Zhenya and I had been looking for a place to get together and, glancing at a map, it seemed that Norway was a good halfway point between my home on the U.S.'s east coast and hers in the middle of Russia, just east of the Ural Mountains.
Since I've always been looking for an excuse to return to Norway in winter after spending two months there many years ago, we decided to meet in Oslo for New Year's Eve and then head out into the country for a few days of skiing.
Though Zhenya lives on the southern edge of Siberia and has certainly had her share of snow, she'd never tried skiing before. After the first day, I was so astounded at her progress that I stopped taking pictures and started making a video to capture it.
Below is the evidence of her obvious natural athletic ability.
