Hike With the Skis On

It was minus eighteen degrees Celcius outside. So cold that you can't feel your lips and that your cheeks were frozen to numb. All you can see is white. Windy and snowy. No grass welcome you when you finally stepped out from that knitted blanket and left your hot chocolate behind. Only thick snows that both crisps and soft surround your feet. I prefer to stay inside watching Netflix, stay warm, and wonder when I should eat my last Ramyeon. But Norwegian does not. This might be the perfect time for most of them to spend some more time to, at least, inhale the northern winter. Hiking, skiing, skating, anything outdoor, you name it. As I recall correctly, it is named Friluvsliv, a Nordic concept of being outdoor. They love nature to the bone, closer than the veins, more than Salmon as you could imagine.

On the 6th of February last year, I woke up to the darkness. No sunshine waving me from outside the window, no bread seller on a bicycle, or the clinking from the bowl being hit by the porridge misters. Instead, many of the huge steel sticks lean on the window outside, pairs of skis. Reminding me to have my breakfast and pack my lunch hurry so then I could dress up properly afterward. Layer over layer, wool over wool. Just to make sure, the cold will not bite me soon. I opened the door, going out from the pretty wooden cabin, a cabin where I would stay for a week later on to grab my skis. Start to slide down the hill and wait for everybody to gather before having a hike, yes, with skis on. I stand on the edge of the hill, where I could see the city from up above and dozens of lamps that look like fireflies. Not that clear as the trees cover my sights more. I feel pretty annoyed, to be honest. Three days of skiing in a row makes this Asian girl from the equator country exhausted. Now that my bones heard about the hike with skis on, makes them anxious already. 

I guess I once heard a saying, food can heal anything. So I think all the pain of doing non-stop skiing could be cured by lunch. My friends and I finally dig a pretty wide hole for eight people to sit in, make a bonfire, and heat up the sandwiches we packed earlier after skiing for about three hours hike. New information for me is that it is possible to make bonfires in the midst of snow. Arrived up half above enjoying food pleased my eyes so much. Soaring smokes, spread spruce. 

We continue the hike after resting for a while. Sliding down between trees, inhaling fresh air thanks to them, we even found cute birds hanging on the branch on the way, seems they enjoy the air too. All the things I see at the moment make me think that I live in a fairy tale with real fairies that hide inside the wood and just pop out when no one's around to help young birds learn how to fly.

Again, the pain I felt for struggling to go uphill with skis was a bit paid for by the great view of the fjord from up the hill. Wondering how long was the hike and what if I fall down there ended up diving into the fjord then come back frozen. Oh, this hike makes me create imagination by just seeing things. 

On the other day, we had the same but shorter hike and ended it earlier to prepare the equipment for outdoor sleep. Yes, it was minus eighteen degrees outside. So right after coming back from the hike, we gathered and collected all things we will need. Imagining the sleep I would do that night terrifies me. The forest, the night, the cold, the outside, and without the bed. Believed that it is impossible to fall asleep in that killing frozen forest. But surprisingly, the sleeping bag was a life-savior God sent me that night. Being warm, and being able to sleep was such a blessing. I did not even realize that morning welcome me already. A brand new day with happy feelings from a surprisingly proper sleep in minus eighteen degrees celsius weather. It is indeed, little things sometimes make us feel happy that we forget pains. Pains that weaken our will, weaken our goals. (Hmm, imagine if your body doesn't forget things, how would that be?) In the meantime, pains could also be healed by that little thing. Because after being exhausted from the hike, I found that the nap I had that night was the best I ever had.

( A picture I took from the front of the cabin )