Friday 3rd February
Well the sun is back and we have booked a cross country ski lesson, today is classic and tomorrow skate. We took the bus up to the Nordic centre and checked in for our group lesson, as it turned out Chris and I were the only people booked on the lesson so it ended up being a private lesson! Our instructor was Tom who was great, after showing us how to actually put the skis on we were let loose on the practice area, safe to say it is not as easy as it looks! But we did finally get the hang of it, next we had to learn how to turn round – not as easy as it sounds, then the most important part, learning how to get up once you have fallen over! After this it was finally time to be let loose on real tracks. I am really good at going on the flat, Chis is really good at going up hill but we both need practice on going down hill. We did a circuit of the green runs and by the time we got back to the Nordic centre we had been out for an hour and a half and the lesson was over so we rewarded ourselves with a hot chocolate then we set off again on our own to practice what we had bee taught we did a couple of circuits and we are really getting the hang of it. We stopped for another break then set off again but I think our enthusiasm was greater than our stamina as we got about half way round and decided we should probably call it a day as we have another lesson tomorrow! We had been at it for about four and a half hours so we set off back down to the town and went for an early dinner so we didn’t have to worry about it later. Once we got back to the apartment we decided we would got to the hot tub to soak our muscles, we spent about an hour in the pool and hot tub finally getting back to the room about six and just had a relax before collapsing into bed.
Saturday 4th February
Another complete change in the weather as it is snowing again today, just in time for our second cross country lesson the skate one rather than classic. We arrived at the Nordic centre in good time and our instructor Gary was waiting for us, after kitting us out with boots and skis which are quite different to the classic ones we set off outside to see if we can stand up on these ones! Again it is not as easy as it looks, we both thought we would be able to do this as we can skate on alpine skis but I found it a very different motion and didn’t take to it nearly as well as Chris did. Gary was really good and patient and eventually we did get the hang of it. All too soon the lesson was over and although Gary did offer to take us round the loop one more time we needed to go in for a rest so we sat and had a hot chocolate and a cookie which was lovely, sitting by the wood fire we actually quite enjoyed the break. We decided we would head out again on our own as it is definitely a case of practice makes perfect so we managed to do another couple of loops but this is way more exhausting than classic! We managed about another hour (possibly a little longer) but we’re both shattered so we headed back inside to eat the butties we had taken with us, we had thought we might go out again but in the end we decided that we should probably call it a day so that we can still walk tomorrow. We got back to the apartment and went to the pool and hot tub again to try and relax some of the muscles that have been pulled, then back to the apartment to relax, have something to eat and collapse into bed again!
Sunday 5th February
So today we set out on our own around the cross country tracks. We decided to start with classic skis and if we had the energy we would change to skate this afternoon. Chris had taken the go-pro with us so it was an opportunity to capture us in action! We did two loops of the track we had done with Tom then stopped for hot chocolate, we are obviously getting better as it only took us just over an hour whereas the other day it had taken longer. After chocolate and a cookie we set off again, this time we decided to try the trail further into the centre, the only issue was that we had to do a bit of a blue run to get there, there weren’t any tracks down the run (or up the other side) so I had to revert back to a seven year old and my spectacular snowplough which actually served me well I managed to get down the slope then had to get up the other side. The tracks in this area of the centre were really nice as there were quite a few houses packed in with all the trees and the odd glimpse of the gondola heading up the mountain. Even though this is day three of cross country we still can’t get over how peaceful it is, the lodge was quite busy but out on the trails you can hardly hear a thing and don’t see very many people at all, apparently there are moose in the area but we haven’t seen any. By the time we had finished the loop it was time for lunch so we set off back under the tunnel and the blue run to the lodge and lunch, after lunch and having sat by the fire for a while we decided that we would be pushing it to go out again so we handed everything back in and set off back to the apartment. It is Super Bowl Sunday and by the time we got back it was just about to start so we made ourselves comfortable and settled in for the evening to watch it.