Day One: We started our trip at 06:00 Tuesday, February 19th. We loaded up into Lena’s car quite comfortably as it had plenty of room for everything, and began the drive from Kristiansand to Hovden. It was half-way through the drive while approaching Evje when I had realized that I in-fact had forgotten my waxing kit, and so we only had one between the four of us to use throughout the trek. Now I will surely double check, if not triple check that I have my wax on me for all future trips. We parked above the city around 10:00, and got all of our packs and skis and walked up the streets a ways to the trailhead. The day was rather warm and the snow was old, and so we had decided that a thin layer of red wax would suit us well. Jonas and I had left ours uncorked, while Bec and Lena corked theirs in in order to test out which method worked better. We had gone for about 15 minutes, before I was unable to glide at all and I had to scrape off a thin layer of the wax, as the snow constantly began to clump beneath my ski’s no matter how hard I tried to never lift them. After taking the time to scape them I had little issues further. The snow began to clump lightly at times, but it was only when I was stepping when I shouldn’t have and I was fortunately able to easily scrape the snow off by using my other ski to scrape the bottom on, or simple the ground itself. We trekked on for about 3km’s before deciding to take a short lunch break over the river, before an uphill climb. The wind was blowing decently well, but there was no way we could avoid it and so we just ate quickly and didn’t sit around for too long. After our ascend up the hill we had ran into a gentleman who informed us that we had actually printed off the summer maps when we had shown him our route, and he pointed us in the correct path for the winter route. We had a straight shot of solid flat ground for roughly another 3-4km’s. We eventually made it to a small hut aside a river and took cover in the back of it in order to get out of the wind for a bit, and had a nice water and snack break. From here on, we decided to take the man’s advice from earlier and to take the slight bend around the mountain to the left, in which would point us onward to Tjørnbrotbu. Our maps showed a route that was across the lake and to the right, which was drastically different from where he had projected us to go. Sure enough after going around the corner, we had came across a sign post that pointed towards Tjørnbrotbu to our East. We started across a river and up a mountain, and this is where our mistake was made as we hugged the right side of the mountain rather than the left, in which case would have swung us directly around the mountain and right to the hut. We followed the right side around for a solid 3km’s upwards, and after getting 3/4 of the way up we had been facing too icy of conditions and too harsh of winds, and we collectively decided to ski down the side of the mountain, and to call it a day behind a small hut on the back side of the lake below us. This was a shame as we could have originally made it to this location roughly 2 hours prior with a quarter of the effort, but this is what happens when mistakes are made. Once coming down, we noticed 4 other figures making their way to the same hut and eventually came to find that it was another group who had decided to make camp right where we were projected to, and so we had a nice night out together. The wind was insane and made putting the tents up quite difficult, but we managed and used whatever we could to help hold the tent’s in place. Ski’s and shovel poles were lodged between the tent loops in order to secure it, and we piled snow all around it in order to add even more strength to the hold. We took turns putting our sleeping quarters together while the others prepped dinner and did what they could to keep warm in the wind. We watched a large full moon rise above the mountain tops, and it was a very early night afterwards as we were all asleep before 8. Slept moderately well, however woke up many times and every time I woke up I thought I was hearing other group members walking around outside, but it was the just wind blowing the snow everywhere.

Day Two: We awoke and prepped the porridge right away, as it was still pretty windy and cold, but no where near as bad as the night before. The sun came shining over the mountain peaks and it made for a surreal scene, along with the moon the night before. As some cooked, the others packed their belongings and one by one we cleared out of the tent. We applied a layer of the violet wax and corked it in before begging our second day out towards Berdalsbu. We said goodbye to the other group who departed in the opposite direction across the lake, and towards the valley in which we passed through in the first place. To start the day we immediately began to climb a nice hill, in which the violet wax proved to work perfectly. Along the path there were sticks in which marked the trail quite nicely for us, and the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. Was a beautiful day out. We trekked on for a good 2.5 km’s before taking a snack and water break. All to our left were massive snowbanks on mountain sides which were obvious avalanche zones, and we practiced following the contour lines to see where we were at each stop. Halfway through the valley we had met a large school group going through, and a bit further an even larger herd of reindeer passing through. Hundreds of reindeers came pouring over the lake and up onto the mountain side in a nice orderly fashion. After all gathering at the top, they all at once began to charge down the mountain side and down towards the path in which was just passed through. Their hooves sounded like a waterfall and it was a magical experience. The lady from the school group had mentioned to us that she has been up there many times and has seen countless reindeer, but never anything like that before. Happy to have been able to experience something so remarkable. As we were going onward, we noticed the sticks were all stripped of bark and snapped in half as apparently the reindeer enjoy eating them. We took lunch on the other side of the lake,  and it was a much nicer lunch break than the day prior as the wind was nonexistent and the sun was beaming on us the whole time. I learned that I need to figure something out better to have for lunch as I had just brought an absurd amount of muesli-bars and oat-cookies to get me through the next two days. I was able to keep myself full and satisfied, but bread and a jar of peanut butter would have suited me much nicer I imagine. After lunch we had journeyed along for about 1 km until reaching our first actual planned downhill sector of the trip – aside from the night prior when we had to do plan B and ski down – and the snow was very icy. I was the last to go and saw the others make it down relatively well. but said it was a bit rough and so I managed to slowly scoot down with only one small fall. another half a km we were faced with an even larger downhill part, in which proved to be quite the challenge for me. I could not figure out how to snow plow effectively and think I managed to fall my way down for the first half, before Jonas had directed me across the side of the mountain to allow for easier access down as we went further. This helped me a lot and saved me from other unnecessary falls and I was able to make it down the rest of the way worry free and aimed for the snow patches that had little ice. We took a small water break after this part and had a muesli-bar, and even applied another layer onto our ski’s as an uphill section was coming our way and all of us had little to no grip left. We trekked for another 2 km’s and made it to the top of the hill when we caught the back end of the school group, in which case they were unstrapping from their ski’s and packing them up to prep to walk down. After looking at the slope of the hill, I instantly did the same as it was far too steep and icy for me to attempt with such poor skill of stopping and slowing. I think this was a very wise decision for me as even Jonas and Lena struggled immensely getting down, and they are much better skiers than I am. After getting about a third of the way down, Bec and I waited for Jonas and Lena to make their way down to us in which case they decided to unstrap as well and walk with us as it was still far too icy and steep for them to want to continue to try and ski down. From here we could see the hut that we were aiming for, which was a great sight after the struggle of not reaching our destination the day prior. We walked down for about another third of the mountain, before reaching a flat part of the track where we all decided it was time to ski again and finish the last 1.5 km to the hut. We went along some flat runs before the final hill that led up to the hut in which was a very icy and steep climb. After making it to the top, we found a nice flat spot and began to assemble the tent. Jonas dug out a nice pit for us to establish a fire later while the others and I helped get the tent together and secured. There was a plentiful amount of wood stocked for us to use in the hut, and I went to help chop some wood and gather some birch bark to help with the fire while Bec and Lena were prepping their sleeping quarters. Before too long we had a nice fire going, and it felt too great to be sitting around a fire and completely different conditions than we were faced with the night before. We all sat around and prepped dinner and this time were in bed before 7:30, and got a solid 12 hours of sleep.

Day Three: We woke up and after a discussion the night prior had decided that today would be our last day out, and that we should head back home this evening. Collectively we were all okay with it and felt that we had a plentiful experience thus far and were ready to call it, and on top of it Jonas’s backpack and slowly fallen apart day by day, as he lost both hip straps and had another broken strap, and bad weather was on the way for that evening. We packed everything up after breakfast, in which case was a nice breakfast and we used a lot of what we had brung as we had originally planned to go for an additional day. We waxed up again with violet as the day was moderately warm again, and it worked great throughout the day. We were faced with quite a few downhill sections at the start and that was pretty brutal for me. Jonas talked me through each hill along the way and I slowly perfected my plowing. At the start, I was unable to plow at all and I would pretty much go until I either fell or tried to turn to stop. I gained a lot fo confidence through this last day and felt a lot better with my technique. All in all it was a super easy going last day, was relatively flat with some small rolling hills aside from the start with the larger downhills. We went for 3km’s before stopping for water and a small break, and then carried onward as our goal was to reach the 11:59 bus in the city before it came, as there was only one bus for the day. We trekked onwards for the last 3 km’s and made it to a street above the city, and unstrapped and walked along down and to the bus station 5 minutes before the bus arrived. The bus arrived back to Hovden and I think the most challenging part of the day may have been that final stretch walking up to the car, as we were parked on the outskirts of the city up the main road that was quite a climb after the day we had of non stop skiing. After getting to the car and loading up everything, we went down to the city and grabbed some lunch from the supermarket before hitting the road back to Kristiansand. All in all, it was an awesome trip and great experience. I was able to improve my plowing immensely from what it used to be, and was pretty happy with my packing abilities. I had used most of what I had brought aside from some spare clothes that I didn’t touch, but they didn’t take up too much room. Learning curves were to definitely remember my wax in the future, and to figure out something different to do for lunch aside from bars and cookies as they weren’t overly filling nor as beneficial as what veggies or bread and peanut butter would have been. As for the next trip I’m looking to practice my plowing even more and to be more comfortable with going down hills, and to practice my plow turns and stops without falling over as I could hardly manage doing so at all this trip, but gotta start somewhere.

Day one: Learned how to ski for the first time and got the hang of walking and moving around on them relatively well and centering my balance to grip nicely at points, however going downhill is still a struggle to me and I cannot seem to get my legs to flow naturally as they regularly do when snowboarding. My feet tend to stagger and stray from being parallel right before I go down, maybe I think too hard about it and just need to throw myself fully in and stop holding back. I’m sure I will get the hang of it through the next days, all in all was an extremely fun day. Snow was falling all day long, aside from the start up of rain in Kristiansand. We arrived and loaded up into the lodges and had a nice lunch and tea, and even a nice group yoga session before heading out into the snow. We grouped up and waxed our skis and headed into the powder to start the day. My clothing seemed to work great aside from my feet getting a bit cold at times so I think I should start double layering my socks as one doesn’t seem to prove to be enough. I didn’t get too hot as I only wore one thermal underwear layer with my soft shells and my rain jacket on top and it seemed to work just fine. Solid first day out and lots of laughs paired with swearing along the way, had a plethora of falls throughout the day and slowly perfecting my stance when going downhill, but each new run seems to be a new learning curve. Learning to ski without poles was nice on flat ground, and i felt very confident in moving on them alone. Need to relax when going downhill, as I kind of just veer off the edge and hope for the best right now. Trying to get my legs to naturally take control but they seem to be a bit lost along the way down, hoping for further improvements tomorrow.

Day two: Sun is shining through the fog and trees. Beautiful start to set the scene of a beautiful day. First day out on the ski tracks and looking forward to getting a full feel of what it means to cross-country ski with a pack on my back.

Skied about 14km. Thomas was an awesome instructor. Felt a hell of a lot more confident skiing today and had no worries going down hills and just took it in and relaxed and let the flow state take place. The snow was blanketed all throughout the fields and the grip was amazing when going up the hills. I believe I could get some better glide wax as I was falling behind practically all day. I scraped off a layer of the grip wax to try and help the glide and it slightly helped but it was hard to really tell. Skied up to the summit together and it was a beautiful day to do so. Not a cloud in the sky and could see every which way for miles and miles. Was pretty breezy at the top but well worth the trek. Going up hill at times was quite enduring and i’m still not too great at the sideways walking up the slopes. Struggle to get my feet to get in at an angle and my skis are often slipping behind me, but I noticed that I seemed to overthink this process as well and when I kept my head up and focused on the climb more than my feet I seemed to be able to get up with little to no struggle points.  Going down was quite the journey, I kind of just went for it and hoped I didn’t fly off the track, slowly getting the pizza technique down but I struggled going down and my tips crossed a number of times on my way down, but I made it slowly but surely and am trying to perfect my turns and slowing down without falling on my ass every other turn. My legs still lack the ability to find a natural bend when trying to slow down and I can’t seem to balance my central weight well enough to slow quickly.  My left foot was loose a bit as well and I got a nice blister on my heel and big toe was rubbing a bit which wasn’t too comfortable, so I need to start wearing two pairs of socks from this point out and will also put on some padding and tape to try and keep it from getting worse. Thomas had a lecture about what to keep in a day pack and he had quite a nice set up. I liked the idea of carrying safety pins in your first aid kit aside from a sewing kit as it is a quick temporary fix to any tears that may come my way and won’t have to worry about messing with a thread and needle in the mean time, as that could be rather intensive trying to patch something up in harsh conditions. I also noted that I need to get a safety reflexive band as it would be a nice thing to have along for safety.  

Day 3: Put on two pairs of socks and padded and taped my blistered heel and big toe for protection. Used the iron on my skis today and wow it took a minuscule amount of time and did a much better job than the cork with the skis being so cold. Today’s aims are perfecting my turns and stopping today, and to hopefully fall less..

Had a nice day out. Fell many times and learned to ski on one leg, but it was fun and slowly getting better. Learned to make an emergency snow shelter in and around trees or snow piles with shovels, and I dug a mini snow hole into the side of a mound of snow. Could have closed it in a bit more as I opened it up pretty wide at the start, with the idea of burrowing in deeper, but there was a fallen tree beneath it and rock that stopped me and so I went down the side instead. Learned to shovel into blocks when digging in, in order to allow easy removal and easy replacement when piling snow back up or into patches to aid further cover. Was fun seeing each group members creation and the different ideas and obstacles with each situation. It seemed that the best cover was from the base of a Norwegian spruce in which had been covered with snow piles at the bottom. The branches are thickly bunched together and hang down, allowing the snow to easily gather on the outside of it and create a near perfect cone shape to build upon from the outside and inside after removing any branches that may be in the way. Getting better with my ski technique and going up hills quicker and feel lots more confident going down hills. Been using less energy with my strides and getting better at skating in the lines in order to move further which each step. Foot kept falling out of my ski’s at times and figured out that there was ice on the binding, used the top end of the ski pole to remove it and after that I had no more issues the rest of the day.

Day four – Looking to improve my one legged down hills, especially my left leg. Rauridh gave me blister pads to get me through today and tomorrow so that was nice. Looking forward to another snowy day hopefully..

The ski tracks were very icy and no fresh snow was around, foggy day and struggled immensely to get up hills at the start. We stopped after a bit of a trek and applied some more wax, and the thing that worked the best we found was a layer of uncorked red wax. We practiced out skating technique and I was pretty poor at it, but was slowly kind of getting the hang of it. We went for some time and down many steep hills in which I nearly always lost control at some point, I could not seem to stay on my feet and it was an extremely hard time for me all day as I fell on practically every hill. Yesterday I was smooth cruisin’, maybe it was just the conditions or I was just out of state today, but all the while I still had a blast of a day and falling is apart of it all. We sat and had a snack 1/4 of the way through and a tea break which was a nice recovery and talked with Tim for a bit, he’s a super nice guy. We then skied for about 4kms more and then had lunch at the bottom of the camel hills under an emergency shelter, as Bec had injured her knee. After lunch we grouped with Len’s group and began to go off track into the fresh powder. We ended up going the wrong way but thankfully only for about 100 meters, then doubled back and went up a steep slope to start our way back. The snow was beautiful, huge flakes once it came and everywhere was pillowed and such a peaceful sight all around. Had a much better time going up hills with my ski’s slanted today and felt that my technique had majorly improved for the most part, but still struggled here and there at times. We went up and down many hills for about two hours. This was where I really began to struggle as the tracks from prior people became extremely quick and I would get locked in and lose control, and more often than not end up on my ass, but I thankfully never ended up injuring myself and just fell into fresh powder so all was good. Learned how to do the shoulder technique to move forward and that was fun to mess around with all day. Got the arms burning but saved the legs some energy so was nice to balance the two out throughout the day. Came home and made some tomato soup and noodles with veggies and a fresh pot of coffee thanks to Michael, and chilled till 20:00 then went to the hut for our culture night around a fire with a gazebo’d vent in the middle of the room. Was a cozy setting and an awesome night. Learned an Australian dance, a german drinking dance, and I showed everyone the cha cha slide. We played find the murderer, ninja, a Swiss ski song and dance, watched an awesome german skit that Michael, Simon, Jonas, and Alex performed; displaying how angry Germans sound when they talk, and then reiterated the same conversation in English and it turned out to be an extremely innocent conversation about waxing their skis, cooking dinner, and then a conversation about them having to perform something tonight. Was a great sketch and funny to watch. Last but not least, we learned two Scottish dances which were a lot of fun. Late but fun night. Looking forward to a nice last day out tomorrow and ready to return back to Kristiansand in time To catch the end of the student price week and get some solid meals and relax this weekend.

Day five – Last day out in Evje, we practiced orienteering and thankfully had some really nice conditions that made for an easy going day. We only skied for half a day today but learned as a collective that it’s best to read maps together and to discuss the options before taking off, as one group decided to go along a track in which took us somewhere in twice the time that another route would have provided us, however it was a nice scenic route but a nice learning curve. We practiced our telemark turns for quite some time and I slowly improved on mine throughout the time spent, but it is hard to concentrate on keeping your body angled down the hill all the while also focusing on the movement of your legs. I seemed to get it down pretty well towards the end though. After awhile, we skied down a ways and had lunch along a cliffside that we ate at a few days prior. Jonas and I prepared a solid bench that fit mostly the whole group, however half of it was already made from the day prior, but we took the credit when given. Had a nice stop before heading back to the main area where we ended up regrouping with the others and did some down hill practice with slow turns between ski poles, until a grooming truck came down and we decided to call it a day. We all paired up and put our bags in the back and had a nice race to the vans at the bottom of the track which was fun and I felt really confident on the last run as I never took any falls and had quite a bit of speed while going down. Fun last day.

All in all, it was an incredible trip and I had a lot of fun learning how to ski and grew a lot closer with many of the group members from spending so much time together and felt like everyone had turned into one big happy family during this time. Everyone was in a positive mood and mindset for most of the time and I highly enjoyed the constant positivity and new experiences that came with every day. The cabins were super cozy and worked out great, Tim was an incredible instructor and very interesting and knowledgable guy. Looking forward to the ski trip in March with him, and his business at TrollAktiv is pretty inspiring along with his day by day life in general as he seems to be fairly well off and also spends most of his time in nature as his main business functions through the use of the outdoors which is awesome. Thomas was also a nice guy to get to know and really helped make me feel more comfortable and confident through learning new techniques when going down and up hills, and skiing in general. Looking forward to the trips with everyone in the future and to getting better at skiing with every new adventure.

Last week was our first night out under the stars as a group, and it was also my first time camping in the snow. It was an exciting and fun new experience and I highly enjoyed the day. We started out at the garage gathering tents and then made our way behind the horse farm once everything and everyone was together. The first thing we decided to do was put the tents up early and get situated before doing anything else, and afterwards the fun began. Each country had developed a group activity that was aimed to be fun, active, and involved some sort of team effort. We did all sorts of different activities, and some of which I hadn’t done in many years; such as the three-legged race and potato bag relay. We acted as animals in order to acquire puzzle pieces in which displayed our beautiful selves when assembled. We collected large sticks in an attempt to fully-flip the largest one, and my group one – no big deal. We stood on all different limbs during one activity, and had another in which simply entailed good old tic-tac-toe with a little running in-between each move. The activities were well rounded and unique, and in the end a lot of fun. After we got a nice sweat going, it was time for hell’s kitchen in which every group had to cook up a well-balanced meal that looked good, tasted good, and was good for you all within 20 minutes. There was coos-coos with salmon & veggies, asian beef and egg-noodles, chicken with rice and veggies, and the best for last my group prepared salmon with pasta and broccoli & carrots. Every meal was delicious and every group did an awesome job preparing and working together to create an enjoyable dish in the end. After the meals, everyone went back to their tents to finish assembling their sleeping quarters while those who were already finished began to tend to the fire. Everybody went out and gathered wood and helped to prepare us all for a night with a never ending fire. We sawed large pieces into smaller bits, and stacked up as nice of a pile as we could to get us through the night. Once the fire was going, everyone slowly began to prepare their dinners. I grouped with some others and made a nice spicy chili full of vegetables and beans, and was the perfect meal to enjoy around the fire. After dinner we all gleefully pulled out sleeves of Bixits for dessert, and I even prepared a banana boat with chocolate and crushed Bixits in the middle. We learned a lot as a group about cooking around the fire, as a bowl or two of water may have accidentally spilled into the fire and put out nearly half of it, but we managed to recover and be extra cautious how the bowls were placed on or around the fire. We found two sleds that happened to be left from the children, and obviously put them to good use with a little ramp action along the way. It was fun seeing sides of people that I had not seen yet, and I felt that throughout the night we became more of one big happy family. Michael ended up bringing out the pancake mix and prepared everyone around the fire a pancake with two banana slices and chocolate drizzle on top, and that was the perfect end to the day and ever encroaching food coma. After I enjoyed my pancake I had gone into my tent for the night and crawled into my sleeping bag. I had brought my silk liner and it was my first time using my sleeping bag, and I felt that it did a rather good job throughout the night. I woke up a few times and was cold at some points, but in the morning woke up pretty well rested and warm. We woke to the sound of what sounded like rain but ended up to just be large flakes of snow, and it was quite peaceful and a cozy setting. After awhile we were all up and assembled our gear and broke down the tent – in which we learned to never place under a tree again when there is snow or precipitation above as it will continually drip onto the tent throughout the day/night. After everything was stowed away, a few others and I enjoyed two nice bowls of oats, fruits, nuts and seeds before heading back to our apartments. It was a nice experience to pack up and prepare food in the cold first thing in the morning, and we definitely did an awesome job doing so. In the end, the overnight trip was an amazing experience and an all around success, and I look forward to the future trips together as the group is full of kind well-rounded people, and everyone is always full of positive energy.