Which skis fit you best?

Kept myself very busy again this weekend with a trip up north to Kåbdolis with Jaymie and her host family! This town has great slopes for downhill skiing, along with crosscountry tracks, snowmobiling, ice skating, and absolutely every winter activity you can think of! Perfect.

One of the new activities I took part in during this weekend is cross country skiing. Being rather naive, I assumed that it would be very similar to downhill skiing. (Which, by the way, I love. Bring on the slopes!). Cross country skiing is very different. The skis are much longer and thinner than the ones I am used to. Your whole boot ins't completely strapped in either, which means you can lift the majority of your foot, with the exception of the very front which is attached to the ski. In cross country skiing, you also have little tracks you can place the skis in, and then you move somehow. I swear this sport looked easier on tv. I was the awkward penguin shuffling through the snow. Then, I had this grand idea to take my skis out of the small tracks and give myself some more freedom of movement. Everything was going great at first! Then came the downhill. Applying my knowledge from downhill skiing, I attempted to create a triangle with the skis to slow myself down a little. The skis would not listen. Instead, they decided to slowly slip in opposite directions with me sinking towards the ground. Before I knew it, I'm literally in the splits, so caught up in these awkward skis that I can't even get off the ground. Jaymie had a laugh.

However, I'm not the only one to experience some embarrassing moments! Downhill skiing turned out to be my forte. We began on the kids slope to give Jaymie a basic lesson. Getting on the chair lift was no hassle, however, as soon as we were off, it was a race to catch Jaymie as she started sliding backwards down the hill. It was honestly so funny. I was off to the bigger slopes soon after that, racing down at top speed! I prefer to ski without the poles right now, because I don't really understand how to use them correctly, and found that they just got in the way. Throughout the day, my skills improved heaps and I definitely enjoy a bit of a thrill, so I wasn't planning on slowing down. I can't say my control was amazing, barely missing one group of skiers as I sped directly between them, but it was good enough to keep me on my feet! That's the main thing, right?

Now, when you have finished with your winter sports for the day, Sweden has what they call an after ski. Bascially, this is where you get to relax and enjoy a drink in the local restaurant. The atmosphere is absolutely awesome, with such a natural looking building and live music for entertainment. They even had a disco ball! So cute. It was such a good way to just relax and mingle with people after a day out. Also, did I mention how good the food is over here? If you ever want a treat, you can't go wrong in Sweden. This little restaurant had some wonderful cakes and baked goodies which I would recommend to anyone.

I'm so glad I got to spend the weekend with such an awesome exchangie, and hopefully we will get to catch up again soon. The weekend was an absolute blast, and there are so many other winter activities we were involved in, but I'll talk about them another time!