Skiing-Nordmarka revisited.

Me-north of Langedalskollen

 Another great day in Nordmarka. I'd decided to get to know some new places and increase the distance from last Saturday. Movatn was again my starting point. I've gotten to like this place. There arent that many people present here and there's a long ascend at the start-excellent to get warm before the rest of the skiing and good strength-exercise as well. I consentrate on executing as good technique as possible at all times. Today I learned that it's efficient to try to use diagonal stride even when ascending. By staying in zone 2/3 and not pushing to hard I managed to increase the average pace up that long ascend at the beginning. Moving on at the top I'd decided to ski to Gørja as the ending point of my first lap, but not over the lake Kalvsjøen. Instead I chose to ski to the lake Holmetjern and turn westwards to reach Gørja. It was a wonderful trip towards Holmetjern. Arriving there I was tricked by the the track as they led me directly to the lake. Being there I chose to ski to the other side of the lake in order to see if there was a possibility to continue on to Gørja from there. There wasn't and I had to ski back a bit and continue on the track. Only a few other skiers were present and the terrain was lovely-typical terrain-track thorugh densed pruce forrest and over frozen lakes. I doesn't get any better than this.

Just south of Holmetjern

Not long afterwards I arived at the cottage Gørja and had a short break outside before continuing to the cottage Kikut-some 7,5 km further on. The tracks are at this stretch well prepared and on a gravel road. The course is pretty levelled and I soon arrived at Kikut. Upon arriving it had started to snow and the snow was a bit hard and felt irrititating towards the eyes-I need to buy some glasses.

At the lake Gryta-north of Holmetjern

It's always nice to have a break at Kikut. A cup of coffee and a piece of cake and some rest. I didn't stay long this time though as it was pretty late and I needed some daylight in order to navigate on some tracks new to me. From Kikut I went towards the cottage Ullevålsæter on a course completely new to me. Over the lake Bjørnsjøen, passing the lakes Åbortjernet and Sulutjernet and ascending towards the cottage Kobberhaughytta. The ascends were pretty heavy and I was happy to arrive at the cottage still able to breathe normally. The view from the cottage is lovely and I spent a few minutes with a light snack outside before heading on. It was getting darker and I suspected that there were some pretty demanding descends waiting for me and I was right. It's a challenge to descend when it's getting so dark that you cannot see the end of the descend and only minor parts of the track, but I managed allright. Obviously I've improved on technical skills descending. Overall the altitudes indicated downwards and so I went. It was a nice stretch leading through the marsh Merramyra and the place Lørenseter-places new to me. It was now turning pretty dark and many people were using headlamps in order to navigate through the woods. I was only short of a few km before entering the illuminated track from Ullevålsæter to Sognsvann-my final destination.

The vast lake Helgeren west of Gørja

Before long I arrived at the track and started the last km to Sognsvann. It almost feel like being there when I see the lights. There's only a levelled stretch and then it's followed by some pretty nice descends. I felt insecure when descending those on my first session, but now I look forward to them. Down it went-at maxuimum speed! Shortly after I arrived at Sognsvann feeling tired and very satsified.



Technicals:
-Distance: 36,45 km
-Time: 4h 21m 56s
-Average pace: 7:11 min/km
-Average moving pace: 6:18 min/km
-Elevation gained: 548 m(15,0 m/km).
-Calories: 2.405 kcal.
-Average heart rate(max): didn't measure
-Skies: Madshus
-Weather: Partly snow , cloudy, light winds, -1 to -4 degrees celsius-good conditions!