Saturday 23rd March 2013 - Sledging adventure in Oslo.

Today was knackering, a little bit dangerous and a lot of fun!

Last week when Ken & Anne were here for a visit, we went looking for this toboggan run that was said to be at Holmenkollen. Well, as we found out last week, it wasn't there but at a place called Frognerseteren.

The T-bane station is at the Western end of the #1 from Oslo central. It's not the fastest ride but useful.

Finally walked into Asker at about 1100 hrs.

To get around, I bought a ticket which costs 130NOK for 24 hrs in zones 1 & 2. This would get me from Asker into Oslo on the NSB trains and then free access to the public transport in Oslo city centre. As it normally costs 50 NOK for a ticket each way just to get into Oslo, this is a bit of a bargain.

I was feeling a bit apprehensive, but the day was gloriously sunny which helped. The train on the way up wasn't as full as I thought it'd be, but then again the Norwegians don't seem to do anything early.

The path from Frognerseteren had been gritted since last week so the walk down to the toboggan hire wasn't as bad as I thought it could've been.

To hire a toboggan it was 125 NOK for the day, with no deposit. Last week it had been until 2100 hrs but today the limit was 1900 hrs. I didn't think that was going to be a problem. The toboggan hire place has approx 350 sledges for hire and most of them seemed to be out when I got back in the early afternoon.

I thought I'd do a total of three runs. 1 to see what was there, 1 to get faster at it for the camera and then after a third I'd be getting bored and call it a day. Oh how wrong was I.

 A picture of me before the first run.

The toboggan run is about 2km long, down to another T-bane station at Midstuen. The shop had said it takes about 15mins to run. They were wrong. On the longest run it took me 10mins. 

Each of the runs had something different about it.

Click on the pictures to see larger image of speed and elevation data.

Run #1 [follow link for YouTube video] - This started slightly lower down the hill than the t-bane station, by the car parks and restaurant. It was a great introduction. I did split my favourite pair of cargo pants though and it got pretty chilly in the crotch department when ice was thrown up by the sledge. 

At one point where it levels out a bit and I came to a standstill I had a fear I'd lost the phone I'd used to take the pictures earlier out of the trouser pocket I'd put it in. I started to walk back a bit before I decided to check all the pockets. It was in the jacket pocket on the other side to where it was expected. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. 

Parts of the track were bumpy and some places even had small jumps in it. The steering was not precise but I did manage to keep myself out of trouble..... most of the time. 

There are parts of the track which have barriers, but mostly there isn't anything at all. There's plenty of scope for coming off and hitting a tree or going off a slope and hitting a tree. 

Max speed just under 45 kph.

The end of the run is very close to the t-bane station at Midstuen. Had to wait quite a while for the train back up the hill.

Run #2 [follow link for YouTube video] - This started just down the from the station, higher up than run #1. Lots more people on the train. 

There is a short piece down from the t-bane station to the restaurant car park. Nearly lost it at the first hairpin, due to not expecting it to be quite as sharp. 

There's a bit of a walk across a car park about 1:30 in. I got out the 3XL waterproof trousers for this run so not as cold in the fork. 

Each time I got to the second part of the run it seemed to be chokka with people just waiting for somebody to go first. I just got on with it. Might've been different if I was with somebody else I guess. 

Seemed to be plenty of kids on the run as well. In the UK they'd probably not be allowed to go down on their own for safety fears. With me on the track this was probably justified.  I overtook plenty of people.

I started to notice one particular telegraph pole which seemed to be acting as a Zippy magnet.

Max speed just under 45 kph

Run #3 [follow link for YouTube video] - 

The starting area just below the t-bane station was starting to show signs of wear. The brilliant sunshine wasn't helping of course. More people out, as well as the heat.

Just after the first hairpin I ended up turning too hard and went a full 180°, eventually going down backwards for a short while before crashing due to even less steering capability.

On the flattish second near that start of the second section I saw a guy walking pulling his toboggan & carrying what looked like a full TV camera. Not sure if he was shouldering that while haring down the slope. Braver man than me, I was only using my GoPro.

Some of the bumps and jumps seemed to be a little bigger on this run, which didn't make steering any easier. Maybe it's the increased melting. There certainly seems to be more in the way of ice coming up off the track.

Nearly had a collision when I got close to two people and went between them.

I think the camera angle on top of the helmet was just right.

Max speed : just over 45 kph in two locations on the track.

Run #4 [follow link for YouTube video] and [follow link for YouTube video] -

Should've taken a break after run #3 but didn't as I was just too pumped up. I had to have another go. Turned out to be a bit of a mistake.

Just after getting off the t-bane I heard three guys speaking English and they looked as if they were looking for somewhere. I gave them directions to the hire shop. 

Just after that I saw another English speaker fall over on a particularly slippery bit of ice, while carrying a baby. The child wasn't happy about it although it seemed like the parent kept them safe. I tried to spread some grit on it but it didn't dig in. 

 At the first hairpin I had to brake pretty hard to avoid running over a child.

At the top of the second part of the run a small lad almost got away from his dad on a large wooden sled. Thankfully it ran off the track before it could get any sort of speed up. Could've been nasty.

The camera on the helmet was moved further forward so I could get it to point down a bit more. This was a mistake.

On this run I ended up closer to the edge of the track on a few occasions than on previous runs. Probably due to the increased tiredness.

Max speed : just under 50 kph on two occasions.

Run #5 [follow link for YouTube video] and [follow link for YouTube video]

On the first section I had to brake very hard to avoid running over a kid on a body board. From the video it looks like his legs still got very close.

After the first section I walked up to the restaurant for a break and some lunch. It was later than it should've been, in retrospect. The whole place was heaving. As usual they didn't have any English breakfast tea so I had to use one of my emergency bags with some hot water. Next time I will have to bring either a pack lunch or some means of making my own. Also need to relax for a longer period.

The second part of run 5 was pretty much out of my control. This was obvious when I came off towards the end and headed towards the Zippy magnet telegraph pole. I tried to steer back to the left away from the track edge but the right runner was already in the softer stuff and wouldn't budge. Luckily I managed to slow down enough and steer away from pole and hit some tree branches instead. I stopped literally inches away from face planting a tree trunk. This was definitely going to be the last run of the day.

At the end of the run I met up with two of the guys I'd given directions to earlier in the day. Turns out their mate had come off worse with a tree encounter. They'd left him at the top so they could do one last run. He didn't look happy when I saw him. Later on when they got on the train to head back into Oslo he had to be supported by his mates. Hopefully he'll be okay.

Max speed on this run between 45 and 50 kph.