Norwegian Birkie

Terje Mathisen wrote:
redford wrote:

This is all great information. Thanks!!! Definitely looks like a
brutal climb on the profile, but the course looks way fun. This is
really helping my motivation to make this trip happen.

One more question ... I've got a week after the race before I hook
up with my family. I was thinking I want to try to find some good
skiing north of the Artic Circle for a few days. Any favorite
trails / towns? I might throw the skate skis in with the classic
skis, are there many skating trails to chose from?

Except for being able to say "I've been there" (north of the ac),
there's nothing particularly exciting about northern Norway in March,
the number of daylight hours is more or less the same all over.

Having said that, there's still lots of good skiing up north, but I'd
leave the skate gear at home: Except for short tracks near the cities,
there's probably little skating available.

The other Terje (from Kirkenes) probably knows more!

With a multiday rail pass you can make it up to Bodø, from there you
could (if you have nice weather) take the boat across the fjord to
Lofoten, an area which is worth a visit at any time of the year!

Where I live, they bought a big track machine sa few years ago. Normally
they make one trace and leave the rest to the skaters. Plenty of space. At
the beginning of the season, when it's dark, cold and sometimes windy,
tracks are set only close to the populated areas, but when february arrives,
they set tracks in a much wider area. Snow-scooter travks can also be used
for skating.

It's not far from here to Saariselkaa, Finland, often used by local skiers
at the beginning of the season. Every little town around here has its own
tracks with lights, and I have heard that the tracksetters in Vadsø and Alta
do a very good job, also in the weekend. That's not the case here.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

Wow, I just looked at the map, and Kirkenes is way up there. That would be
wild to say that I skied that far north!!! So how many hours / days does it
take to get there from Lillehammer by rail? Might eat up a little too much
of my week after the race.

I think I'll be taking the other Terje's advice and leave the skate skis at
home. I'll have a brand new pair of classic skis that I'll be wanting to
use ... looking forward to getting back into the way skiing was supposed to
be (I've been skating for the last 6 years).

Anyway, thanks for the info.

Regards,
Jim

"Terje Henriksen" wrote in message
...
Terje Mathisen wrote:
redford wrote:

This is all great information. Thanks!!! Definitely looks like a
brutal climb on the profile, but the course looks way fun. This is
really helping my motivation to make this trip happen.

One more question ... I've got a week after the race before I hook
up with my family. I was thinking I want to try to find some good
skiing north of the Artic Circle for a few days. Any favorite
trails / towns? I might throw the skate skis in with the classic
skis, are there many skating trails to chose from?

Except for being able to say "I've been there" (north of the ac),
there's nothing particularly exciting about northern Norway in March,
the number of daylight hours is more or less the same all over.

Having said that, there's still lots of good skiing up north, but I'd
leave the skate gear at home: Except for short tracks near the cities,
there's probably little skating available.

The other Terje (from Kirkenes) probably knows more!

With a multiday rail pass you can make it up to Bodø, from there you
could (if you have nice weather) take the boat across the fjord to
Lofoten, an area which is worth a visit at any time of the year!

Where I live, they bought a big track machine sa few years ago. Normally
they make one trace and leave the rest to the skaters. Plenty of space. At
the beginning of the season, when it's dark, cold and sometimes windy,
tracks are set only close to the populated areas, but when february
arrives, they set tracks in a much wider area. Snow-scooter travks can
also be used for skating.

It's not far from here to Saariselkaa, Finland, often used by local skiers
at the beginning of the season. Every little town around here has its own
tracks with lights, and I have heard that the tracksetters in Vadsø and
Alta do a very good job, also in the weekend. That's not the case here.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes

redford wrote:

Wow, I just looked at the map, and Kirkenes is way up there. That would be
wild to say that I skied that far north!!! So how many hours / days does it
take to get there from Lillehammer by rail? Might eat up a little too much
of my week after the race.

Kirkenes is effectively airline only: The rail line ends at Bodø/Fauske
which is just a little over halvway from Oslo to Kirkenes! :-(

There are buses of course, but for a week-long trip I really wouldn't do it.

I think I'll be taking the other Terje's advice and leave the skate skis at
home. I'll have a brand new pair of classic skis that I'll be wanting to
use ... looking forward to getting back into the way skiing was supposed to
be (I've been skating for the last 6 years).

Please do quite a bit of classic training before Birken!

Good luck!

Terje

Anyway, thanks for the info.

Regards,
Jim

"Terje Henriksen" wrote in message
...

Terje Mathisen wrote:

redford wrote:


This is all great information. Thanks!!! Definitely looks like a
brutal climb on the profile, but the course looks way fun. This is
really helping my motivation to make this trip happen.

One more question ... I've got a week after the race before I hook
up with my family. I was thinking I want to try to find some good
skiing north of the Artic Circle for a few days. Any favorite
trails / towns? I might throw the skate skis in with the classic
skis, are there many skating trails to chose from?

Except for being able to say "I've been there" (north of the ac),
there's nothing particularly exciting about northern Norway in March,
the number of daylight hours is more or less the same all over.

Having said that, there's still lots of good skiing up north, but I'd
leave the skate gear at home: Except for short tracks near the cities,
there's probably little skating available.

The other Terje (from Kirkenes) probably knows more!

With a multiday rail pass you can make it up to Bodø, from there you
could (if you have nice weather) take the boat across the fjord to
Lofoten, an area which is worth a visit at any time of the year!

Where I live, they bought a big track machine sa few years ago. Normally
they make one trace and leave the rest to the skaters. Plenty of space. At
the beginning of the season, when it's dark, cold and sometimes windy,
tracks are set only close to the populated areas, but when february
arrives, they set tracks in a much wider area. Snow-scooter travks can
also be used for skating.

It's not far from here to Saariselkaa, Finland, often used by local skiers
at the beginning of the season. Every little town around here has its own
tracks with lights, and I have heard that the tracksetters in Vadsø and
Alta do a very good job, also in the weekend. That's not the case here.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes









--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

Terje Mathisen wrote:
redford wrote:

Wow, I just looked at the map, and Kirkenes is way up there. That
would be wild to say that I skied that far north!!! So how many
hours / days does it take to get there from Lillehammer by rail?
Might eat up a little too much of my week after the race.

Kirkenes is effectively airline only: The rail line ends at
Bodø/Fauske which is just a little over halvway from Oslo to
Kirkenes! :-(

There are buses of course, but for a week-long trip I really wouldn't
do it.

Not everybody know that Norway is about as long as USA, south to north. The
airplane may take 2-3 hours, direct or almost direct line, and the coastal
express (hurtigruta, the fast window) takes about 5 days from Bergen to
Kirkenes.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes