My weekend continued

The alpine ski slope (again)

The last time I touched a ski had probably been April 1992. I had been skiing all winter, starting as a novice and finally becoming quite okay. I mean, not black slope okay, but most of the other colours okay. However, that was 1992: a lifetime ago! And I knew I wasn't really feeling comfortable with going skiing again. Not at my age and especially, not with my physical condition. Besides, I am a bit of a scaredy cat and the thought that I might fall down while coming down the baby slope...

There was however another type of skiing. A type of skiing that is hugely popular here in Norway. A type of skiing I watch on television, since it is part of my favourite sport (biathlon). It is of course cross country skiing. Hardly any slopes involved, nor great speeds. It would be perfect I thought and it was actually put on my bucket list for 2015. 

But this weekend away saw me forward that bucket a bit. Since my colleague Mr Bear had taken three pairs of skis and four pairs of shoes with him, he was going to teach me! So, after the first drinks were in, we had snooped around the lodge, Ms Dietrich, Mr Bear and I made it back to the bus to get the skis on. There was however only one pair of shoes that fit both me and Ms Dietrich. In the end she declined, I got them and I was soon posing for photos holding the skis!

However, holding them in my hand, does not make me a skier! I had to put them on. Which required a bit of target practice with the shoes, since the toe of the shoe has a slot that has to fit in a slot on the ski. I did manage it though and off we went zooming down the moun  ta  i    n! Of course, I wasn't zooming, nor did we go down any mountain. Instead we stayed in the trail and just made our way forwards. And I must say, I got the hang of it. Even sliding a bit on occasion.

After about twenty minutes and three stops, we turned around and made our way back. There was a slight incline/decline visible then and I could feel it as well. Mr Bear then made the decision to take the skis up to the lodge. Which meant going downhill a bit. Holding all four poles at once we skied down. It was great! Until I fell. 

A selfie when we half-way!

Now, I am not a small skinny girl. By any stretch of the imagination. And when I fall over on my back (like I did, with skis attached), I have to roll onto my stomach and then get onto my knees and stand up. However, with skis attached, the rolling over, getting on the knees and standing up bit, is impossible. I was in absolute fits of laughter! In the end however, Mr Bear just heaved me up. Well, it took him a couple of tries because of my laughing so hard, but he managed it. On we went. Until the next fall. He heaved me up again. But by the third fall, I had had enough: the skis were coming off! No need to cause a hernia in somebody else!

Mr Bear holding my skis as well, I kept the poles.

We were away for about an hour and a half and I had great fun. And cross country skiing is definitely something I will be doing again!