Cross Country Skiing

Lots of people go on skiing holidays at this time of year, and the vast majority are purely downhill or alpine skiing, where you queue up at the bottom of a ski lift, get pulled up a mountain side and then ride down it, only to repeat the whole thing over and over. A bit like riding a rollercoaster I suppose.

Cross country skiing is different. Firstly, you have to ski up hills as well as down them. Secondly the skis are longer and have different bindings - you're only fixed at the toe which apparently makes them harder to control but safer in terms of not breaking your leg or tearing your cruciate ligament.

We stay in a cabin about 900m above sea level in the Numedal region of Norway, just outside the town of Veggli. It's pretty basic, with no mains electricity, bottled gas for cooking, a wood burning stove for heat, water from a well and a composting toilet.


The cars are parked about 400m away down the hill, and on arrival you have to do several trips up on your skis with rucksacks full of clothes/food/booze. Virtually impossible to walk up as the snow is about 4ft deep and you just sink up to your thigh.


Kids had a great time. The big two are pretty good on their skis now, and even Sophie at almost 4 years of age had a go. We built an igloo that stood for all of 5 minutes before collapsing for no apparent reason (wrong sort of snow probably), and several snow men/cats/chickens!