Our last weekend in Norway we headed North for a ski weekend in Beitostølen with two other couples. The biggest snowfall all month happened that weekend, so I was preparing for a winter wonderland and sugar powder slopes. That’s exactly what we got! When Thomas’s friend pulled up to his family cabin it was the cutest thing in the world. A rustic wooden cabin with a wrap around porch and pristine views of the mountains we would be skiing down in the upcoming days. We immediately started up the wood burning stove because it was freezing! It’s amazing how fast those heat up a room. If it’s burning for too long you’ll be sweating! After we got settled, we put on our cross-country ski gear. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself. When Thomas first took me cross-country skiing when I got to Norway I was pretty bad. Norwegians are born with ski’s on their feet, so I think it’s expected for an American to be awful lol. Cross country skiing takes a lot more skill and technique than downhill skiing. So after I practiced three or four times I was prepared for this weekend when other people would be watching me haha. The area we skied around his cabin was absolutely beautiful. That night we sat around drinking and playing Norwegian charades. Poor Thomas had me on his team so they had to give us extra time so he could explain the word in English! haha I was definitely the weakest link. We went to bed at a decent hour because in the morning we were heading to the slopes for downhill!
I’ve been downhill skiing two other times in my life, but I was still really nervous! I knew it would take me a couple rounds to get back in the swing of things…and I was right. First off let me tell you about the ski lift. The other times I went skiing the lift was like a bench that ,picked you up. Well this one was not. This one was like a plate thing that you put in between your legs and it would propel you forward. Thomas didn’t explain to me how it worked, so with a line of about 50 people behind me I go up to the lift, put the plate thing in between my legs and go to sit. All of a sudden I’m being dragged with my ski’s going everywhere and people yelling “LET GO”! haha so embarrassing. You’re not suppose to sit apparently. The plate thing rests on your butt and the line propels you forward. So once that catastrophe happened everything was good to go 😉 Being on top of the mountains was absolutely amazing. We were above the clouds, the sun was shining, and the slopes had soft powdery snow. I was so sore afterwards though! It puts your body through a lot. Especially if you fall a few times lol
So after a long day of skiing, came the part I’ve been hearing all about…AFTER SKI. After skiing, people go in their ski clothes to a bar. Since drinks are so expensive in Norway, we went back to the cabin for a little bit. We drank our Jagermeister that had been chilling in the snow for days. After we all started being silly we walked to “after ski”. It was the most fun ever. It was so nice that nobody cared what they looked like! I shook my booty in baggy ski pants all night 😉 It was such an incredible weekend and I can’t wait to get back on the slopes again.
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