Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 23km | Time 4hrs | Ascent 260m | Descent 330m

After a very nice breakfast and further chats with the very nice owners of Vingelgaard farm and guest house I finally got under way at 0930. Today was apparently an easy day.

I skied down the road and cut off to the church which I passed closely. Just beyond it was the road north north east to Roset for 6 km. It was a country lane covered in snow. Not a car passed me for the whole distance. Initially there were lots of grand old farms similar to Vingelgaard. These soon became sparse with just the occasional house.

An elghound dog joined me for a couple of km along the road before it turned back to the farm from where it came. After 6 km the lane ended and a forest track to summer farms continued. This track was recently used by horses so was easy to follow.

The horses had been pulling sleds. Every year Roros has a regional winter market called Rorosmarten. It has been going for 150 years. It is tradition for traders and merchants to arrive by horse and sled. I suspect the goods arrive by van however. Some of these traders take days to reach Roros in convoys of horses and sleds. There was a group of some 30 sleds which assembled and passed through Vingelen to the west. Other convoys arrived from the south, north, east and even Sweden for this annual market in Roros. The convoy which passed through Vingelen used this same track I was on just a few days previously so it was well compressed and easy to ski.

Along this track there were numerous summer farms. Most were very idyllic and quite substantial. Of the 56 farms in Vingelen, 30 still used there summer farms. This is a huge proportion in today’s Norway. Whether this was economic necessity or a proud preservation of culture is arguable for the people of Vingelen seemed quite affluent, well educated and upstanding.

The track went past some 20 summer farms and various forests including birch, pine and spruce. It was a superb cultural landscape. I made a note to return here some summer in the near future. The skiing along this track was also very easy as there was sufficient new snow to lubricate a long glide.

Eventually the track ended at Aasheim where the country lane started again. The 9 km route along this lane was also very quiet and was also the route the horses took. I caught up with Andre and Morten here as they had sledges and were a bit slower.

We went past farms, both old and mostly recent, as we quickly descended Dalsbygda. It was nice to have company and chat as we skiied along 3 abreast down the middle of the lane.

Their sledges or pulks were about 45 kg each. They had masses of equipment including a large tent and plenty of petrol for the stove come heater. It was a diffierent philosophy. They had comfort and could be self sufficient for a fortnight, but were slow. I had the bare minimum and could only be sufficient for a few days before my sleeping bag was damp and food was running out, but I had speed and flexibility.

We soon reached Dalsbygda where Morten knew someone who had a cabin in another 8 km, which was part of a summer farm. I had already arranged to stay in Dalsbygda so found my very cheap lodging and said goodbye.

It was still early and I spent the afternoon making phone calls to try a retrive my new rucksack which had been in customs now for a fortnight, held by some very jobs-worthy officials. Poor Ovind had also got roped into the extraction process and was sharing the stress.

In the evening I cooked steak in the lodging, wrote the blog and planned a route, so far unsuccessfully, through Sylan, which was the mountain region north of Roros and would take a good week to cross.

It had been yet another great day despite the constant snow and limited views. The skiing was easy and fast and the lack of views were more than compensated for by the rich cultural landscape. Indeed at times, especially at the Vingelen end of today, I felt as if I was skiing through a living museum Tomorrow I would probably go to Roros.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.