Halvor "Hal" Tvedt
Halvor grew up living in his family cottage in the wilderness of Snåsa, Norway, half a day's hike from Steinkjer. His early days were spent hunting, fishing, and skiing with his mother, a master huntress who made their living on furs and game meat. He always had a dangerous wanderlust though, and when he was fourteen, while out hunting capercaillie in the dead of winter, a snow face gave way and tumbled him down a cliff. As he lay dying in the freezing night, under the northern lights, he dreamt that the goddess Skaði came to him and told him to get back on his skis. She then guided him back to his farm, kissed him on the forehead, and said, “I am not yet done with you.” When he awoke, he realized it was his mother, not the goddess, who had rescued him. She grew ill soon after and didn’t live to see the following spring. Hal buried her on a nearby hill. When German U-boats challenged Norway’s neutrality, Hal, craving adventure, volunteered with the British sniper program and racked up over a hundred confirmed kills in the field. After the war, Halvor became a world-class Nordic skier, becoming the national skiskyting champion as well as a top ski jumper. He has already been selected for the Norwegian 1924 Winter Olympics team. He still lives in their family cottage, albeit rebuilt and modernized, with his Norwegian buhund Atle.
