Winter mountaineering, Snowcave trip
Location: Berdalsbu, Setesdal
Tuesday 1th of April – Thursday 3th of April

Tuesday
We skied on skins towards the hut at Berdalsbu. Here we looked for a suitable area for the snowcave and started working. The snow was very icy and because of that the work was really hard and slow! I looked forward working with a snowsaw but it was hard working with it in the hard snow. I made the mistake of giving it my all. It is better to work a bit more relaxed than working short periods of 100%. At the end of the day my wrists felt broken from all the hammering in the snow and I was tired as an elephant! Because of this I suggested to start cooking for the group. Because it was starting to get a lot colder, luckily without wind, it took a long time before all the ingredients were cut. Maybe also because my body had little energy left but having my hands out of my gloves to cut the wet/moist ingredients made them feel as ice. But eventually we got there. Eventhought we had a MSR whisperlite on coleman fuel it took quit long before diner was ready. The stove was hard to adjust to the desired flame. The food was delicious! and the night was great.
 

Wednesday
We set out with Tim and did a beautiful skiing trip. Here we learned about the weather, emergency shelters, trip planning, skiing controle techniques and DNT huts. On the trip in Evje I enjoyed the snow to extremes because it was just one big pillow. Here I learned quit soon that falling is no option and you will loose skin if you do..
This night we cooked together and this time the evening was crystal clear but very cold. Again no wind so very lucky. This night we could see that the cave had been coming down by aproximatly 30cm.

Thursday
We cleaned up camp and set out with Tim again to do a nice trip back to where we came from. It was hard work skiing with the heavy backpacks espescially since all my muscles hurt from building the snowcave like a loonatic. But as all days we had perfect weather and it was a nice challenge to skie down the bumpy slopes as controled as possible. Besides this we had a nice exercise in mountain navigation.

Building a snowcave
If you are looking for a spot to build a snowcave you look for a low but steep concave hill where snow has been pilling up. You build the snowcave about 2,5 meter under the top of the hill. Before starting to dig you have to check the depth of the snow with your snowprobe and check for avalanche dangers. If the location seems suitable you start digging a hallway into the snow that is about shoulder wide. Because you have chosen a steep hill the duggen snow will fall down the hill which will save you energy.
You have to dig in about 1,5 meter before you start digging sideways. You dig to te edge of the snow until you can see light coming throught (the wall has to be at least 60cm).
The model we have build is a walking trench with on both sides sleeping platforms. By having a trench the cold air goes down instead of on your sleeping platform. The roof has to be as smooth as possible else you risk a bad nights sleep from drips coming down on your face. The opening can be closed till about 1 meter above the ground. You can do this with sticks and snow or snowblocks.
Switch turns digging inside and outside to prevent sweating. The people digging outside have the job to get all the snow that has been dug, outside.

Using a snowsaw:
A snowsaw can be a great tool to make snowblocks. For example if you want to build a iglo or a door to the entrance. The way we used it was sawing in the snow from one side. All the way in and from top to bottom and then do the same 90 degrees from that line, a bit less far than the length of the saw. Again going in all the way and from top to bottom. Then on the top you cut in with the point of the saw pointing a bit down. On the bottom  of your snow block the point of the saw has to point up. If done correctly a block of snow will fall out of the wall. Bare in mind that a block of snow can stay in place just because it is still attached by a couple of cm’s.

Food
We made diner with our group of 6. On the first night we made chili con carne with onion, chicken, paprika, tomatoes, corn, kidney beans, garlic and spices. The second night we made chicken tonight with onion, chicken, paprika, rice and carrots. In the day I ate a lot of nut mix, self baked bread and fruit. Because of previous experiences I made sure to drink a lot of water.

DNT
DNT routes will be signed with a red T and is the trekking organisation from Norway. The organisation has huts all over Norway. They are open to members as well as non members. In some of the huts you can even buy food and other suplies. The whole system is based on trust and the norwegians are very proud and protective of this organisation and it’s privileges.

Goals
For this trip one of the main goals was ofcourse building a snowcave. Eventhought it was hard work we made a very decend shelter.
One of the other goals I had for myself was improving my skiing skills. This was not completely what I expected because the conditions were so much different than the ones we experienced in Evje. There was no space to play because you could really get into trouble when falling on this snow. But that was an experience in itself. This type of skiing was much harder for me than the playfull type. It was very hard to stay in control for me.