He became national champion in 15 km cross-country skiing in 1964,[2] and competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics, where his best placement was eighth in the 50 kilometre.

[5] His personal best of 8:43.8 minutes was a world top-level result at the time[6] and placed him 26th on the Norwegian all-time list.

[8] He produced two albums, Viser og gamle takter (1967) and I godt lag (1969), the text for which was written by his neighbor Guttorm P.

[2] Born on 15 February 1939,[2] Ellefsæther worked for several years as a lumberjack, and later studied to become a forestry technician.

He received the nickname "Uteligger" ("Homeless") after one skiing accident, where after a long training he was taken by surprise by the darkness, and had to stay overnight in the forest.

[6] On 18 October 2022, Ellefsæter died after collapsing from cardiac arrest while felling trees near his home in Ringsaker.