Assignment 9 – Mountain to Fjord 7.5. – 10.5. 

After saying goodbye to winter we went on our first summer trip in may named ‘Mountain to Fjord’ [although I didn’t find too many mountains]. It was a combined trip including 2 days of canoing, 1 day of climbing and 1 day of cycling. The area we went to was around the Byglandsfjord and Evje which offered great opportunities for all the different kinds of activities. The fjord was really wide and calm and had some islands where we could stop for lunch and the overnighting. In Evje we got the possibility for white water rafting and adequate climbing rocks where close by. Moreover, the area between Evje and Kristiansand was fantastic for cycling providing beautiful landscape, slightly hilly but mostly flat terrain and a continuous biking track.

We started on our trip on Monday to Bygland and the first thing we did was to get off the bus at the wrong stuff. So, we got picked up by a Trollaktiv Van and drove to a beach at the top of the fjord, the startpoint of the trip.

There we did some first activities close to the shore to introduce basic paddle strokes and get used to the canoes. Moreover, Evan and Pat demonstrated together with Maike and me how to rescue a canoe through shifting it upside down over your own one to get all the water out and stabilize it to help people getting in again.

After loading the canoes and having lunch (Maikes lunch was stolen by a seagull) we headed off to paddle south down the fjord. As we unfortunately didn’t have maps, we couldn’t practice navigation, but we were still rotating in leading the group over short legs. Evan, our guide from Trollaktiv, gave us a short briefing about the important aspects in leading a group on the water mentioning distance between the boats, signs and communication as well as the position of the leader. As the weather was great and we didn’t have time pressure, the paddling was really enjoyable and Maike and me found a good rhythm. After arriving on the island in the afternoon we set up camp, went for a swim and had a fire in the evening.

The next day we left the island in the morning to paddle the second half down to Evje. Again, each of us led the group for a short distance and we learned how to build a raft through tying several canoes together. This can be used to support a slow paddling boat or in difficult wind/water conditions. In the afternoon we arrived at the dam in Evje, load the canoes on the trailer and walked the last bit to Trollaktiv. As nearly all of us wanted to go rafting, we sorted the equipment out very soon and good a safety briefing from our safety guide. We went down the river two times and had great fun! Then, we surfed with the rafts in a swirl so that the two people in front got completely duck into the water. In the end we jumped of a rock into the current and had to swim out to the side. The whole tour was amazing and our guides were super motivated and had fun themselves which made the experience even better. It was interesting to see again, how the attitude of a guide has an influence on the groups experience. In the evening we cooked in Trollaktiv and had a fire. I slept in one of the Tipis but that was a fairly uncomfortable business because of the wooden planks.

The next morning, we set off to the climbing rocks with our bikes which were 20 kilometres away and led us through Evje. There we stopped in a bakery for coffee and cake as it was suggested in the schedule we got from Len [University can be hard sometimes].  The cycling was relaxed and we as a group moved forward quiet well. Without any problems during that leg we arrived at the climbing wall at noon.

The climbing session led by Evan, Lucky and an Irish guy was less about climbing itself but more about how to run a climbing and abseiling activity and how to rig bottom ropes. In smaller groups with some of our own experienced guys we could try different stations including belaying with an italian from the top and running an abseiling session. Moreover, we got the chance to rig ourselves after Evan demonstrated how to build anchors and learned how to abseil with a prusik.

We spent the night at the climbing rocks and headed off in the morning on the 46 kilometres cycling tour back to Kristiansand after Len picked up all our other gear. The bike path went trough beautiful nature and was easy to follow. We had some challenge on the way as there were some trees laying on the track and some people had problems with their bikes. One bike was not really adequate so we stayed in the back with a smaller group whilst the other were mostly further ahead. In the beginning that didn’t work to well but then we figured out a method as a group so that the people in front would always wit at a bigger junction. Moreover, some of the bikes problematic concerning shifting gears and Scott even fell off his bike on the road because of that. Luckily nothing worse happened but later two chains broke at the boys bikes and they had to be picked up by Len. In general, we steadily made our way to Kristiansand but apparently we took the wrong turnoff and asked a Norwegian for the way. So, we ended up on a different path then suggested leading us on a very hilly detour through the forest whilst it had started to pour down. Cycling some more kilometres then expected and very wet and dirty we arrived in Kristiansand in the afternoon.

Learning outcomes

This week included several different learning outcomes as we went through various activities and also diverse organisational forms. First, we learned new techniques in canoeing and climbing. For the paddling that includedg stir in rudder, forward stroke and backwards stroke as well as how to tie a raft. During the climbing we went through rigging and several knots e.g. the italian clovehitch and the bunny ears. In addition, we practiced navigation both on the water and on land, but it would have been nice to actually have maps on the water to get more out of it about distances and features. We got an insight in how to implement different activities like canoeing with a group and how to set up a climbing session. We practiced introducing and leading a climbing activity and went through all the important points which have to be considered including equipment, safety, communication and rules. On the bike tour we could figure out how cycling as a big group can work efficiently. We were lucky that nobody got a flat tire as we didn’t bring any spare ones, just a few bike tools, which is point I would definitely consider next time. In general, we learned a lot about equipment and logistics as well, as we had to pack different bags with various gear and which was transported between all the places we went to.

Group dynamics

Our group composition was gender wise not balanced, as we were 8 girls and 3 guys which didn’t really have a big impact on the week. Nevertheless, I had the impression, that the whole week was quiet organised and harmonic. During the phases of leading the group on the water the ‘leaders’ did mostly a good job, keeping the boats together and guiding the right way whilst the others were respecting the authority.  A positive aspect was that we had some experienced members in the group who stepped forward and supported us in the learning process. Will had a lot of knowledge about paddling and gave us some tips as well as implemented some games to learn basic techniques in the beginning. Moreover, several members had experiences in running climbing sessions and contributed their knowledge as well as supported us during the activities. On the cycling trip the group first struggled to adapt the pace to weaker members of the group but figured out a solution later on and waited at every upcoming junction to keep everyone together.

The whole trip was positively influenced by the good weather which made all the activities very enjoyable. We had a lot of fun in the group and gained new experiences and got the chance to practice various skills and techniques. Personally I liked this trip a lot because of its combination of  outdoor activities in summer where we got in insight in which kept it exciting every day. Despite my personal positive experience it was interesting to see that some people in the group had different thoughts about the activities and some organisational aspects of the climbing. That led to a reflective and constructive conversation about advantages and disadvantages of different ways of implementing activities which gave us the chance to see some aspects from different perspectives.