"If there's an award for the most original Adobe Flash conference ever, then it should be given to gotoAndSki", I said while taking in the majestic 360 degrees mountainous view. Damn, we're in Norway's highest mountain region at Juvasshytta, and we plan to hike up to its highest peak at 2469 meters, the 'Galdhøpiggen' later on tomorrow.

Day 1 - Friday 11

I flew to Oslo at 9.15 in the morning - was picked up at the Airport by my good friend Øystein Wika and Asbjørn Hansen at Gardemoen airport.
We drove for about 6 hours through amazing Norwegian country side, discussing all sorts of topics from the Swedish royal wedding this summer to the HTML5 vs Flash malarkey. Essentially, we agreed that this is an exciting time to be a Flash/Flex developer - with so many new technologies and innovations around both on the Flash platform and other development platforms, all trying to win the hearts and minds of us developers. We also agreed that this whole discussion about whether HTML5 will really be "a Flash-killer", should only serve as a "catalyst" (no pun intended) to Adobe to push the possibilities of the Flash platform and give us better tools to continue to innovate in our respective fields.

After hours and hours of driving, we arrived at a steep junction with a sign stating "Juvasshytta 15". As we drove up through this road we could see families of sheep sleeping in the middle of the road, with no care in the world. As we continued to drive up the mountainous road we felt how our ears popped, the higher the altitude. Yet again we were astonished by the beautiful scenery all around us. In awe I said: "If there's an award for the most original Adobe Flash conference ever, then it should be given to gotoAndSki", I continued "We should do this every year, and of course a similar event in Stockholm too". After a few miles driving upward and as the road became steeper and steeper, we arrived at a toll post. Øystein got out of the car, inserted a coin or two and we got through; drove a couple few more miles up the hill and then we finally reached the skiing community of Juvasshytta. Jens Brynildsen, of the Flash Magazine fame, stood outside welcoming us. He said with a big welcoming smile on his face: "Welcome! You guys are just in time for dinner!".

Schedule Day 1

Day 2 - Saturday 12

Day two was the big day - We went on a hike to the top of Galdhøpiggen, Norway's highest peak at 2469 meters. We hiked for 6 hours or so in 30 cm of snow; heavy wind and snowy conditions.

It was an amazing feeling reaching the top.

Schedule Day 2

In the evening we enjoyed the following sessions.

I was especially happy to enjoy an updated session with Richard Lord on application frameworks. I had seen his session at FOTB '09 and really loved to hear him share his expertise on the subject, on a one to one fashion.

Jens' final session also highlighted some great Flash open-source projects that I wasn't aware of (If you read this, please post the links ;)

By now it was close to midnight and my body was aching from the hiking during the day and I knew I was going to sleep like a baby that night.

The next day, I woke up at 6.00am and bummed a ride to the airport with Peter Måseide. As it was too snowy/icy outside on the roads and his car was running on summer tyres (as it should since it's summertime in other parts of Scandinavia), we needed to wake up one of the caretakers who had to clear the snow from the roads for us, using a huge farmers tractor so we could drive down the hills safely.

Thanks to everyone at FUGN for arranging such a great and memorable event! To Peter Måseide for the ride to the airport and translation with the guides ;); Thomas Nesse, Thomas Gabrielsen, Asbjørn Hansen, Fernando, Björn Gunnar Staal and especially to Jensa and Øystein for their great hospitality and to help making this experience, one I will always remember!

BG Jump

Fernando's Airboard