Assignment 5 Holmekollen fieldtrip

Before we came to the location of the ski event in Oslo we went to the impressive Fram museum. One of the cultural highlights of Norway. In a lecture before we went to Holmekollen, Len told us about these adventures to the north- and south pole. In the Fram museum we got the extra information around these expeditions. We could see the ships (The Fram) they used and the equipment with it. The special part about he Fram was the way it was build. It was capable to survive an arctic winter whilst frozen in the sea ice. The museum made me give even more respect for the Norwegian arctic explorers. The museum was a good in addition with the lectures we had.

After we went to the museum our journey continued to the Holmekollen ski festival. We drove past the Olympic stadium that was used in 2010 for the winter Olympics. It was nice to finally get a picture of what height these ski jumpers would start. As soon as we parked we started looking for a camping spot next to the tracks. When we arrived there, there were already a couple tents with there own made sitting area’s in the snow. It was like a small village along the slopes. We found a spot and made the ground even for the tents. There was already some music going on and people were already having some beers. There was a small après ski like tent made by some Norwegians were people were dancing and drinking beers. The atmosphere was amazing. We joined this as well we danced and talked with the Norwegians around there. It was great to see how hyped up the Norwegians for the next day. Little did we now what the next day would happen.

The next morning we woke up to the first music and sound of people walking past our camp. As soon as we got out of our tents we were a bit shocked by the amount of people that was already present next to the slopes. People were carrying blankets, sitting mats, firewood and especially alcohol. We decided to go to the ski jump arena were the women would do the ski jumping. We walked a couple km back and started watching the ski jumping. This was really impressive, also here we could see the patriotism of the Norwegians when one of there athletes had a run. The stadium would go nuts. An amazing experience! After the ski jumping we returned to the cross country ski slopes. When we arrived there we were a bit shocked by the drunk Norwegians that were everywhere. It was insane what the amount the Norwegians drank away. Everywhere were digged sitting spots with fire places were Norwegians were drinking beers. People walked over our tents and packs. We knew that we had to put our tent up again that night and that this Holmekollen festival was mainly about drinking then skiing. I’ve seen a guy pissing without any shame right in front our tent, people fall on our tent and people puking. We tried desperately to put the pegs back from the tent, but after some time we gave it up and accepted the chaos. Even in this mayhem we had an incredible good time. The atmosphere was amazing and everyone enjoyed themselves by sitting in a pit and having a barbecue with some beers. Every when skiers would go past us all the people would start cheering and ringing bells. A moment to get goosebumps. Afterwards we returned to the stadium for men’s ski jumping. During this event the rules of the ski jumping became more clear to me. There was a jury that would look at every jump. The would look at distance, technique and landing. Based on these themes the jumpers would score points. The jumper with at the end the most points would win. It was an privilege to experience this cultural Norwegian ski event. Mainly because I’ve never seen anything like this before and it was nice to see the Norwegian patriotism. After the ski event we returned to our campsite. Thousands of people were returning from the slopes. The aftermath was an apocalyptic like landscape along the slopes with trash everywhere and holes in the ground were the embers of the firepits would slowly die out. When we wanted to go to bed we putted the tents back up and tried to get a good nights rest.

The next morning we could even see better the chaos around us. This morning there were not as many people as the day before. Even thought the event was amazing, I was disappointed by all the trash that was left behind. People were really wasteful, I expected that the Norwegians would be more respectful for the nature and there surroundings. I found almost a weeks worth of groceries by scavenging around. Next to the non used products there was a lot of trash. When we packed up our tents we did our part in cleaning up some trash around our camp. Even after this weekend I enjoyed it to the fullest and I really recommend everyone who has the opportunity to visit Holmekollen in Oslo, Norway.

To summarize what I learned during the Holmekollen ski event:

• Rules of ski jumping
• Norwegians like a good party
• Norwegians are patriots in a healthy way
• History of the arctic explores
• History of the Fram