” Just living is not enough, says the butterfly in the short Hans Christian Andersen’s tale , one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
Meet Silje Vasvåg and Vilde Hammernes Pedersen, two urbanite millennials from Oslo who decided to experience Denmark in a very unusual way.
” Vilde and I had worked together for some time, and went skiing on our time off at the season opening at Beitostølen. We found out that we loved to work out together, and so we decided to do a training camp upcoming summer. But it had to be something with skiing. Therefore we decided on visiting a country on rollerskis. From there we started to think about how we could make it a bit more complicated….”
And complicated they did:
” No specific plans on where to overnight. Simply to find the top spots in Denmark throughout our journey. And as we both love the outdoors, we decided to carry all our supplies plus tent etc. in a pulk ( cart) on wheels!”
For those few of us who live on the rough, tar their own skis and sleep with bears, the trip through Denmark might not seem like a daring adventure, but for the most the idea of a week of heavy skiing and sleeping in the tent would be challenging, would it not?
And heavy it was:
Tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, gas burner, food, first aid, water and a limited clothing
for a long time we started to think that we were two idiots
Here’s high time to mention that both Silje and Vilde work for Northug Brand Assist AS, the new business venture of one Petter Northug who needs no introductions ( Update: Vilde just quit to pursue other career opportunities).
Silje, a key account manager at the company, stresses that the Denmark trip WAS a vacation – but once gear makers caught the wind of the upcoming venture, material sponsors jump on the opportunity. How could we blame them?! What a chance to test the gear and to promote the wares at the same time!
Any regrets? Yep – not co-opting Northug himself in taking part!
