This fifth assignment is about my Hiking trip to Trolltunga. Pictures about the trip can be found in the blog.

The planning was democratic and simple because all three of us (Sven, Luke and I) had the same idea about hiking to the Trolltunga and camping on top with using our own tents. It was uncomplicated because we were going by car.

We three had already some trips together and knew each other quite well before the trip. On the trip we had the same point of view on all the decisions we had to make. There was no arguing or discussing about any decisions. We were helping each other out with snacks, coffee and changed the frontman while going through deep snow. So the cohesion improved whilst the trip, even it was already quite high at the start.

We started driving at 11 o´clock in Kristiansand and arrived around 17 o´clock at the car park where we found horrendous parking fees, so we parked our car further down the road. Once we started hiking a lot of people descended from the mountain. We met girls in chucks, guys in fancy sneakers and leather jackets and similar ‘hiking’ equipment.

The weather was great when we got up there and it was quite okay to walk in the path through the snow, made by all the visitors before us. Once we were hiking about 8 of the 11 km to Trolltunga, we set up our tents on the only snow free spots, we could find. After a late dinner the weather changed fast into stormy conditions with snowflakes coming down. All three of us tried their best to keep the tent on its place. Stones, Tripods, Backpacks came to use to defy the wind.

Next morning we quickly packed and arrived at Trolltunga. On the way we met two germans who had their tent destroyed during the night. Once we had our pictures at Trolltunga we bolted back to a rescue cabin we saw at the way up. After one hour break in there, we decided to go back down, before the weather get worse. After we were back at the car, we met my parents and ended our trip with a good dinner at the fjord hut they stayed.

Challenges on the trip:

-Finding a spot for our tents (no snow pegs with us)

-Surviving the night in the tent and find some sleep

-Keeping on the track once it was snowing

-Exhausting to go back through the deep snow

Learning outcomes:

In my opinion we made really good decisions all over the trip, about setting up camp, breaks, getting off the mountain in a whiteout condition. We should have brought more winter equipment (e.g. snow showels, snow pegs, winter gloves, googles). We were a strong group, cared for each other and we always kept the good mood up.