Norwegian Easter: Born with skis on our feet....

... well, that's how all most Norwegians like to think of themselves and also present ourselves to the rest of the world anyway. We claim a tiny village in a Norwegian county, Morgedal  in Telemark,  as the cradle of modern skiing. And judging by the number of Olympic gold medals won in any kind of skiing exercise, to foreign bystanders this idea of every Norwegian being a diehard skier might not seem so far-fetched. 

(Photo by vg.no)

When Easter comes around, thousands and thousands of Norwegians sit for hours on end in queues along the congested roads go to their little cottages in the mountains to ski. When they finally arrive at their destinations, some crazy people skiing enthusiasts put their skis on in the morning and don't take them off until after sunset, walking mile after mile and conquering every top in sight (and would you believe some suckers even have to go for those beyond that, too?!)

 (Photo by siste.no)

The presence of the sun in what in general is called the Easter mountain (that would be any rock above a couple of hundred feet and at least a handful of kilometres outside the city limits) is muy importante. After all, how can you otherwise brag to your neigbours about your fantastic Easter holiday at your cabin if not by showing a freshly and genuinely tanned face? A sunbed or selftanning spray simply don't cut it. Too fake. The great Norwegian Easter tan is all about authenticity and that special hue one only gets when exposing yourself to the risk of ending up snowblind from endless enjoyment in the snow.

Next to working up a sweat by the skiing itself, the most popular way to go about getting that much coveted glow to your face is taking a snack break - in the sun - next to the wall of your cabin (or any accessible cabin along your way. It just have to be a cabin wall).

 (Photo by adressa.no)

Every man, woman and child skier is carrying his or her own little snack backpack, containing the holy trinity of Easter skiing trips must-haves: something to drink (preferably hot cocoa or hot blackcurrant toddy, or Solo, the local version of Fanta), in addition to half a dozen oranges....

(Photo by newswire.no)

and unless you're totally and utterly clueless the one and only chocolate to bring on any Easter skiing trip, Kvikk Lunsj, which, incidentally, has been around ever since they started experimenting with chunks of wood up in Morgedal in those ancient times:

(Photo by freia.no)

Now, to let you all in on a secret, there are those of us some Norwegians who are lousy skiers more urbanized. Especially when, according to the forecast, there is absolutely no chance of achieving that glorious tan, and that the most sunny yellow one is likely to encounter is desperately trying to resuscitate something like this :

or spending rainy days on the net drooling over something like these :

(Photo by jimmychoo.com)

So, while I made sure prior to the arrival of the holidays that I wouldn't completely lose that Easter feeling...

...I'm afraid I had to tell my more ski interested friends that unfortunately, due to grossly disliking the idea of sitting inside in the rain in a cabin with only one TV-channel and no internet pressing home maintenance chores, they would have to:

(Photo by icanhascheezeburger.com)

I hope you all had a great Easter! :)