Norwegians have a multitude of ways with which to traverse the wintertime landscape. When one talks about skiing here, the general assumption is you are talking about cross-country skiing, however telemark and downhill are also very popular. It’s not uncommon for Norwegians to have two sets of cross-country skis, two set of downhill skis, and then maybe a set of telemark skis and snowboard from when they were younger and lived dangerously. Add to this a sled or two, ice skates and snow shoes, and you can make the most of snow or ice be it over plains or mountains.
Cross-country skiing takes the speed, exhilaration and cost out of skiing and adds solitude, forests and waxology. Wintertime is dark in Norway, so lit trails are available all over the country. Some are manually-activated and remain lit for a period, discouraging dawdling lest one be stuck in the inky blackness of the forest.
Waxing cross-country skis is a mixture of art and science and something that is taken quite seriously. As in Brazil, a bad wax job can make or break your night. Venture into any sports store during the ski season and you will behold racks upon racks of wax varieties and all manner of associated paraphernalia. It is considered bad form to use a spray-on wax, instead one must carefully apply wax with heat from an iron on a proper Swix waxing table. The type of wax is carefully considered depending on the terrain, temperature and the snow condition. Like their heavier, speed-seeking downhill brethren, cross-country skis come in a number of different styles: wider, narrower, faster, more stable and so on.
Swix wax guide (source)
Costume is also an important factor in the ritual of cross-country skiing. From what I can gather there are two simple rules: blue or red, and skin-tight.
(source)
For many Norwegians, mountains are best enjoyed going up. Telemark and alpine boot variants are available for better off-ski climbing, and there are coverings which can be put on the bottom of skis to add grip and let you climb up ski by ski. It is of course utter madness. There is a modest ski hill here in Oslo, reachable by public transport. Since it’s effectively free to get there, why ruin your after-ski enjoyment by paying for lift fares when you can simply climb the hill? Thus, when pootling down the hill’s (somewhat overly-stated) black run you have to be on the look out for people skiing or walking up the hill. One cross-country-loving colleague claims that he would rather catch the lift down than suffer a speedy, gravity-assisted run down the slop itself: such is the love of mountains here.
