Program
13.03.
- Visit Fram Museum
- Built up the camp at the Holmekollen area
- Holmenlkollen Ski Jump Ladies
14.03.
- Mens 50 km race at midday
- Visit the Holmenkollen Ski Museum
- Holmenkollen Ski Jump Mens
15.03.
- Womens 30 km in the morning
- Holmenkollen Ski Jump Mens
- Return to Kristiansand in the evening
Personal expectations
My personal expectations were to gain knowledge about the Norwegian history (Fran Museum) and to get to know the Norwegian sports culture (50K and 30K cross country race and Ski jumping world cup)
Fram Museum
In our lectures we already talked about some parts of the Norwegian history we already heard about the ship “Fram” and its central role in the Norwegian history. “Fram” has been built by Colin Archer in 1892 and is known for his special design, which allowed it to freeze into ice without collapsing. The explorers Fridtjof Nansen und Ronald Amundsen are two of the most famous Norwegian and are known all over the world. Both used the “Fram” in order to explore the last undiscovered spots on the globe.
Nansen was able to archive a lot of knowledge about exploring and living in the cold and was very famous because of his keen journey to the North Pole despite his failure to be the first human on the North Pole.
Amundsen explored the South Pole while pretending to aim for the North Pole and reached the South Pole with four others on the 14.12.1911 (Amundson, R. 1976: 17). He completed his mission five weeks ahead of Scott, his British opponent who died on the return journey.
The museum provides a lot of information about the journeys and the challenges on the expeditions. It was very interesting to see the impact of the explorers and the ship of the Norwegian culture.
Holmenkollen Museum:
In the Museum we were able to take a look at the beginning and development of skiing. It was impressive to follow the development of the different kinds of skis, having its roots 4000 years ago in a simple wooden construction for transportation to becoming a high tech science for competitive sport use. Personally I was glad the Museum did not just show the development of the cross-country-skis but rather showed the development of the free-ski and snowboard culture.
Cross country world cup
On Saturday we visit the men’s 50k race and it was impressive to see the amount of people coming to the race to support the athletes. I didn´t expected so many people to come to this festival and even camp in the snow up the hills just to watch the race. This shows how strongly Norwegian society is influenced and tied to nature. I was also really impressed that the leading athlete’s didn’t even need two hours to ski 50 km.
On the next morning we had the chance to follow a 30km women’s race and this time we went to see the finish line in the stadium.
Ski jumping
On Friday evening we visit the Women’s Ski Jump world cup at the Holmenkollen Stadium. I was never really interested in ski jumping but it was something completely different to be in the stadium than to watch it on the TV. It was a little bit sad that there weren´t many spectators compared to the men´s world cup even though it was for free.
On Saturday night and on Sunday we visit the men’s world cup and the atmosphere of a full Holomenkollen ski jump stadium was really impressive.
Personal Conclusion
I enjoyed our trip to the Holmenkollen Ski Festival. It was impressive to get to know the excitement and the passion of the Norwegians for the ski sport. I liked the atmosphere around the campfire that was around the racing tracks; it was a good way to get in contact with Norwegian people by sitting around the campfire. Even though the night was cold that didn’t affect the Norwegians, as they were outside and enjoying the atmosphere. The trip to Oslo including the museum and the ski festival confirmed the strong connection between the nature and the Norwegian culture.
References:
Amundsen, R.; Nilsen, T.; Prestrud, K.; Chater, A.G. (tr.), (1976) [1912]. The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian expedition in the Fram, 1910–12 (Volumes I and II). London: C. Hurst & Company