Vasaloppet's CEO: Welcome to Mora 2017

You know that feeling…
…when you come home from work and you have decided to get out and exercise, and you’re trying to find excuses NOT to go.

It’s too cold, it’s too warm, it’s too stressful, hard to wax your skis, many other things to do, and so on. But I pull myself together and start to get changed. The threshold has been crossed and the decision taken. The car goes to Eldris. It’s dark out but my headlamp is in the backseat. A layer of wax applied to the skies, and the lamp is turned on. I start skiing towards Hökberg, in fine solid tracks, and suddenly my world is reduced to the space my lamp lights ahead of me.

I’ve always liked skiing with a headlamp but it’s been a while now. That exhilarating sense of speed comes to me, and I feel strong.

But the reality is very different; I’m neither moving fast nor am I strong! But for a while I get to experience the feeling.

I’m skiing, thinking of those of you who will participate in Nattvasan, and I know that you will have a fantastic experience there in the night, in the light of your headlamp.

When I turn at Hökberg and glide down towards Eldris again, I wish this would never end; it feels as if I could ski forever, take any distance. When I’m in the car, heading home, I am glad I took the decision to get changed earlier in the night, ignoring every excuse. Sometimes deciding is all you need! There are many of you who have done this – decided to participate in a Winter Week race!

At Vasaloppet we are arranging the last details, the arena is being prepared, snow is produced and driven out, number bibs packed, Trade Fair built, yes, there are many things to get in order before you arrive.

We will also need your help during your journey towards the finish line. I hope you want to contribute to our arena looking nice and tidy after each day of the event by throwing your litter in the places we have arranged for this. It is important that we take care of our arena to ensure that we can come back in the future.

If a participant throws litter and is caught on camera by our designated functionaries, we will apply a time penalty of 15 minutes. Our goal is not to penalize as many as possible; with this rule we hope to get all participants to considerately throw their litter in the rubbish bins we have provided, or the littering zones between checkpoints. If you have someone handing over drinks along the track, this person can also handle your litter. We want to thank you already for your help in this effort!

See you soon! A warm welcome!
Eva-Lena Frick
CEO Vasaloppet