High altitude skiing

Living with a Norwegian and leading the life of a well travelled 'gypsy'! It's hard work, we're rarely in the same place for more than a week, but for the last three weeks we have made our 'home' in Val Senales, Italy.

The Norwegian Ski-O team were here for their annual high altitude training camp, consisting of one daily 2.5 hour XC ski session on the glacier at 3000m, and a second rollerski/run/strength session in the afternoon. With training twice a day for 4+ hours, they eat a lot. So I was invited along as a cook, cooking food twice a day.

Last year it was a challenge with 4 'hobs' and an oven trying to cook enough for 6 people. This year it was even harder with 4 'hobs' between two apartments and no ovens or microwaves, and a miniscule amount of space. I totalled many training hours cooking two meals over two apartments and legging it between the two to make sure the sausages/pasta/rice wasn't burning. Sadly the rice always burnt but after three weeks it's at least cooking thoroughly :-) practice makes perfect!

I've been training once a day at altitude which as a MTB'er with 3 weeks of XC experience is a challenge. Trying to work on technique, corners and balance without falling is hard enough for me at sea level, let alone at 3000m. But after much practice and about 90 mins per day, I'm finally getting somewhere. Corners are a little easier (although still snowploughing the scary ones) and I can balance for longer on one ski.

I did a few runs, but mostly it aggravated my ankle injury for several days. The worst was my run down from the top, 3212m via a semi-complete klettersteig and glacier run! I was expecting to make it down in 75 mins, but the climb along a ridge had been pulled up (map incorrect!) so I had to back track and then improvise on a rocky, slightly loose, descent back to the path. From there I ran around the glacier and down to the hut at 2800m. Then the hard work started with an 800m descent in about 2 km with traversed and descended the side of the mountain. Part of the path was small 'deer' path while the remainer over the steep sections was stone steps and scree.

Needless to say that run was a painful one both for my poor ankle which protested considerably from the word go, and for my poor legs which wanted to give way and curl up by the end. The next day was one of pain thanks to the delights of DOMS which lasted 5 days.

We've had a number of snowstorms one of which put us in the hotel for a day and the second saw us struggle to drive back up the valley after pizza. We arrived in late summer and will leave in the morning in the middle of winter.