I had the wonderful opportunity to recently go to Oslo, Norway, for the Nordic Ski World Championships (Feb. 22-March 1), to help with the film "Ready to Fly" about the U.S. women ski jumpers' plight to get into the Olympics. The protagonist, Lindsey Van (above, left), was the reigning 2009 World Champ (first for women jumpers) and had the pressure to repeat. The competition was held on a horrible day thronged with fog and tornado-like wind conditions. No doubt, the men would not have jumped in such conditions—and in fact during similar conditions (though much less swirly wind) a few days later—the men's K120 qualifications on the Holmenkollen were canceled. I was aghast, how could this happen? But that's the nature of this supremely traditional sport, which is chock-full of discrimination. The film will touch on this, check out the trailer here: http://www.readytoflyfilm.com/

Nevertheless, the organizers went ahead and made the women jump. Lindsey, in her 18 years as a jumper, has never not qualified for the second jump. Faced with a horrible cross-wind, she got a gust of bad luck and jumped short, sadly not putting her into the final round. It was heartbreaking. Others in the top 10 on the world tour, who were jumping near her in the start list order also, surprisingly, didn't make it. This sport is so brutal, dependent on wind conditions—not quite like any other winter sport. "But that's ski jumping," Van says. Just to prove the point, however, is that during all of the other ski jumping events that went after the women's competition, the wind sensors along the jump didn't nearly pick up the speed of wind that was apparent at the first event. These women had to fly in a storm. As a pilot, I compare Van's situation to trying to land with one flap down and one up. She was caught in a cross-wind that pushed one ski tip up, the other down. She had no chance.

She is still in good spirits, and excited to move on. In mid-March, she will be donating bone marrow to save the life of a cancer patient. She's a winner in her family and friends' minds! The film, "Ready to Fly," will debut in Salt Lake City this fall and make its way across the country on tour. It will be a must see! More information on that to come...

Though the competition was a downer (also for the other U.S. jumpers), I was fortunate to connect with my Norwegian relatives—Solveig Thime and her husband Oyvind Pharo. Both are editors/publishers (my type of people). Solveig is a cartoon editor, and Oyvind is an editor of Norwegian novels (he has to read 60,000 pages a week, he figures). They were the most hospitable hosts. I stayed with them for the week in their adorable house just down the hill from the famed Holmenkollen ski jump. I can't say enough about them—when I came home from long days, they would greet me with wine and conversation about Norwegian heritage and language, Norsk mythology, and Norwegian politics. I learned so much from them, and can't wait to take my family back there to meet more of our Hexeberg relatives.

All in all, it was a memorable trip, full of the most amazing enthusiasm for nordic ski culture, and I'm so thankful to have gone. Here is a link to a video I made about the trip—enjoy!

Ha det bra, Vanessa Pierce (co-founder of SheJumps)