17.04 – 22.04 (Friday – Wednesday)
Self Organised Trip – Snowboarding and Hiking
Snowboarding
Friday to Sunday (17.04 – 19.04) Moritz and me went snowboarding in Røldal. We
imagined it to be a bigger skiing area than Hovden, but this turned out to be a mistake. The area was really small and after the first day we thought it wasn’t worth it to drive all the way up for such a little area. But then we talked to a men from this region and he recommended us to make a tour around the mountains off-piste and then come back to the lift. After the second night in Moritzes Van we tried out this tour and it was amazing. We had perfect weather on both days but on this one we had a wonderful view and nice time in the mountains.
Planning:
We compared the skiing areas Røldal and Rauland on the internet, and they seemed to be quite similar regarding the length of slopes. What we didn’t realise was that we just compared the open slopes and not the whole area. The weather was nice in both areas, but Røldal was further to drive. We decided to go to Røldal finally because it was colder there and it is higher. In the end this was the right decision because Rauland is a really small skiing area and we would have been really disappointed.
We planned to leave on Friday afternoon because the drive was around 5 hours and go snowboarding on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday evening we wanted to drive to Dirdal and meet the others. Sleeping was not a problem as the two of us could easily fit into Moritzes van. The same was about food we were able to cook inside and just prepared lunch for the mountains.
We had a really nice time and everything worked out as we planed it. We found nice
places to park the van and sleep there. In comparison I think that the ski pass for this area is way too expensive for what you get. But we had the chance to have the nice day off-piste.
For me it was the first time I walked uphill with the snowboard to have a nice route. Moritz and me had a lot of fun and decided together where to go and what to do. I really enjoyed the day and I think I learned more about my own abilities and that it is sometimes important to dare something and to be more confident.
Hiking trip
We drove to Dirdal and stayed at a wonderful place right in front of a lake with a great
view. In the morning we prepared our bag packs and our lunch for the hiking trip.
This was done quite fast as I had to plan and bring the things before we left to go snowboarding. Adele, Os and Jochen came to Dirdal with my car and we started our trip at around 1 o’clock.
Planning:
We planed two different possibilities previously so we could decide on Monday when we were all meeting.
- Possibility: Hike the DNT route, camp two nights in tents, on the second day climb up to a mountain top and leave the campsite for a second night. On the third day hike back on another route back to Dirdal and the cars.
- Possibility: Hike the DNT route, camp for one night in tents and take another route back to Dirdal. Driving to the coastline and have a day hike there on the next day (there and back)
Actual trip:
On Monday morning we decided together to make the second possibility. The weather was supposed to be very nice on Wednesday at the coast so we wanted to go there, and we would see diverse areas.
Although we checked the contour lines the beginning was quite hard. We walked uphill for around 1,5 hours and had to climb up stones and rocks. This was quite hard with the big backpacks and we had to make more breaks than we planed to. But we just had short drinking breaks where you could put your backpack down which helped to restart with a better feeling.
Luckily we had awesome weather and were able to hike in t-shirts. After climbing up the terrain was more or less even. While one break we lost Os who climbed up a mountain top and we didn’t know where he was gone. We looked for him and shouted but couldn’t find him and he didn’t answer his phone. Then Moritz decided to look around without his backpack and fortunately he found Os on the top. This situation was a bit scary because we realised how hard it is to find somebody. If something happened to Os and he couldn’t respond it would have taken ages to find him. So it is really important to stay together as group and let the others know when you’re going somewhere even if it’s not for long or not far away.
The terrain on the mountain was swampy and hard to hike. We crossed a lot of passages
with snow and water. It was not possible to keep the boots out of the water. This made walking demanding and it was a challenge for me with the big backpack. Adele and me were always a bit behind the boys and we felt that we were simply not able to keep up with them. But we managed to walk in a good pace and they boys were waiting for us.
It was hard to find a good camping spot because the area was not really flat. But we found a nice place not too far away from the lake to get water. We had a comfortable night but on the next day the weather changed and it was fogy, rainy and cold the whole day. So we were happy that we had already decided to go back.
At the junction where to two different routes go back, we decided to take
the shorter one to be back a bit earlier. We thought about splitting up in boys and girls in case the boys wanted to go the longer way. Luckily we didn’t do that because it turned out that already on the easier way we had to cross deep snow passages. On the other way that leaded through even higher terrain it could have been impossible to walk.
I think we had a really good teamwork on decision-making. I wouldn’t say that we had one leader. More or less different people took over leadership in specific situations. But we always agreed as a group. We took care of each other and Jochen did a great job in stepping back and adapt to group and the pace.
Hike at the beach
As we hoped we had wonderful weather at the beach and decided to have a nice walk along the coastline. We didn’t do all the 30ks of the walk but had a great time. At a bunker we had lunch. Adele and me enjoyed the sun and the boys were building stairs up to the bunker. We ended up with having a short swim in the sea.
Thanks for the nice trip guys 🙂