Ski weekend!!!

This time it's all about sports activities on the last weekend.

Saturday

The winter weather continues, and to make the most of it, Pia and I rented cross-country skis from BSI Friluft. It's a student association for outdoor activities, where you can borrow equipment for a whole week every Wednesday. Luckily, Pia and I were there early and got everything we needed. Outside the door, there was a long line of people waiting. So on Saturday, we got up early and took the Fløibanen up. A one-way ticket costs about 5 euros, so you should really enjoy the ride of max. 3 minutes. Once we arrived at the top, we put on our skis and decided to walk to Lake Skomakerdiket, where we had been last time. Pia had never been on skis before, so we took it slow. We just followed the many people along the path past the lake. There were really a lot of people there, it felt like half of Bergen was up on Fløyen. At noon, we reached Brushytten, where we had our packed lunch. We looked at the map and decided to ski along the marked trails. The weather was great, although later a cloud moved in and we couldn't see as far. But it was still wonderful and heartwarming to ski through the winter landscape. Pia did well, we just need to practice downhill skiing more. But that's more difficult with cross-country skis than with downhill skis. So I will convince her to spend a day on the slopes in Voss. I actually wanted to ski down from Fløyen, but it was all ice and very busy, so I followed Pia's advice not to sit against a tree and took off my skis, held them in my hand, and walked further down. I met Pia again halfway, who wanted to walk from the beginning. By the way, normal Norwegian skiers take the Fløibanen back down, but that's something you want to afford first. In the city below, we met the other half of Bergen's people shopping. It was a super nice day, and in the afternoon we were pretty exhausted and happy.

Sunday

After a pancake breakfast, which we have every Sunday morning, I set off alone. Pia had a lot of studying to do and was happily forced to sit behind her desk. Quickly taking the Fløibanen up, this time I took the route to Brushytten via the ski tracks and not the much steeper hiking trail like the day before. When I arrived at Brushytten, two Norwegians actually approached me and asked which trails were good for skiing!! Norwegians rarely talk to anyone, so that was a rarity. Unfortunately, I couldn't help the two of them. Two minutes later, when I stood in front of a signpost and wondered if I should take a new path, the next Norwegian approached me. I must have looked very knowledgeable. Anyway, I decided to take the path that was marked as tracked to Blåmanen, which was the next mountain. On the way, I passed a viewpoint where you could see Ulriken and the southern part of Bergen up close. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't as clear as the day before, so I couldn't see very far. Afterwards, I continued and reached a junction where the left path went to the viewpoint of Blåmanen and the right path went around it. I chose the right path. The left path was very narrow and more of a hiking trail. In retrospect, I'm not a hundred percent sure if it really said that or if I missed a turn, but in the end, my round trip turned out to be a bit longer than intended. Fully motivated and enjoying the winter forest, I continued. I also encountered people coming towards me every now and then, and maybe I should have ridden the route the other way around, but you can't know that beforehand, right? Eventually, the forest ended, and I was on a plateau. It had started to snow, the wind was quite cold, the view wasn't as good anymore, and I was actually hungry, but I decided not to take a break to avoid getting cold. Finding the way forward had become difficult because locals occasionally went cross-country and their many tracks confused me. Without trees, it was harder to recognize the topography, and everything just looked white through the clouds, no matter where I looked. There were also significantly fewer people around, and at times, I wondered how many of the rules we were presented with in the hiking association's guide to proper behavior in nature I was not following. But in the distance, I had seen a cabin, so I kept going. Eventually, I actually reached it and met other people who were also on their way down. Unfortunately, I had headwind while going downhill, so I didn't see much. I stopped at a sheltered spot because by this point I really needed something to eat and drink. From there, I could see the cross-country ski trails from the previous day, which reassured me. The way downhill was unfortunately not very wide. Basically, there were two tracks, each as wide as ski tracks. One for people going up and the other for those going down. The snow was very high between the tracks, so it was difficult to brake on skis. This was a bit challenging when overtaking hikers or slower skiers. Another handicap were the curves, the snowfall with headwind, and the abyss. Some parts of the abyss were secured with a railing, but it was so coarse that I could easily pass through. Anyway, at some point, I didn't want to endanger anyone or fall off the cliff, so I skillfully sat down on my bottom, took off my skis, and had time to take some photos and admire the better view again. When the trail improved, I put my skis back on and was glad to arrive at Brushytten a little later. I was actually exhausted from the route and the excitement, but when will I be able to go skiing again? So I skied the same route again afterwards. When I finally arrived back at Fløibanen, I was really tired. The snowfall had become so heavy that you couldn't see anything of Bergen again. Later, when I arrived at Bybanen, the tram, I was completely snowed in and super happy about this trip. In the warmth, I also found out that I had unintentionally walked all the way to Rundemanen. It's not a long tour to get there, but alone, in the snowfall, and without a precise plan of the route, it felt bigger and more exciting than it actually is. Nevertheless, it was a really great weekend, and having skis under my feet was an exhilarating feeling.

P.S. Here you can see my route, I took photos in between, so the time and speed are distorted. https://www.komoot.de/tour/311482911?ref=itd&share_token=a5IUJgCoYmdcarpWwOOEylldzyVGpvC1U1090BThPnu88FY8E2