– It is Gjerdrum in my heart, I must say, says Mona Torp.
She and her cohabitant Stein Magne Ranum serve gingerbread and coffee in the 50 square meter apartment they have rented in Nannestad, half an hour’s drive from Gjerdrum.
As soon as New Year’s Eve is over, they start packing in cardboard boxes. They have already received the keys to their new apartment in Gjerdrum, and can hardly wait to get home again.
Majority will move home
– We are very much looking forward to. We will look ahead now, that is for sure, says Torp.
She has several decades of connection to the place that was hit by the fatal landslide a year ago, and tells of an active society where unity and community is strong, perhaps stronger now after the tragedy.
– HEAVY: It has been a very demanding year for mayor Anders Østensen in Gjerdrum. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
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Mayor Anders Østensen is pleased that many want to return.
– Yes, I actually have the impression that there is a majority of those who lost their homes who now want to return to Gjerdrum, he says.
Slipped 400 meters on the mattress
For Mona and Stein Magne, there have been challenges after the horrific experience on the night of December 30 last year. The memories are there, and the images of horror often show up when they are in bed at night.
– The first time I did not want to go to bed, at least not before him, says Mona, and nods at the cohabitant.
– It happened that I dressed well, in case the same thing should happen again, she says.
– CHAOS: Stein Magne and Mona lay in the chaos for three icy hours. Photo: Ingvild Gjerdsjø / TV 2
–
The night was icy cold when the current went, and many woke up from a bouldering in the ground. Mona and Stein Magne woke up to the walls in the bedroom being pushed against them, before being led down the slope on the mattress they had slept on seconds earlier.
They slid for four hundred meters like this, before lying in the mud and hearing people’s cries for help in the darkness around them.
– It was a nightmare, like in a horror movie, says Stein Magne Ranum.
– SCRATCH: The physical injuries Mona and Stein Magne suffered were small Photo: Ditlev Eidsmo
–
For three icy hours they lay in the dark, trying to stay alive with wet blankets they found around them. In the end, they gave up. The cold in the body turned to heat, the body’s very last attempt to stagnate the freezing death.
Body temperature of 33.5 degrees
– I thought, okay, now it’s over. I just lay down in the camp and gave up, Mona Torp said when TV 2 visited them four days after the incident.
– Does that mean you reconciled yourself to the fact that you were going to die?
– Yes, we did, they replied.
Just then they saw a face they had not seen before. A rescuer who had been fired from the 330 Squadron’s Sea King helicopter looked at them and said, “Now it’s over. You are saved ».
Seeked out the avalanche pit
When Mona and Stein Magne were admitted to Ahus, they had a body temperature of 33.5 degrees.
– It’s just completely unreal that we are sitting here now, Mona Torp says today.
It has happened that she has been back at the avalanche pit, perhaps to remind herself how lucky they were to survive. The first time Stein Magne was there, he had to stand with his back to the pit – he could not bear to see it.
– BAD MEMORIES: The scene of the accident in Ask, Gjerdrum. Photo: Erik Edland / TV 2
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There have been some bad nights before life has slowly but surely returned to a little more normal.
Just before Christmas, the two went on a trip with the Kiel ferry to celebrate Mona’s birthday. The trip was nice, but at night on the way back it started to blow up, and the waves made the bed in the cabin move.
The walls closed
– It was the same movement as when the landslide happened, says Stein Magne Ranum.
– It was horrible, Mona Torp adds.
It has also happened that the memories visit them at night. Mona says that she has dreamed that she is back down in the pit, and is looking for her boyfriend in the cold darkness.
It was one night I went to bed, and when I lay there in bed it was just as if the walls came in to the bed. It kind of got tighter and tighter.
– SMILES AGAIN: Now they look ahead and start life again, in Gjerdrum. Photo: Marte Christensen / TV 2
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But the days, and the nights, have gradually improved. They look brighter on life and the future now.
– Yes, we are fine now, we are fine, says Stein Magne.
The new start
Now they are going to celebrate Christmas at Mona’s daughter’s home, but they admit that they will probably think most about moving back to Gjerdrum.
– Yes, it’s probably a little urgent now, especially for her, chuckles Stein Magne.
– Yes, I have thrived so well there, and I think we will do it again, says Mona.
When they put the key in the door in the brand new housing complex in Gjerivegen, in Ask, in early January, they think they can really look forward to living normally again.
– Will this be the real, new start for you?
– Yes, I think so, the two nod.
–
