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#1
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trip report: Lillehammer
Had the great chance to get to Norway to ski this week. Here are some
observations... 1. Lillehammer has several ski shops, but none actually rent skis. We were told to try the Hafsjell Alpine Resort up the road, and they had skis, poles and boots in all sizes. We rented a great pair of Madshus skis (with a primo wax job) for three days (very good deal). We asked how much the trail fee was at the main desk, and the nice attendant just smiled, and said "the trails are our national treasure, we dont charge for them, everyone uses them all the time". 2. Along this idea, there arent cross-country ski "areas" as such to search out. Around Lillehammer there are trails everywhere (easily walkable from the hotels), and most seem to interconnect depending on how far you want to ski into the system. We drove 10 minutes north of town to the Birkiebineret Olympic ski stadium for a day, and it was great fun. Some very fast skiers were up there doing intervals, training hard (and flying past us). The main board in the stadium listed the air temp, snow temp, humidity, wind speed - all very impressive. Would have liked to stay around Lillehammer a bit longer, but the big 10 year anniversary festivities for the Olympics were taking place, and all the rooms in town were booked. 3. The next two days we drove north of Lillehammer and drove out of the Valley up an 18km road (chains recommended) to Hornsjo, in the Oyer Mountains where we stayed at super friendly Hotel at the very end of the road. The wilderness in this area has 250 km of linked trails. The whole region here was beautiful and remote, with nearly four feet of snow. The trails were in great shape, two sets of classic with skating lane down the middle. The wind was a bit strong on our second day, and with the lack of tree cover, the tracks can get obscured in some places by afternoon, so some trailbreaking was in order. All in all a great trip. We found many more classic trails than skating, but either way the fantastic norwegian waffles most hotels will make for you after a day skiing are simply the best! Anatoly |
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#2
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trip report: Lillehammer
"anatoly" skrev i melding
m... Had the great chance to get to Norway to ski this week. Here are some observations... 1. Lillehammer has several ski shops, but none actually rent skis. We were told to try the Hafsjell Alpine Resort up the road, and they had skis, poles and boots in all sizes. We rented a great pair of Madshus skis (with a primo wax job) for three days (very good deal). We asked how much the trail fee was at the main desk, and the nice attendant just smiled, and said "the trails are our national treasure, we dont charge for them, everyone uses them all the time". True, the trail use is free, but this may not last forever, I am sorry to say, as the work with the trails is getting more and more expensive for the resorts. 2. Along this idea, there arent cross-country ski "areas" as such to search out. Around Lillehammer there are trails everywhere (easily walkable from the hotels), and most seem to interconnect depending on how far you want to ski into the system. We drove 10 minutes north of town to the Birkiebineret Olympic ski stadium for a day, and it was great fun. Some very fast skiers were up there doing intervals, training hard (and flying past us). The main board in the stadium listed the air temp, snow temp, humidity, wind speed - all very impressive. Would have liked to stay around Lillehammer a bit longer, but the big 10 year anniversary festivities for the Olympics were taking place, and all the rooms in town were booked. Correct observations. 3. The next two days we drove north of Lillehammer and drove out of the Valley up an 18km road (chains recommended) to Hornsjo, in the Oyer Mountains where we stayed at super friendly Hotel at the very end of the road. The wilderness in this area has 250 km of linked trails. The whole region here was beautiful and remote, with nearly four feet of snow. The trails were in great shape, two sets of classic with skating lane down the middle. The wind was a bit strong on our second day, and with the lack of tree cover, the tracks can get obscured in some places by afternoon, so some trailbreaking was in order. Also correct. All in all a great trip. We found many more classic trails than skating, but either way the fantastic norwegian waffles most hotels will make for you after a day skiing are simply the best! Again, quite true, there are as long as it lasts much more classic trails than skating trails. Glad you liked our waffles! Waffles, often with sugar, blueberry/cloudberry/strawberry/other jam, or sour cream, I think you call it ( = "rømme"), are typical and very popular Norwegian "fastfood" when outdoors skiing, skating, jogging, running, or timberlogging/woodcutting, or whatever activities you may be doing, often with hot, black (or with cream) coffee to go with them. Welcome back!! You are most certainly most welcome back to us here. |
#3
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trip report: Lillehammer
"Inger Skramstad Jørstad" wrote in message ...
True, the trail use is free, but this may not last forever, I am sorry to say, as the work with the trails is getting more and more expensive for the resorts. Wouldn´t any attempt to establish trail fees clash with the "allemansrätten" (Swe; Nor?)? In Finland, the public right to use a trail has been succes- fully denied only when a loop was specially constructed (with a "refridgeration" system) and there was no natural snow cover. Anders |
#4
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trip report: Lillehammer
On 14 Feb 2004, anatoly wrote:
Had the great chance to get to Norway to ski this week. Here are some observations... 1. Lillehammer has several ski shops, but none actually rent skis. We were told to try the Hafsjell Alpine Resort up the road, and they had skis, poles and boots in all sizes. I think there is a sports shop in Sjusjøen that rents skis. It's right on the Birkebeiner trail. But you are right about the lack of rental places. All Norwegians have their own skis. I did see a ski rental place - in July!! On the top of Sognefjell (elev 1470 m) I was red-klister conditions (but the rentals seemed to all wax-less). You would also need sunscreen with a very high SPF! Sadly, I didn't get skiing that day- I had many Nordic miles (mil) to cycle that day. (Norwegians and Swedes often talk about skiing/skating/cycling several mil per day, and in English they often say "miles". 1 Mil == 10 km ) ... We asked how much the trail fee was at the main desk, and the nice attendant just smiled, and said "the trails are our national treasure, we dont charge for them, everyone uses them all the time". "Trail Fees???" Those foreign tourists ask the strangest questions! :-) :-) ... All in all a great trip. We found many more classic trails than skating, but either way the fantastic norwegian waffles most hotels will make for you after a day skiing are simply the best! But you should also stop in a trail-side cafe while skiing and eat waffles then, and drink "Solbaer" (hot black current juice) -- David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada email: WWW pages: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/ |
#5
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trip report: Lillehammer
Anders Lustig wrote:
"Inger Skramstad Jørstad" wrote in message ... True, the trail use is free, but this may not last forever, I am sorry to say, as the work with the trails is getting more and more expensive for the resorts. Wouldn´t any attempt to establish trail fees clash with the "allemansrätten" (Swe; Nor?)? It would indeed. You can charge for other services, like parking, but not for making trails. Terje -- - "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching" |
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