Just Where In The Hell Are You?

Geilo is a small ski resort town with only 2300 permanent residents - located about half way between Norway's two biggest cities: Oslo and Bergen.

The first English ski tourists visited Geilo as early as 1867. The modernisation of Geilo as a ski spot began in 1935 when one of Norway’s first slalom races was held in Geilo. Geilo was allowed to boom as a resort thanks to the opening of the Oslo-Bergen railway in 1909; this same railway still operates today and plans are made for high-speed upgrades in the near future.

My place is on the north side of the valley (the red marker) while Geilolia skisenter is located on the south side of the Valley (the green marker). In the mornings I get up, take a shower, have some breakfast and maybe check the weather for the day to decide if I am going to wear 15 sweaters or just 12 today.


I then strap on my cross-country skis and head across the valley towards work. There is a cross-country track that runs around the lake.

Cross-country tracks are like roads made by grooming machines on the snow with sunken tracks on the right-hand side (or both). You can ride langrenn without these tracks, but they make a much faster and more efficient trip if you do. A few small islands (bottom left of the picture) are connected by narrow bridges to allow access across the water. It doesn't actually look like water mind you - being that it is frozen and covered in snow - except next to the bridges where you can see thin sheets of ice with painfully cold-looking water running past. For the most part I am pretty solid on these skis, but keep in mind I haven't been doing this very long and it's a surprisingly difficult task to undertake. You are only attached to the ski at the toe and the skis are about 5cm across. To get decent speed you need to launch yourself forward as you press with your poles in a sort of trot. It's hard to explain. Every once in a while I take a fall somewhere along the track, normally when heading from soft to hard snow, going down a slope (both bridges have short slopes right before them) or through the more 'off-beat' sections of the trail. Thankfully I have avoided falling into the lake so far. The bridges are just under a meter across and very slippery. The water is only about 70-80cm deep so if I did fall in; I would probably survive.

Personally, in terms of ways to wake yourself up in the mornings; I would prefer a cup of coffee.