Scenes from Skeikampen

We hope you enjoy the following series of photos taken during the Fulbright Ski Weekend at Skeikampen. Be sure to click on each photo to view them in full resolution.

A cross-country trail crossroads in the morning The trail leading to the ski rental store outside of the Thon Hotel Long shadows across the cross-country trail around Skeikampen Mountain (Click on the photo to enlarge)

The valley at the base of the Skeikampen Mountain

A private cabin and barn near Skeikampen

Hittin' the Slopes!

On Saturday, we rented downhill skis and hit the slopes of Skeikampen! The Skeikampen resort is known for being family friendly, not for its numerous and challenging ski runs - there were only 3 lifts running and 4 runs open (about half the mountain was closed due to lack of snow). Rolf somehow convinced Meghan to try going down the black diamond run - it didn't look that steep from the chair lift - and she nearly peed her pants from sheer terror! (Disclaimer: a Skeikampen black diamond is equivalent to a Colorado double blue...)

(Click on the photo to enlarge the panorama)

Here is the view from the top of the Skeikampen Mountain. In the morning, the sun glinted off small snowflakes suspended in the air and gave the appearance that the sky was full of glitter - we've never seen anything quite like it!

Having conquered the toughest run of the mountain early in the day, we decided to venture into the open areas between the groomed runs. There was 2 feet of very light powder which made for easy maneuvering and great practice! In the photo above, Rolf is "carving the knar in the pow-pow" - or something like that!

After lunch, Rolf went "off mountain" skiing with more experienced Fulbright skiers while Meghan gave some Fulbright first timers a few pointers on the bunny hill. The photo above was taken at the end of the day on our way to return our rental skis.

(Click on the photo to enlarge the panorama)

Above is a panorama of the Skeikampen Ski Village at the base of the downhill ski runs. On the train ride back to Trondheim, our over-stretched stomachs and many sore muscles were reminders of a great weekend!

Fulbright Seminar and Ski Weekend

The third weekend in February, we traveled to Oslo for the annual Fulbright Seminar and Ski Weekend. The event is an opportunity for the 30 Fulbright students and professors to present their research and get to know one another. It's also the only time during the year when all the Fulbrighters get together with their spouses and families.On Wednesday we had a chance to visit the U.S. Embassy for an evening! We attended a seminar on Norwegian and U.S. Climate Policy given by a Norwegian policy expert and the Fulbright Arctic Chair in Svalbard, Dr. Mark Hermanson. The following day, all 30 American Fulbrights gave 10 minute presentations on their research projects. In the photo above, Rolf is introducing his talk, "Cold Climate Residential Envelopes: Achieving the Passive House Standard". Several professors and students who are here on teaching assignments talked about their experiences in Norwegian secondary schools and universities, but we'll save their insights into Norwegian culture for when we return to Minnesota.

After the seminar, we walked to the U.S. Ambassador's residence for a reception. We shook the Ambassador's hand as we entered the house, but then he had to excuse himself to attend an event at the Palace - you can't say no to an invitation from the King! The Art Noveau residence was built in 1911 and sold to the United States government in 1924 for $125,000 - making it the most expensive American residence abroad at the time and requiring special Congressional approval. In the photo above, we are relaxing in the sitting room.

The next morning, the entire Fulbright group (grantees, families, and staff) took a shuttle bus to the Skeikampen Ski Resort located 30 miles outside of Lillehammer (host to the 1994 Winter Olympics). Everyone stayed at the Thon Hotel, where we were spoiled by a generous buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were no less than 7 desserts to choose from each night! Above is a view of the mountain from the lodge at sunrise.

(Click on the photo to enlarge)

On Friday afternoon, we went cross-country skiing across the valley at the base of the mountain with Caitlin. It was lightly snowing and the trail was unusually flat for Norway - an easy start to our relaxing weekend!

(Click on the photo to enlarge)

We also went cross-country skiing on Sunday morning - an 8 mile loop around the mountain. The first section of trail wound through snow-laden spruce trees that cast long shadows over the snow. As we wound around the mountain we ascended higher and higher until we reached a wide pass above tree line. After that, it was all downhill!

NM Ski 2011

The Norgesmesterskap Ski (NM Ski) is the annual Norwegian Ski Championship for ski jumping, cross country, and Nordic combined. This year, it was held in Steinkjer (1.5 hours north of Trondheim) where Caitlin, another American Fulbright, is a member of the local ski club. (Interestingly, the Steinkjer Ski Club was founded in 1885 and is one of the oldest sport clubs in Norway.) She told us many months ago that NM Ski was a must see, and we were not disappointed! The event took place over 4 days in January with the opening day attended by Harald V, the king of Norway. On the day we attended, a few thousand people were lined up along the fences watching the races (shown in the photo below). Although the children were much more interested in building snowmen and sledding than the races.

We saw the 3 x 5 km women's relay (43 teams of 3) and the 3 x 10 km men's relay (91 teams of 3). Each relay race incorporated one classic and two free-style (skate skiing) legs. At the start of the race, the skiers lined up in 5 or 6 parallel ski tracks, shown in the photo below. Then, at the sound of the gun they pushed themselves forward using only their poles and were off!

The fastest men's team completed each 10 km (6.2 mile) leg in 24 minutes! The last place team was ironically from NTNU and they were lapped during their second lap. But what they lacked in speed, they made up for in style. They wore "old school" green sweaters, brown pants rolled up to their knees, and knee-high red socks - quite the contrast from full body spandex.

In the photo above, the skiers are bombing the final hill into the stadium near the finish line. Caitlin told us that sometimes they ski so close together down the hills that they have to push the skier in front of them to avoid a collision - or risk getting impaled by ski poles!

After watching the racers flash down hills and around corners at breakneck speeds, our own skiing seems rather slow and ponderous.

Top Tur

Our second cabin trip was to Holmsåkoia in mid-January - this time for skiing, not work! We went with a group of people who work with Alyssa (a fellow Fulbright) at the Museum of Natural History in Trondheim. Holmsåkoia is located near the town of Tydal, 2 hours southeast of Trondheim. Several people had cars, so we all were able to ride to the start of the trail to the cabin. Then, we strapped on our skis and were off on a 2 hour ski up a snow-covered road with 500 feet of elevation. The ascent was very gradual so the most tiring part of the ski was carrying our heavy packs - Rolf and I packed in over a gallon of water!

Holmsåkoia was similar to Flåkoia but larger and equipped with a piano and sauna! We went on a short ski before it got dark (i.e., before 4pm) along a river near the cabin. Without hesitation, Sondre and Heiko zipped through a narrow opening in the trees down a steep bank to the river 20 feet below. For them, their skis were natural extensions of their feet - truly talented skiers! This not being the case for the rest of us, we chose a wider path down a much gentler slope to the river. That evening, Magni and Ervin (both Norwegian) made a traditional vilt gryte (wild pot) for dinner, a stew-like dish with ample cream!

The next day, we went on a "top tur" (literally, top tour) of the nearby mountain. It was slow going through the deep snow up the mountain side, especially if you broke through the shallow ice crust into 2 feet of snow! We saw many moose tracks criss-crossing the hillside, but no sightings of any moose.

The top of the mountain was open - no trees and just a few shrubs sticking up through the snow. It was extremely windy at the top, so we took a quick group photo (shown below) and began our descent. The experienced skiers - Sondre, Heiko, and Magni - went straight down, manuevering their cross country skis like we would downhill skis in the U.S. We, on the other hand, took a gentler route down, switching back and forth across the hillside.

After lunch, we packed our things and started on what should have been a fun, easy ski back to the cars because the return trip was all downhill. However, Mother Nature was going to have none of that - it warmed to above freezing and began to rain. The sticky snow clumped to our skis making them function more like snowshoes than skis. In the end, it was a long, hard ski back without any glide, but we made it!

Flåkoia Lumberjacks

For the work part of the Flåkoia work trip, we were assigned the task of restocking the cabin with wood - finding nearby birch trees or dead conifers and hauling them back to the cabin. On first glance there were only live conifers as far as we could tell. But we finally found some suitable trees a long walk from the cabin across uneven terrain and at the top of a steep bank. It looked like our rather straightforward task was about to get complicated... We had packed in a small chainsaw and set to work cutting up the biggest logs into rounds and the smaller branches into 6 foot lengths. In the photo above, Tyler is teaching Eleonore how to use the chainsaw. (It had lightly snowed the night before, check out the snow on the ground!). While everyone wanted to try the chainsaw, no one was enthusiastic about hauling all the wood back to the cabin on foot, so we devised an easier way.

By boat! Flåkoia was equipped with a small fiberglass rowing boat and 2 broken oars, and we intended to take full advantage. We literally threw the rounds and branches down the steep bank to the lake, almost 100 feet to the shore below. Although our throws were aimed at a small bit of flat land, sometimes the wood rolled too far and we had to fish them out of the lake. Then we loaded up the boat, and Richie and Antony (our official oarsmen) paddled the wood back to the cabin.

Back at the cabin, we only had to carry the wood a few dozen yards. The trickiest part of the whole operation was unloading the boat without stepping into water over the tops of our boots! In the photo above, Rolf narrowly missed getting his left foot soaked. In all, we transported more than half a dozen boat loads of wood to the cabin.

The Norwegians directed us to lean long branches against a tree to dry, like a teepee, shown in the photo above. We found this a rather peculiar way to store wood, but apparently effective!

Last but not least, we split some of the rounds into firewood and stacked the rest against the cabin. The lumberjack inside everyone seemed to emerge for this task. Only when the woodshed was nearly overflowing with wood, did the boys stop chopping!

Flåkoia - Cabin Life

The cabin itself was cozy - solid timber construction with wooden floors, a long dining table, and a wood stove. There was a sleeping loft plus several bunks on the main level for a total of 11 people. (We slept on the main level, shown in the photo below). The kitchen was fully equipped with plates, utensils, pots, washing supplies, and portable gas stoves - everything you might need for a weekend in the woods!That first evening, we made an enormous pot of stew and played cards by candlelight. Most of the cabins are equipped with a guitar and songbooks, but the Flåkoia guitar only had 3 strings. Our camp songs would have to wait for another trip!

We noticed that several of the trees near the cabin were filled with signs pointing every which way (see above). Perhaps a few of those signs would better serve as markers along the trail to the cabin?

Our first task every morning was breakfast. Cooking in a cabin without electricity or running water always has its challenges. In this case, we couldn't get any of the gas stoves started, so we had to stoke up the wood stove and cook our pancakes the old fashioned way. In the photo above, Andy is cooking his delicious homemade buttermilk pancakes.

Here Rolf is enjoying said pancakes. We discovered that even during the day, we still needed headlamps and candles to see inside the cabin. The walls and ceiling were covered in black soot which absorbed all the light from the windows!

Hanging out on the front porch (left to right): Andy, Rolf, Meghan, Tyler (on top) and Antony.

Finding Flåkoia

The NTNU Sports Club owns a network of 23 koia (little cabins) throughout the region surrounding Trondheim. The club is run by student volunteers who maintain the cabins through work trips to make repairs or haul firewood. Our friend, Tyler, is a member of the cabin group and invited us on a work trip to Flåkoia one weekend in mid-October. The incentive? Free lodging and the chance for a quintessential Norwegian experience!On a Friday evening, we took a local train 1.5 hours south to Lundamo, a small town with a population of 1000. The rest of the cabin group (Tyler, Andy, Antony, Eleanor and Richie) were driving and planning to catch up with us as we hiked from the train station to the cabin. The first challenge: 500 feet of elevation gain with backpacks loaded for the weekend. The photo above was taken from the top of a really steep section of the road, looking back towards Lundamo. After hiking for 1.5 hours we came to a fork in the road that didn't match the quick sketch we made from an online map. We still hadn't met up with the rest of the group, it was dark and getting cold, we had no tent or cell phone reception, and we didn't know where the cabin was! Just as we started to get thoroughly worried, we saw headlights coming up the road - we were saved! Reunited with the rest of the group, we successfully made it to the parking lot and the start of the trail to the cabin. The trail was wide and well traveled for the first couple hundred yards, but then abruptly ended in an open marsh. By now it was completely dark and we had to rely on headlamps for illumination. With no trail and only the tiny beams from our lights, the cabin might have stood 50 feet from us as we blindly stumbled by. Or maybe we were off by a half mile! To make matters worse, the vapor from our breath (it was cold!) kept clouding the beams from our headlamps. We decided to split up and fan out into the marsh. With water sloshing over the tops of our boots, we stumbled around for an hour or more until someone by chance came across the little cabin on the shore of the lake. By the time we got a fire started and our clothes dry, it was quite late. That night we didn't eat dinner until 11:30PM. The next morning we ventured out in the daylight to figure out exactly where we had ended up. On the far side of the marsh where we had first arrived was a small creek with no apparent way to cross. Apparently, boulder-hopping was part of the fun. In the daylight it was just barely possible to make out where the trail continued on the other side. In the dark, it would have been (and proved to be) hopeless.Past the creek, a small footpath led to the base of a rock ledge which required some bit of scrambling to climb over (shown in the photo below). Not an obvious choice for a trail that hundreds of people use every summer! We may have all been soaked up to our thighs and extremely hungry that first night, but the important thing was that we did find Flåkoia!

Winter Sunrise

While the Midwest has been pummeled with snow over the last several weeks, warm temperatures and rain have washed away our once bountiful snow in Trondheim. Today it felt oddly like spring. Meghan had coffee outside with a friend and watched ducks swimming back and forth across the river. And so, in this blog we reminisce about the days in Trondheim when the roads were still covered in snow. The following series of photos were taken on a walk to school in mid-December during a beautiful pink sunrise...

Starting downtown, one block from our apartment, we saw the sunrise above the rooftops along Olav Tryggvason's Gate - the shopping street.

Farther down the street we spied a bicycle partly buried in snow, and hanging red hearts - decorations for Christmas. Before we crossed the River Nid to head up the hill to school, we paused at the old city bridge - the Gamlebybru.

Having started our climb, we looked back and saw the Nidaros Cathedral rising up from across the river.

As we neared the top of the hill, the last pink faded from the sky.

We miss you Snow, please come back!