Kangaroo Hoppet

For the first time Gunnar is traveling to the southern hemisphere to enjoy skiing around the world down under, at the Kangaroo Hoppet 2022 🇦🇺. See how he performed amongst the gum trees, if he made friends with kangaroos 🦘 and how he deals with his shark-phobia 🦈 while sea kajaking in Melbourne. Also Olympic Gold Medalist Jessie Diggins 🇺🇸 is part of this episode of Gunnar’s Nordic Adventures.

Thanks go to:
❄️ Kangaroo Hoppet
😎 Northug Eyewear
🛶 David

In 1977 a group of cross country skiers in Mount Beauty/Victoria decided to form a cross country ski club. Some of them had skied in Norway and taken part in the Birkebeiner. So they thought that Birkebeiner would be a good name for their club. Two years later, the Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club decided to hold their own version of the famous Norwegian race. So the 21km Australian Birkebeiner was held. With some 80 participants, all carrying a 5kg pack. The course started and finished at the alpine ski village of Falls Creek, and took participants out into the wilderness area of the adjacent Bogong High Plains. Later, 42km became the main distance and after a few name changes, the name of Kangaroo Hoppet was installed in 1990.