Desserts, snowboarding, skiing, and bicycling

35 chocolate dessers in 2008

2008 started with a decision to cook all 35 chocolate desserts in a leaflet I have by the end of the year--in other words, one dessert in every week and a half. I am currently slightly behind schedule, but picking up speed in order to celebrate my birthday with one of my favourites, namely fundue au chocolat. As part of this project, I upload pictures of every dessert on flickr. Click the leaflet to have a look.

Off-piste in Hemsedal

Travelwise, I am keeping an environmental-friendly profile with no flights so far this year, and have traveled in filled up cars and buses on my two trips snowboarding in Hemsedal. Within the city and surrounding areas, I go by metro, bus or train--also for cross country skiing. And since last Sunday, bicycling adds to my current means of transportation, though mostly for excercise until the temperature rise to more relaxing levels.

More pictures from Narvik

Just a small update to announce that I've published a few more pictures from Narvik. I've organized them chronologically into my photostream on Flickr, and you'll find them most easy by opening the narvik photo set.

Snowjumping in Narvik

Narvik is awesome for skiing and snowboarding! After three years of studying there I kind of knew this already when I booked the flight for last weekend, but the conditions turned out fantastic! After one week of rain, Friday came with a heavy snowfall resulting in more than 30 centimeters of nice powder for me and Eirik to play with--yet the thin base and loose powder printed some serious marks into my snowboard...

However, sunlight and an awesome view all the way to Lofoten easily put our minds off any scratches, and let Karl-Inge and Tini shoot a couple of nice pictures! To top it off, Dana and her family made our visit so comfortable I cannot think of any reason not to revisit Narvik.

Blown away in Hemsedal

Swaying lift

Not completely blown away, but last weekend's trip to Hemsedal resulted in my first visit to the slopes at Solheisen--simply because most of Hemsedal ski resort was closed due to strong winds on Saturday. So instead of long queues and windy slopes, I got to twist and turn through the not-so-steep forested hills of Solheisen in nice, soft snow. The soft snow also made me jump both higher and longer than before.

On Sunday, the wind had calmed down and all of Hemsedal was open--until the wind picked up again, that is. On our way towards the top Tinden, the lift started swaying a lot and was closed just after we got off. Apart from that, and the warm weather that rendered the snow wet and heavy, it was really nice to get back on the snowboard again--particularly as I am starting to get some air under my board now.

I hope to increase the "airness" in Narvik next weekend (high-res map)...

Alive

Off-piste in Hemsedal

Just a note to let you know that I am still alive after another awesome weekend in Hemsedal. Took the large bus up there and back, and had an easy evening watching Shortbus at the movie theatre afterwards.

Skiing again!

White mountains in Hemsedal

In extreme contrast to last year's cold, snowy and accordingly bright autumn, this autumn has been extremely warm, wet and dark in Oslo--and most other parts of Norway. Thus, as the local newspapers reported plenty of snow in the mountains and a corporate cottage had several rooms available, I turned my back on the dark city and Christmas preparations in favor of a weekend in Hemsedal ski resort.

And what a weekend! The valley of Hemsedal was totally dominated by its surrounding white mountains, and conditions in the slopes were magnificent! In an attempt to teach Hege how to twist and turn, I spent Saturday on rented slalom skis while I had my snowboard serviced. On Sunday, however, I was all over the mountains on my snowboard!

Lots of action

The new blues brothers!

It's been quite a while since I posted here. And to Flickr. So I'll try to put things straight now. First, I've uploaded some pictures from Beitostølen. Then, me and my brother visited a cat exhibition with Hercules in Spydeberg. He (Hercules the cat) didn't win this time, but is nevertheless still my favourite cat. Finally, the Norwegian national day passed by with a splash on Wednesday May 17, but still the streets were filled with nicely dressed people. If any of my friends abroad ever decide to visit Oslo, the childrens parade on May 17 is definitely worth seeing!

Apart from these photographed events (my digital camera is starting to fail seriously and I might have to buy a new camera), poor(ing) weather has dominated the last couple of weeks and seriously reduced my bicycle training before the trip to Strasbourg. So today I made an effort to exercise for real, and met up for an introductory trip with Frøy bicycling association. The result was almost 90 kms on the seat, and two stiff legs. But it feels right, and now I have to continue putting kilometres on my wheels; I'll start this weekend with a two-day trip to our cottage near Fredrikstad, some 90 kilometres each way.

Holiday in the Norwegian alps at Sunnmøre

Climbing Saudehornet

Home from Easter holiday, I look back at a few amazing and eventful days at Sunnmøre, Norway, with steep mountains and excellent off-piste descends on snowboard! I also look back at the longest drive by car I have ever done, but that is a whole other story.

Although I have been snowboarding quite a few times this winter, I just debuted on snowboard in Engelberg before Easter one year ago, and had yet to try off-piste. Yet, in the alpine mountains of Sunnmøre, I was not only to try off-piste snowboarding, but also to climb the mountains by foot--on snowshoes that is. Consequently, I stressed around in Oslo a couple of weeks before Easter to buy some good snowshoes, and ended up with some pretty expensive ones. For safety I also bought me a helmet, but as everyone knows you never fall when secured. But the helmet did a good job as a nice wind-resistant cap.

We started off on Maundy Thursday, heading for Kolåstinden (The Kolås Pinnacle)--one of many spectacular peaks at Sunnmøre. However attractive, the weather forced us to turn at Stretet, a narrow passage just below the summit, and we had to start our descend from there. And what a descend! The snow was soft and nice, yet not too deep and loose--nice for me, as I am used to the firm slopes. By the time we hit softer snow I had learned to handle it and was floating freely down the mountain! What a feeling!

Facing a poor weather forecast for Good Friday, we looked around the corner and up towards Saudehornet. The peak was hidden in the clouds, but as the weather was changing rapidly and the mountain was close, we decided to give it a try and started off in nice sunshine. Bloody hot indeed, yet nice--as long as it lasted. On our ascend we experienced all kinds of weather, yet the clouds kept hanging around the summit. So we had to turn on the ridge. Strap on the snowboard that is, and float down another mountain side. Wonderful! But a bit short, so while the others continued down to the car, I replaced snowboard with snowshoes and walked back up for another ride. This time the weather got worse, and I turned around at the same place. Going down alone was not as fun as in a group with others, but apart from that I don't regret for a second going back up!

On Holy Saturday we decided to take an easy day and visited Ørsta ski resort in Bondalen--maybe the smallest ski resort I've been to this winter, but far from boring. Although it only had two lifts--one bringing you just above the treeline and another streching another leg up the mountain side--it offered a really nice off-piste slope, and the wonderful moments of floating recurred to me yet again!

The weather forecast Saturday evening gave hope of a nice Easter Sunday, and we started making plans for a trip to Skårasalen, optionally Eidskyrkja. However, when Sunday came the weather stayed gray and boring, and we decided to do something completely different: We packed our bags, cleaned the house, got in the car and drove off to Ålesund where we visited the Atlantic Aquarium. Recommended! From there, we drove off towards Oslo through wonderful Romsdalen, before following the long line of cars returning from Easter Holiday and arriving in Oslo just before 1 a.m.

Unless something even more exiting comes up, I'll return to Sunnmøre next year if someone invites me!

Trip to Trysil

Ragnhild sliding by

Yesterday (which was the old name of this blog, btw) I went to Trysil with my sister and Ole Kristian for snowboarding. After looking out the window and evaluating different weather reports for about twenty minutes, we finally got the wheels running at eight in the morning. Three hours later, we were sliding down the soft slopes. The weather never became brilliant, but low contrast did worse than the light snowfall. Going back in the afternoon took another two hours and a half, and both me and Ragnhild dozed off... Luckily for us, Ole Kristian did not.

On the board again, and again, and again...

Here I come!

Since I tried snowboarding for my very first time in Engelberg last year and gave it another in Trysil and then in Tryvann here in Norway this winter, I ended up bying my own snowboard two weeks ago. Since then, I have been taking it for a ride all three weekends (two Sundays and this last Saturday). And except from a few hard falls on a very icy slope in Norefjell the previous weekend, the snowboard is the most joyful investment I have done so far this year (there are plans for a new off-road bicycle...). It also puts me in a somewhat strange position: while others wish for the snow to melt away and spring to begin, I enjoy the snow and the cold weather that keeps it nice and dry. Next weekend I am off to Hemsedal!

To break up the pattern outlined above I visited a cat show with my sister's cat Hercules on display for his very first time today. He won lock, stock and barrel!

It doesn't snow all the time

Even though the pictures I put in this blog these days indicate that I do nothing but skiing in brilliant conditions with lots of snow here in Norway, it is definitely not like that all the time. Right now, for instance, it is wet and dark outside; the snow is melting away. A guy even walked by my window with an umbrella in his hand this very moment! The thing is, I don't take many pictures of boring stuff. Things that I find boring, that is. Instead, I focus on nice moments, such as those I had this weekend...

Snowboarding in Oslo

After a few days of heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures in Oslo, Ragnhild and I went to Tryvann Vinterpark on Saturday and enjoyed a couple of hours in the fresh and soft, nice snow. She used her own snowboard while I rented one at Skiservice, which you will find is online, but only on the internet--the board I got was a bad one, full of scratches, and way too small for me. They were all out of the proper-sized ones, even though I called in advance to reserve one, which they told me was not necessary because they had sooo many. Right. I am not going there for ski-rental again. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful day in the hills, me and my sister!

Swimming dessert

As Saturday was skiing-day, Sunday became swimming-day. Although it could turn out not to if Ragna hadn't been there to swim with me. The thing is, I forgot my swim trunks at home, but didn't discover this before undressed. Unable to tell Ragna (in the ladies locker room) I had to put my clothes back on, and run back home to get it (judging by my breath, I could probably benefit from more of that running thing...). I entered the pool some five hundred metres behind here, but as everybody knows, girls tend to spend way more time in the dressing room than guys. So we got out of Tøyenbadet at approximately the same time. Then, we went out for lunch which we simply had to finish with a nice dessert (see picture above).

A busy new year?

I don't know if I am busy or lazy, but with respect to blog posting I am a lazy person. In my perspective, too many things have been going on. Fact is that I have been busy trying to keep up with myself--so busy that I cannot even remember everything. It is definitely time to get back to the blog so I don't loose track of myself. "Track" is actually not a bad word in this context, as I have actually been skiing cross-country both at weekdays (even one Friday morning before work!) and in weekends (when I have not been busy swimming or enjoying the urban life in Oslo).

Skiing in Trysil

I'll skip all the details and jump straight to the end: Last weekend I escaped the darkened city of Oslo (all the snow melted away in a couple of days), and went to Trysilfjellet ski resort with a bunch of friends and their friends. To keep the story short (and prolong this night's sleep): I got one day in the slopes and managed to balance the snowboard well enough to twist and turn in a fairly controlled manner, and one day of cross-country skiing in the fog (sorry, but no picture from the fog--choose a gray desktop background on your portable and bring it with you in your freezer if you wonder how it really was). In between, I enjoyed after ski at Laaven, followed by soaking in the jacuzzi and steaming in the sauna (picture access restricted to my Flickr friends).

Back in the city, I have started learning more about swimming as I received the book Total Immersion from Amazon. I have also just finished my French course at Berlitz, and am going to sign up for another one at Aftenskolen. I have also started training for the bicycling season, with free access to a gym through the project I am working on. Finally, in order to keep myself from missing early morning meetings too often, I bought me a fancy alarm clock today.