The weekend was set to be a big one for Norwegian XC skiing - with the relay events taking place in Sochi and National pride at stake ! It was also an important one for us as we needed some time on snow.
As if the challenge of limited time on snow wasn't enough our mentor Jean Francois had sustained a skiing injury the week prior to our arrival. Jean Francois was able to draft in a substitute ... Torbjøen ... a multi time Birken finisher and wax guru.
The forecast was for high wind, fresh snow and temperatures around or just above freezing - the most challenging conditions for XC ski waxing. We headed up to the Lillehammer XC stadium, home for events at the 1994 Olympics, to get some sheltered skiing.
After prepping the skis headed out on the trail. As the wind buffeted us and big flakes of 'wet' snow fell obliterating the freshly cut tracks it soon became apparent that we'd got the waxing wrong. And so had virtually everyone else we spoke to. Instead of trying fix things on location it was decided that we head back to Torbøen's house (His house was part of the athletes village for Lillehammer 1994 winter games) for some early lunch, watch the women's Olympic relay and get the ski prep dialed.
A great race was won by Sweden with Norway having a tech disaster, getting their ski prep wrong - finishing 5th. The TV pundits were having a field day blaming wax and skis.
With our skis getting the relevant treatment on the bench we headed out for a challenging 18km circuit - fresh snow around or just above freezing, still strong winds and so much snow the tracks were getting covered. By all accounts is was as tough as conditions can get.
Next up a shower and more tmrw
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