What: Snow Hole Winter Ski Tour

When: April 3rd-6th, 2018

Where: Berdalen, Berdlasbu

Our last winter cross country skiing trip! (YAY!)  What a success and a great way to end the Winter/ ski part of the course. All of our previous self-led and professor led ski trips were meant to be preparing us for this final one. The goal for each of those previous trips was to gradually add more weight on our backs and go longer distances on harder trails each time in order to be ready for this one. This definitely wasn’t my best week when it came to skiing performance. Some trips I’m on my (somewhat) game, others I’m not at all…and unfortunately this was one of those. It may have had to do with the fact that we had almost the whole month of March off and i had managed to visit, Copenhagen, London and Tromso the weeks before this trip. Even though I’m not a great skier, each trip i tired to make the best of it each time and keep a positive attitude. I think i succeeded. Anywho…

The first day wasn’t too bad, the skies were clear and the snow was fresh. We split into 2 groups, one with a younger teacher and my group with Tim-the owner of TrollActiv who led us on our first basic ski course. how many k???  We each took turns navigating the group for a few kilometers before switching off. Honestly each person in our group needed some practice with navigating. We could of made it up the mountain sooner but we were slow on navigation and Tim was trying to teach us along the way which was helpful. When we were about 2k away a blizzard started coming in so the last bit was challenging (nothing like the previous blizzard mountain climbing) but still not a walk in the park by any means. We arrived early evening at a DNT hut where we would spend our first night.

The next morning we woke up early as snow conditions weren’t meant to be the best as the snow had become icy and hard. The goal for the afternoon was to go off and find a good place to dig snow holes that wed be living in for the next two nights. Some things we were to keep in mind when looking a for snow hole spot was: enough room to dig 6 snow holes, each to hold 4 people, high enough snow to make it comfortable and sturdy snow so it would be diggable and not easily caved in. After a bit we found the perfect spot and around 1pm we all began digging away.

There is many ways you can go about digging a snow hole. My 4 person hole consisted of Frankie, Sam, Jo and myself-the only all girl team (girl power). Our plan was to start digging 2 holes-one from each side. Frankie and I on one side and Sam and Jo on the other. We first started by digging in starting short and making it taller as we dug deeper. Frankie began shoveling snow out as i would shovel out the snow that quickly piles behind her in order to make it faster (I also supplied good music to make this more enjoyable) We then would switch places and she supplied the snacks. As soon as each of our sides were deep enough we then started shoveling across the snow instead of in. This part was a little difficult as you couldn’t just dig and a hole appears. We had to use snow saws to technically cut out block of snow. Eventually both sides met in the middle and that gave us the motivation we needed to finish this dang thing. At this point it had already been about 4 hours or so. We started to shape out a bed in the middle that would comfortably sleep the four of us. By 6pm we were exhausted and finished. We were all suprised by how this slab of snow turned into a livable and even roomy space. We all messed around a bit and added additions to our new “homes”. Some built windows or doors and we put some shelves in to we could cook while being warm in our sleeping bags.

I woke up the next morning having have had the best sleep while camping since i got to Norway. I was warmer in the snow hole than i have been in tents the previous trips. Our hole ended up being the smallest out of all our groups which meant it was actually the warmest. I woke up dry, warm and well rested. We stayed in our sleeping bags as we started to boil some snow for tea and breakfast off our Trangia stove in our bedside “kitchen”. After breakfast we all met up on the side of the mountain with our skis waxed and day bags packed. We went on a ski tour as a group for a bit but the snow conditions were pretty terrible so we cut that short and split up in two groups again to go off from some avalanche prevention practice. First, we felt what it was like to be buried alive which was cool and strange at the same time. We then practiced making snow profiles. A snow profile is one way to test for avalanche prone areas. You start on the steepest bit of the mountain cut in a few meters with cord and slice down. From there you start small with a 2 fingers down until you get to an ice layer then you can start tapping with your and continue  with forearm, full arm, shovel and then jump. We also practiced blindly walking on skis- as to stimulate what it would be like to attempt to navigate if you were caught in a storm.

Another good sleep in our snow hole and our last full day on the mountains. Today we had a little fun and made different ski jumps and obstacle courses down the hills. After about an hour of building them we attempted them and then made it into a big competition. We had about 6 different courses and by the end of it we had two winners, an almost broken nose and a definitely broken set of skis. We said goodbye to our our awesome snow holes  but not before jumping on them. Then we practiced navigation as we head back down the mountains. Again we took turns navigating,only going a couple kilometers each time to keep the legs short making it easier to stick together. We also practiced compass bearing and our surroundings. About halfway down we stopped for lunch, made a fire and then made 20 min emergency snow shelters. The point of these were to be able to be somewhat comfortable sitting in a hole for 15+ hours if a storm came whilst you were on a mountain.

A few hours later of some downhill skiing, many falls and a kilometer or more of herringbowing we made it to civilization and met up with the other group. Even though i had a tough time with skiing i tried to always keep a smile on my face and keep in mind that not everyone gets this amazing opportunity that i do being here at University. Would i do it all again? Definitely. But i would be lying If i said I wasn’t happy to move on from it(: