Friday 30 January 2015

Weird Weather

Today was one of those weird weather days. I am here in Beitostolen in central Norway. This is January, and for the last few days even at 1000m we have only been a little under 0C.

Today was colder at -4C but for a while it rained. Now for those of us who wear glasses - I have prescription photo-chromics (which darken with UV exposure) because I can't see more than about 10cm without glasses. It is bad enough with snow on them; sleet is worse, and my breath freezing on them going uphill is also problematic, leaving me not able to see clearly. But freezing rain meant that every time I cleared them, I was almost blind again within a few seconds. Add to this, very flat lighting from being in the clouds, and it was very difficult to see where the track was, or even in what vague direction it went.

But not for one guy - there was a blind skier out on the tracks - skiing with a guide giving him instructions as to how the trail played out.

In the last few days I have completed an equipment upgrade - last was the poles. A long while back, an instructor suggested slightly shorter poles. At the time, they worked in giving me a better style, but a number of people, including an instructor this week, suggested I go back to 150cm (from 145cm). A quick test with my old 150s suggested that this makes sense. As all my poles have taking a beating over the years - I calculated that I do about half a million pole plants each time I do the RR, and this will be my fifth RR, and that doesn't count training. The handles on both pairs are showing signs of wear. So I now have a new pair of the latest Swix poles with interchangeable baskets, so you can have smaller ones for solid trails and larger ones for softer snow.

But I think the most unusual feature I discovered was on my new gloves (endorsed/branded by a top skier) - the thumbs have a special soft patch on for taking care of the drips off your nose. Nice to see something that is widely done (don't pretend you have never done it) actually designed in.

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