World Cup skier Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset got sick with a cold already during the first week of the Norwegian national team’s altitude camp in Stelvio, Italy. A sore throat and chest made Odd-Bjorn return to Norway last Friday, after only four days in Italy.
-I have been to altitude so many times that I know that I would not have gotten healthy again when we are living as high as we do at this camp, says Hjelmeset.
The national team is living at 2700 meter and training up toward 3500 meter. It takes longer time to get healthy when you get sick at this altitude, unless you return to lower elevations. That seems to be the experience learned by the Norwegian team. Odd-Bjorn was back in his hometown Oyer on Friday and will stay home until he is healthy. The camp is however so long (3 weeks) that he might travel back to Italy later and take part in the second half of the camp.
– I’m staying home until I’m healthy and will join the team in Livigno.
The conditions in Stelvio have been a little “up and downâ€. A bit less snow than usual at the beginning of the camp made for less than optimal conditions and a big storm made things even tougher in the high mountains in Italy. But the storm also brought 20 centimeter of new snow, which made for great skiing when it cleared up.Â
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