Nordfjord Folkehøgskule 13/14

My year at Nordfjord Folkehøgskule.

Skiing in Hemsedal: only ONE near-death experience.

I spent this past week learning how to ski at one of Norway’s best ski centers in Hemsedal Norway.

Now I have to make it down

After three days of instruction from Lars Anders, I am nearly an expert. (That’s definitely a joke, I still have a lot to learn.) Regardless, I made a lot of progress. After managing to stay right-side-up the first day I made a vow to take more risks (a.k.a. fall) the next day. I ended up only falling once, and it wasn’t even a noteworthy fall.

Lars Anders.. best instructor eva

On Thursday Lars Anders took us off-track for some real mountain skiing. That was a blast. I originally thought it was going to be difficult to avoid the many trees, but I managed just fine. The snow was all powder which was amazing, but it also had its faults. Listen to this story:

When I moved off the slopes and into the woods I suddenly became a speed demon. (I do not know why, it just happened.) Because I liked to build up speed I didn’t always follow the same route as the person in front of me. I ended up about 4 or 5 meters higher than everyone else and knew I had to get down before reaching a cliff or something. I turned to my right down the steep drop in order to level with Lars Anders and the group. In the process I managed to get myself in an almost-horrible situation.

The girls had returned to the slopes and Lars Anders and the guys were farther down so I was out of sight. No one could see me straddling a huge seemingly never-ending hole. When I tried to move away from the hole the powdery snow I was standing on fell in, making the hole bigger and bigger. I knew that if I fell into the hole I wouldn’t be able to get out– but I refused to go down in such an anticlimactic way: slowly falling into a hole. I (carefully) managed to flip myself on my stomach so that I could wiggle away without having more snow cave into the hole. Once I was a safe meter away from the hole, I stood up, brushed myself off, took a deep breath, and continued down. Despite my hold up, I still made it out of the woods and back on the slope before some of the boys. What did I say… speed demon.

I never told Lars Anders about my almost-horrible situation, because he probably would have freaked out. And everyone who is reading this now, freaking out, (my family,) don’t worry, I survived.

*Sorry for the lack of pictures on this post, my hands rarely wanted to leave the comfort and warmth of my mittens. (All photographs taken with Olympus Tough TG-2)*

I can now check ‘Ice Climbing’ off my list…

This Sunday we woke up at 4:30am, stumbled into the car, and left for our trip bright and early, (except not bright because does the sun every rise?) We are spending the week in Hemsedal Norway, a beautiful (and COLD) place. My class spent the first two days in Hemsedal ice climbing–yes, climbing ice.

'chill og dig'

The area we climbed in was beautiful– a true winter wonderland.

The -16 degree snowy weather made staying warm difficult. However, I occasionally exposed my hands to the harsh weather in order to snap some photos.

This time, instead of climbing into glacier crevices, we climbed on frozen waterfalls. I can’t say ice climbing is my favorite kind of climbing, but it was pretty neat.

Stay tuned for more from my week in Hemsedal.

P.S. This post was for you Michael Stratton. Jealous?

First ‘topptur’ or ‘summit’ trip ON SKIS

I am not going to lie, I have been dreading my class’s first ‘topptur’ trip. Despite everyone agreeing that mountain trips are so much better on skis, I have been hesitant all year. This morning I rolled out of bed, got dressed, and made my make-shift dirty chai latte. When I was sufficiently loaded with caffeine, I loaded the bus with my ski gear: skis, ski boots, ski poles, backpack with: shovel, avalanche probe, helmet, down jacket, skins, and lunch.

Shameless selfie

The trip was overall great. I can’t say they same for my ski skills though. I really struggled with how to go up the mountain. People seemed confused by it, but I didn’t know how to move gracefully with these long things on my feet. I’m sorry people, I’m only 25% norwegian which means I wasn’t born with skis on my feet. Well, maybe only 25% of skis on my feet, (aka just large feet.) In the few (treeless, bump-less, iceless, bush-less) areas I got the hang of it and really enjoyed it. And then we ran into more trees, bumps, ice, and bushes and I was back to looking like a fish out of water (or should we say, a Virginian on skis.)

Once we made it to the top we ate lunch and began avalanche safety training. Janie Therese knows her avalanche information, which is reassuring. At Nordfjord Folkehøgskule, we set beds on fire during fire drills in order to learn how to put them out. We had (the most realistic looking) fake blood, broken bones, and burns on actors that refused to break character during our first aid training. So naturally, we buried someone 1 meter under the snow in order to learn how to find and save them during our avalanche training. Just kidding, we just buried a backpack. I guess there is such a thing as a line.

Going back down the mountain was a lot more fun for me. Yeah, I fell a couple times, but it was worth it. I even managed to avoid all trees and rocks (sometimes just barely, but that counts.)

So now that I have tried it, I’ll admit: summit trips have some benefits when on skis, but it will take a few more trips to decide if it beats out walking.

P.S. Special thanks to Janie Therese for #1 being patient with my lack of skill, #2 teaching me tips and tricks, and #3 not completely freaking out when I almost plummeted off the side of a bridge. (I promise I’ll try my hardest not to give you a heart attack this ski season.)

RUSSEFEST: Something only Norwegians can completely understand.

Check out our X-Russefest 2014. Stealing things, dancing, and champaign in the face, what could be better? Contrary to many ‘Russ’ things, this is most definitely PG rated, and school-appropriate.

DISCLAIMER: This is a parody. No real alcohol was consumed prior, during, or after the filming of this video.