Early in 1961, Malcolm went on a two week skiing holiday in Norway with a party organised by Rufus, a colleague from work. Malcolm did not know the others in the party until they met up at the beginning of the trip. By booking a party of sixteen people, the agency gave Rufus a free trip.

The group met at Kings Cross station where they took the train to Newcastle. They passed the time getting to know each other. There was an Australian guy in the group with whom Malcolm played poker dice. At Newcastle they boarded the Fred Olsen ferry bound on an overnight sailing for Bergen then Stavanger. The sea was flat calm the entire way. From there, the remainder of the journey to Geilo was undertaken by train which passed through some picturesque icy fiords before reaching the Hardanger plateau in central Norway. Everyone then went to the hostel to settle themselves in.

The next day everyone went to Geilo Sport, the ski hire shop, and were kitted out with all the necessary equipment. After that, it was off to the nursery slopes for the first lessons with our instructor, Bjöhn. The day progressed as may be expected with plenty of falling over and lots os laughing. In the evenings at the hostel, there was usually some form of self entertainment, led by the instructors. There was not much inclination to drink as alcohol was very expensive.

Having been taught the basic moves they became more proficient and were were taken on increasingly more ambitious runs. One day they went on a cross-country trek which was actually quite hard work. They took the ski-lift up to the top of one of the easier runs and then flew down on our skis.

During time off they explored around Geilo looking at some of the interesting traditional buildings. The weather was warm and sunny and shirtsleeves were all that was required. Malcolm and Brian hired a steerable toboggan and took it to the top of the road that led down into the valley. They set off at great pace, narrowly avoiding a car on the way down then disappeared into a snow bank on a corner. On the next run they got right down to the bottom of the valley and the toboggan ran onto the tarmac road where the snow had melted and caused a horrible noise and a shower of sparks.

When it came to their first proper downhill run, the group were faced with a daunting slope threaded through pine trees. No-one wanted to go first but the Australian guy said "my mother never loved me so here goes", pushed himself off and carreered down the run. We started to follow, one at a time. One of the boys got caught in a tree, having not decided which side to go then trying both sides at the same time.

The biggest day out was when the group were towed behind a snowcat up onto the plateau. They were then to run down back to the village. Malcolm was about last to go. There had not been any snow in recent weeks and the sun had melted the surface each day, so there was an icy gloss all over. The run down had developed into parallel ski tracks. Malcolm set off but soon found that he could not use the snowplough method of slowing down as his skiis were held into the icy tracks. He fell over backwards, his feet shot up into the air and he sat down hard on the ice on the base of his spine. He couldn't move for a moment then thought it best to take off his skiis. He took the first one off and put it to one side but it slid off down the hill. When Malcolm had recovered a bit, he set off one one ski until he had retrieved the other. He walked back to the hostel to have a hot shower. It was quiet in the afternoon as the others were still out so he went down to the communal hall. He got talking to the girl at reception only to find out that she had gone to the same school as himself.

On the last night, the instructors hosted a party with games and music. The next day it was the train back to Stavanger to catch the night ferry to Newcastle. It was a bit windy to start with then got worse as the ship reached the open sea. The group had dinner together then some of them stayed on for drinks. The ship was pitching and rolling and, one by one, people left the group feeling unwell. Malcolm thought it was fine until he also was overpowered. They all finished up horizantal in their cabins wishing the voyage was over. It transpired that there had been a force ten storn and even the crew were sick. Having landed at Newcastle, the group all looked green and were swaying as if they were still onboard ship. They passed through customs then boarded the train for London. The journey passed almost without any conversation and upon arival, they went their separate ways.

Some of the group did meet up again, just once, at a place near Hyde Park corner, to reminisc.