Skiing at Hafjell

Yesterday, Kevin and I went skiing at Hafjell, about 15 km. north of Lillehammer. It was ridiculously gorgeous--there were a couple of times I skiied over a rise and was greeted with such an amazing view of the mountains and glaciers in the distance that I literally gasped. Unfortunately, I only took photos from the bottom of the slope, then put my camera back in the car because I was afraid of dropping it from a ski lift or falling and smashing it. Good thing I had some foresight, because I fell hard a couple of times--ouch! The weather was gorgeous, but in general, it hasn't been very snowy here, so the snow base wasn't great. This was the first weekend with a lot of new powder, so it was really crowded. Pretty soon, all the skiiers took their toll on the meager snow and some of the slopes became sheer ice. I lost control a couple of times coming around turns in the ice and did some painful somersaults--again, ouch! I also did some of the ugliest skiing I have ever done in my life on a couple of the steeper icy slopes--full on snowplow, arms flailed out at the side, torso contorting madly just trying to stay upright.
Luckily, we didn't hit all the iciness until our last two runs, so most of the experience was perfect. We started on some green (easiest) runs and worked our way up to some blue (intermediate) slopes. We were not brave enough to try any red (difficult) or black diamond (expert) hills--we value our bones too much! We had our first experience with a T bar lift--that was crazy! It's a big, upside down metal T on a rope, and Kevin and I had to each kind of lean back on the 2 branches and hold on for dear life as it swept us up the hill. We were laughing so hard as we almost fell off numerous times--I must say that while chair lifts are a lot less interactive than the T bar, I greatly prefer the peaceful ride to the top of the mountain!
Sorry, this is probably a really boring post for anyone who doesn't like to ski! I just love it--there is nothing as magical to me than to be among the snowy pines, breathing in the crisp air, seeing the most breathtaking views, with only the swish, swish sound of the skis cutting through the snow. I go into a kind of trance, my mind stops racing and I'm just there in the moment. (Of course, when I hit a patch of ice, careen out of control and fall face first in the snow, I come out of my little meditative zone really fast!)
For more information on skiing in Norway, here is a great website:
http://www.tourist.no/templates/NTRarticle.aspx?id=41250
We went to Hafjell because it was only a 45 minute drive from our house, but there are so many ski resorts in our area--we can't wait to visit more!