We decided for our weeklong self-organised trip that we would travel back to the ski centre that we had been visiting a few weeks prior to this visit for our basic ski course. We rented an apartment out that was 500 meters away from the nearest slope and 5 meters away from the nearest cross country ski track so it was perfect to just get up and get straight onto the tracks in the morning. We actually got very lucky when it came to the buses; you are supposed to get one bus to Evje and then hire a private mini bus to take you up to the ski centre, however we did not know this but luckily when we got off the bus someone had already hired one and there was exactly enough seats for us to get on! When we made it to the slopes it was starting to get dark already so we decided that  we would head to the apartment and relax for the rest of the night before getting up nice and early the next day. I set my alarm for 6:30 because I wanted to use the slope with my cross country skis to practise turning which was a lot of fun as there was no one else around so I had the slope to myself. At around 8 am I headed back to the apartment to wait for the others to get ready so we could leave. We headed out around 9 am and decided that since our snow hole mountain safety trip would be all off piste, that we should then try replicate that and get as much practise in as we could. We so we headed to an area close to where we went on the basic ski courses, but instead of turning off early like we did before we went straight down into the gap between the two mountains which meant it was very steep and the snow got very deep. Eventually we had to give in and head back because we were walking next to a frozen over river that went down very deep so one wrong step and we would of fallen in and there was no help around where we were. It was so steep heading back up that we had a group discussion and decided we would have to take our skis off and walk. This proved to be very hard as the snow was so deep as we had to carry our skis so we had to take several breaks on the way up to regain our breath. After we made it to the top we decided to head back to the apartment for lunch as it had been a very busy start to the day. After having some pasta we headed back out skiing round the local tracks and taking it slightly easier than we had that morning.  We went at a steady pace but nothing that was too difficult and it was also nice just to enjoy the beautiful views that surrounded us in every single direction. As the soon was starting to go down in the west we decided to call it a day and head back. Upon arriving to the apartment we all took showers and then watched some Norwegian TV, which was quite interesting. We ended up watching a comedy programme and it was apparent that Norwegian humour is very different to English. Afterwards we all sat at the table and decided to play some card games, mainly poker though as this game would take a while.

The next day I woke again early and headed up to the slope, but this time Martynas joined me and we practised our skiing on the slopes together. Each day I felt as though I was improving my skills on the skis. I was gaining more control, which meant I was able to go higher up the slope however this made me a lot more tired! Once again we met in the kitchen around 8:30 am and we went out to the tracks. This time we wanted to ski up towards the peak of the mountain and then ski back down again, however around halfway up we noticed that everyone was heading back down and no one was going the same direction as us. As we got close to the peak it soon became apparent why. The weather seemed to be getting worse up at the top and where we were, the winds were picking up and it was starting to effect our skiing. As we group we had a discussion and decided that since none of us were experienced cross-country skiers, that it was in our best interest and safety to just turn around and head back down the mountain. Instead we just once again spent the day skiing around on the local tracks going up and down the hills but occasionally going slightly off track to go down hills off-piste to get the feeling of using powdered snow to stay in control and using my GoPro to take videos and pictures to put on social media. Again as the sun was beginning to set we headed back to the apartment and did the same as yesterday, had dinner, watched Norwegian TV and played card games. By the end of the week the group cohesion was very high and we worked well as a group and everyone was getting on when we were skiing and during the nights when we were playing card games. The final morning I woke up and since we had to leave our apartment at 12 by the latest I wanted to have one more ski down the slopes. It was my challenge at the beginning of the week to be able to ski down the slope without falling, however by the last day I did not fall once in 5 attempts of walking to the very top so I was very pleased with myself. After we were done we headed back to clean up and then head off to get the bus back to Kristiansand.