Amazing spring skiing and a very long travel

After two weeks in warm central Europe, one of them as we got stuck in Amsterdam because of the vulcan activity at Island, we are finally back in Trondheim, eager to ski again. A seven hour travel from Zürich to Trondheim, became 7 days of traveling through Europe. The first four days we stayed in Amsterdam, but as the Vulcan did not seem to calm down, we decided to travel back home by train. Three days later we were finally at home, tired, but happy. Now we are enjoying spring activities in the Trondheim region. It is still good snow condition, so a combination of adapting to summer activities, whilst still be able to enjoy skiing. An amazing period of the year. This weekend, Christian, me and my sister Sigrid, went to ski Telemark just across the Swedish boarder. We skied the mountain Storsnasen, amazing weather and amazing skiing.

View from Storsnasen. Both Åre and the WC-terrain in Ånn can be seen from the top.

Christian and me happy at the top of Storsnasen.

Christian, me and Sigrid ready to rock the mountain side

Christian pumping powder in the slope from Storsnasen.

Norwegian summer in Switzerland

After a hard competition season we are enjoying easy trainings and warmer climate in Switzerland. With 17 C and sunshine, it feels just like summer for a Norwegian, and we have had our first trainings in t-shirt and shorts. To day short I3 pyramide intervalls, yesterday a map training. We did a few running/orienteering sessions in Trondheim during easter, and allthough it still feels hard, we are slowly adapting to running agan. We try to do some short running sessions in the winter season, but it sure feels hard to do the first running intervals after a long skiing season. May 1st I will run Tiomila with my team, a big motivation for spring training.
Beside easy trainings we have visited Zürich, a really charming city we always try to visit when we are in Switzerland. This weekend we will go to Berlin as tourists, doing something completely different than training and competitions. It is sure nice to relax after a long season.

Good season finish

To day I finished the season with the Norwegian championships in sprint relay. I skied with my Strindheim IL team mate Kjersti Bø. Kjersti is a strong sprinter, and as sprint is also my strength in cross-country skiing we had a strong team and the dream was a medal. Six teams, us included, skied very strong in the semifinals and we soon understood that it would be a real fight for the podium in the final. We did a good competition and finished fifth in a very strong start field, so we were satisfied after all. Njård won the relay in front of Heming IL and Oppdal IL. A good finish of the season, now I will have my off-season, relax for some days and only train easy for some weeks. Our club mates Thomas and Petter Northug won the mens relay. My first challenge in the summer season will be TIO-mila with Wing OK May 1st.

Results from the finals: NM results sprint relay finals.

Maps WC Ånn

All the maps from the Ski-orienteering WC final in Ånn can now be found at the official web page: Maps Ånn.

Victory in ultra long distance and 4 points from WC total

I finished the season just like I was dreaming about, by winning the ultra long distance in the WC-final. It was a tough distance and as I skied alone most of the way I really had to focus on the orienteering. I just had a few minor mistakes and managed to keep the pace up alone. At the last map change before the short last round I turned around and saw nobody. I then knew that if I could just take the last controls without any mistakes I would probably win. Junior world champion Barbro Kvåle made the day even better and surprised us all with a third place, an amazing result. (Picture: ski-o.com)

Results: WC ultra long women.

The last competition was also a race for the world cup total, a race I missed with only 4 points. Only four points from victory feels a bit disappointing, but as Tomilova won the first two races in Sweden I did not only have to win, but needed Tomilova to be no better than fifth to win the total. Tomilova finished fourth and earns the world cup total. After the not to good WC season start in Russia, this season has been an adventure and I am more than happy with a second place in the overall WC. (Photo: Oskar Forsgren)

Christian did not ski the ultra long distance, but got valuable experiences the first three races for the world championship in Sweden next year. Christians season is over now, I will end mine after the Norwegian championships sprint relay (Cross country) the 26th of March.

New second place

A new second place in Ånn, to day together with my team mates Barbro Kvåle and Marie Asprusten in the relay. Both Marie and Barbro did a perfect job on the two first legs, with only minor mistakes, and I skied out on the third leg as number three, 1.20 behind Russia. I passed Kazakhstan to the first control and after half of my leg I could see Russia , with Natalya Tomilova, in front of me. In the end I took some not optimal route choices and I did not manage to close the gap to Russia. At the finish line we were 20 sec behind. Sweden had some problems in the beginning of the relay but finished third. Our team are really happy with our result and as our men team won the mens relay it was a great Norwegian day. The Norwegian men all skied outstanding and won in front of Russia and Sweden.

Sprint map Ånn