Week 6 of University had our entire class travel to Trollaktiv, an hour north of Kristiansand located in Evje. This was a perfect location for the group as the varying tracks provided sufficient difficulty to prepare us for the future mountain ski trip later in the semester. This basic ski course week was aimed at us improving our overall ski ability, group cohesion, learning elements of first aid, day packing, knowledge about wax, avalanche dangers and survival shelter strategies.
Monday we were spilt into two groups ran by Len and Tim, these would be the groups we’d have for the entire week, I was grouped with Tim. Tim created Trollaktiv in 1994 (my lifetime ago..) and Evje has been used as the hub of the cross country skiing tours he runs. From Tuesday to Friday we drove 15 minutes to the heart of 150km of on piste cross country ski tracks not to mention the excellent off piste terrain we adventured into. This location allowed the group to grasp the basic skills as on piste tracks were spacious and ranging in steepness not to mention the abundance of soft powder we could fall into if we were about to fall. The technical hard cross country skills we learnt were uphill and downhill techniques including, stopping, telemarking, kick stepping, herringbone and side stepping. As the week continued and our skills improved we toured up two mountains, one on piste and one off piste to give us insight to the contrast of difficulty skiing up each mountain and what it took as a collective group.
As guiding in the outdoors is something I want to be doing in the future having Tim as my Veileader for an entire week was great to experience, as everyone has their uniqueness to teaching. Tim was able to explain techniques in various simplistic ways that helped you visualise movements a lot easier, this especially helped with progressing my telemarking. Tim would often give you individual attention rather than just focusing on the group, which was a great help for little hinters. As a teacher I think it’s important to be patient especially when you’ve done this more than 20 years, this is a trait I’m thankful Tim had as I wasn’t necessarily a quick learner. Tim’s sense of humour came out especially whenever an Australian fell over which made him generally more friendlier and approachable which is important when creating a positive learning environment. Group management strategies and safety aspects of his leading reflected when he needed to be assertive with instruction, crossing a frozen lake, or allowing a more of a self discovery environment for students to learn with minimal instruction (James Griffin Boswell,, 1967). This change of teaching methods of being more authoritarian at the start of the week subsidised as we become more proficient at skiing and moved to more free play and self-discovery learning. Our group cohesion of supporting everyone whilst having a fun made for a excellent learning environment, Tim nurtured this. Tim’s style of blending professionalism and friendliness reflects that facts that he’s been veileading for a long time.
The vieleader is someone that has the knowledge, intuition to stand and lead. A veileader will always be unique blend of their own personality and style that will allow them to be adaptive to both the group and the environment around them. Veileaders or leaders must take responsibly for the groups safety whilst optimising the group to focus on group and individual goals. These qualities were noticeable in Tim’s leading. It’s these trips that I can analysis and look at what it really takes to become a veileader, but also reflect on my individual traits are a member of the group, also reflect on previous experiences as a leader and improve on them
Being on time and organised in the morning ensured maximal time outside to learn and limiting people getting cold waiting for later comers. We’d do a warm up everyone morning to get our bodies ready for a full day of physical exercise. Tim’s warm up routine included types of movements that we’d use while skiing. Tim would generally inform us what the day would involve. Tim would situate himself where he’d could easily give feedback after attempting a skill. This individual extrinsic feedback was helpful especially when I started getting the movement of the skill as I could then intrinsically give myself feedback. If Tim noticed we were all having trouble he’d take the initiative to address the group and show step by step what we should be doing or adjusting.
I’m glad we got to experience the first day with no waxing knowledge as I learnt a lot more that night when Tim covered the in’s and out’s of waxing. Tim covered all elements of waxing which included how to apply and remove wax, choice of wax in relation to types of snow and temperature. It was also discussed about the parts of the ski, centre channel, the gimmel, the chamber producing a curve and how cross countries differ from other ski’s.
Day 1 I learnt that I should always been putting my wet gear in the dry room as it’s the worst feeling put cold and wet shoes and gloves on. Wednesday night Thomas talked about what he carries in his day pack, with the key idea of being enough to survive one night. This has encouraged me spend a night outdoors with just the gear I have in my day pack. It should also be important to know that every item you carry has another application. Friday Tim discussed the dangers of avalanche’s and how to undertake a rescue with transmitters & poles, moving in a back and forth in z shaped motion whilst prodding for a body. Ski poles also have a mutli-functional application finding out the angle 45 degree angle accurate. This can help has slopes raise 30 degrees – 45 considering a the avalanche danger angle.
The role of the students was to apply themselves to the learning outcomes of themselves and those around them. This meant being punctual by getting to the bus on time in the morning, paying attention to safety briefs, being respectful and open minded of both staff and students. These simple and logical rules were upheld for the duration of the trip, everyone in Tim’s group provided a fun and safe environment for the entire group to maximise their learning outcomes.
Throughout the day the group would transition between guided training drills but also have the opportunity to freely practice other skills whilst others may move onto more advanced skills. On Tuesday Tim instructed us on general tips to stopping, turning and telemarking downhill. As I was a slower learner I felt necessary to keep repeating stopping and basic turning before moving onto the telemark. Tim had no issue with this and encouraged us to stay within our own learning boundaries, but also encouraged those that could to try telemarketing. I attempted to do more advanced skills even though my skill set wasn’t there yet. The thought of falling or face planting was overruled by the fact I typically have soft powder to fall in; so this encouraged me to try more advanced techniques especially downhill.
Coming into the week and no having any ski experience my motivation was high, I wanted to trying tick off the fundamental techniques. Throughout the week my motivation fluctuated from day to day. Monday, the first day I felt confident on the simpler movements, however Tuesday felt like I didn’t make any progress as we were practising on steeper piste’s and making regular falls. Wednesday I felt more confident staying stable and being able to turn and stop with some control. Tim made a good point that if you were falling face first it meant you were trying rather than backing out and falling on the bum. Face planting and tumbling over was part of the game to learning how to ski and this why being in a snow environment provides both a safe and fun format for skiing and a whole range of activities. With the week concluding my motivation was high as I could ski at a basic level, enough to make me exited to try other disciplines like downhill and snowboarding.
The activities night was a fun night! Each country presented a fun game or song for the whole class to get involved with. A couple of us were playing a game called ‘Assassins’ that concluded that night. I managed to kill Abby by pretending to give her a sacred aboriginal item; part of our story, when in reality it was a a tampon that would kill her out of the game. Musical chairs as usual was pretty brutal of a game, Zoe’s traditional Scottish dance was fun whilst the German’s reality game show having contestant guess peoples feet was definitely the highlight. Another highlight of the week was creating an emergency shelter within 30 minutes we could survive in for the night. Our group worked really well together and agreed on all points quickly and effectively. This is why Tim praised us for creating the best first time tree teepee shelter he’d seen! We fit our entire class of 14 into it.
becoming far of a cohesive group, leaving together for a week definitely heaps break barriers and become more open to being your self. When picking accommodation I stayed with Tom (UK), Scott and Janna, these guys I felt I didnt get to know as well as
This trip was the first time I’ve ever used ski’s which is common for a lot of Australians, hence it being understandable why I fall over so much. Undoubtedly practising cross country skiing took some time to gather the basic movements. Initially learning the sequence of movements Tim provided a good focus on helpful tips and analogies at performing techniques. The quality of my motor skills was quite poor initially however for me to improve I need to repeat and repeat to start improving my quality. Movements I found particularly difficult were telemarking as it seemed counter initiative to lean downhill whilst trying to maintain your balance.
As the week progressed my legs felt more comfortable bent and having my body weight leaning a little forward. Moving into the future my balance and confidence going downhill are area I’ll try to improve on, in addition to feeling what it’s like to ski with a larger over night pack.
The week long trip in Evje ticked all the boxes of being a great week! I succeed in being able to ski at a basic level uphill and downhill with reasonable confidence with a day pack on. I discovered the ins and outs of waxing and maintaining ski’s during all types of snow conditions. Being taught about first aid in winter conditions whilst finding out some tips on packing my day pack during winter. Tim covered the interesting topic of avalanche rescues and what risky terrain we should look out for. An area that I could have been more proactive in would have been navigation as I’ve still trying to improve this skill plus I’ve never been in snow environments like this before. In regards to group cohesion development, this was the biggest progression we’ve made as a group. I think as a group we’re the beginning of the performing stage (Bruce Tuckman, 1965) Having group games played throughout the week in addition to having group dinners and breakfasts every day had us mingled and break down more social barriers. Overall the trip had exceeded my expectations.
Reference:
- Boswell, JG 1967, ‘Out of the Garden of Eden, with Jerome Bruner’, Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 463-469.
- Tuckman, BW & Humphreys, LH 1965, ‘Developmental sequence in small groups’, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 384-399.