Silje, Vilde And Their 50k/day Rollerski Vacation Across Denmark

15Jul 2020 by DS News Team

” 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:

In the pulk we had:
Tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, gas burner, food, first aid, water and a limited clothing

You know they say Denmark is flat? Well its not. It goes slightly uphill all the time it feels like. But After 20km of dragging the pulk (we swapped every 20km because it weighed 50 kilos(!)
for a long time we started to think that we were two idiots

The folks in Denmark rarely see people on skis, so it was like being in the World Cup. People cheered and waved and asked us to take selfies with them. So the motivation boost was hardcore in Denmark 😂💪🏼💪🏼

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!

We got some really good supporters – from brands we consider the best in their categories: Northug on eyewear and clothing (of course), Swix on poles, IDT on rollerskis, Silva on drinking system and Real Turmat on food, sports drinks and bars. It made everything easier!

We love the full experience. Also being able to feel completely free. We had evening swims at the most amazing beaches. And cooked food outdoors with a beer in the evening. Such a treat to not have anything planned

We are not competing athletes of course, although we train quite a lot. So it was a bit exciting to see how our bodies would respond to dragging heavy weight and rollerskiing 50 km a day.

Any regrets? Yep – not co-opting Northug himself in taking part!

We could have used Petter for the pulk, so I hope he joins next year. He is one strong man, so it would have gone in a flash down to Copenhagen with him on the trip 😂💪🏼💪🏼

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