Program:
Monday 23. 1200 hrs. Meet at Berdalsbru, E9 south of Hovden
1230 hrs. Ski in to Berdalsbu (hytte) 6 km.
1430 hrs. Berdalsbu, DNT hut system, routines and requirements.
Overnight at hut.
Tuesday 24. Day trip to snow hole area. Building winter shelters.
Overnight in snowhole.
Wednesday 25. Day trip to Midnuten and Krenkjasmonuten
Overnight snowhole.
Thursday 26. Day trip to Krenkjarsmonuten and Midtnuten
(Solo-night in emergency bivouac)
(Friday 27. Ski out to Berdalsbru, return Kristiansand)
Packing list:
Note:
– ndividuals must take all their own personal equipment.
– Teams must take 1 x emergency bivvy or tarpaulin, 1 x team first aid.
– Snow hole groups must take. Group cookers (At least 2), food, snow saws and avalanche probes.
Group equipment such as avalanche probes and saws will be taken by Len.
Equipment check list:
– Well prepared skis and skipoles.
– Rucksack, minimum 60 liters
– Sleeping bag minimum comfort sone -10c (eventuelle supplemented with fleece/silk liner and or bivvy sac
– Insulated sleeping mat
– Compass, mapcase, pencil and notebook. (Len will supply map copies of the area or buy an OS map of Bykle 10017)
– Thermos and aluminium/Nalgen drinking bottle.
– Relevant ski waxes, cork and scraper
– Stearinlys og fyrstikker
– Snowbrush (dishwashing type, clean snow of sacks, boots, clothes)
– Over boots or ”fotpose” large knee length canvas socks for digging snowholes)
– Sunglasses, googles, suncream, lip protector, toalet articles.
– Wollen underwear x 2 sets.
– Windproof anorack and trousers. (softshell or cotton)
– Waterproof jacket and trousers for snowhole digging.
– Snow gaiters.
– Wollen mitts or gloves and overmitts. Extra waterproof gloves for digging. (Fishermans rubber gloves are good)
– Wollen hat or baclava,
– Scarf or Buff
– Warm jumper, wool or fleece, 2 thin better than 1 thick.
– Skiboots, well waterproofed
– Warm jacket for breaks and evenings round the bonfire.
– Headtorch or similar
– Wollen socks as required at least 2 pairs.
– Avalanche probe if you have one.
– First aid and repair kit
– Cup, bowl, spoon as required
– Knife or multitool
Expectations
I was definitely looking forward to this snow hole trip. I heard a lot about it and had no doubt that this trip would turn out to be a special and formative experience.
I was curious, if we would succeed in building a snow hole all by ourselves properly. We heard that it took the Norwegian group more than 8 hours to build their snow hole. I was also a little bit afraid of the possibility that the snow holes could collapse. Even though I was told that the snow hole would be warmer than sleeping in a tent in the snow, I was still cautious about the cold.
This trip was different compared to the ones before because, we would be completely surrounded by nature and we would have no chance to go back to buy groceries or to use sanitary facilities. The fact that we carried all our stuff for the whole week on our backs meant that we had to think twice about what we really needed in that week and what we should leave at home.
Even though I had some concerns about the trip I was really excited about the challenges and the experiences in the mountains.
General Outcome
On the mountain-safety-trip I was able to enhance my personal knowledge about winter trips. Even if we had a lecture about avalanches, sudden weather changes or navigation in the winter before, my sensitivity towards snow and the dangers that come with it has increased with the actual experience of staying in a deserted terrain in winter time.
Living in a snow hole enabled me to get rid of my initial concerns like freezing in the snow hole or being buried alive because the snow shelter could collapse. We learned the essential rules of building a snow shelter and important advice that was given in order to make the stay in a snow shelter as comfortable as possible. We had “good learning conditions,” like our lectures told us which meant we noticed many mistakes directly when we did them. Typical mistakes in our group was to: leave the ski boots out of the sleeping bag (they froze really bad though the night), and not warm up the gas (the gas didn´t work). These were things we knew but never had serious consequences if we forget to warm up the gas or to sleep with our boots, until this trip.
The planning of the meals in the winter environment was especially interesting, so we focused our planning on a light but also nutrition adequate food that didn´t need too much energy (more information about Food in wintertrips on outdoor knowlege). As a veileder on trips, I felt enriched by the theoretical, personal and practical knowledge about group dynamics. But apart from my personal gain in knowledge, I have considerably extended my practical knowledge about living outdoors especially in winter conditions.
The fact that I got sick after the first night in the hut was frustrating because it made the rest of the trip very challenging physical as well as mentally. First I just felt a temperature and later I felt pain in the limps and had to chough a lot. It was very hard to force myself to eat and to drink enough especially in a winter environment. At the beginning of the 2nd day I was still able to lead and navigate the group. The weather conditions stayed bad and it got really windy, so I challenged myself to stay with the group even though I felt really weak.
I was glad to return to my snow hole where I went directly to bed. After the second night I decided not to spend another night outside, especially when we were expected to sleep in an emergency bivouac. I had two main reasons for not wanting to sleep outside. The first reason was that we had a lot of snow coming in our snow hole that morning and the weather conditions were becoming even worse for that evening, and the second reason was my physical condition; I had a bad headache, my pain in the limps became worse and I still had a temperature. In the end I didn’t have to be too concerned about my night outside because all of us skied out and spent the last night in our beds in Kristiansand because of the bad weather.
Personal outcome:
Personally the trip challenges me a lot not just because I got sick even though I would be out of my “comfort zone”. Thanks to the “good learning conditions” I noticed how important organization and preparation is especially in winter condition. I noticed a lot of group dynamics with upcoming challenges and I was surprised how good our group managed all these challenges after a while. On the one hand I was a little disappointed that I got sick so I was not able to give all of my attention to the learning topics. On the other hand I think that it is a good experience to be sick in such a though environment and now I will be able to understand the problems and concerns of my sick students when I am veileading.
All in all I am really grateful for the trip and for the activities weather its building and living in a snow hole, or climbing up to the top of a mountain by ski in a completely untouched area.