Life in Oslo Part 5: Cross-country skiing in Nordmarka

From the slopes at Tryvann to the trails surrounding it. Time for some cross-country skiing!

Cross-country skiing, or langrenn as it is known in Norway, is perhaps the most quintessential Norwegian thing there is. Well, maybe not if you ask my friend Charlotte, who is Norwegian but is from the southern part of the country, where cross-country isn't quite as big as it is in other parts. In fact, she informed me that she hadn't really been on a langrenn trip since being forced to as a kid. The comment from her sister on Facebook seemed to verify this claim: You were out on a skiing trip??

My other friend Justin, Charlotte's boyfriend, is from the California coast. Not much cross-country going on there either, so this was his first trip as well. This was really only maybe my 4th or 5th trip, and first of the season, so I'm wholly unqualified to provide any instruction on how to do this wacky sport. Nonetheless, I tried to pass along the tidbits I learned last year, and we hit the trails.

We didn't quite impress too many people out there (least of all the small children passing us), but the three of us struggled through it together and had a fun time. Charlotte proved herself to be a tough competitor, and Justin caught on quickly. And we managed to make it to one of the many cabins dotted throughout the forest that serve warm drinks and snacks - indeed my favorite part of the cross-country experience. I normally have to go for a heart-shaped waffle with brown cheese, a very typical Norwegian treat, but we were pretty hungry following our struggle to reach the cabin, so we went for something more substantial, a burger in my case.

If you are interested to see a small bit of what a cross-country experience in Norway looks like, check out the video below. Maybe not the most exciting film I've made, but cross-country is a bit boring to film I've found. The Norwegian nature is always nice anyways.

You may notice that we actually departed from the Tryvann downhill skiing center and more or less went in a circle around the resort, so we weren't too far out in the wilderness. We started there so that Charlotte could rent skis. If you find yourself in Oslo and want to give langrenn a go, this is definitely a good option for you. Tryvann offers reasonable rental prices, and my previous post about skiing downhill at Tryvann describes how to get there using the public transit.

God tur!

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Adventure Every Day is a travel & exploration channel started in 2016. In addition to the Steemit blog, I post short films of my adventures to the Adventure Every Day YouTube channel. Please follow and subscribe if you enjoy the content - it inspires me to keep making more and better!