It is Windy in Norway!
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And it truly was.. Windy team once again went on an adventure, and this time we decided to conquer Norway and its snowy hills covered with picturesque cottages.
Our journey started on Prague’s airport, where we had a flight to Oslo and from there we took a long ride by car (5,5 hours) until we arrived in Ustaoset, Buskerud, where we stayed for a week on our colleague’s cottage. (Many thanks again to Honza for the invitation and the hospitality!).
There was really no shortage of snow. Ustaoset is 990m above the sea level and is the finish spot for the cross country ski event Skarverennet. So the scenery was great and view from cottage’s living room, even better.
Due to coming storm Dennis the weather was not ideal especially in the beginning of our week. So the first day we spent working and making plans for the upcoming days.
When the weather got better, there was a plenty of options what we could do!
Kiting
Probably the most tempting activity we all wanted to try was snowkiting. Since most of us are complete beginners, we had our instructors nearby to teach us the basic techniques to operate the kite and help us. Kiting is certainly not one of the easiest sports you can do, in the beginning, you spend quite a bit of time untangling your kite, because it tends to get out of control a lot and you have to put it in the air over and over again.
It frankly requires a bit of patience, but once you get into it, you will love it. It was a great feeling to chase winds on a snowy plains either on skies or snowboard.A little different camping
Since we saw a chance to get the true nordic night experience firsthand, we took the challenge and a few of us decided to spend a night outside. We did have all the necessary equipment and experienced instructor to guide us through. So the fun could begin!
We had to start building two tents early in the afternoon to get things done in time. KP for aurora borealis was 4 at that time, so there was a little chance, but we still secretly hoped to catch it. A few hours later, the two tents were standing, tops of mountains started to get a pink tint and we were about to call it a day, cooked dinner and went to a bed early.
Nevertheless, since we know how to command weather, we did see aurora borealis in the end. In the morning, still in a shadow of the past night, green as an emerald, just as we all pictured it. :)
Skiing and the surprise
Norway has quite a few skiing resorts and the one we went to was Geilo. It happens to be the 5th best resort in Norway, located just a few kilometres from Ustaoset. The first impression was half empty slopes with a fresh powder snow, so actually really nice.
After we enjoyed a full day of sunny weather in the mountains, we joined an evening surprise, which was a night sledding and a hot bath outside for the more venturesome among us.
Here is a little sneak peek on how we pulled it off in the end: -
@Korina Thank you so much for sharing this amazing experience 🙂👏🏻👏🏻.
I hope to be able to go to Norway one day. It’s really a dream of mine 😉 -
Thanks, Korina, great post. :)
Nice to hear, that you've enjoyed this great sport.
