Swedish Indoctrination lesson: skiing holiday
Gerda and I are up in The North of Sweden with her parents this week on a skiing holiday. We're near Funäsdalen and Ramundberget - a 10 hour drive from their home. We've rented a lovely little cottage (complete with sauna!) and plan on spending every day outdoors enjoying the snow.
We're far enough north here that there isn't the slightest sign of spring yet. There's a thick blanket of snow over everything (in some places well over a metre thick!) and long icicles hanging from the rooves. This is April... But I'm ok with it as long as I don't think about that.
We arrived on Sunday so yesterday was our first day of activities. The sun was shining so we decided to go cross-country skiing. Now, I've been cross-country skiing twice before: once with Dad, Marion and Leana and once with Gerda. With Dad et al. we went to a short, prepared, cross-country ski track near their cottage. It was fun and easy and I loved it! This was a handful of years ago now at least. The second time I went cross-country skiing, a couple months ago, was with Gerda in the woods near her parents' house. It was rough, tough, frustrating, difficult and tiring. With those two experiences in mind I really wasn't sure what it would be like here. Well, it wasn't a prepared track and it was very hilly (we are up in the mountains here after all). We took some sort of tank-like vehicle up (they call it a snow weasel) and then were off for 12 km of skiing! I found it to be more tough than fun. I now think that what I need is a flatter track - better yet if it is prepared with the grooves for the skis - so I can work on balance, timing and other basics before going back to a hilly mountainous track. However, I did enjoy yesterday (despite falling at least 100 times and breaking into tears at least twice) and managed to not hurt myself. I had fun and will try again later this week :)
Today was a bit cloudier and windier so we decided to try downhill skiing instead. I've been downhill skiing about 6ish times before (with school, family and friends) and at one point in my teenage years was able to swish swish down the hills with relative ease (and parallel skis!) However, I think the last time I had gone downhill skiing was maybe 10 years ago so again I was worried about how this would 'go down'. I started out on the little bunny hill with 3 year olds zipping about all around. Gerda coached me through it and in no time I was able to navigate down the hill and around obstacles. After about 6 runs down the two bunny hills we decided to try a full-size adult hill. The first difference from home is that their lifts are 'anchor lifts', not chair lifts (generally - there was one chair lift). With an anchor lift you actually have to stay standing on the hill and the anchor bar goes behind you and pulls you up the hill - with your skis on the hill! It looked harder than it was - though throughout the day I did fall twice on the lifts. (and they don't stop when someone falls! You just have to get out of the way and ski down from where you are!) We spent the rest of the day on the blue slopes (easy, but not bunny hills). By the end of the day I could have my skis parallel and swish swish down the hill in the easiest parts but I still often relied on the good old snow plough to make it through anything the least bit steep. I only fell once on the slops today - and then only because my skis crossed themselves near the edge and I was worried I was going to end up in the forest so I decided to sit down. Today was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again.
Now, I like being active but I rarely get the chance to be this active for multiple days in a row. It goes without saying that every muscle protests movement right now. However, my Swedish indoctrination continues with a sauna every night to try and loosen the muscles (and a massage every now and then too). I'm learning to like the sauna. Before I lived here I found saunas to be hot stuffy boxes where I couldn't breathe. Now I find them to be relaxing and enjoyable. Also, Gerda's Dad is good about stretching so we do that when we come home too.
Still left to try this week: snowboarding and maybe snowblades (short downhill skis). I'm looking forward to trying them too. Wish me luck!
We're far enough north here that there isn't the slightest sign of spring yet. There's a thick blanket of snow over everything (in some places well over a metre thick!) and long icicles hanging from the rooves. This is April... But I'm ok with it as long as I don't think about that.
We arrived on Sunday so yesterday was our first day of activities. The sun was shining so we decided to go cross-country skiing. Now, I've been cross-country skiing twice before: once with Dad, Marion and Leana and once with Gerda. With Dad et al. we went to a short, prepared, cross-country ski track near their cottage. It was fun and easy and I loved it! This was a handful of years ago now at least. The second time I went cross-country skiing, a couple months ago, was with Gerda in the woods near her parents' house. It was rough, tough, frustrating, difficult and tiring. With those two experiences in mind I really wasn't sure what it would be like here. Well, it wasn't a prepared track and it was very hilly (we are up in the mountains here after all). We took some sort of tank-like vehicle up (they call it a snow weasel) and then were off for 12 km of skiing! I found it to be more tough than fun. I now think that what I need is a flatter track - better yet if it is prepared with the grooves for the skis - so I can work on balance, timing and other basics before going back to a hilly mountainous track. However, I did enjoy yesterday (despite falling at least 100 times and breaking into tears at least twice) and managed to not hurt myself. I had fun and will try again later this week :)
Today was a bit cloudier and windier so we decided to try downhill skiing instead. I've been downhill skiing about 6ish times before (with school, family and friends) and at one point in my teenage years was able to swish swish down the hills with relative ease (and parallel skis!) However, I think the last time I had gone downhill skiing was maybe 10 years ago so again I was worried about how this would 'go down'. I started out on the little bunny hill with 3 year olds zipping about all around. Gerda coached me through it and in no time I was able to navigate down the hill and around obstacles. After about 6 runs down the two bunny hills we decided to try a full-size adult hill. The first difference from home is that their lifts are 'anchor lifts', not chair lifts (generally - there was one chair lift). With an anchor lift you actually have to stay standing on the hill and the anchor bar goes behind you and pulls you up the hill - with your skis on the hill! It looked harder than it was - though throughout the day I did fall twice on the lifts. (and they don't stop when someone falls! You just have to get out of the way and ski down from where you are!) We spent the rest of the day on the blue slopes (easy, but not bunny hills). By the end of the day I could have my skis parallel and swish swish down the hill in the easiest parts but I still often relied on the good old snow plough to make it through anything the least bit steep. I only fell once on the slops today - and then only because my skis crossed themselves near the edge and I was worried I was going to end up in the forest so I decided to sit down. Today was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again.
Now, I like being active but I rarely get the chance to be this active for multiple days in a row. It goes without saying that every muscle protests movement right now. However, my Swedish indoctrination continues with a sauna every night to try and loosen the muscles (and a massage every now and then too). I'm learning to like the sauna. Before I lived here I found saunas to be hot stuffy boxes where I couldn't breathe. Now I find them to be relaxing and enjoyable. Also, Gerda's Dad is good about stretching so we do that when we come home too.
Still left to try this week: snowboarding and maybe snowblades (short downhill skis). I'm looking forward to trying them too. Wish me luck!