The Planning

For the first field trip, we ended up being a group of 7 people. Based on the idea of one person and without having checked neither weather nor tracks, we decided we would like to go to Trolltunga, Tyssedal. We used ut.no to find tracks, and discovered there was a summertrack but no wintertrack in that area. For this reason, we started gathering more information: After reaching out to dnt (via fb and phone), we knew snowshoes were necessairy but there was no chance borrowing those at bua and skiing was no option, since Len told us already it would be too difficult for us, what we agreed on. Using yr.no for the weatherforcast, we realised that the trip might be too challenging for us: Rain and fogg was the weatherprediction for the whole period of our visit. Additionally, there was a risk of Avalanche at one spot. We knew about the risks, but everybody took them differently serious and in the end, we had a track planned.

This was our first meeting, which we combined with a breakfast. Planning a trip and having breakfast does not work so well. The first planning was chaotic, we did not share tasks but everyone just googled something and worked out their own ideas or did not work at all but talked to others, questions did not get answered properly and many opinions got told, but there was not much of a reaction to it and no real discussion happened for finding a solution.

I was doubting our decision based on all the uncertainties and risks that came with  it, but saying it out loud did not really lead to reactions, but people kept planning. The group kept following the original idea and after a whole day of planning, it was even harder  to place some more doubts. I learned that it is important to speak out your own thoughts straight away, especially doubts, since they led, once told, to negative feedback of the whole group. But in the end, all of us decided together that Trolltunga might be a too challenging track with risks we did not want to take and we finally dropped the plan.

The next meeting, we started all over, checking ut.no for tracks and yr.no for the weatherforcast simultaneously to find a trip with better weather. We ended up deciding between two beforhand reasearched tracks , one was a little circular trip close to Nestvatn, Fryresdal, the other one close to the coastline (Bamble Coast Track). Since one of us had an insury and therefore was not able to ski without pain, we wanted to make the decision where to go based on the snowlevel. While the first spot was snowfree, we did not manage to find out the snowlevel for the second place (or did not put enough effort in the research) and just guessed, there would not be any snow. It turned out that the coastlinetrack was no option for some teammembers, we considered splitting up the group (caused by the uncertainty about the snowlevel and the doabiltity with the injury) but in the end, nobody really wanted this neither and we decided to go all together to Nesvatn, hoping there was no snow, misled by the mild weather in Kristiansand.

The second meeting was less chaotic, we split the tasks of reasearch silently up: Instead of agreeing on a fixed route beforehand and checking the avalancherisk for that route, the walkinghours and other keypoints simultaneously, we devided those tasks to different groups. While one group checked for avalanche risk, just in case there would be snow (mainly with the fatmap-App cause varsom.no did not show any risks at all (which proofed our suspicion of no snow))- another group checked the rough circular route along the map (karverket.no, norgeskart.no and googlemaps)  and if we could make the circle within the given time.  Every group still worked out their own way, not working together and at the end of the second meeting, we did have an idea of a route, but never combined the track and the other keyinformation as elevation and avalancherisk for the exact route at all, which in the end did not help us much.

 After the second meeting, we split into our small tentgroups and divided tasks again, one group printing all maps and routecards, one group making the routcard of plan A (circular trip) and the last group writing the routecard of plan B (daytrips with a basecamp).

I was part of the group writing the routcard of plan A, which we did right after our second meeting. While planning, we figured out the exact route for the first time and realized, it was a tough track with many hours of walking a day, but everyone was up for it. Worst case, we could swap to plan B. At the same time, we figured that the way we splitted the tasks was not as efficent as we hoped, since it just came in a lot more handy to use a printed map instead of a laptop to mark our hiking trail and  count the elevation meters. So we printed a map, marked the trail and exitpoints and finished our planning just the afternoon before we left.

The morning of our departure, we discovered a way how to check the snowdepth and found out, that the area we wanted to go to was covered by 70 cm of snow. Since we did not know the exact route when we checked the avalancherisk, we had to check up on avalancherisk again – realizing, it was too big of a risk to do the full circle.

Since the group for plan B did not share their plan with the rest of the group till shortly before departure, nobody really considered swapping to Plan B, first cause nobody really knew what plan B would be and second, cause the writers were not very conviced about their plan. It did not really matter anyways, cause it was the same area, the same summertrack with no skislopes around. So we sticked to plan A, changed the route a bit and were good to go.

All together, the planning of the trip turned out being not well thought through and barely orientated on the interests and safety of the whole group:

I realized afterwards that everybody seemed to have their own idea of the trip, which we did not communicate openly and some more than others were not ready yet for a compromise while others were being led by euphoria (and hope what could be) and less by the combined facts. All together, it was our first planning and therefore, it is normal to make mistakes and I learned to be aware of those things- to not make the same mistakes again. In the end, all of us including the injured person went skiing cause we simply did not put enough effort in to find out the snowdepth at the place we were going to and by being misled by our own ideas of the trip and the exitement, that came with it. On top of that, our communication did not work out very well, maybe cause we were a big group with everyone having their own idea in their head and no experience how to share our expectations. For the next trip, I learned it is important to make everyone speak out loud ther expectations, needs (regarding injuries etc.), ideas and fears about the trip and to make sure, every voice gets heard. I learned to speak out for myself! At last, we ran out of time for planning, making decisions and the planning itself took longer than expected. For the next trip, I would make sure to start planning at least a week beforehand to be able to collect and research all needed information and to ask for help (and get an answere in time) if needed.

The Trip

After packing the cars, we started driving towards our starting point. Just half an hour away from our destination, one of the cars broke down. Spontaneously, we camped at the backyard of a villagefamily  in the snow and luckily, could get the car fixed the same evening. Taking the decision to sleep in the backyard was surprisingly fast, but also there were not many options left, since the car broke down just an hour or two  before sunset.

Putting up the tents was first a bit of a challenge, since we put them up in snow for the first time. After we evened an area big enough to fit three tents in, we pitched the tents up, using the pegs for fixing the guy lines, which came loose in the middle of the night. Our frontpart of the tent collapesed and we learned, that covering the pegs by a snowball is a great idea to make sure, the pegs and ropes would stay in place even when the snow is melting. Also, we discovered digging a little whole at the corners of the tarp, laying the corners of the tarp in and cover with snow helps to attach the tarp to the ground without having waterpuddels on the tarp the next morning- a technique we used the next night!

The next morning, we finally got to our starting point, packed and put our skies on. The first half an hour, we tried to get up a mountain to get to our track- and struggeled hopelessly, moving 20 meters in horrible snow conditions, sinking in even with skies, losing grip constantly cause our wax did not work on the old and wet snow and we did not bring klister (learningoutcome: knowing the weather and temperature is essential for good trippreperation beforehand). On top, we never carried heavy backpacks while skiing before and it turned out being a challange to balance on skies with those and an even bigger challenge to get up with them after falling. A good thing is that we finally got the chance to practice the „getting up“-techniques we learned on the basic ski trip.

I doubted the doability of the summertrack from the first step on skies, but felt my doubts were not being heard at all. In a later conversation, we realized that there were more of us who shared the same thoughts and feelings in that moment. After two people struggeld for a little while to get back on their feet again and  therefore getting more frustrated, we finally managed to make everyone talk. We all said our opinion out loud and  realized, none of us really believed we could keep going in that snow with the heavy bags. Learning: Do not plan summertracks in the wintermonths! The mood brightened up straigth away, we laughed with our failure and made jokes how far we had made it in half an hour, making our way back to the car.

The next plan was driving up to a skislope and checking out routes there. Half an hour later we stopped at the new spot, found a track leading to Kvipt and spontaneaously decided to go there for the night, again a pretty fast and smooth decision.

Back on skies, we struggeled less and used map and compass for navigation, waited for each other and decided together, where we would go. Skiing was still not easy with the backpacks, but less challenging and we all managed to keep going, even though we fell a lot and got more exhausted. Following the track turned out being more and more difficulct and frustrating for the injured person, the groupmood dropped a bit caused by the frustration and everybodys exhaustion.

Choosing a sleeping spot turned out more difficult than I thought, having troubles with making sure communication would work. Instead of discussing a possible spot all together, standing close to each other, we were spread out over 10 meters, half of the group not able to seee the chosen spot cause some people fell on their way towards it and did not manage to get up while the conversation kept going. After a while of talking, one groupmember took the lead deciding to stay and even then it took some more time till the last person was convinced. Another challenge was agreeing on a way, how to flatten the deep snow. We ended up first using our skies, than crawling and jumping, removing snow to remove it back. Learning outcome here: When you do not see what is underneath the snow, it might be a good idea to stay as high as possible. The groups split into small tentgroups and we started pitching up our tents. Putting up the tent with a group of people I have been in a tent with before made things more easy and I could see our progress working together smooth and being faster putting the tent up, which felt good.

While deciding for a sleeping spot and putting up the tents, i had the impression we all were out of our comfort zones, struggeling with the long day, tired bodys, the lack of communication and the wet snow conditions, which showed off in not being as flexible and social anymore, in shorter answeres and a change of tone while maybe getting annoyed more easily by actions and comments of other groupmembers.

When all tents were up, we finally could sit down, change into dry clothes and eat without being in a hurry. The whole day, we ended up skipping meals, having snacks instead without taking our time for food, another reason maybe why the mood went down at the end of the day and the exhaustion took over. That day I learned, that there is no point skipping meals to save time, cause food and breaks make you refuel your energyresources and therefore do effect the mood of a group. If everyone (or even just a few groupmembers) is/are hungry and exhausted and in need of a break, discussions and decisions get more difficult to make, take longer. Another big learn outcome regarding the communication in a group: First, make an environment everyone feels comfortable to speak out loud their opinion and make everyone talk to see what the majority of the group wants, stay together and do not spread over a few meters to discuss or make decisions. That way, it is not always the loudest that is leading the groupdecisions but the will of the group.

Being in snow for continuous days has its advantage for watersupply, but also its disadvantages. Pitching up the tent takes more effort, f.e. when preparing an even ground and when taking care of not getting snow on the tarp and under the tent. Further, it was a challenge being out in the cold and wet for so long and an experience definitly out of my comfort zone. But as soon as we ate and were warm and dry again, I was good again. Here I learned how important basic needs get on a fieldtrip, their crutial impact on how you feel.

We delayed making a plan for the next day (considering injuries of by now more than one person) to the next morning, which was good: During the night,  one sleepingmat broke and one tent had a river through and therefore, everything was wet.  Keeping going was no longer an option anymore, so we decided to ski back to the car and find an airbnb, where we could dry everything and fix the sleepingmat. Back on skies, I enjoyed the start of the day a lot, the sun was shining, the groupmood was good and we had a destination to go. Close to the carpark and just a lake to cross, we realized the continuous rain in the night had changed our route back: Where we were able to cross a lake the day before on ice, there was now water instead.

We decided to ski along a hilly field next to the lake to get to the road, so we could walk the rest of the distance back to the car. Making our way through the little hills, one of us sunk in deeply and was soaked in water all of sudden. Just then I realized there were little rivers at the bottom of every hill, caused by the rain and melted snow.  We kept on skiing, from hilltop to hilltop. Not much further, we came to a visible river. After one person went through the river (why so ever) and nearly did not make it without falling in, we started to look for a route up to the road indivdually, staying on the other side of the river. It got harder to see the rivers at the bottom of the hills and the third person got soaked till the hip. The fourth attempt worked and we found a route towards the road. While we were all together on one side of the biggest river, one person struggeld at the other side by himself, but there was nothing we could do to help. It was a weird feeling and showed, that a group should stay together and how difficult it can get already when just one person starts making his own,  spontaneous and fast decisons without considering the consequences. Eventually, the solotraveller found a way back to us and we managed to get to the road (skiing through the backyard of a friendly norwegian couple, who started watching us after a while).

In those three days, we porbably managed to ski 10-14 km in total, had many adventures and named the trip the ambitious one. When we first talked about the option of a basecamp while planning, I did not really consider having a basecamp somewhere, I wanted to go for the more adventurous but also more challenging option camping at different spots every night. Having a basecamp sounded too easy, maybe even boring. I think most of us agreed on this. It was interesting to see the shifting of my mind, realizing while skiing, that it would have been fun too and maybe even more enjoyable, having a basecamp somewhere, less of a struggle but maybe less of a learning too? Knowing now, there is always the option to change a trip making it more difficult, which might be easier than trying to make a difficult trip less challenging.

The group

We ended up travelling with the 7 of us. It was fun having so many different people together, but sometimes being in a big group made decisions and especially communication harder too. None of us was very experienced in skiing in those snow conditions or camping out in the snow. Therefore, we did not have a leader who added professional knowledgement but we had to figure out everything ourselves. In the end, we all dealt with situations and problems differently, trying to figure out the best way dealing with the challanges. Some people sometimes took the lead, but not everyone was excepted as a leader from everyone- which showed off while making a decision about our sleepingspot. We did not know each other very well when we started the trip and had to find our spots in the group, which made the whole trip feel less smooth. Having a leader who is accapted by everyone would have made things a lot more easy. Being gable to talk to so many different personalities also helped getting the head free and lifted the vibe of the whole group up a lot. Being in the small tentgroups which we were in before made me feel more comfortable, but also made me being less social with the others from time to time, being able to talk to more familiar people. In the end, we improved a lot as a group, being able to joke about our failures, took care of each other while we reached our limits and managed making decisions more and more easily.

Everything considered, I got out of my comfort zone, had fun, learned a lot and enjoyed the trip and the group, the landscape and the challenge of the unknown a lot.