We had some snow for a short time, bit rain came and tok it away.
Now it looks like winter is back in town!

(Note to the Reader: I know my blog posts in the past have been all about the pictures, but to really get the full experience of this trip make sure to read the long stories I have written. It was the things that I couldn’t take a picture of on this trip that make it such an unbelievable journey)

After the World Cup Qualifier match between Norway and Holland, I returned to Karlstad for a day of class, and then, the day after that, I returned to Norway for 6 days. My original plan was to catch a bus to Lom, a small mountain town that the map said was only 15km to the entrance of Jotunheimen National Park. From there I was going to walk to the park and then attempt to climb the two tallest peaks in Scandinavia, Galdhøpiggen and Glitterund, over a two day period, then walk back to Lom and catch a bus to Lillehammer to catch the Matchstick Production’s tour of their new ski movie, Claim. What actually happened to me in Norway was far, far different, and probably about twenty times cooler. Here is the story:

Day One: Lom to Jotunheimen

After a day of traveling from Karlstad, I arrived in Lom Friday night. The bus dropped me off right in front of the town campsite/hotel, and when I asked the receptionist if I could camp for the night, she gave me a strange look and said “Like in a tent? Uhh… Yeah. Go ahead and camp where you can find a spot.” This was the first indication that it was a little late in the season for this trip. Needless to say, I was the only person who had pitched a tent in Lom that night. The next morning I needed to pick up a few things from the supermarket in Lom, so while I waited for it to open I snapped a few pictures of the town.

Church and Mountain in Lom

Bridge and falls in town

Soon I was off, walking along the road, and ended up snagging this beautiful pic of the valley on my way to Jotunheim.

It was at this point in the story that my itinerary started to change. I walked for about a half an hour before a man in a Mercedes SUV stopped to give me a ride. He was headed up to Jotunheimen as well, except he was going to the Summer Ski center, known as Juvass, where his son was with a local club doing some ski race training. It was closing weekend up there, he told me, so if I was planning to hike out on Monday, there would be little chance for me to catch a ride. But since he was giving me a ride, there was a chance I would be able to start my summit attempts that day and finish a day early, and he would give me a ride back to Lom or to Otta (a more central town) on Sunday. Stoked with his help, we then arrived at the ski center, where my hiking was supposed to begin. It quickly became apparent, however, that hiking would probably not be a good idea today. Winds were super strong, carrying the freshly falling snow, which severely limited visibility. We made our way to the ski center cabin, where he helped translate my plans to one of the guides, who told me that I should not hike today, tomorrow or the next day because of poor weather conditions. With little other option, I asked about ski rental prices, and the man who drove me up did some bartering and I ended up getting both a free ski pass and a free day of rentals skis. So, unable to do my second favorite thing in the world, climb mountains, I got to do my favorite thing in the world, ski. Here are some pics from the day on the snowfield.

The ski hill

Headed up the T-bar

View from the top of the lift

I was soo stoked

Cliffs, clouds, and lake next to the snow field

So after returning my rental gear after a super fun first day of the ski season, I once again met up with the man who gave me a ride up that morning, who told me he would give me a ride to a campsite just down the mountain where the weather was a little better. Not only did he give me a ride, but once again did some bartering for me and ended up hooking me up with a free cabin to stay in for the night. He was a super, super nice guy and he was one of the first people to make this trip so amazing. Here are some pictures from the place where I stayed that night. It was EPIC.

Mountains on my doorstep

The cabins where I stayed

The cabin where I stayed

The cabin where I stayed did not have heat or electricity, but instead it had this cast-iron stove:

This stove gave me quite the experience. I had acquired wood for it, but as many of you probably know, I have been known to have some trouble starting fires. Although I worked on it a lot this past summer, my newly acquired skills were of little use here because the stove was so small. So, unable to get a fire to stay, I thought it would be a good idea to put a little of my MSR Stove fuel on the wood to get it going. The first time, with just a cap full of fuel, the fire expanded quite a bit, enough for me to feel some extra heat, and the wood got started but went out within five minutes. The second time the same thing happened. The third time I put a little too much fuel on, and then when I dropped the match on I found my head engulfed in flame, looking a lot like the dad from the Foxtrot comic after he put too much lighter fluid on the Bar-B-Q. I hadn’t shaved for a month, so most of the beard I had at the time became white and considerably shorter, as well as some of my eyebrows. My eyelashes are also noticeably shorter, and every once and a while they stick together when I blink. The worst part was that I was wearing the Alpaca wool hat from Peru that my Uncle Jim had given to me last Christmas. Burnt Alpaca wool is probably one of the worst smelling things in the world, and I got to live with it on my head for the next 4 days. I got used to it, but I definitely felt sorry for the people sitting near me on the buses the next few days.

Day 2: Jotunheimen to Grotli

The next day the man who gave me a ride said he would pick me up at 8:30 to go up or at 1:30 to go down, but he never showed either time. I still did some hiking that day, and here are some of the pictures I took of the area.

Sunrise colors

Looking into Jotunheimen

Trail and Mountains

When the guy didn’t show up at 1:30, I took to my feet once more to walk back to Lom. It wasn’t ten minutes, however, before someone else picked me up. This time it was another super nice Norwegian (I’m actually pretty sure all Norwegians are super nice at this point) who gave me a ride all the way to Otta. I had decided that since the mountain hiking didn’t work I was going to try to see some fjords, and I chose to go to a town on the coast called Ålesund for the night and see some fjords the next day. After quizzing my ride for a little bit, however, he told me that the best place to go for fjords would be Geiranger. So, instead of just dropping me off, he parked at the bus station with me in Otta and made sure I got on the right bus, which happened to be pulling up to the station right then. I thanked him tremendously just as I had done for the last guy and boarded the bus to the town of Grotli, which was as close as the bus could get me to Geiranger. Grotli, however, was not a town, but a ski station that was closed for the season. I was the only one to get off the bus at that stop, and the bus driver said the road to Geiranger was just down the road a little bit. So, once again I started walking. Here are some pictures of the area near Grotli.

After walking a ways, I came to a sign that told me Geiranger was a little more than “just down the road.” It was 37 km, actually, or about 22 miles. Once again, however, it wasn’t long before someone stopped to give me a ride. This time it was a Russian truck driver who spoke Norwegian, German, and not a word of English. When I told him I spoke French he tried to speak it but I couldn’t understand anything he said except “Vous.” Anyhow, he dropped me off at the intersection I needed, and I only had about 30 km to walk. I walked until I came to another cabin, also closed for the season, and I decided to camp there for the night because I wasn’t sure if the snow was going to get worse or not, and there was already a few inches on the ground. As it would turn out, the snow stopped right after I put up my tent, and the temperatures went up as well, so when I woke up in the morning the snow was all gone. What came with the warmer temps, however, was super strong winds, so I spent most of the night putting tent stakes back in the ground. During one of these repair sessions, however, I looked out and saw that I had set my tent up on the bank of a lake, one that was surrounded by snowy mountains. The incredibly bright moon had come out with many stars, and this illuminated the snow on the mountains as well as the water of the lake and the wispy white clouds that were moving quickly through the sky. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, and it was just one of those things that no words or photography can ever give justice to. The next morning I took a picture of the scene, now clouded over, but if you use your imagination you might be able to develop an idea of the beauty I saw that night.

Day 3: Geiranger to Ålesund

After my night of continuous tent repair, I found myself on top of a pass, and luckily for me the rest of the walk would be downhill (I had seen three cars going in my direction during the duration of the walk, none of which stopped). Within a few minutes of taking down my tent and hitting the road again, the view of the top of the fjords came within sight, and all I could say was “WOW.”

Top of the Geiranger fjords

Zoomed in a little bit

As I walked down the road, not only did I get to see snow-capped fjords but also dozens of rushing waterfalls with extra fuel from the warm temperatures.

Waterfall 1

Waterfall 2

The closer I got to the fjord, the more there was to see and take pictures of.

Bridge and mountains

Waterfall and Mountain

I then came to the main fjord overlook area, where the ocean came into view. Fjords are really, really, really beautiful, almost as if the Na Pali Coastline in Kauai was in Colorado and had really huge, beautiful inlets.

Main overlook

Me, the pack, and the overlook

Finally, after 5 hours of walking that morning on the twisted ribbon of the Geiranger road, I arrived at sea level in town. I took as many pictures as I could, but then the rain came in accompanied by more strong winds.

Flag at Sea Level

Looking back up at the town

That is the Ocean…

More of the view

I found the local tourist information office, but, like just about everything else in Geiranger but the grocery store, it was closed. The place was a virtual ghost town now that the tourist season had ended, and I wasn’t too stoked that the weather was rapidly deteriorating with hard rain and strong winds every ten minutes. After asking the clerk at the grocery store, I found out that there was a bus to Ålesund from Geiranger. Happy both with the fact that I wouldn’t have to hike all the way back up the road to Grotli again and that I could make it to Ålesund, I decided to catch the next bus.

The bus ride was epic, to say the least, with a ferry crossing and all sorts of fjord views. I took dozens of pictures, and here are some of the best ones.

Fjords in the rain

Fjord and falls

Snow poking through

Looking back towards Geiranger at the Stranda crossing

Looking across towards Stranda

The rest of the drive was soo beautiful, especially as the fjords got wider and taller the closer we got to the coast. Unfortunately, however, the bus arrived in Ålesund at night, so I couldn’t see the city in the light. I was hoping to find Ålesund as a small coastal town with beaches for camping, but instead what I got was a major shipping town, with no beaches to be found. Also the weather in Ålesund was worse than in Geiranger, with even stronger winds and rain. I found a map of the city, and the closest campground was about 2 miles away. With both the poor weather and the 22 miles I had hiked earlier in my legs, I knew I wasn’t going to make it to that campground. I found the local hostel on the map as well, but when I arrived there, reception had been closed two hours before I arrived. With little choice, I departed Ålesund after only spending and hour and a half there in the dark. I got on the night express to Lillehammer, where I was to arrive a day earlier than I had intended to. In hindsight, the one mistake I made on this trip was to not stay in Geiranger for the night, and then take the early bus to Ålesund, and then take the night bus to Lillehammer. But, after doing a little reflection, I knew that staying in Geiranger wouldn’t have been that great, both because the weather was poor and the fact that most of the town was closed down, including any chance to take a boat tour or anything like that. So, in the end, I didn’t get to see Ålesund, but then again, if the weather was better in Jotunheimen I would have never seen Geiranger and everything else anyway, so I am thankful that I got to see what I got to see.

Days 4 & 5: Lillehammer

I arrived in Lillehammer early in the morning, and after making sure I knew where the movie premier would be the next night, I took a long hike in the trail system that spider-webs out behind the city. After missing out on a swim in the North Sea at Ålesund the day before, as well as in the river near Lillehammer that morning (it was far too cold), I came across this beautiful pool just above town, and, after wearing the same clothes for the last 5 days that I had both spent a day in skiing and two long days of walking, I knew I needed to immerse myself in the extremely cold and wonderfully refreshing water. It took me two attempts with the self timer on my camera, but this was the best pic for sure.

I ended up on top of the tallest mountain near Lillehammer (a massive 726 meters) and then pitched my tent on some wonderfully soft moss for a good night of sleep after a poor one on the bus. The next day I walked around Lillehammer, the Olympic Park, and the Ski Jumps. To see a photo album of my photos in Lillehammer, click this link. That night I went to the premier where I met Andreas Amble and PK Hunder, two of the best skiers in Norway/The World, and they were nice enough to let me party with them until I caught the 4:00AM train to Oslo and connected to Karlstad, where I arrived with just enough time to take a shower before class. Thus ended one of the most unique, epic trips of my life, one that took me until 4:00PM this afternoon to wake up from.

For a photo album of the mountains and the fjords, CLICK HERE

For a photo album with my pictures of the Lillehammer area, CLICK HERE

Now I’m back, once again, in Karlstad, Sweden, taking an easy weekend to recover, getting used to the sun rising at 9AM, and studying for my final this week in Intercultural Communication. Since this class will be ending, I will only have one class every other week, and another class that will go on two more field trips, so thing are really going to pick up in November in terms of traveling, starting on the first weekend of November with a trip to Gothenburg to see the Swedish band In Flames end their European tour. Following that I will have some visitors from the United States, aka MY PARENTS! Then I have plans to visit a very special Swedish Family, a cruise to Lativia, and maybe a trip to Berlin and Helsinki. To see my updated travel schedule, CLICK HERE. November should be another excellent month, check back every now and then to see how I’m doing if you want to. Otherwise, keep on keepin’ on where ever you may be.

Jeg sitter å mimrer nå. Tenker tilbake på alt det morsomme, fine, koselig, kjedelige, fjasete, bøllete og tøysete tingene vi i Intern Crew har gjort gjennom årene… Det var mye bra! Mye å le og smile av er det! Fredrik og haka, piasavajakt, lovetriangles og annet tull. Det var en fin tid. Jeg er så glad i dere alle:) Kom til Lille, jeg savner dere! <3

Well well, folks, Hi again

Finally weekend. Things are really starting to settle down at work, I like it more and more every day. Great people, great technology!

Went to Kaya yesterday, in the new hair salon she’s working at, “På Håret“. She cut my hair, which was about time. The salon was great, I would recommend it to everyone, give them a visit! Unfortunelately, the visit made me miss the train to Hamar and the season opening of hockey. Storhamar won 5-1 against Lillehammer, check out the video here.

Tomorrow we are going back home to our family and friends in Hamar, looking forward to that. Time will show what the evening brings, maybe a trip to town, check out the atmosphere..?

In a few weeks, I’m leaving Norway and will be heading down to Cyprus. A customer at work is establishing an office down there, and I’m going down to help them with the video equipment. Will be nice with a couple of days in the sun Ordered the new Ipod Nano today, nice to have some music with me, when going down there all by myself.

Have a nice weekend everybody, and take care. You might not be as lucky as these people..

I continue with some more notes from the GIJC conference. Here are my first notes.

Nils Hansson from Uppdrag granskning (Sweden’s SVT) had an very systematic approach to investigative journalism.  In his presentation, called “The ABC of investigative journalism”, he bombarded us with do’s and don’ts, I’ve picked out those I liked best.

First, there are three points investigative journalists should follow:

1. Adopt tough challenges
2. Prove wrong-doing
3. Investigate ourselves

In order to uncover a brilliant story, investigative journalists need brilliant ideas. But how do you come up withe those earthshaking ideas?

• – Try to think as a corrupt person (an advice Nilsson got from a colleague)!
• - Ask yourself these questions: what opportunities exist to profit from the system?
• - what problem is the biggest for your readers/listeners/viewers?
• -which problem is the most neglected?
• -which problem is the most upsetting?

Very important: Confront your idea, don’t treat it like a baby!
When “selling” the idea to the editor, Nilsson requires that every journalist fills out this checklist:

• -title
• -summary (max 10 lines)
• -previously published
• -minimum (good enough to publish)
• -maximum (what you hope to achieve, but cannot promise)

He also suggested to do the key interview (the bad guy) as early as possible, in other words, confront the person who is responsible early. The advantage:

• -Avoids unpleasant surprises (while working on a large case, it is easy to get the tunnel vision).
• -Gives time to examine the explanation.
• -Easier to get the lie on record/tape.

In order to prove the wrongdoing, ex of old meat packaged as fresh, ICA-case, you need to know the system, the routines, key players, process - and develop a method for uncovering the wrongdoing. The next step is to get the documents, also classified, and get the sources to talk (check the source, compare info from several sources, can the info be confirmed, etc, and protect the source - careful with phone, email, meet at safe places).

In SVT’s Uppdrag granskning (the investigative program), they do something called  Line-by-line editing. That implies:

• -check all facts (names, figures, quotes)
• -verification through documents
• -are all conclusions well founded?

By checking and rechecking the story this way, they often find that they can sharpen the story even more.

Another important part is to let the source respond to the criticism.
He ended by giving us a very general advice - be patient!

I like that SVT have published their ABC for investigative journalists on their website. That is transparency, I wished more newsrooms could do the same.

Does anyone have notes from the meeting “10 best website for investigative journalists”?

I’m back in Brussels after some hectic days at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Lillehammer, Norway. A superb conference with people from more than 80 different nations. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the whole conference, but European Journalism Centre has very thorough notes, a recommended read!

It was amazing to hear the story of the Al Jazeera journalist Sami al-Hajj who was released from Guantanamo in May, after six years as a detainee. I also went to hear Asra Nomani’s presentation about the Pearl Project (they are trying to find out who killed Daniel Pearl, the journalist from Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and beheaded in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002), which I have written about here previously, and I also have an article about the project in the last edition of Journalisten.
To learn more about CAR (computer assisted reporting) was one of the main reason why I went to this conference, and I’ll give you a little summary of the best tips and tricks I picked up from the conference (if you are disappointed I didn’t pick up more, it is because I met so many interesting people and got myself distracted in plenty of great conversations):

Helena Bengtsson, database editor at SVT and Jennifer LaFleur, director of Computer Assisted Reporting, ProPublica, on building databases:

• -Learn and use Excel! When you master that, continue with Access (both Microsoft programs. I’m sure there are other alternative out there - any suggestions?). Incredible with all the great stories Excel can help you uncover. (if you think it is hard to get used to/understand Excel, try out some of the tutorials at youtube – I just love youtube tutorials!)
• I didn’t know Excel very well before this, but now, I’ve promised myself to start using it more often. We learned for example an easy way to import data from web sites into Excel (In Excel, click on data, then import external data and new web query, past and copy the name of the website, click on the arrow where the numbers start, and voila, all the numbers from the website is neatly organized in your Excel workbook).
• -use Excel as an agenda/to-do-list/diary. Fill in your phone calls, interviews, promises, meetings, ordering public documents, problems, ideas.
• -Especially for larger investigative projects, Excel is a very useful to handle all the information, your sources
• -Remember to save several versions of your work, in case you mess up your data!
• -Easy ways to make your own questionnaries which you can send to your sources, for free online questionnaires, here are some.
• -Require to get data electronically, instead of on paper, there is so much more you can do with the information.
• -“You need to interview the data”, Sarah Cohen, database editor in Washington Post, via Helena Bengtsson,

Luuk Sengers had some nice efficiency tips:

• -To find info on your own computer fast, use desktop search (ex Google Desktop)
• -Google Notebook for an efficient way of storing/sharing your notes.
• -Use Skype recorder on interviews.
• -For backup, Sugarsync Mobile Me (Apple), Data Deposit Box (only pc) are recommended.
  -For social networking analysis, try Analyst’s Notebook (expensive, but very advanced, used by the Pearl Project and to uncover the story about the CIA Ghost Planes.
• Check also out his downloads.
• Update: Henrik Pryser Libell, a Norwegian freelancer I met at the conference, sent me a note and corrected me, which I appreciate. Libell says that Sengers was sceptic to Analyst’s Notebook because of the incredible pricetag (apparently 8000 euro for a license).

I also went to some meetings about scraping the web (with robots) and social networking tools, but I haven’t had time to go through those notes. I will also return with notes from Nils Hansson’s ABC of investigative journalism.

In the meantime, for more reading on CAR/investigative journalism, take a look at these links:

• -Irene - network of investigative journalists in Europe.
• -European Investigative Journalism Conference, Brussels, nov 21st and 22nd.
• -Propublica – which is also mentioned by Olav Anders Øvrebø in this article about financing in online media (in Norwegian).
• -CAR experts - Tommy Kaas and Nils Mulvad.
• -the Scoop - database of CAR stories and tutorials.

Dopo il rientro al lavoro ho iniziato finalmente a metter mano alle fotografie scattate durante la mio vacanza in Norvegia, ma sarà un lavoro luuuuuuuuungo.
Nel frattempo vi do un assaggino di quello che è il Norges Olympiske Museum di Lillehammer, cittadini che come quasi tutti sanno è stata sede delle Olimpiadi Invernali del 1994. Il museo Olimpico, nato sicuramente sulla scia di quelle Olimpiadi, raccoglie immagini da tutte le edizioni di questo evento sportivo (sia invernali che estive). Ben organizzato e di interesse soprattutto per chi ama la manifestazione a cinque cerchi.
Per chi avesse letto nel post di qualche tempo fa, pubblicato in occasione dell’inaugurazione delle olimpiadi di Beijing 2008, che ho la lacrimuccia facile in queste occasioni…beh sappia che che mi sono messa a piangere anche al museo visionando un filmato che riportava anche immagini della cerimonia iniziale delle olimpiadi invernali del 1994! Devo proprio farmi curare
Ritornando a Lillehammer, fa specie notare come questa cittadina viva ancora sull’onda di questo evento sportivo che sicuramente ha dato il via al suo sviluppo portandola sotto i riflettori del mondo intero anche se solo per 2 settimane.

Finally I’ve started to check the photos that I’ve taken during my last summer holiday in Norway.
I made a slide including all the pictures about the Norges Olympiske Museum based in Lillehammer, a town where there have been the Winter Olympic Games in 1994.
To be honest I cried watching a video about che openign cerimony of that Olympic Games..I need a doctor!
It sound strange seeing how the life of this village (Lillehammer) has still linked to this sporting event…

!!!

UT-21 is an art project that invites 7 Polish and 7 Norwegian artists to work in Lillehammer- Norway, outside galleries and Museums.
The name UT-21 reflects two things:

• UT can simply mean ”out” (of the Museum) or ”without title”

• 21 refers to the fact that in 1987 there was a similar art project in Lillehammer with Polish and Norwegian artists and that in 2008 it will be 21 years since this took place.

‘UT-21’ presents interventionistic art which comprises land art, urban interventions etc. Interventionistic art means art projects which in one way or another include or reflect the physic, social or mental structures associated to a special place. The works are often characterized by being temporary and procedural. Points of contact with daily life and the surroundings we all relate to in a close and natural way, the landscape and the urban environment, may enable the communication between the work of art and the observer to become both more unpredictable and immediate than an encounter with art in a traditional setting. We want to create an exciting and intensive meeting between art and public, between art from Poland and Norway, in the tradition art outside galleries, in 2008 in Lillehammer.

Participating artists:

Jan Berdyszak, Teresa Murak, Janusz Baldyga, Egil Martin Kundøl, Marit Arnekleiv, Leszek Golec, Tatiana Czekalska, Marte Aas, HC Gilje, Elzbieta Jablonska, Anna Widén, Oskar Dawicki, Maciej Kurak, Maksymilian Skorwider, Grim Erland Lyng Svingen, Victoria Pihl Lind.

Images of some of the projects

the UT-21 website

Dopo giorni di girovagare per fiordi norvegesi, oggi sono approdata a Lillehammer, famosa località che fu sede dei giochi olimpici invernali del 1994.
Beh ad essere onesta, mi mancava un pò della vita cittadina…mi mancava il poter passeggiare in una strada ed incrociare lo sguardo di qualche anima.
Comunque dopo la noia di ieri a Lom, accentuata anche dal maltempo, oggi me la sono goduta, o meglio…mi sono goduta la visita al Museo Olimpico (Norges Olympiske Museum n.d.r.), veramente ben concepito e di cui spero di potervi mostrare alcune fotografie quanto prima.

After having made a tour of some ot norwegian fjords, today I’ve arrived in Lillehammer, a city that has been famous after the Winter Olympics Game in 1994.
I’ve enjoyed the visit to the Olympics Game Museum (Norges Olympiske Museum) very very interesting. I hope to be able to post pictures as soon as possible.

A few weeks ago I had the good fortune to go to Lillehammer in Norway. Lillehammer was the host for the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Over the years, my friend B, who has a place in Lillehammer, has told me about the surge in nationalism that was tied up with the 1994 games, and about how problematic that was. I’ve found it useful to bear in mind as my own compatriots start to get drunk on the Olympic spirit.

During this trip we went to the Olympic museum which was so exactly how you’d imagine it that I can’t be bothered to write anything about it. One thing that stood out was a video presentation where the expression “It was better than we could have imagined,” was repeated many times.

But the part that I found the most interesting was the tat for sale in the shop. 14 years after the Olympics came to town and they are still selling off original bits of tat, models of the Olympic torch and programmes. In 2013 the same kind of crap will be coming to a car boot sale near you, no doubt.

This nasty piece of trash sums up pretty much everything that's wrong with the mixture of nationalism and grasping medal-greed.

Here are some notes I wrote about something else that we did whilst we were in Lillehammer, an Olympic thing.

One of the things I love most about spending time with B is that she is fearless in nature. I think a lot of Norwegians are like that but B is fat too, which makes a difference to me, and it give me a thrill to see her striding around, being physically dynamic, and doing stuff. I am far more timid but B always encourages me to have a go at things and see what happens. The result is that I have had many mini-adventures throughout my 16-year friendship with B.

So this weekend involved going to see some lakes and rowing in some boats that the mountain authorities had left for people to play with. And then, on the way to the station, we stopped off at the Olympic bobsleigh run in Lillehammer, and we went down it. This was actually Kay’s idea, but I think the atmosphere of fatties doing stuff that B fosters helped somewhat.

Yes, Olympic bobsleigh run.

In the summer the bobsleigh people have a couple of bobs (look, I’m getting the lingo) with wheels. They fit four people, including a pilot, but we managed to cram five in there.

For about £18 you get carted up the hill in a truck, handed a sock thing to put over your head, and a helmet, and this hard leather belt, and then you strap yourself into the bob. By this time I was starting to panic, we were in danger of missing our train, and all I could think was: “we are really in trouble if we miss that train, and I feel like a fucking idiot maybe missing that train because I am strapped into a bobsleigh.” Plus ‘For The Longest Time,’ that awful fake doo-wop Billy Joel song was playing, for some reason and it didn’t help calm me down at all. I was still humming it nine hours later.

We were really crushed into that sleigh, and it barely needs saying that it was a nightmare trying to get in and out of it wearing all that gear. I floundered about and eventually settled, feeling like a helpless little slug. Everything was so tight and crammed. The super-fit bobsleigh people were very kind and helpful, and reassured me when it was too late to turn back and I said: “I’m really scared.”

Thankfully we didn’t have to do that thing where you push the bob along and hop into it, that would have been a disaster. Instead, a helper-man pushes you down the first ten metres of the track as hard as he can and then gravity does the rest. I’m not sure about the combined weights of me, Kay, and B, but our heft was on our side. We went down that track like a hurricane, 1,700 metres in 69 seconds.

This is what it feels like: every time you hit a bend, ie all the time, you bang your head against the side of the bob. It feels faster than you can imagine, incredibly fast. All you can see is a wall of concrete ahead of you. You feel really heavy because you are experiencing gravity times three. All you can hear is a loud roaring rumble.

I felt panicky before we started going, and I managed to do deep breathing and calm thoughts for about two seconds before I gave up. Then I screamed like a child the whole way down, not even a good scream, more like a pathetic stream of whimpering and pleading, gasping for breath so that I could get more air in my lungs to expell as more scream. Kay and S whooped a bit because they thought I was just excited and they wanted to join in, but I was really, properly, profoundly, giving wavery/screamy voice to my terror. The people at the end of the track said they could hear me the whole way down. Yes, I am an English fool, and obviously no stranger to humiliation.

Honestly, god knows how people can do this as a sport. And the luge and the skeleton, where people slide down the track head first on a tray-type thing – why? Why? Why? I don’t know if I admire them or what. I’ve often wondered what it might be like to go down one of those tracks, and now I have some idea.

We got to the end and managed to prise ourselves out of the sleigh. I said: “I will never do that ever again.” We could barely talk. We staggered to the car, drove to the station in silence, more or less, and got on the train.

Charlotte

They don’t roll around all that often.  Every 2 years we get a summer or a winter Olympics.  I just can’t help myself….

I hate the Olympics because I love them so much!!  I always say I will only watch a few sports here and there, maybe a little swimming, some nice gymnastics with a bit of basketball thrown in for good measure.  Inevitably I end up for 2 weeks of my life scheduling everything around the continual barrage of events.

Right now they are showing the Mens Water Polo Group B Preliminaries and #9 America has just beat #1 Croatia (really) in a stunning victory!  I am cheering like my brother was on the team or something!

There are a lot of sports I would never normally watch but I really get engrossed when the Olympics start.  I mean who wouldn’t feel tremendous American pride and get a tear in their eye when the first three medals of the games are all awarded to American women for fencing!  Mariel Zagunis (Gold), Sada Jacobson (Silver) and Becca Ward (Bronze) stood together on the podium while the flag of the USA sitting in all three medal positions was raised.  I cried like a baby.  My God, it’s great to be an American!

The “Powers That Be” did come up with a brilliant idea in 1992 when the decision was made to take the Winter (Albertville) and Summer (Barcelona) Olympics, which were at different times and places but held in the same year and split them.   2 years later (1994) the introduction of the rescheduled games was introduced in Lillehammer and they’ve appeared in 2 year rotations ever since. 

For aging arm-chair-athletes such as myself this was a wonderful turn of events since 2 Olympics in one year could almost be overwhelming.  I mean come on.  I would barely recover from intense cheering for the Winters and then the Summers were here.  I need some recovery time in between.

For you statisticians out there the next Olympics, the Winter, will be held in 2010 in Vancouver 545 days from today.  I’d like to act like I’m so brilliant I figured that out myself but all I figured out was the website that told me that:  http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/index_uk.asp

Ever since I was a kid I have loved the Olympics.  I never wanted to be an Olympian (unless reading, reading comprehension and quick thinking became events).  I was never athletic, but for me the Olympics are not just about athletics. 

 They are about teamwork, sacrifice, pushing yourself to the limit mentally and physically, accomplishing something few will ever achieve or even understand.  They are about seeing the best of the best, sometimes shining but sometimes struggling, to overcome setbacks they never expected.  The Olympics are about self, team and country.  It is about seeing the good and bad of the human spirit up close and personal.

Most people don’t realize that there have only been 20 Winter and Summer Games, plus 5 additional combined games (actual) since 1896.  The 1916, 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled because of war. 

Until 1920 The Olympics where in one location and ran concurrent.  The following year in 1921 the decision was made for winter and summer to become different Olympics in separate locations.  So in 1924 the first separate Summer (Paris) and Winter (Chamonix) Olympics were held.

Here is where I realize I am WAY OLD!  Born in 1952, there were only 5 individual Winter games held before I was born.  This can not be possible!  Only 10 total games since 1896!

I need a nap!

Slik er varselet for Bjønsund til uka. Ikke knall, men fint. Noe må jeg jo glede meg over, og nå i formiddag er det at været blir finere på Bjørnsund enn i Lillehammer. Yae!

På tide med en liten rapport her. Jeg var der fra tirsdag til fredag, hovedsakelig på forfatterseminaret på Nansenskolen. Programmet var interessant, men det morsomste var å bli kjent med nye mennesker, og bedre kjent med dem jeg kjenner fra før. Jeg hadde mange spennende samtaler med vidt forskjellige folk og fikk mange rosende ord for dikta mine og mitt konsise innlegg under debatten om forfatterutdanningene (og den nye tatoveringa). Seminarprogrammet lærte meg mye om den kulturelle skolesekken som jeg håper å få bruk for seinere. Og så drakk jeg en del vin.

Det var en fin, men slitsom tur. Jeg er vant til å ha mye tid for meg selv og det ble det lite av. Derfor var det litt godt å dra hjem, selv om festivalen var langt fra slutt. Neste år skal jeg sikkert på debutant-seminaret. Gleder meg!

I am in Lillehammer, giving a lecture on Norwegian picture books together with POK. The lecture was given yesterday and it was well received. I was not so very happy myself, because we were asked to shorten the lecture just before we should start and this kind of messages tend to make oneself very nervous. But as M said, its only yourselves that notice the flaws and lacks? Well… this makes it even more important to prepare and be ready for every aspect.

Today we are going to a lecture given by a cartoonist on the art museum. Later we will go and listen to the people on the NBI talking about quality in childrens literature. And then I am going home!

Jeg er vel fremme i Stryn etter en lang dag. Det begynte greit med å dra fra Oslo litt før 08:00 og etter et møte på Lillehammer dro jeg videre til Stryn og bor på Stryn Hotell. Middagen er vel på plass i magen og nå sitter jeg på rommet og slapper av. Været ute er flott og temperaturen er også topp. Før middag gikk jeg en liten tur ut og og det var deilig frisk luft og en behagelig temperatur. Nå ser jeg ut av vinduet og sola skinner sine siste stråler over Stryn sentrum for kvelden. Snøen på fjelltoppene rundt gjør det hele til en flott visuell opplevelse.

Aalesund

1. Klatreklubben Aalesund
   Sunnmoershallen Aalesund, Norway
   http://www.klatreklubben.no

Arendal

1. Birkelund Fjellhall
   Gamle Songeveien 65
   Arendal, Norway 4842

Bergen

1. Bergenshallen
   Vilhelm Bjerknesvei
   Bergen, Norway
   +47 55 27 12 09
   http://www.bergen-klatreklubb.no
   > High quality climbing wall. Vertical to steep. 25 lead routes from 6a-8b. Bouldering and campus climbing areas.

Bodø

1. Nordlandshallen
   Bodø, Norway
   http://www.nordlandturselskap.no
   > Two reasonable good indoor climbing walls in the city of Bodo; Morkvedhallen and Nordlandshallen, both are 8 m high and frequently used by students at the Universitye of Bodo.

Bønes

1. Nils Tjøstheim
   Bråtet 177, 5152 Bønes

Gjøvik

1. Gjøvik Fjellhall
   Heimdalsgate 2
   Gjøvik N-2821
   (+47) 61 13 82 00
   http://www.fjellhallen.no  
   > Walltopia. finished 02/2008. The most complete indoor climbing center between Oslo and Trondheim. Two walls, one is 15m with level from:6a+ to 8a. and one is level from 4+ to 7+. The two walls have a total of 21 routes. Also there is one bouldering wall.

Kragero

1. South Wall
   Lokkebakken 8
   Kragero, Norway 3770
   http://www.krageronormisjon.no
   > 12m wall + small boulder room.

Kristiansand

1. Spicheren
   Gimlemoen 1
   4630 Kristiansand
   4000 5995
   http://www.studentiagder.no  
   

Lillehammer

1. Haakons Hall
   Lillehammer Olympiapark AS
   Håkons Hall
   Postboks 183,
   N-2601 Lillehammer
   Lillehammer Olympiapark AS
   +47 61 05 42 00
   http://www.olympiaparken.no
   > 22 meter high climbing wall with 6 opportunities for top roping. Must bring own rope and quick draws, and routes have to be led. The top half can be tilted back and forwards to make an overhang or a slab.

Narvik

1. Idrettssenteret HEI
   Lodve Langes gate 2
   8505 Narvik
   76 96 20 00
   http://www.idrettssenteret.com
   > 13 m high indoor climbing wall with boulder room and a complete training gym!

Oslo

1. Gekko Klatring
   Sverresgate 14
   0652 Oslo, Norway
   22 67 28 44
   www.gekkoklatring.no
   > Som tar over for Tyrili Klatresenter, ligger fortsatt på nesten samme sted med inngang fra Jens Bjelkesgate. Vi har bygget et helt nytt klatresenter med et totaltilbud innenfor både tauklatring og buldring.

2. Klatreverket
   Sandakerveien 24C, Inngang D10
   0473 Oslo, Norway
   22 04 06 80
   http://www.klatreverket.no/
   > 900 m² klatring og 300 m² buldring.

3. Skøyen Klatresenter
   Drammensveien 130
   Oslo, Norway
   +44 22 04 98 88
   http://www.skoyenklatresenter.no
   > Bouldering cave

Sarpsborg

1. Gekko Klatring
   Vestengveien 40
   1725 Sarpsborg, Norway
   99282120
   http://www.gekkoklatring.no
   > Tauveggene er 10,5 meter høye og bygges i en blanding av kryssfiner og 3D-paneler fra Citywall. Totalt ca.300 m2. Buldringen er ca.4m fra tjukkas og bygges i artikulert kryssfiner. Total ca.150m2

Sogndal

1. Sognahallen
   Idrettssenteret A/S, Postboks 164
   6851 Sogndal, Norway
   0047 57 62 90 00
   >700 square meters of steep climbing wall with a 16 meter overhang.

Stavanger

1. SiS Sportscenter
   Studentsamskipnaden I Stavanger
   4036 Stavanger
   Stavanger, Norway
   http://www.sissportssenter.no
   > Built in 2005, 14 meters high climbing wall with fixed top ropes on most of the routes. Equipment and ropes can be rented in the gym.

2. Apeberget klatresenter
   Breiflåtv, Stavanger
   15 +004751586019
   http://www.klatresenter.no

Trondheim

1. Gekko Klatring
   Reina 8, 7042
   Trondheim, Norway
   73 50 30 16
   http://www.gekkoklatring.no
   > Climbing wall is not too high, but nice routes and a boulder area..

Check out our new web site for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference 2008 at Lillehammer.

You can find the site here!

The conference takes place in Lillehammer, Norway, from September 10th to 14th.

Here are the download links to the video extracts from our field trips:

Adrian
Duration: 5.23 min

1. MP4/ipod version (320 x 240, 33.6 mb)

2. Quick time version (320 x 240, 42.8 mb)

Camilla and Håvard
Duration: 1.28 min

1. MP4/ipod version (320 x 240, 9.1 mb)

2. Quick time version (320 x 240, 8.3 mb)

Cornelia and Emma
Duration: 7.47 min

1. MP4/ipod version (320 x 240, 47.3 mb)

2. Quick time version (320 x 240, 61.2 mb)

10.00: Each group shows an extract of the video material they gathered yesterday, and then decide what to do, and where to go on today’s field trip.

(Caroline and Emma look at their hot spot map from yesterday)

11.00: Field trips

13.00: Revising and editing of video material in Final Cut Pro, including FC tutorial.

(Quick and dirty editing in FC)

(Video stills from yesterday’s filed trips)

15.15: Showing of edited videos to the rest of the group, as well as drop in guests.

16.00 - 17.00: Preparing for tonight’s show of work with Ivar Smedstad’s Video Art group.

21.30: Video screening of “Sniffer Sounds” at The Kro!

A very busy day. Everyone works intensely with almost no break. Really good work!

Endlich hat es geklappt - wir waren im Olypischen Museum in der Håkons Hall. Eine sehr interessante Ausstellung über Olympischen Spiele und das nicht nur aus norwegischer Sicht! Schon allein die Håkons Hall sollte man gesehen haben, denn dessen Architektur ist eine Augenweide.

Zuvor waren wir noch in [ Maihaugen ] - eine Ausstellung von traditionellen skandinavischen Bauten über einige Jahrhunderte hinweg. Es hätte auch eine Originalschauplätze für einen Film sein können, so authentisch waren die Bauten. Auch die 70er Jahre und aktuelle Bauten konnte man bewundern. Verwundert waren wir, daß wir keine Kasse finden konnten und das Tor weit offen stand *hust*

Wahrscheinlich nimmt man die Touristen nur in der Saison schonungslos aus. Die Hauptwege waren vom Schnee beräumt - aber wir wollten alles sehen! und begaben uns auf Wege mit meterhohem (0,5m) Schnee. Dabei konnten wir eindruckstvoll den Effekt von Schneeschuhen sehen. Claudis Stiefel hatten nur eine geringe Auflagefläche, meine dagegen eine relativ große. Folglich mußte ich Claudi nach jedem zweiten Schritt eine Etage tiefer suchen… Ein Spaß, das glaubt ihr kaum!

Heute sind wir nach Lillehammer und haben uns die Skisprungschanze angeschaut. Oben angekommen fand auch gerade ein Skilauf - kein Springen - statt. Anschließend wollten wir noch in das Olympische Museum, welches sich in der Håkons Hall befindet. Doch das hatte ausgerechnet heute geschlossen. Doof. Denn ausgerechnet heute war dieser Skilauf mit anschließenden Feierlichkeiten in der Håkons Hall.

Für Maihaugen war es schon zu spät. So sind wir noch etwas weiter gefahren, so ungefähr 30 km, und haben uns die Stabkirche von Ringebu betrachtet. Laut Reiseführer sollte diese Kirche außerhalb der Saison bis 16 Uhr geöffnet haben. Aber nix da - wir standen vor verschlossenen Türen. Einer Infotafel entnahmen wir, daß die Kirche nur in der Saison geöffnet hat und bis dahin sind noch einige Monate.

From 11-12 March I’ll be leading a workshop for young people at the Amandus Film Festival in Lillehammer, Norway. Small groups, equipped with detectors and mini-dv cam-corders will explore electromagnetic Lillehammer, recording the sound of the invisible city directly on to tape as an alternative “concrete” sound for film. We’ll then look at the various recordings, discuss them a bit, and pick out interesting parts of the recordings. These will be shown on the last evening, together with the results of Ivar Smedstad’s video group and will be loaded up to the Sniffer Sounds blog.

For de som ikke har fått med seg dette artige filmklippet fra Lillehammer:

Kanskje ikke akkurat sport, men allikevel ganske sporty synes nå jeg…og artig..hi..hi