Monday
After starting driving to TrollAktiv, the area of which we were staying, we all got settled in three different houses. The week started with a change of plan, we originally planned to ski Monday but after looking at the weather we gave up and decided to have a day of lectures because it would be too wet, they consisted of;
- Type of skis
- The different types of snow and how to test it,
- Type of wax
This was very beneficial because it allowed us to learn a lot of information and not to become too tired from the week.
We also talked about what to bring in our day sacks and Berghans depending on the type activity. This was a really insightful lecture because some of the kit shown was new and we also got to ask about some equipment we weren’t sure about.
A wet TrolAktiv
Tuesday
Tuesday started early, around 0730, we drove to a place called Bortelid about an hour away which is an established ski centre with three ski lifts, slopes and plenty of land to ski on. In the morning we practiced some ski techniques regarding going downhill and telemarking, this took me a while to achieve, two more days in fact.
Bortelid
Tim Davies was my group leader who helped me to become better at skiing gradually. He took us off and on tracks, off piste was especially hard for me because I’m not used to the techniques and the endurance it takes, but I didn’t give up and didn’t stop to the frustration of my group, unfortunately, I could see them getting annoyed with me.
Tim took us up a particularly steep hill on the first day which had a steep cliff to ski down from, this was scary as I had just got used to skiing on flat land, never mind a dangerous cliff ledge. After completing this I don’t know how I felt regarding the week to come, I was scared but also thinking it possibly couldn’t get any worse. My confidence was slowly getting worse throughout the day but I couldn’t let it affect me too much.
On the night time we had some more lectures about first aid and what to have in a first aid kit, although these lectures were very important, it did make the days very long, keeping us awake for 12 hours.
Wednesday
Again the morning started early with an hour journey to Bortelid ski centre, where we did a longer route off and on piste to practice technique with our bags. As Tim likes to challenge us while keeping the more skilled people intrigued, he came upon a very steep hill that we had to zig-zag up across, but my wax had worn off pretty quickly so about half way up I had to apply more wax to the extra annoyance of some of my group, but they helped regardless.
After completing this hill, we had a pretty steady day with a mixture of up and down with a little bit of technique work at the end of the biggest slope. Here I nearly mastered telemarking, but couldn’t quite get the footing correct, much to my frustration.
Coming back the group were starting to become pretty tired so the night time lectures were becoming tedious even though we knew they were needed, this evenings lecture was avalanche and snow lecture, educating us on what an avalanche is, how they occur and what to do if it happens to us or myself. This was the most interesting lecture because it was something I hadn’t needed to think of before coming to Norway, and hopefully we wouldn’t need to put the lecture into practice.
Thursday
After a brief lecture regarding today’s 12km trek on the bus, we waxed up and started. This was by far the hardest day as it was mostly off piste and uphill, this was the day I got most frustrated with myself and was sure I wanted to quit, but we managed to get to the top to find out obviously that we had to come down. Just before this we stopped for lunch and had some practical avalanche/snow layer lesson, this made it easier to understand what the previous lecture was about the night before.
At the top of the slope was by far the furthest out of my comfort zone because of the angle of the slope, it was very steep, far too steep in fact that a few of us took our skis off and walk down the slope. My morale was low and I was very embarrassed by how badly I was doing compared to everyone else at this point, but I was ensured I was doing fine by Tim and Len.
Thursday evening was a fun ‘Kayleigh’ night, an Irish tradition of dancing, singing and laughter, this time each country presented something different.
- Lithuania – Limbo
- Britain – Musical Chairs
- Germany – Blind fold Game
- USA – Swing Dancing
- Iceland/Denmark – Viking Games
- Czech Republic – Language lesson
This was a nice way to end the last night as it kept morale high.
Friday
On the last day we decided we had a very relaxed day of skiing, concentrating on enjoying the views and improving our technique, we had an extended lunch where we made a fire on a BBQ and had hot dogs while Tim and Len joined in with the rematches of the Viking Games. Friday was a little shorter because we need to go back and clean the cabins and buses, but it was nice to have a relaxed day after the intense week, allowed us to leave the skiing on a high note.
Overall this week was very challenging but rewarding, it hasn’t eased my worries regarding the snow hole trip, rather increased them, but it has allowed me and the rest of the group to improve slightly, or drastically, on our skiing abilities.