darkness.

Blengdalen

Mother moose

Last night I got one of the biggest psychological boosts to my skiing that I can remember in a long time.

I recieved a text message from Aleksander at 11 a.m. telling me that he was going to Blengdalen later. Blengdalen I recalled, was a terrain park that a guy had built in his backyard which, according to Aleks, was absolutely insane.

We left at 6, and were to Seljord by 6:30.

"There are trolls up here," Aleks said, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

"Three of them" chimed in Espen.

"And big moose according to that sign we just passed," I added.

No less than 45 seconds later we had come to a complete stop. Standing in the dwindling light in front of us was a gigantic mother moose and at her side, her calf.

After our moose encounter, we pulled into a driveway. After a brief phone call, a series of flood lights were turned on and the hill took shape: a huge spine jump, 2 smaller jumps, 4 rails, and one huge jump, all complete with rope tow.

The little jump in front of the much bigger jump.

We made our way to the top and were greeted by an older norwegian with a sweet dialect, perfectly outfitted with cigarette and hand knit wool sweater. He briefly showed us how to operate the rope tow and after collecting the unofficial 40 kroner lift fee retreated back inside.

We got to riding and after a little bit it was obvious that we were all here to learn some new tricks. After watching Espen complete some backflips and Aleks some frontflips, I decided I wanted the front flip. And yet, after a few more jumps I wasn't sure that I could convince myself to attempt it. Aleks must have known what I was thinking because he told me that we weren't leaving until I tried one. So be it I thought, picturing the motion and trying not to think about my buddy Tripp who broke both of his legs trying the same trick.

No poles I decided, but your trying it.

The first was the worst, and although i landed on my skis, I was way backseat. The second was nearly the same, too far back seat- you need to commit! "Third times the charm" Aleks shouted from the bottom. "Third times the charm" I repeated.

On the way home we rocked out to some good old Blink-182. We didn't see any trolls or any more moose, but we were all definitely satisfied with the nights achievements, me especially- front flip and all.

Rasfare!

I had been in Norway for a little over two months and despite being an easy two hour train ride away from Norway's capitol city of Oslo, I still hadn't visited it.

That changed on Monday when I found the courage to wake up at 7 a.m. and catch the 7:52 train out of Bø. I had no plans in mind, just a day of wandering through Oslo to see what I might see. With a map in hand and a vague idea of the layout of the city, I set off down Oslo's main pedestrian street: Karl Johan's gata. It really wasn't anything too spectacular until the Storting parliament building and the royal palace came into view. The architecture in between these two buildings is quite varied and yet quite beaultiful; Gothic, Victorian, and even a building made out of Sandstone.

Looking down Karl Johans Gata

Hanging from these beautiful and tall buildings are large pieces of snow and ice which one would do well to keep in mind as warming temperatures help to release these dangers into freefall. All around Oslo red flags were hung outside of buildings reading RASFARE a.k.a. falling snow, ice! As I was walking and watching shovel loads of snow get tossed off of a 6 or 7 story building, I started to hear the shovel loads hit the vehicles parked beneath it. A man on the street was trying to get the attention of the shoveler. Just as it seemed the shoveling had stopped, a large and obviously ice-laiden chunk flew out from the building.

That unlucky Mercedes-Benz...

The nice, silver, older generation Benz was backed into the parking stall, facing out to the street and now no longer had a rear windshield. Well, it did have one- it was just in a million pieces of broken glass. The ice chunk smashed the rear window to pieces and stopped all pedestrians on the block in their shoes. I guess this is what happens when people don't speak up, or I don't try to help.

After this experience, the rest of my day was rather uneventful and was spent wandering through the neighborhoods of Grünløkka and Grønland. Grünløkka is a neat neighborhood, often associated with the hippies of Oslo. It's home to alot of cool looking bohemian cafes and interesting shops. Grønland on the other hand is where a majority of the immigrant population lives and therefore has quite a bit of good, spicy, and cheap food.

The two other highlights of my trip came in the form of signs. One reading, "Heffalompen Familie Barnehage" or in english, "The Heffalump Family Daycare."

Heffalompen Familie Barnehage

The second was a sign which says, "This is not a dog toilet... Don't do it here!" Unfortunately my photo skills couldn't bring out the yellow urine in the snow all around the sign. Nonetheless, a funny sight.

Dett er er ikke noe hundetoalett... Gjør det ikke her!

With a satisfied mind and body I returned to the train station and within a couple of hours, Bø.