Holmenkollen Weekend 9/3 to the 11/3 2018

This weekend trip was aimed at us gaining some education into some historical as well as cultural aspects that form the Norwegian culture and society of today. We went to the Fram museum and gained an insight into polar exploration and then we camped in the forest at Holmenkollen for the ski festival to experience the 50 kilometre cross-country race.

Fram Museum

The Fram Museum was very interesting and focused on Fridjoff Nansen and Roald Amundsen and his ship the Fram. Nansen was the front runner in Polar exploration through the 1890’s gaining a new record for reaching closest to the North Pole as well as making the first crossing of Greenland. He was regarded as the leader in development and innovation for polar exploration for decades after this. Nansen’s expeditions influenced Roald Amundsen to then pursue the goal of reaching the South Pole in which he accomplished in 1911. We were able to walk up and into the ships and look inside the cabins as well as look at many of the original artefacts from various expeditions. You could see how far the development of tour skis have come from this. They also had small exhibitions for other explorers such as Otto Sverdrup, Robert F Scott and Ernest Shackleton although Shackleton and Scott weren’t Norwegian they were quite famous as well. We spent about 4 hours here which was ample time to grasp the importance of what these men achieve. The emphasis of the museum however was on Amundsen and his exploits over a long period of time from his first expeditions in 1897 through to his disappearance in 1928.

Learning Outcomes

I learnt that this period of exploration significantly contributed to the national pride and culture of Norway as it only broke away from Sweden in 1905. By these men becoming famous all over the globe it gave Norway a sense of pride and inspired Norwegians to go skiing and camping and helped to create this whole sense of ‘Friluftsliv’ and to imbed it permanently in Norwegian culture.

Holmenkollen

What we expected

We were really unsure of what to expect for the weekend except that we were going to watch some Lengerenn racing-the 50 kilometre men’s race which is the most popular one. We knew that cross-country skiing forms a huge part of the culture in Norway and that it is very unusual for someone not to know how to ski. So I thought it would be quite similar to watching cycling with everyone around the barriers spread around the track. So we were partly correct but did not expect anything close to what actually eventuated.

We arrived at the camping area Friday afternoon and were already amazed at some of the setups people had made. The snow was so deep in places people had dug right down to the ground then put their tents up and the top of the tents was only just reaching above the natural snow height. There were lots of people we found out who had actually been building their tent sites over multiple days that week digging walkways and fire pits and making their tents semi-permanent with wooden heaters inside them. Nothing prepared us for the next day however. We did not expect a Lengerenn race to get so wild and for so many people to be there. The 50 kilometre race wound its way through the forest 3 times passing the area we were in. But we found many people were not even interested in the race and more interested in just partying. It was crazy how such a quiet, wooded area could become so loud and festival like. It is mostly young people who come home to Oslo for the weekend who create this party atmosphere by not camping but instead coming in for the day and turning the place upside down.

What eventuated

After the race the whole area looked like a war zone which I thought was disgusting. I personally had a great time but the amount of rubbish left over was really poor. We did not expect there to be nearly as much rubbish as what we found. It was a good experience and something completely different to what I have ever experienced. We actually experienced quite a bit of broken equipment as well which was not very positive.

As a whole the trip was really fun and it gave us a good opportunity to meet Norwegians and experience a very popular cultural event.