Holmenkollen 2011

The FIS World Ski Championship is being held in Oslo this year! The event includes 21 events over 11 days, and is sure to be action-packed. This will be the fifth time that Norway will host the international competition, and the country's deep-rooted history of cross-country skiing is sure to be capitalized. The event will include cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping.

Organizers expect over 300,000 spectators to flood the town this Feburary. This will be the biggest public event in Norway since the Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 1994! What will that mean for Oslo?

Cross-country skiing (langrenn, in Norwegian) has long been ingrained in Norwegian society. The first recorded ski race for civilians was in Tromsø in 1843, but the Norwegian military had been hosting competitions since the 1670s! The sport of biathlon has roots to these military contests. Norwegians started the sport of ski jumping in the early 1800s, dominated early on, and continue to hold (and break) records and win competitions, even as the sport grows in popularity. Holmenkollen has become a Mecca of sorts in the ski jumping world.

Visitation will have a huge impact on the city. Hotels and restaurants will be especially busy during the week of competition, and the transportation sector will receive an extra load, especially Line 1 to Frognerseteren. Organizers are teaming up with local schools to develop waste reduction and management systems to keep the event as clean and environmentally friendly as possible.
The Outdoor Recreation Act allows citizens to use public land for recreational purposes, and the rules will not change during the week of races. In fact, it is a Norwegian tradition to camp out in the woods during a ski competition, and if you are brave enough, you can pitch your tent in a designated camping area. Bathroom facilities are available and firewood will be for sale.

There will be giant screens at various locations to broadcast the action for those spectators who are not in the arena. Every night, beginning at 19:00, there will be a stage show and the medal ceremony at University Square. Cultural events, including a parade and craft stalls will be going on throughout the week of competition.

NORWEGIANS TO WATCH:

Norway is ranked 1^st in the Nations Cup ranking, and both the women and men are forces on skis. There is a tradition of winning that stems from this country, and many are expecting that ritual to continue this year at Holmenkollen.

Marit Bjørgen is the headliner for the Norwegian women. She is unstoppable, winning every individual-start race that she has entered this winter. A rumor is floating that she will win all of her events at Holmenkollen. but the talent does not end there. Keep your eyes out for Therese Johaug, who took second in the Tour de Ski this winter, is sure to uphold her nickname of "Energizer Bunny." She is a force to be reckoned with on any climbing section and will be a true competitor at Holmenkollen. Astrid Uhrenholt Jacobsen and Kristin Stoermer Steira are other names you are sure to see on the schedule.

photo courtesy of LA Times 

Peter Northug is the notorious "Bad Boy" of cross-country skiing but has the results to back up his strong personality. His gold medals from last years Olympic Games in Vancouver set expectations a bit higher than usual. His younger brother, Tomas, will also be a name to look for. The Norwegian sprinters will put on a good show in Oslo. Oystein Pettersen, John Kristian Dahl and Anders Gloeersen are all top competitors for Norway.


This is a Not-to-Miss event! The competitions kick off on February 23rd at noon and is free and open to the public. The last race is March 6th. the last race is You can find more information at oslo2011.no.

The Reluctant Skijor

Skijoring is a sport that combines dog-mushing and cross country skiing. A dog, or dogs, depending on how brave/stupid you are, is harnessed and connected to you by a "towline." In the best case scenario, you are pulled at a controlled speed along the trail. Mostly due to my aversion to dogs, I don't think I will be participating in the sport of Skijoring any time soon. There are benefits to the sport, however, and for someone who loves exercising with their pets, it could be just the thing.

The sport originated in Scandinavia and is popular on the trails of Oslo. Some of the skier/dog combinations are so good that my interest in the activity was sparked. Their dogs are trained for the sport, know where to run and how fast, listen to their owners and respond to unexpected events on the trail.

I'm not going to talk about those dogs today, because, let's face it, not all hounds are created equal.

Some dogs just love to smell. Who can blame them? Sniffing seems more natural for a K9 than dragging their owner on snow. These “sniffers” seem to have no concern for their human-in-tow, stopping abruptly at a whiff of any interesting scent.

Others are too enthusiastic. The excited pup crisscrosses the trail, dragging their owner with them on their rampage.  They have no sense of the traffic patterns and just want to run with reckless abandonment. Needless to say, it isn’t wreck-less: The scenario usually ends badly, with a few near collisions, a yelling owner, a confused dog, and very upset trail users. Let’s throw a few crying babies in there for dramatic effect.

Some dogs, quite simply, don’t have the natural inclination to PULL. They are too old, bored, or generally uninterested. The roles of “puller” and “musher” seem to be reversed, and skijoring turns into dragging your reluctant dog down the trail behind you. This version of the sport is not quite as appealing.

My intention is not to rag on those who take part in the sport, but instead to explain that not every dog is cut out for the job. See you on the trails!

Night Racing

Last night, I went out to the track behind my student village to watch a local juniors ski race. The kids were 6-13 years old, and it was a blast to see the little ones cruising around the track with their parents running beside them, cheering "Hiya! Hiya!" 

There is a joke about Norwegians being born with skis on their feet. Seeing the one thousand competitors at the race last night only solidified that stereotype. It is a real possibility that the winner of the 2022 Olympic gold medal will be one of those kids!

Congrats, Kikkan!

A big ol' WAHOO!! goes out to my personal ski idol, Kikkan Randall, for her World Cup sprint win today in Liberec, Czech Republic!

2009 Sprint in Liberec

Norwegian Marit Bjørgen fell victim to traffic congestion in the heats and didn't make the final. Randall said in the post-race press conference that she would have liked to race her in the final but "...that's sprint racing. Anything can happen."


Randall is a well-rounded athlete, but her main event is the skate sprint: "There is some planning in sprint racing, but a lot of just thinking on your feet." 


When asked about the course in Oslo, Randall had this to say: "It's got all the exciting elements so I think to race well here in Liberec definitely gives you confidence for Oslo."


At the end of her interview with Fasterskier, she announced"I think the best is still to come." 


Hell yeah, sister! Can't wait to see what you can do in Oslo in February! You can see a video of Kikkan's win here. The video is at the bottom of the article. 


(Both photos courtesy of US Ski team website)

Blue Skies in Disguise

Still gray here, but I thought that I saw a glimpse of blue to the North, so I skied and skied and skied my way into the woods to find it. I made it to Kikutstua, a hut run by Skiforeningen, the Association for the Promotion of Skiing. The trip was 30 km total. Getting out for these longer skis has made me feel great physically and satisfied my curiosity about all the trails I haven't seen yet. Now that the weather has returned to reasonable classic ski temperatures, I will continue to explore Nordmarka from the tracks. See ya out there!

First Tracks

Sometimes, you just need a win. Today, I got one. Only three kilometers into my ski, I heard the Piston Bully coming up behind me. I'll take first tracks behind the groomer any day!

 I skied up to Koberhaughytta today, snatching the fleeting sun rays where I could. I'm slowly adjusting to solo life once again. The skiing helps. He told me so.

Tomtehytte

While Paul was visiting me in Oslo, we had a three-day trip to a hut in Nordmarka, the forest that surrounds the city to the North. I had reserved the hut from DNT, the Norwegian Trekking Association. There are huts, both staffed and unstaffed throughout the forest and can be accessed from many trailheads around the area. We decided to start from Sognsvann, just minutes away from where I live. The route was 16 kilometers, and we headed off with a good map, lots of extra socks, and Kvikk Lunsj to get us through the journey.

The hut, quite simply, was heavenly. We ate and read by candle light, got water from the icy well, dried our clothes over the wood stove, skied until we were too tired to ski anymore, and slept in a LOFT. How cool.

It snowed while we were there, giving the trails a much needed covering for our ski out. All in all, a successful trip. I can't wait to do it again! Who's with me?

Oslo With Paul!

After our fantastic holiday in London, Paul and I flew back to Oslo for our final week together. Our time in Oslo was a skiing, seeing the sights, and of course, chowin' on some good grub!

One Must-See spot for every visitor to Oslo is Vigelandsparken, the famous sculpture park. We headed there on our first full day in town, after finding some sweet scores at a local shop. (Who are we kidding? It was the thrift store. It wouldn’t be a K & P Adventure if we didn’t do a little thrift store shopping, right?)

The following day, we started the “Great Goose Chase of 2010”: trying to rent skis in Oslo. Goose chase, you ask? Shouldn’t it be easy to find a pair of rental cross-country skis in the capital of the nation that INVENTED the sport? Well, that’s what we thought too. Turns out that we were wrong. After hours of sports shops, T-bane rides and dead-ends; we ended up at a tiny one-man hut near the top of one of the hills that surround Oslo. It is the only place in the whole city that rents skis! We asked the man behind the counter why that was, and he was as baffled as we were. He said that it was ‘crazy’ that more places don’t rent, and we agreed. We spent the days before the hut trip warming up on some flat terrain behind the student village where I live. Paul caught on quickly and by the final day of his visit, he smoked me up the six-kilometer climb to Ullevålseter.

 

City Hall, New Year's Eve

For New Year’s Eve, Paul and I headed down to City Hall to watch the fireworks display put on by the city. It turns out that more than just the city puts on fireworks. The plaza in front of City Hall turns into a firecracker war-zone, with inexperienced pyro-technicians (aka whoever wants to buy a firework) setting them off left and right. We managed to avoid stray fireworks and the show overlooking the Oslofjord was pretty incredible. I was glad to ring in 2011 with Paul, and even more glad to have all of my limbs attached at the end of the night.

Earlier in the week, a friend of a friend had described their visit to the Norwegian Musuem of Science and Technology, and it sounded right up our alley. I think what really hooked us was when he said “It is great for kids, but we had fun anyway.” We made a day of it, and were not disappointed. The upper floors had information about the progression of music players through the ages, modes of transportation, computers, Norway’s role in oil extraction in the North Sea, and advancements medicine. On the bottom floor was the hands-on portion, complete with a thermal camera, mega-Tanagrams, and an entire display on alternative energy sources.

The second museum that we visited was the Norwegian Folk Museum. It is a collection of buildings from around Norway from all periods of time, and visitors are able to stroll through the open-air museum and be part of the time period in which the building are from. The central attraction of the museum is the Stave Church, an incredible piece of architecture that was brought to Oslo in 1884. It has a long history, and it took 3 years to even get it to Oslo from Northern Norway because of snow conditions! 

Eating out in Oslo is an expensive proposition, but thanks to many generous Christmas donations from friends and family, I took Paul out to a charming restaurant Tullins Café. The atmosphere was almost as cool as the tables, which were inlayed with old lockets, jewelry and photos. The food was fantastic as well! 

It was more than hard to say goodbye to Paul. Just as I was getting used to life together again, my apartment turned from messy and loud to clean, quiet, and more than a little lonely. Since my return to the States in the summer is still open, we don’t know when we will see each other next. He has given me a huge gift by supporting my decision to move away for an entire year. Thank you, Paul! You are incredible.

It was the greatest Christmas present I have ever received to have Paul with me for three weeks. I want to THANK both sets of parents for helping make all legs of our vacation possible!

Brighton

During my visit to London over Christmas holiday, my hosts took me to Brighton for a quick visit to the sea. Brighton is on the southern coast of England and is a quick train ride away from London. 

We were greeted at the train station by Alex's sister Jordan whom we would be staying with that night. After dropping our bags, we headed down to the water front for an evening walk, and were rewarded with a magnificent sunset. Starlings were flocking over the pier and the whole scene was surreally beautiful.

photo courtesy of visitbrighton.com

On our walk, we passed through the grounds of the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion was built by George IV and is quite an architectural contrast to the rest of Brighton. Successors of George IV used the Pavilion for an escape on holiday, but Queen Victoria wasn't too taken with Brighton and picked a new vacation destination for the Royal Family. Now the Pavilion serves as Brighton's main tourist attraction.

The next morning we had a fashionable tea experience at Metrodeco, a tea and furniture shop wrapped into one.

Pinkies out, please!

Brighton has an zesty atmosphere and I really enjoyed the eccentric vibe. I can imagine city folks from London flocking to the pier on a summer day much like their wintery replacements did during our sunset walk.