Planning process:
Originally, our first self-organised field trip should have taken place in the week from 23.02.-27.02.15. Unfortunately, it took us a very long time to finally plan and especially to carry out our first self-organised skitrip two weeks later than expected. From the beginning it was clear, that I’m going on a trip together with my friends Moritz Toelle, Jannis Theune and Wytse van der Heide. During a private trip to Stavanger, the four of us decided to go hiking in a local area around Kristiansand. Therefore we planned a hiking-trip over 3 days together with Osvaldas Gruzdas, starting in Jegersberg, north-facing towards Sletteheie, crossing westwards the river Otra and getting back southwards to Baneheia. But due to the fact, that some of us expected some visitors from their home country and that the weather forecast looked badly, we decided to postpone our trip to another weekend. Moreover, a hiking trip would not give us any experience in cross-country skiing with carrying a heavy backpack over 3 days.
During the next week after thist postponement, we discussed to go on a 3-day-skitrip on the weekend around Eyje/Syrtveit, where we had our Basic Ski Course with Len and Tim. Our new plan was supposed to be a 33 km skitrip with two nights in tents. However, we also did not start this trip, because Osvaldas twisted his ankle while playing volleyball and his doctor did not allow to do any kind of sports for the next sic weeks. Moreover, Tim, a local (from Trollaktiv in Evje) told us, that the snow conditions were not satisfaying. That’s why we had to cancel this trip either.
Finally we planned and carried out a cross-country skiing-trip around the skicenter of Bortelid, north-west of Kristiansand. We chose this are, because some of us were already there for Snowboarding and Alpine skiing some weeks before. We decided to take a four man tent with us and sleep two nights outside in the snow between the 6th – 8th of March. The final route plan covered a distance around 40 kilometres
At Wytse’s place we prepared our trip together with the whole group. We decided to take one Trangia stove and 4 gas cans (one for each of us) with us. For dinner, two of us will prepare two different meals for the two nights outside in the snow. For Breakfast and Lunch, we decided, that everybody prepares it itself. I had some kind of oatmeal-porridge with fresh apples and bananas for Breakfast and some chocalate, cookies and other fruits for Lunch. I filled up my Breakfast into Zip-Lock bags so that I just needed to heat it up with water and milk powder.
Execution of the field trip:
Day 1 (Friday, 6th of March):
We took the bus on Friday morning to drive up to the skicenter of Bortelid. We knew that we had to change the bus two times, but we forgot to call for the last bus one day earlier. Luckily, the bus driver of the second was really friendly and drove only the three of us extra to Bortelid. When we arrived, we started waxing, split up the equipment and started skiing westwards. The first 1 km we realized that our wax is not working so we dried it with a new layer of softer wax. After that, we had to ski uphill for a long time. Because I had the map, I was the leader of our group for the first half of the day. We had some lunch breaks and meet a lot of other cross-country skier on the ski loipes. During the afternoon we decided together to leave the ski tracks and ski through the trees and over frozen lakes. The downhill parts were a lot of fun, but falling was also not possible to avoid. When we arrived at a small stream with a waterfall, we filled up our water bottles and followed the stream until we found a good sleeping spot for our tent, next to a frozen lake. We set up our tent and collected some firewood. Unfortunately, all the dead trees and branches were really soaked because of snowing during the last day. That’s why we were struggling to keep the small fire going. After dinner we went inside out tent because a wind was blowing stronger. We slept quite early, but we also woke up a few times during the night because snow was dropping in our face due to a strong storm blowing against our outside tent.
Day 2 (Saturday, 7th of March):
After a quite hard night we started to continue our trip in the morning. However, everybody needed time to get in a better mood. During this day we nearly met anybody else, only two snow-mobils passed our way. Sometimes we passed lonesome huts. Generally, it was more challenging to find the right way. Often we had to take a look at the map and decide where to ski next. After noon the view was getting worse and the wind was getting stronger again. Furthermore, it was getting more foggy during the afternoon and it was quite hard to find the way up to the DNT hitter Gaukhei, which was our goal of the second day. We wanted to meet the other group of Will, Luka, Katja, Anna und Adele at this place, who we met already the day before in the bus up to Evje. They started their trip further north and wanted to ski southwards. But due to the fact, that they were also struggling with the bad weather conditions, we did not meet each other during our trips. The last part of our way to the DNT hut was really hard. All the uphill parts we had to herring bone a lot. Moreover our wax was not working, because the snow conditions were horrible and really wet. By following the marked route it was easier to navigate through the difficult parts of our way. Finally and happily we arrived the DNT hut around 15:00 hrs. while we could only view around 50 meters anymore. Directly we started a fire in the oven to get warmer and dry our soaked clothes. After having a long lunch break and waiting the whole time for the other group, we decided due to the bad weather conditions to stay this night in the hut. In the evening a guy with his dog came over from the smaller hut and we talked a long time about Norway and our lives until we went to bed.
Day 3 (Sunday, 8th of March):
We started our last day of skiing quite early, because we did not know whether there was a bus going back on Sunday. We forgot to call for the bus again and up in the mountains we had no connection with our mobile phones. Luckily, the wind was blowing from the back and supported us to finish the first 5 km in 1 hour. Also our wax was working properly this day. The next three km we were skiing southwards over a frozen lake. The wind was coming from the west and nearly blew us over a few times. After we reached an area out of the wind and the sky cleared up, the group got in a better mood and we finished the last 10 km in another 2 hours. On some downhill parts we started playing around and trying to improve our skiing skills with heavy back bags. The last 5 km were joined the prepared ski tracks and enjoyed the way going down to the skicenter Bortelid while the sun was shining. At the skicenter we found out that somebody already called the bus, but we had to wait another 4 hours until we went home around 18:00 hrs.
Challenges:
The main challenges on our trip:
- Dealing with bad snow and weather condtions
- Long time of planning process
- Sleeping in a tent while it was storming
- Leading the group by using the maps
- Calculating the time you need for the different parts
Group dynamic processes before and after:
Jannis, Moritz, Wytse and me were already friends before we started the trip. But while spending three days all the time together, you learn more about the strengthens and weaknesses of each other. While some us of did the planning and leading during our trip, other were responsible for the food or getting in a better mood. Our group worked really well together when we had to deal with the difficult snow and weather conditions. All the important group decisions we discussed together and all in all I was really happy with our group cohesion during my first self-organized ski trip.
Reflection on the learning outcomes:
The learning outcomes of our first self-organized trip were enormous. We all gained a lot of experience in planning and carrying out a ski trip. We first time had to use maps on our own and follow ski tracks or using our orienteering skills. We had to pack our heavy backpacks for three days including food and equipment. During our trip we had to manage skiing with a heavy backbag, navigate in difficult conditions and alternately leading the group. Moreover we had to involve everybody in the decsion-making.
For the next time I would improve:
- Make sure all your equipment is well attached to your backpack
- Plan your transportation better before you are going on a trip
- Downhill is much faster than expected and does not nedd so much time
We had a really good trip in the end, although our trip started with some difficulties in the planning process. To put it into a nutshell, I am happy that we cancelled our first hiking plans and finally went on a a skiing trip
Original plan of our skitrip (day routes):