Day 3

A snowman greets us as we start at the midpoint of the Birkie race trail.
An “early” start (by anyone except Bud’s definition), we were out on the trails by 10am and on our way to another Fantastic Day of Skiing in Norway. Several of the girls decided to ski down to Lillehammer for some shopping and sight seeing, while the rest of us took a long touring loop out to Ljosheim and back on the Birkebeiner trail. It was another day of blue skies and sunshine, rolling terrain and perfect tracks, families touring and setting up picnic areas all along the way. It was a fairly easy day of skiing, though long. There was one grand hill, up to the top of Sollifjellet, but the track ride back down into Ljosheim was a rollercoaster of whoops and whirls. We stopped at a café in Ljosheim for lunch of waffles, donuts, and hot drinks.
Newly revived, we made our way ( with a wrong turn once or twice) up to the midpoint of the Birkebeiner trail, conveniently entering the race in the middle of the longest climb toward Midtfjellet.

Bud heads down off of Midfjellet.

The Birkie trail was spectacular, 6-8 tracks wide in places, and we weaved our way in and out of them as we dodged touring skiers and scooting children taking their time down the perfect tracks.

Gabby, smiling as she skiis down one of the 8 lanes of perfect tracks on the birkebeiner race trail.

Keith, David, Gabby, Amy, Katie, Maddy, Evan, Kirsten, Robbie

Another full day, 6-8 hours of skiing and another 40-50 kilometers underfoot! Smiles and Sunburns all around!