Preparation:
On the weekend from 13.03.-15.03., our International Outdoor Education Class visited together with the Norwegian Friluftsliv students the popular Holmenkollen Ski festival in Oslo as part of our studies. Everbody of us were really excited and looking forward to an unbelievable weekend with the Norwegian inhabitants and loads of supporters for the International skier and ski jumper. We already got an first impression of the atmoshere and history of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival by PowerPoint Presentations in prior of our Oslo visit, e.g. my presentation (attached to Group Assignment III) about the history of the Holmenkollen ski jumping arena. The general program for this weekend included besides watching the different ski-events at Holmenkollen, also a visit of the Fram Museum on the peninsula of Bygdøy and the Ski museum underneath the Ski jump at Holmenkollen.
Execution of the culture field trip:
Day 1 (Friday, 13th of March):
Some of us came by car, two of us were hitch-hiking one day before and the rest including me and roughly 20 other students were taking a bus from Kristiansand to Oslo bus terminal. From there we had to take an other bus to the Fram Museum at Bygdøy. This brandnew activity on this year’s programme of the Holmenkollen weekend was a great possiblity to get an better understanding of the Norwegian culture and particularly of the Norwegian history. Inside the museum, we visited a reconstruction of the historic ship FRAM, which the world-famous Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen especially used for their expeditions to the South and the North Pole around the turn of the century from 19th century to the 20th century. The museum mainly informed us about these two expeditions of the wooden ship FRAM: Fridtjof Nansen reaching record of North Pole, FRAM expedition (1895) and Roald Amundsen, first reaching the South Pole (1911) with the ship FRAM, too. Furthermore, we were able to learn more of their living during that time on and off board, what kind of equipment they were using during this time period and how they got world-famous to this day. After our visit of the fram museum in the afternoon, everybody drove up to Holmenkollen, either by car or with the Metro. After arriving on top of Oslo in the forests of Nordmarka, we first started to build up our tents on the campside next to the cross-country skiing race tracks. After that, we explored the historic Holmenkollen area and watched the women ski jump World Cup contest in the renovated ski jumping arena for free. At night, we walked over the campside, where all the other visitors (over 5.000) had set up their tents in several groups from Norway and worldwide. We enjoyed the atmosphere around the differnt campfires, listened to loud music and had celebrated a party in the snow.
Day 2 (Saturday, 14th of March):
Saturday morning we visited at 10:00 a.m. the Holmenkollen Ski Museum underneath the ski jump. Inside the building, we got some impressions about the history and developmet of skiing in Norway, about some famous Norwegian and International skiiers and Snowboarders such Ole Einar Bjørndalen or Marit Bjørgen and the long history of the Holmenkollen ski jumping arena and the Holmenkollen ski festival.
In the afternoon we went back to the party spot on the campside of last night to watsch the Men’s 50 km ski race. The atmosphere next to the ski track was incredible and rousing, while all Norwegians were covered in the national coulours red, blue and white and waving Norwegian flags. We were sitting next to a bigger group, who were supporting the rarely known British skier Andrew Musgrave. However, the facourite athlete for most of the Norwegians was the national hero in cross-country skiing Petter Northug, who either wins a race or is taking a run for his cheering fans as he did it his time again, when he realized after more than half of the laps, that he can not win the race at all. That’s also the reason for some journalists, why they call him very arrogant and selfish. Actually, the winner of the race was Norwegain skier, but only a less peole really cared about the result. All of the visitors, except those in the stadium, were more enjoying the great atmosphere and we students were gaining a new experience about the Norwegian identity. In the evening we went down with some Norwegian students from the other class to the ski jumping arena again to watch the German ski jumper Severin Freund winning the men’s World Cup ski jump competition in spotlights. At the end of the day, the organisators of the Holmenkollen Ski Festival set off a fireworks display beyond the ski stadium. Before we went to bed, we were still sitting around our own campfire to review and share the today’s experiences within the group.
Day 3 (Sunday, 15th of March):
On Sunday morning we watched the women’s 30 km cross-country race at first nearby our campside, while some others were packing their backpacks. By the end of the race, we walked to the stadium to get a better look for the finish. The result was clearly, because 6 Norwegians came out of the first 7 in the finals result. We were happy, that the German cross-country skier Nicole Fessel took eight place. In addition, the German Claudia Nystad finshed her last race of her cross-country skiing career on the last place, but she was still enjoying the loud atmosphere next to the track and everbody was cheering for her. Winner of the race was the female Norwegian cross-country star Marit Bjørgen.
Right after that race, a second men’s ski jumping World Cup competition started in the more crowded Holmenkollen ski jumping arena than yesterday. Also King Harald V of Norway is watching this competition every year, while it was really sunny this time. The atmosphere was great again and besides lots of Polish supporters, the Norwegians were cheering and yelling for all Norwegian ski jumpers. But obviously Severin Freund won the World Cup competition again and he was also celebrating his first time winning of the World Cup season at Holmenkollen.
Learning Outcomes:
This culture fieldtrip to Oslo – Holmenkollen ski festival gave me an much better understanding, why Cross-country skiing is national sport No.1 in winter in Norway and why everbody says: “Norwegians are born on skies”. It also reminds of the famous Norwegian poster: “Norway – the cradle of skiing”
Moreover, it became clear, how important the local holiday area Frognerseteren including Holmenkollen, which is located in within the mostly forested area of Nordmarka, is for recreational skiing in winter and probably hiking in summer as well. During our visit at Holmenkollen, we have seen so many skiiers skiing during their free time on or next to the ski tracks. Personally, I think, this is a great possiblity for Friluftsliv for the people in Oslo, because this recreational area is just a few metro stations away from Downtown and offers wonderful conditions for skiing and hiking in such a big city as Oslo. That’s why I would say, that Nature and Friluftsliv including the history of skiing in Norway plays an important role for all Norwegians and it has been a central part of the Norwegian culture since the vikings started using skies as a means of locomotion.
It was also amazing to see how passionately and inspiring the Norwegians supported their national heroes in cross-country skiing, althoug the national star Petter Northug did not win the men’s 50 km race.
To see the Holmenkollen Ski Jump and the cross-country skiing races was for all of us, especially for the international students a really great experience. We learned, how much the Norwegians celebrate this weekend every year and it is something different to be live in the crowd or only watch it on TV. The atmosphere at Holmenkollen gave me a feeling of great solidarity with all Norwegians athletes. We were part of some kind of Norwegian festival, but originally it is just an huge sport event in Norwegians capital city Oslo. I will never forget those impressions and I hope, I will get the chance to experience this lovely atmosphere at some point again.