Friday, March 16, 2007

Memories of a lost ski

It rained. And it rained. And there was a bit of sleet. Then it rained again. That was about the story of our week in Stranda ski resort. Oh global warming you accursed blight of the earth!

It didn't stop us skiing though! And it brought back memories of a time many years ago. A time when the Croft family were skiing in Australia. And the little Croft girl, who goes by the name of Diddy or Keo, let go of her cross country ski in the middle of a mountain side, to see it whistle away far down into the valley, only to be found again, after 2 hours of searching.

Well, I didn't let go of my ski. But it did wriggle it's way off my boot and go carreering down the downhill slope, faster than i've ever skiied with it for sure! Now you see, I had a safety strap on my ski. My left ski only. Why only one ski? Well it's a long story I won't go into. Why don't I just say because that was the only ski that had ever come off before!

But my story ended happily. No small blue eyed, blonde haired children got there legs chopped off by my flying ski. And by pure luck my ski managed to wedge itself into some blue netting..... Thank goodness for that netting....
I got a good talking to by the ski lift operator! And teased lots by my friends :S
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It snowed lots on our last day there of course. But there was huge avalanche danger because of the warmer temperatures, and because it had been so windy. A bit scary when Hans heard a woomph sound, and i saw cracks appear in the snow above me. But it was only a small section of steepness so relatively safe. Regardless to say, we kept to the forest and the prepared tracks after that!
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Because of the revolting weather, we slacked a lot in the cabin, watched a lot of films. We saw Pirates of the Carribean for the millionth time. And i found out that I really really really want a cannon! And a grappling hook. A grappling hook mostly - just think, all those walls you could climb, all those ships you could commandeer.... Ahhhh
Oh, and a telescopic nose would be cool as well...
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My search for a summer job in Norway isn't going that wonderfully... looks like I might have to accept a "job" (real of course! *cough*) from Asgeir's brother and use this "job" to get my working visa. Or I could become an illegal immigrant.... (tempting, tempting).
Though I did get one positive answer - but they want to see me in person next week at their office.... I'll try calling them and see if I can do a phone interview.
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NEWS BREAK!
My hair has been cut for the first time since leaving Australia! I no longer look like the abominable snowman, or a young Bono. Thanks to Liz and Jennifer, my hair is now short again, and i can get through a day without recieving multiple wounds to my eyes from my hair :)

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Ice and snow and ski

It's been a hectic, adrenaline, excitement and emotion driven week.

A week ago today I was ice climbing in Hemsedal. A unique way to celebrate my birthday actually - halfway up a frozen waterfall. I haven't had so many birthdays like that in my time...

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And then four days of fantastic skiing in Hemsedal ski resort. As we seem to be, we were blessed with good weather. Tuesday it snowed all day, Wednesday dawned foggy, but we rose above it in the ski lifts, to be met with a stunning view - bright blue skies and sun one way, and a sea of cloud and fog the other. Thursday was just superb. But Friday was bad. A small price to pay.

View of hemsedalView of hemsedal Hosted on Zooomr


There were many a jolly laugh we had, and many a clod of snow to pull out from inside my jacket, or down my ski pants....

There was a stupidest-thing-done-in-the-day-competition, in which the winner had to wear some 80's style sky blue ski pants, a pink skirt over the top, and a fluro pink/orange 80's ski jacket. The first winner was Trond. You see, going through the flapping gate to the ski lift, trond managed to get one ski, weaved in and out between the metal poles, with the plastic flap flapping backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, between his legs. It was so well wedged that Halgeir, the school principal, had to unclip his skiis for him to free him from it's dreaded clutches!

Another high contender was Hanna Beate, who, not realising the implications, rested her ski pole over the safety bar infront of the chairlift. Reaching the top of the mountain, the safety bar was lifted. Up went the ski pole, to get stuck jam tight in the roof of the ski lift. Try as she might, Hanna Beate couldn't get it out, and only succeeded in snapping her superduper telescopic ski pole. Oh, and she skiied into the only tree within about 200m of her :)

And finally, came Halgeir himsellf. Admittedly there were others who had done stupider things that day, but we just couldn't resist the temptation to see Halgeir, our 50-late-something principal dress up in the shocking outfit. Really, all he did was ski into the back of someone whilst skiing through some forest. But it was fantastically funny him wearing the costume. Every 8-man chair lift trip up the mountain he took, he was the only person on the lift. Not a single sould dared ride with him!

And as for me, I had my share of ridiculous doings. One trip down i will never forget. Me and my friend Pål were skiing through some forest, which kept getting tighter and tigher and steeper and more deep with powder snow as we went. So tight that there was only one possible path downwards we could take. Now there was a tree stump in front of me. Maybe half a meter tall, and 20cm wide. Now there was absolutely no reason to fall, but fall i did. With the back section of my skiis around one side of the stump, and my legs and body around the other. Now it was relatively steep in this section, meaning that because of gravity pulling my body down the hill, my skiis were 100% trapped! There was no way out. Thankfully Pål was there to save me. Which he did, not without a fair deal of laughing!

We finally made it through maybe 300m of forest, taking maybe half an hour!

Many other fun things happened, and I feel I learnt a huge amount in telemark technique that week.

Fantastic week.

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Thursday, March 1, 2007

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3 Nordfjord Boys

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There was mustard up my nose, shaving cream in my eyes, and strawberry jam on my face....

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Toboggan madness

Playing with toboggans in Sweden with a crazy Australian, German, Swede, Norwegian is a recipe for madness....

Friday, February 23, 2007

Photoblog of a lovely topptur

As we came back from Tafjord two days earlier than we should have, we went on a topptur up Blåfjell to fill in the time...


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I love this!I love this! Hosted on Zooomr

Lunch breakLunch break Hosted on Zooomr

I've always wanted to do this!I've always wanted to do this! Hosted on Zooomr

LovelyLovely Hosted on Zooomr

Oh beloved snow!Oh beloved snow! Hosted on Zooomr