Gavin and Allison Fall Down: Cross Country Skiing Edition

Gavin and Allison Fall Down is a recurring series where we try Norwegian winter sports and recount our shortcomings for your amusement. This week: Cross Country Skiing.

Previous editions: curling, ski jumping, bobsledding

I’ll go ahead and say this up front: cross country skiing is way more fun than alpine skiing.

Cross country skiing is what Norwegians just think of as skiing, and it is Norway’s national pastime. It’s actually more akin to hiking than to alpine skiing in that it has a practical purpose – it was invented in Scandinavia five millennia ago as a means for traveling long distances across the snow. By contrast, alpine skiing is just sledding while standing up.

How to transport a Norwegian child.

There are actually two methods of cross country skiing – classic and skating. Gavin and I were steered toward classic skis, which run parallel and are designed to be used in tracks. They are lighter and narrower than alpine skis, and the binding only attaches at the toe, meaning the heel is free to lift up. The skis are also quite flexible – they are naturally bow shaped, and traction comes from a “grip zone” underfoot that when bearing the skier’s weight engages either a textured gripping surface or a grip wax.[2] The motion is similar to running.

Skating skis have no grip zone (the whole ski is a glide zone), and as the name suggests the motion is like that of ice skating. Momentum comes from pushing off of the edge. This method is faster but apparently harder. Compare and contrast classic skiing and skating styles:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7axWLwnDcl8&w=560&h=315]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxErUs42bBI&w=560&h=315]

The ski season in Trondheim opened in late November after city officials spread snow that had been saved from last season[1] at the local winter sports park. It was probably 5-10 kilometers of tracks, and was the only track open for the first few weeks of the season. We went there on a Sunday to scope it out ahead of a bigger ski trip to Lillehammer the following week. It appeared that after being cooped up all summer, all major ski enthusiasts were out to make the most of it. There were a fair number of children on skis who were barely old enough to walk. Babies and toddlers were pulled in sleds or strollers strapped to their parents’ midsections. Little boys flew down the hills and played biathlon by pretending to shoot targets with their ski poles.  It was delightful – and super fun.

Our first attempt in earnest occurred at the Sjusjøen ski area 20 kilometers east of Lillehammer. Sjusjøen is a world class cross country ski destination, with 350 kilometers of prepared trails. The tracks were pristinely groomed, and there were far fewer people for the space allotted, so we felt at ease. One of the main selling points for Sjusjøen (for beginners) is that it’s mostly flat, which is obviously the easiest way to do it. There were some modest uphills, which allowed us to practice the running motion necessary to climb on skis. If you don’t get put enough weight on the ski to engage the grip zone, you will slide backwards.

The downhills may have been the bigger challenge. Since the skis are designed primarily for forward motion, it’s difficult to moderate your speed by snow plowing or using other techniques borrowed from alpine skiing. I found the best strategy was to keep my center of gravity perfectly over my feet, so that my weight would provide stability for the skis. And then, you just had to go for it. This worked every time except one, when Gavin fell and broke a pole. He’s okay, and we got him a new set of poles this weekend.

A cracked pole.

We probably skied 15-20 kilometers at Sjusjøen, which helped keep us warm enough since it was -14 degrees Celsius (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) outside. We stayed out longer than predicted to take advantage of every last minute of daylight and catch some beautiful views of the 3:30pm sunset. We are looking forward to a lot more of this this winter.

[1] Last season’s snow was saved under a big pile of sawdust.

[2] For those of you interested in how the skis work: traditionally, you had to apply two different types of wax to your cross country skis: “glide wax” for the tips and tails, and “grip wax” for the mid-section. When your weight is balanced between the skis, they are not fully compressed, so you glide along the snow on the areas covered by glide wax. In order to get forward momentum, you shift all weight to one ski, which compresses it so that the grippy mid-section touches the snow. The grip wax provides the traction necessary to push yourself forward.

We have purchased a type of “waxless” skis that are lower maintenance. “Waxless” is in quotes because they still require glide wax; however, the grip wax is replaced by a fuzzy “skin” that provides the necessary traction. Our skis were machine-tested and rated for a specific weight range, so we know that we can generate enough downward force to engage the skin.