The August Bank Holiday weekend surprised us with a mini heat wave (too hot for some!). Twenty participants from around the UK turned up for two days of top quality coaching from Martin Watkins, Dagmar Junghanns and Adam Pinney, with each of the coaches covering all aspects of classic and skate skiing technique.

Alasdair organised the all-comers race on Saturday afternoon, part of the 2019 GB roller-ski race series, with great competition particularly from some of the GB Nordic Juniors who made the trip down from Scotland. And a particularly impressive performance too from ex-Olympian Martin Watkins.

Many thanks to our three coaches. And especial thanks to Alasdair and others from Tyneside Loipers for the efficient smooth running of the event, at short notice, with the ‘organiser’ undergoing lifesaving surgery in the RVI! Greatly appreciated having such a good bunch of club mates to take over when needed!

The route took in 3 shooting huts (courtesy of the Allendale Estate) which meant that we had 3 comfortable stops for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea! The final distance was a mere 35km but there were plenty of climbs and descents and plenty of challenge – thanks Mark! Looking forward to another ride soon.

We followed the winter route first to the unstaffed hut at Olavsbu and then on to the staffed hut at Fondsbu (still run by Solberg, a wonderful lady who some of us remember from 2004). Olavsbu was very cold (-12 degC) – clearly nobody had been there for a few days. We spent the whole evening wearing all our layers.

The route to Fondsbu had been newly marked with birch twigs and it was mostly sunny and an easier day except for the steep descent down towards Lake Bygdin which was more challenging than I had remembered.

Our next day was very much as forecast – windy and a horizontal blizzard. A few of us tried to get out for a short day-tour but we soon returned and spent the day reading and playing cards. But on the following day the cloud cleared away as we followed a marked route up toward a higher valley (S of Lake Bygdin). We summitted on a small peak and ate lunch with superb views across the Jotunheim. Then we headed further into the valley and over a col to the south and circled back to Fondsbu (a great route which made up for our previous day’s enforced rest).

The route back to Olavsbu was uneventful and mainly sunny and the hut was less cold than previously. The next day from Olavsbu, 4 of us took a more adventurous route to Spiterstulen avoiding the marked trails. It was a superb day, skiing via remote cols and lakes that are probably unskied for most of the winter. The previous day’s extra snowfall meant that we spent the whole way breaking trail – for much of the time we were taking turns, each doing 5 minutes at the front and then swapping over. It took 9 and a half hours and we arrived in fading light to be told that dinner was being served (we were late).

We had planned to move on to Glitterheim (an unstaffed hut) and pick off the summit of Glittertind (Norway’s second highest peak) but we learnt that the forecast was for more snow and high wind (blizzards) and we were in danger of being marooned at Glitterheim. So, after one more day in Spiterstulen (a very enjoyable day tour and a chance to practice some downhill telemark turns), we got the taxi back out to Lom and bus to Lillehammer. That opened the possibility of one more (windy) day of track skiing in Nordseter before catching the train back to Oslo airport the following morning.

Mark O’Keeffe continued on his own for another 10 days of hut touring, much of it staying in unstaffed huts. Well done Mark – you deserve a medal for your days spent marooned in blizzard conditions and long days of battling through deep snow on your own. Some would say you are mad – but well done for your perseverance and getting through against all odds!

A few of our group were new to cross-country skiing. They made good use of the coaching available from John’s team of SSE-qualified leaders. Several new members of the Loipers skied mostly on prepared tracks, with excellent coaching from Dagmar Junghanns, Pam Curwen and Rosie Blades. Others (including some of our first time Nordic skiers) joined Stefan and his wife Lisa for some easy touring away from the tracks. Stefan gave lots of helpful tips all week and even introduced the group to downhill telemark skiing. Some of the more experienced of us joined Pete Curwen and did some longer off-track touring, whilst others went ski touring on their own following some route advice from John.

On one day, Martin, Fiona and Alan and others skied with Dagmar as far as Fefor, mostly following the Peer Gynt Loipe – 18km each way with the enticement of waffles and tea at Fefor hotel. There were good tracks most of the way (better in the afternoon when the piste machine had been along). Fiona and Alan did the return leg in less than 2 and a half hours. That was our best weather day and others took advantage of the good weather to ski over the summit of Ruten, a little over 1500m above sea level. Carl had skied to Fefor and back a couple of days earlier when much of the track was unpisted!

A few of us did some intense skate-skiing practice with Dagmar and our own Alasdair Wilson, with the emphasis on uphill technique using skate-1 and skate-2. Thanks guys – it was a tough morning’s work!

We also spent some time on the nearby ski hill which is operated by the hotel. The 700-metre-long ski-tow costs about £2 for each run! Telemark skiing on lightweight Nordic skis proved to be challenging (though great fun).

It was a great hotel and a great week of skiing. Whilst the snow was not as good as it was 3 years ago, it improved steadily through the week. Most of us on were on waxing skis and, with a week of below-zero temperatures, the wax worked very well.

Mark O’Keeffe chose to do some cycling on Mountain bikes around the locality with Patrick and Julie Hazelhurst (TVM) while Neil Waters, Paramjeet Bhogal and Carl Brown had a very windy walk on the White Mounth and Carn an t-Sagairt in the Lochnagar hills.

Peter and Alison Aldred had been staying in the area the week before and had also managed to increase their Munro tally. It was a shame that we couldn’t get out on skis as a few non skiing members of the TVM were keen to try out ski touring. As this trip was so popular we should try again next year and as ever keep our fingers crossed for some white stuff!

We started the week with appalling snow conditions – it was the end of January and, although very cold, it hadn’t snowed since mid December. But it got gradually better after the second day and we had a huge dump of snow at the end of the week (24 hours continual snowfall from mid-afternoon Thursday). So with poor visibility (and too much snow!) we spent our last day in the little local ski resort, Moline en Queryas, and skied on at least 30cm of fresh snow (twice that much off-piste). Telemarking heaven!!

Six keen telemark skiers went to Val d’Isere in mid December and had a fantastic week of freeheel skiing with Ben Langridge from Telemark Tracks. Loipers (Tim and Penny, Steve and Alan) were joined by friends Ros and Mark plus a friendly Scot who we met in the resort. The coaching from Ben was excellent – ‘The best I have had’ (Alan). We were all skiing much better by the end of the week (style, confidence, etc) but maybe a bit more practice is needed for skiing off-piste. The major breakthrough which we all made was to start the turn before the lead change. Easier said than done, but it can hugely improve your skiing.

Telemark Tracks have a nice website which I recommend you look at http://www.telemarktracks.com/

Twelve intrepid Loipers launched from Oldchurch Bay and paddled against a strong southerly breeze all the way to the ferry landing at Aira Point, a little over 3 miles distant. We rafted up part way down the lake and Alan and Mark swapped over with Jane and Jane to even out the paddling power. After a pleasant stopover in the NT café at Aira Force, we relaunched off the south facing beach (into the increasing swell) and had a challenging few minutes getting around the point before paddling back to our start aided by a following wind. Dramatic skies and low sunlight (eventually), plus wonderful Lakeland scenery and autumn colours (all seen from the water). Thanks Mike and David for organising and thanks Jane Brantom for organising the facilities at Oldchurch Bay.

1. Paddling around south Aira Point  2. Twelve intrepid Loipers before relaunching at Aira Point  3. Relaunching into the swell

Seven of us had a great bike ride on the day of the AGM, starting from near Blanchland. Thanks to Mark O’Keeffe for coming up with the route (and then missing the ride!). It didn’t take us long to realise that we were riding into a 40mph head wind, so the route was changed and we headed down to Heatheryburn Farm and through to Beldon Shield and then into Slaley Forest. Total 19 miles – great ride.