What: Basic Ski Course

When: February 5th-9th, 2018

Where: TrollAktiv and Evje Area

This week I tried cross country skiing for the first time. How was I you ask? In short, I couldn’t have been much worse (although my instructor did say he’s seen worse…) To be honest, it was quite a tough week for me physically and mentally. It was challenging and took some hard work. There’s a saying here; “Norwegians are born with skis on their feet”. While that may be true, this American was just born with clumsy feet! I got super frustrated at times yet somehow (for the most part) managed to keep a smile on my face.

I was in Finse and Gaeilo over the weekend on a little girls trip and we just headed straight down to Evje for the week which is about 70 minutes North of Kristiansand. Inside Evje, there is a awesome outdoor recreational area called TrollAktiv. There are many cabins-some big family ones like where we said and other tiny huts, climbing walls, hiking areas and of course plenty of open space for cross country skiing. Evje was a great area for what we were doing. Some days we drove up about 20 minutes to get to the good cross country areas for better hills for skiing and learning other skills. Overall we had great weather, no rain and the temperature was perfect! In Norwegian they usually call a leader a Veileader which can be anything from an outdoor guide to a teacher. My Veileader for the week was actually the owner of TrollAktiv, Tim. I really enjoyed working with him as he pushed me but he also was patient with me. I thought he had very good teaching methods. He taught us many things and new skills. There was a lot to learn considering none of us in our group had been cross country skiing before. He taught us the skills but we didn’t spend too much time on them before moving on to the next. He really worked well with each of us pertaining to our skill and learning level. For example, we would practice doing different types of skiing down hills. It took me a particularly long time to get them down. So another classmate and I stayed on the smaller hill to keep practicing while he took the others to a larger hill to advance their skills. Tim also organized each day very well. He’d start the day off my giving us a run down of what we will be doing. A typical day would look like this: Meet at 9:30 am, drive down to our location where we would be skiing, warm up a bit, put our skis on and be off. Each day we would be on the skis from around 10am to 4pm and skied roughly 10 km give or take. He would calculate in a lot small breaks for snacks, drinks and just to catch our breaths. He’d also plan some longer breaks throughout the day so we could have a proper lunch or learn a new skill. Like I mentioned before, he observed each of us pretty well. There was 12 of us, each with different learning skills and capabilities. I think if there was a few less of us it would have been just a bit better and he could of focused on us more, all in all I thought he did a fantastic job of organizing the days and observing the students. The Veileader is in charge of all students and their wellbeing. That being said he lets us do a lot of learning for ourselves. He always has to prepared for the unexpected though. An important piece of equipment (at least in my case) that he carries with him is ski skins. These skins essentially replace the wax on the bottom of skis. They are strips of a fur like material that attach to the bottom of each ski. The main goal of them is to help ascend up steeper hills. When I was skiing this first time I was really struggling with getting up the steeper hills so I slapped on the skins and was able to go directly straight up the mountain while everyone else was kick turning, tacking and sweating their way up. I got to the top and just relaxed  and took in the view for about 15 minutes until they all made their way up. That was my favorite part(;

There were many roles us students had. We had a good mixture between free play and organized play. I enjoyed both and learning in different ways. The organized play consisted of Tim teaching us a certain new skill or ski technique and then us trying it while he watches and corrects us. The free play was just us going off on our own and practicing skills we needed to improve whether that be kick turns, herring bow, or just going downhill without falling (: It gave us time to work on our weaknesses or just enjoy doing what we are good at. The motivation part of this week was a little tough for me personally. When I was going up a steep hill and kept sliding, when I would go down hill and face plant, or when I was just worn out I had to keep going. I wasn’t so keen on the idea of people having to wait on me. But really, I had a great group and they were so kind, patient and helpful with me. I really tried to push myself, although more times than not it was a lot easier said than done. I was new on these skis and it seems to always take me a bit longer than others to pick up a new skill. I did my best to stay positive and kept moving forward. Some activities we did were practicing the basic skills, different skiing techniques such as: the herringbone technique. This is used for going uphills, because otherwise you will slip backwards. For this, you point the tips of the skis outwards and walk up but the trick is to make sure the edges of the skis are angled down. A common technique for going downhill is the snowplow which you do by pointing the skis inwards. We did other techniques as well but I mostly just struggled with going downhill too fast and face planting. Our last day in Evje we loaded the skis and drove up a bit further. There, we practiced avalanche prevention as well as what to do if you get caught in one. It was all great information and we practiced hiding the transmitter and finding it buried under snow. This day we also practiced building emergency shelters. We were given 30 minutes to find a place where wed “camp out” for the night. We needed our shelter to keep the snow, rain and wind out. We also needed it to fit atleast 6 people. By the time the 30 minutes were up, we built a pretty sustainable shelter under a tree and not only did it keep the elements out but it fit all 12 of us. On a particular windy and cold day, we stopped for lunch for a bit longer than usual and used a group bivvy shelter. These are great to have because they are very small and compact but can easily keep you away from some of winters harsh elements. We all gathered under one for lunch and I immediately saw the point of having one. No wind got inside, they can add 1-2 degrees of extra warmth and we fit 13 people in it. There are also smaller ones that can just hold 2-3 people and if you are always out in the cold and snow I definitely think it is something worth having.

Another role of the student was to access the quality of their motor skills. Gross or physical motor skills are those which require whole body movements and involve the large muscles of the body. I had to work on this because I am naturally clumsy but it is really about just getting in the motion of things such as sliding your feet whilst alternating pole motion. Or keeping your foot angled in as you are side stepping up hills. This week was definitely a new experience for me but ill break it down for you. Like with most things there are always pro and cons. Here were the cons; I hadn’t had much experiencing when it came to skiing, especially not downhill. Like i mentioned before, the groups were quite big for the amount of things we were trying to learn and with only one instructor. Also, the groups were randomly split up and I think a good idea would have been to split them up by learning/ skill levels so that the advanced people could go off doing harder hills, techniques etc and not have to wait on others, while the less experienced people that weren’t as good could work more on skill and go at a bit of a slower pace. That being said I will have to say that a pro was that it WASN’T split up like that because it made me push myself harder. Another positive was my amazing instructor who was so patient with me, my falls, my cursing as I face planted and giving his assistant a hard time.

What did I learn these 5 days? A whole lot. I learned a lot about myself, cross country skiing, and my weird but amazing classmates. About myself I learned that sometimes I need to work a little harder than others if I want to be good at something. I also learned to push myself even when I want to give up and to laugh at my self when I fall on my butt way too many times.  I learned that cross country skiing is harder than I thought it would be and that it will be a lot more enjoyable once I get better at it. I am excited to increase my skill level and become better. I had the tendency of going super fast downhill and plowing people over or falling in to some contorted position with my skis over my head.  Like with anything, it takes practice. As for my classmates- I wouldn’t be having near as much fun here without them.

Outside of the day to day skiing, we would cook dinner together at nights, discuss our days, and gather around the big cabins living room and just play games and socialize. There was one night we all particularly enjoyed a little more. After a long day of skiing and good filling dinner we all gathered in a nearby hut. In the middle of the hut there was a huge wood fire burning. We gathered around it with chairs and blankets and sang songs while our Australian classmate played his ukulele. The point of this night was represent a Ceilidh. A Ceilidh is traditional Scotland party that started in 1875 where music, dancing and storytelling takes place. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2018)

Comparing this to Nebraska would be like comparing pizza to a salad…they’re both food but ones way better than the other(; But honestly, other than the weather right now-snowy and cold- there’s not much of a comparison between Norway and Nebraska. We are a very flat state with limited things to do regarding the outdoors, especially skiing. Unfortunately, if we want to do any skiing(down hill or other) we would have to drive about 8 hours to Colorado. It is so nice being here and constantly doing things outside all within a short walk or bus ride.  All in all it was an amazing opportunity and to be able to say I go on ski trips for school is a dream come true. I am excited for more trips like this where i can polish up on my cross country skills and maybe by the time I am finished here I won’t be a half bad skier.

References:

Merriam-webstercom. 2018. Merriam-webster.com. [Online]. [14 February 2018]. Available from: https://www.Merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ceilidh