Waffles and skis on wheels...


Skis on top of Vassfjellet

On Sunday morning we slept in a little late (most unusual for us) so when we got up it was kind of brunch time. We have just acquired (thanks to the wonderful Laila) a waffle maker - consequently we sat down to a large steaming pile of freshly baked waffles. We are feeling most Norwegian with our waffles, rømme and jam.

After our waffles and feeling like we had done too much orienteering of late, we embarked upon a most strange and excellent journey. We managed after some effort to secure our skis in a reasonably comfortable fashion to our backpacks, we loaded our boots inside and our poles too and we set off on our bikes towards Vassfjellet, Trondheim's most well known local ski field.

Skis on wheels

We got some strange looks as we cycled in the sun through the town (some people think the ski season is well and truly over and don't even believe that there is still snow in the hills). After just over an hour riding we reached the bottom of the ski field, which has been shut for some time now. There were some young snow boarders mucking about on jumps as we skinned up the slushy snow in the warm afternoon sun.

At the bottom of the ski field

Making our way up

Nearing the top of Vassfjellet

Sunny on top

Looking out toward Trondheimsfjorden

This time last year we biked all the way up Vassfjellet and there was almost no snow on top! But this spring has been a very cold and late one. We enjoyed the view on top for a few minutes, but the crisp breeze had us taking off the skins and enjoying a cruisy descent down the slopes back to our bikes.
The snow was a little bit crusty from the wind at the top of the field

Nice snow on the lower slopes

Trees and snow

Chris enjoying his well earned downhill

The skis were reattached and we arrived back our house in the late afternoon feeling very satisfied with our bike ski bike trip... and it was time for some more waffles!

Comments

Unknown said…
Mmm... delicious!
May 10, 2010 at 2:15 PM
Kate Pedley said…
Wow - those are seriously impressive waffles!! Yum! Looks fun skiing also :)
May 10, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Mark said…
When you wrote "skis on wheels", I thought you meant those ridiculous wheeled ski-training contraptions that we saw when we visited you.
May 12, 2010 at 11:27 PM
HeleneSuzanne said…
yeah.. it's this sort of thing that should have been a warning before our "wee" bike ride yesterday!! :-D
May 18, 2010 at 1:25 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Journey Through the Baltic

Image
After the Rogaine we spent another fun night at the local farm stay with the other Kiwis, then headed away in the morning with Julian, Jana and Sylvia in a large silver hire van. Most of us were pretty hobbly (with the annoying exception of Chris and Julian) so we drove back to the nice wee town of Otepa and spent the day hanging out in a pizzeria and visiting the 'Canyon' the largest in Estonia apparently... This photo is actually from before the Rogaine in Tallinn when Viv had the brilliant idea of hiring the terrifying 'Octibike', it proofed a highly entertaining and attention seeking way of zooming round Tallinn. We camped in a deserted campground and it was truly freezing, so the following morning all feeling chilled to the bone we decided to find a nice cabin for that night. We drove to the town of Tartu and wandered through its pretty cobbled streets. We took a visit to the KGB museum and saw grim pictures of Ghettos in Siberia – after which we definitely n
Read more

Lofoten Return

Image
Reine - a classic Lofoten view I visited Lofoten last July with Mum and Dad - it is an amazing place in north Norway, and we decided that it was worth the expense for Al and Amber to see it too - I was certainly excited to go back there again. So Al, Amber and I took the plane up to Bodø from Trondheim on Sunday evening. The 10 hour drive takes a mere 60 minutes by plane. We were hoping for some exciting views from the plane but unfortunately it was pretty cloudy. Chris had had to stay behind in Trondheim because this was his last week of preparation for the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) which would start in Trondheim the following week. We arrived in Bodø at 8pm and trudged down to the same campground that Mum, Dad, Chris and I had stayed at last year. We had to muck around sorting out a hire car in the morning, but eventually got one sorted and drove up toward the ferry crossing from Tyssfjorden to Lødingen. It was cloudy, but we still enjoyed the craggy scenery and raw roc
Read more

Good Godzone Prep! The Takahe Traverse

Image
An exploratory adventure in Fiordland with its remoteness, steepness and dense bush holds a definite allure for those of us who enjoy that sort of thing. Since back in 2004, when we bush bashed down the Neale Burn, swimming at times up to our necks in the meandering river to avoid the near impenetrable bush on either side, packrafting seemed like the answer to Fiordland travel to me. So, with this thought in mind (and knowing that in a few months we would be racing Godzone in this exact territory), a group of trampers (myself, Chris, Nick, Dan, Georgia, Patrick) jumped aboard a watertaxi and hooned across North West Fiord in late December with a mission in mind. Our Route Earlier in the day, after frantic packing in Queenstown, we had received our certificate of 'didymo checked' from the DOC office in Te Anau. The water taxi man eyed the certificate suspiciously. He looked at us sternly, clearly unconvinced by our humongous packs, running shoes and light hearte
Read more