Journaling

April 19, 2016

Journaling

I like to keep a personal journal. To look back and see where my thoughts and where my head was; last week, last month, last year. I have especially loved to read my "one-year-ago-today" entries recently, as they give me a chance to relive my time in Norway. I get to escape for a moment, back into those precious memories which I am grateful for having recorded down on paper.

Taking a look back 365 days from today, here's what I had to say:

April 19, 2015

I'm crawling into bed with a nicely sun-kissed face, wind-swept hair, and legs that have taken me across nearly 30kms of mountains, rivers, fields, and roads. It was an epic weekend - probably my favourite of all the ski trips I've done in Norway. Although I seem to think that every time; this one was really spectacular - the weather conditions were unreal, the scenery was incredible, and every little thing worked out in our favour. From the bus ride from Dale-Lid being free because the payment system was down, to the Høgabu DNT hut being all to ourselves (for the first night, anyways), and the lovely Norwegian couple that graciously gave us each a beer that had to be helicoptered in to their private "hytte" in the middle of the mountains, on our way from Høgabu to Vaksdal. Mmmmm bliss! I felt as though this weekend really exemplified that there is no better feeling than being up in the "fjells". I was thinking back to just two weeks before when I had been in Stockholm and had a great time. But that, compared to the feeling of being out in the middle of the mighty mountains... they can't even compare. There is no feeling more liberating, more rewarding, more humbling than that of standing on top of a mountain peak, overlooking an endless view of pure natural landscape after having just hiked up that elevation with your own two skis. We did a lot of climbing, up and then down, and right back up again. Although we didn't do any crazy long distances; sometimes I would look back and be amazed at the mountains we had just crossed, the landscape we had just traversed. And mostly in a t-shirt! The weather was so wonderfully warm that I was out in the snow-covered mountains in nothing more than a t-shirt; a very special shirt at that - bringing a special soul out with me on an adventure she would have adored. Thought about Zoe a lot on this trip, and how you have to embrace every moment, live all of your days to the fullest. And we certainly did that this weekend; with Thore, Björn, Jane, and I; we laughed like there's no tomorrow. The classic hill people, Triple G, the "darkrooms", "Poor but Sexy", the chocolate pudding, es reicht, the loonie bin, shenanigans, the fun never stopped. And even today when the terrain was getting tough, there was nothing in the world that could kill the spirits of these warriors. A face-plant in the snow filling my ears, a tumble nearly twisting my knee, having to remove our skis to cross multiple rivers, and falling waist-deep into the snow with every step - none of that mattered in the slightest. We were trekking through the valley, beside a glacier-fed stream, between two little mountain ranges, alongside some epic waterfalls, through the moss and the trees; and all the while the sun beaming down on our faces... I felt like the luckiest person in the world. Frilustliv!