Fjord to Sea: Canoeing, Cycling, Climbing

Monday

Per usual, we met outside the main university building on Monday morning and waited for our charter bus to take us to our adventure for the week. This trip we only had half of our normal twenty-four given the limited gear and resources for what we would be doing. We began the morning with a couple hour bus ride to a spot just north of Evje and had a decently long lunch because of issues tracking down the key to the canoe trailer. Len eventually found it and was not far behind us but was prepared to borrow some from TrollAktiv—always prepared with alternative plans.

We put on our wetsuits given the long and lingering winter making the water in the fjord far colder than normal. Lucky for us though, the weather was going to be spectacular this week with little wind and lots of sun. With our knowledge, all of us prepared for that weather to change because we have all learned to prepare for all conditions and had the additional challenge of ensuring everything we would bring on the boats was waterproof. Everyone paired off by high experience and low experience and we launched into the water to practice basic canoe maneuvers and techniques. I knew a number of the skills from my time using canoes at a summer camp back home, but it was difficult to ensure Wysde knew those as well. I was in the back of the canoe for the day because of this and it was a bit frustrating, but I was happy to allow him to learn the role of the front paddler.

We then departed for our first campsite for the night. Len, who was paddling in his own kayak, would instruct us to trade off leading and navigating from certain points on the map. This allowed us to practice water navigation and translate the map skills we learned previously to a river setting. There were similar tendencies such as keeping a reasonable pace and using landmarks to assistance in map reading, but also new leading techniques like selecting a boat to be the sweeper in the back. There were additional challenges like accommodating for groups having difficulty with technique and efficiency and accounting for the fact that you are all on a moving body of water. Nonetheless, the conditions allowed for a relatively smooth learning environment and minimal issues in group dynamics and overall morale.

Tuesday

After a lovely night on an island in the middle of the fjord called Storøyi, we departed for a shorter day of paddling to our pull-out site. We also learned that different areas use different endings to specify an island. For example, this region using the ending -øyi while Kristiansand uses -øya. I thought this was a very cool part of language here and have really come to appreciate the variety of dialects throughout Norway and all of Europe. This day I was in a boat with Luca and was excited to see how dynamics change with partner changes given all the maneuvers we learned needed to be performed in conjunction with your canoe partner. I began in the front of the boat because I was in the back the entire day prior and it allowed me to understand the different function of the bowman. I needed to listen to Luca, but also lead in setting the pace and maintaining confidence. We learned more skills such as sculling which I had never performed in my experience canoeing. It is wild what a canoe can do when you hold and sway your paddle a certain way. Again, we lucked out with the weather too and had an incredibly sunny and smooth day so much so we decided to take an hour break on Bøøyi—try to say that one. The group state was pristine and there were very minimally conflicts which I attribute to the spectacular weather. Again, the only issue stemmed from pacing and managing to stay together which is a much larger challenge than expected when partaking in water sports.

Once we reached the dam, Len lined us up and told us to wait until he called us toward the pull-out site. This was for safety given the dam and dangers in us being novice river paddlers. Luca and I were first and managed just fine and happily assisted others as they came one by one. Then, we had to walk to TrollAktiv, just down the road, to get the van and trailer to load the canoes back in. Everyone easily delegated roles for themselves as Len instructed and we were on our way. Back at our tipi shelters for the night, myself and a few others reassembled the bikes we would be riding the next two days. A quiet night and peaceful rainy sleep followed.

Wednesday

The entire group woke up early to get a running start on the day since we would be spending a decent part of the day learning to set up a learning environment for climbing and how to abseil. It was a shorter ride to our climbing site for the day called Kilefjorden but is called other names because of the wall’s development by the British Army. Here we piled our bikes into the trees to hide them along the highway because we would be sleeping there for the night. Then we took a hike around the area and Len familiarized us with the history and practicality of the area. This allowed us to develop our Veileder lens in scoping proper and adequate learning environments, which I appreciated greatly.

After a tea break, of course, we took to one of the climbing walls to practice more basic techniques like belaying and verbally assisting your climber. After that, we headed up to the top to learn how to set up multiple top rope anchors for a larger learning environment. Len demonstrated multiple new knots – like a figure nine knot – and the purposes of each. Then, we took on abseiling which most all of us had not done before. Anna was evidently the most nervous, but the eleven of us had no problem cheering her on to challenge herself and she did spectacular demonstrating with Len. The large audience learning situation was beneficial in that we could all support one another and repeatedly see the process of rappelling that is more complicated than most of our other skills learned over the semester. After that dense lesson and days of canoeing and biking also under our belts, we proceeded to collectively eat dinner and immediately find our sleeping spots for the night.

Thursday

I can confidently say every one of us had the best night of sleep outside ever. Even though we had an early sun and snow wake up, everyone could not fathom how well they slept. I think this contributed to a happy and eager start to biking. We loaded our gear into the van for Len to take back to the university so we would have an easier ride home. Kathrin and I led the way with the map, following national cycle route 3 as Len instructed us. Along the way, individuals moved from the front to back and vis versa. The group had a prime dynamic of interchanging and cohesiveness as I observed. As individuals would lag behind, as I would on the inclines, the group would cooperatively slow down the pace. This, however, slowly gave way to a detected competitiveness among the group that did not surprise me given most of our group is mostly composed of sport students. This hurt me towards the end as I felt we were in the Tour de France as we approached town—everyone was a speed racer! Nonetheless, I enjoyed the roughly 40 mile ride that included beautiful views, a café stop in Vennesela, and the Tømmerrenna Timber Slide. They were the cherries on top of a spectacular multi-day trip of outdoor education oriented around canoeing, cycling, and climbing.