Skiing in Norway

Knowing that skiing was my weakest area, I decided to have the week in Norway organised by Matt Higginson, so that I could spend some time improving my skills. We arrived in Hafjell early evening on the Sunday, and after a quick meal, I got my head down, tired from the flight. (My arms were killing me!)

First thing Monday morning I collected my rental gear and we (9 of us in total) made our way up the gondola to the top station. I spent the best part of Monday falling over and swearing a lot, it seemed that I just could not stay on my feet for any longer than 30 seconds at a time – before we’d flown out I had spent a couple of sessions at the Snowdome and thought I was ready for the real thing, but it felt very different up on the mountain. I was the only novice on the trip, and it showed.

By the end of the day, I was pretty fed up, and very sore, having fallen so many times I’d lost count. I came down in the chair lift very low, wondering if I was ever going to crack it.

What a difference a day makes!, by the end of Tuesday I felt like a different person. Matt H was very patient with me, just trying to nail down the basics, and eventually things seemed to click into place, and I felt like I was finally getting the hang of it – I was still taking the occasional fall, but I could feel an improvement with every run, so the falls didn’t seem to be that important any more.

By the end of Tuesday, I had ventured off green runs onto blues, and even picked my way down a Red, albeit nice and slowly. I then felt a lot more comfortable, and was able to focus the rest of the week on just steadily improving my technique, and even though I had some frustrating sessions, by the end of the week I was much more confident,  and feeling ready to take on steeper Red runs. I didn’t threaten any speed records, but I was able to descend steep icy slopes steadily under full control.

All in all, the week was a huge benefit to me, and I feel a lot more confident about the Norway trip in January now, knowing that I am at least ready to take on the next phase of the ski training.

Paul Snape (SNAPPO)