With Jonny and Slatts at the end of a 36 mile ultra XC ski marathon.

Two long weekends in the beautiful Tyrol region of Austria has seen myself, Slatts and Jonny go from absolute amateur beginners to holding our own during 36 mile ultra Nordic skiing training days.

The learning curve has been the steepest of any sport I’ve done and whilst the frustrations are huge, the satisfaction from the progress readdresses the balance.

Nordic skiing is a tough sport from a fitness perspective but also a sport that is all about technique. The better the technique, the less energy used – a bit like swimming.

During our latest trip, we wanted to simulate the mileage from one of the days in Greenland so on our only full day in Seefeld, we strapped the head torches on and were on the trails by 6am. 36 miles and 8 hours later, we were back at base, triumphant that we weren’t broken physically or mentally. But we all came close.

Hills are slow going and hard graft!

We have one more trip to Austria at the end of February where we’ll aim for a 50 mile day sandwiches between two 20 milers. Here in the UK it’s all about cycling and gym work to improve core and leg strength as well as proprioceptive work to improve our glide on one leg (key to good technique).

Lots of downhill sections end like this. But less with each day on the snow.