Skiing through the heart of Nordmarka

Gunnar crossing Kalvsjøen

Me, at Kikut

A lovely day out there in the woods through the heart of Nordmarka north of Oslo. I had the pleasure of being accompanied by a runner-friend of mine, Gunnar, on a day with nearly perfect conditions-cloudy, no winds and with modest temperatures. We travelled by train to Movatn and headed northwest towards Kikut. Encountering a long ascend at first but this was soon followed by a wonderful stretch over the lake Kalvsjøen. Our pace went up markedly and we arrived shortly after at Gørja some 8 km after Movatn. We had very good tracks after that and kept our pace as we were closing up on the lake Bjørnsjøen. Before long we started the crossing of the last part towards Kikut. After 2h we arrived at Kikut and it was time for a planned break and a snack. Kikut is a lovely place some 15 km from both Movatn and Sognsvatn and easy to reach both on foot, with a bike and with skies. It was nice to spend some minutes inside the cottage, have a cup of coffee and some snack before heading towards out final destination Sognsvatn.

Gunnar, at Sognsvatn

Leaving Kikut we started to cross the lake Bjørnsjøen and headed towards Bjørnholt. Crossing lakes is a bit funny. If the track is of good condition it's possible to maintain a high pace and we shure did. Not long after we arrived at Bjørnholt. Darkness was closing up and we decided to stick to the road until we reached the southern part of the lake Skjærsjøen. It was pretty nice to be out skiing in pretty dark surrondings. I just love to make a short stop now and then and just listen to how quiet and nice it is out in the woods  at times like these. Arriving at the illuminated track to Sognsvatn we were able to se just how dark it really was. A pretty plan stretch along the lake Åklungen and some long descends and we were finally arriving at our final destination Sognsvatn, some 30 km from out starting point-Movatn. It doesn't get any better than this-spending the better part of the day skiing in the woods.


Technicals:
-Distance: 29,35 km
-Time: 3h 40m 39s
-Average pace: 7:31 min/km
-Average moving pace: 6:34 min/km
-Elevation gained: 338 m(11,5 m/km).
-Calories: 1.916 kcal.
-Average heart rate(max): didn't measure
-Skies: Madshus
-Weather: Clouded, partly snow, no wind, -3 to -5 degrees celsius-good conditions