Ski Norway the Kjus way
Norwegian champion skier Lasse Kjus reminisces on the ups and downs of a memorable career, and shares some favorite ski spots in his homeland
words by Arnie Wilson
photography by Thomas Ulrich
Lasse Kjus, Norway’s most famous World Cup and Olympic skier, retired last spring. “I’m done!” said the 35-year-old cheerfully at the end of a career during which he racked up five medals at three Olympics and, astoundingly, sped away from the 1999 World Ski Championships with a gold or silver medal in all five Alpine events.
So what’s he doing with his life now?
Like other famous skiers before him, including Jean-Claude Killy and Franz Klammer, Kjus has gone into the ski clothing industry, with state-of-the-art, high-end products. Sterling magazine caught up with him at the UK launch of his skiwear line.
So, Lasse, did you make a fortune from skiing?
Not at all. I think you have to be in the top five to earn somewhere around a million euros a year. If you’re American you can earn more, because the ski market there is obviously bigger. That said, the sponsorship is bigger in Europe. High-profile skiers like Hermann Maier and Bode Miller I’m sure are earning more money than me. I’d guess that Alberto Tomba is probably the highest-paid skier ever.
I guess it’s easier for Klammer to make money in Austria than for you in Norway, with its smaller population?
When the market is bigger it’s much easier, that’s for sure. Also alpine skiing is not as developed in Norway as it is in Austria.
No, the Norwegians weren’t keen on downhill at first, were they. I think they preferred ski jumping. Did you try that?
No, I’m too fat for that! Anyway, it’s not jumping any more – it’s ski flying. You have to be a midget with big legs!
So what’s next for you?
Right now my future is my brand, my clothing. Also, I do some real estate back home. Right now I’m really enjoying having more time and being able to control my days one hundred per cent myself. I like spending time at Hafjell [the location for the Alpine events in the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics], where I have a house.
Of course, you won a gold medal at Lillehammer in the Combined, didn’t you?
Yes. That was great because I hadn’t had a single result so far that year.
What was the highlight of your career?
Definitely the World Championships in 1999 in Vail. I got five medals there – it’s the best I ever did. I’m an all-round skier, and the most difficult thing about being an all-rounder is to be good in all four disciplines at the same time. And in Vail I managed that. Some skiers have tried following in my footsteps, but no one has managed to do it yet.
The other thing you’re famous for is getting hurt! You’ve had a lot of injuries, but you always seem to bounce back.
Yes, I’ve had some bad years. It’s difficult to single them out, there have been so many! When I started racing in the World Cup I did well straight away and was achieving good results in my second year. In the autumn of 1991, I had a good start and was skiing really fast in all four disciplines, but then I had a bad crash which destroyed my arm. This set me back for a couple of years, so the next two seasons were really poor and I wasn’t able to ski at the level I was supposed to. Winning the gold at Lillehammer
in 1994 was really helpful, 
as I’d had no results during the season. It saved the day for me and really helped to bring me back.
You must have many stories to tell from your racing career.
It’s been eventful, that’s for sure. There was the time in 1999 when the new shorter skis were just coming in for slalom. One of the biggest problems with them is that when you’re just coming from a downhill, you have to really remind yourself: “OK, I’m on short skis now.” That’s because when you’re starting, it’s easy for your skis to flip up at the back as they’re so short, and when that happens the skis can easily end up behind your back. Sure enough, on this occasion when I started, the skis flipped up. I managed to land on one ski, but ended up going backwards though the first gate, before turning round and skiing on down. In spite of everything, I came third – my best-ever result in a World Cup Slalom!
Any incidents that still bring a smile to your face?
I remember once in the World Championships Slalom in 1991 in SaalbachHinterglemm, I was all ready to start but I couldn’t because a TV cameraman was standing on the course. There’s always one cameraman at the top, just outside the starting hut, but this guy was so eager to get the shot that he didn’t realise he was actually standing on the course. I had to ski around him, but he was very close to me – I ended up having to use my ski pole to give him a gentle push back!
Where did you learn to ski?
I learnt on small, 200m-high hills, not far from my home in Siggerud, a little town south of Oslo.
Where is your favourite place to ski in Norway?
It depends very much on the weather – apart from the British, we Norwegians are probably the people who talk most about the weather. I have to say good things about Hafjell, because that’s where I live and do a lot of business! The slopes are excellent – the only thing missing is really good off-piste, though last winter we had such good snow that the off-piste was good, too. I like Hemsedal – I used to have a house there; and Geilo has a nice village. I love skiing in Norway… and I love being Norwegian. We’re very friendly people on the whole. And most importantly – we have the most beautiful girls in the world!
where kjus skis
The gold medallist’s favourite ski haunts accessible from Oslo
The small lakeside town of Lillehammer, at the northern end of Lake Mjosa in central Norway, is one of Scandinavia’s oldest downhill ski destinations. That said, cross-country is its real forte – the downhill runs of the 1994 Winter Olympics are actually sited some way out of town at Hafjell and Kvitfjell. Hafjell, 15km away, staged the Slalom and Giant Slalom races; and Kvitfjell, 80km to the north, held the blue-riband Downhill and the Super G. Hafjell, Lillehammer’s original ski area, has a good selection of slopes (53km served by 12 lifts), with plenty for all grades of skier, except perhaps experts as there’s nothing too demanding. There are many other mountain activities, including sleigh rides, snowmobiling and dog sledding. Oslo (145km away) is the nearest airport. There are frequent direct trains from the airport to Lillehammer, with buses completing the journey to Hafjell. www.hafjell.no
Hemsedal
Hemsedal, 137 miles from Oslo in the heart of the Winterland region between Oslo and Bergen, is one of Norway’s biggest and best ski areas. It’s a go-ahead resort with a fast, modern lift system (21 lifts serve 66km of skiing terrain), including an eight-seat chair, the highest lift-served slopes in the country and extensive beginner and intermediate runs. There’s also some excellent off-piste. The resort has a big snowboard park, floodlit at night, with two halfpipes and a self-timing course, plus a smaller park for beginners. The focal point of the rapidly growing mountain village and its self-catering apartments is the ski-in/ski-out Skarsnuten Hotel, which has its own lift connecting it with the main slopes and superb views across the valley. Down the mountain, the Hemsedal Resort Fjell-Landsby, just 50m from the lifts, has 261 rooms, a piano bar, night-club, three bars, three restaurants, its own ski-hire shop, a bowling alley, an indoor golf practice centre and live entertainment. But many people still stay in the original village (a mile or so away by bus or car), where the après-ski is vibrant, particularly at weekends. www.hemsedal.com
Geilo
It may not be the biggest ski area in Norway, but it’s certainly one of the most charming and best known, and families love it. Although Geilo lacks challenges (the resort claims never to have had an avalanche), its 32km of prepared slopes, shared by two hills on each side of the valley, provide plenty of fun for beginners and intermediates. Geilo claims to have Scandinavia’s only ‘superpipe’ for boarders and skiers keen to display their tricks. The resort also has outstanding and extensive cross-country facilities, with almost 225km of tracks. Geilo is 249km from Oslo, midway between Oslo and Bergen. www.geilo.no
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