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.