Day 1

Today was a good day. It was good to practice on skis with out 35lb backpacks.  We rode on a bus for  four hours then skied 13km to our hut!

I fell four times but that was only because the ground was icy! It was fun seeing the kids ski next to us because they were so good and it made me feel that I could be a good skier if they could:)

The hut was so nice and cozy.  There were no lights so we read by candle light and had chili and rice for dinner!

The day was so beautiful, the clouds were dark and covering some of the mountains so you could barely see them but it was gorgeous!  We had a wood burner and melted the snow to make dinner and water.  I felt like I was on a little house on the prairie:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2

We woke up today and took our time in the morning getting ready for our ski out to camp.  We had oatmeal for breakfast which was pretty tasty!

Katja brought cinnamon and sugar to put in it which made it even more tasty!  We waxed our skis after we had cleaned up the hut and continued to follow the tree path about 7.5km until we found a place to camp.

We ended hiking 2km extra then we found where we wanted to camp.  The ski trip up I worked on technique and there was only one part right when we left the cabin that was difficult for to stay on two feet.  Anna was very helpful later in the day when we played on our skis.

She was helping me learn how to control myself when going down hills which is one thing I want to get better at this week.  We camped between two big hills to help keep the wind away.  It was fun playing on the mountains because there was no trees in the way so we could practice our turns.

We made a little hut with snow that we cooked dinner in to help shield us from the wind.  Once we were done playing we cooked out pasta tuna dinner and went for a late night job to warm us up before we went to bed.

I was worried that I would be cold at night but Roman let me barrow his sleeping bag and I was kinda warm all night.  We met one other group that day and they commented on our camping site and said it looked nice.

Norwegians that are not from the city are very friendly and want to get to know you which is always fun!  Earlier that day I was leading the group and I kept on laughing just thinking about all the funny things Jais says, which is good she makes me laugh so much!

 

 

Day 3

We woke up in the middle of the night a lot, mostly because the wind was so strong and would shake our tent.  Will and I slept on the outside while the girls slept in the middle.  I was worried the tent was going to get my sleeping bag wet so I just scooted closer and closer to Jais all night 🙂

In the morning we decided to eat our lunch for breakfast so we didn’t have to cook oats in the morning which I’m glad we didn’t make breakfast in the morning because it was so cold!  My hands were freezing and when my hands get cold I get so annoyed very quickly.  It was hardest trying to stuff my sleeping bag in my pack while my hands and fingers were losing feeling.

Once we started moving and I put my mittens on I felt a lot better!  We had a few down hill slops today which I struggled with the most but Anna was really helpful at giving me techniques to work on and helping me get down the hill safely.  We had to take our skis off during the last bit before we arrived to the hut because it was so steep and there were many trees in the way, it was like a mini forest.  The hut was nice and had 16 kids staying in one hut and 4 leaders staying in the other hut.  By the end of the day one hut had 20 people and the other had 11 people so we got to meet a lot of Norwegians and even one American from NC.  Later that day we played in the snow and Katja helped me with my snow plow technique.  I’ve improved a lot but still need some work.

Four people ate before us at the hut and had leftovers so they shared their food with us which was so tasty!  And they even gave us some hazlenut chocolate cake which was amazing!  So we washed their dishes for them since they were so kind:) We played hearts, Will lost, then we played presidents and prisoners and I won twice:)  Earlier in the evening we all had a nice chat, just reminiscing about stories, goals we have while were in Norway, and capture the flag game we had played last week.  Can’t believe we drive home tomorrow- already!

Day 4

We woke up in the hut and there had been a blizzard the night before so it was advised for us not to start our tour ski that day until the weather had calmed down.

In the meantime while we were waiting at the hut, the Norwegian ladies that were there started to clean the hut.  Like full on, cleaning out the candle holders, organizing the book shelf, and sifting though everything in the fire kindle wood box.

Norwegians are very good at cleaning things that’s for sure!  We were feeling a little guilty that we did not clean the last hut as good as these ladies were cleaning this hut, so we asked them if they always clean the huts so good, and they responded, “only when there is a snow storm.”

We felt a little better after we found out this behavior wasn’t typical.  Once the storm had settled down we skied out for the day.  It was a beautiful day in the woods, we had great train for our last ski that week!