Location: Hovden – Sloaros

When: 27.02. – 28.02.2018 (2 days)

 

 

Outset condition:

We had only a few days to prepare everything. And for starting our first self organized trip it was a quite hard task to organize everything that spontaneously. 3 days before our planned trip our teacher advised us to take an other route as the weather conditions weren´t good and the averlanche risk high in the area we have choosen. So we had to change our chosen route and were quite stressed finding a new route as the route we had found were fitting very good to our ski skill level.  Nevertheless and with the helpful web page “ut.nowe chose a 30km route for 4 days.

Our Plan:

Day 1: bus drive to Hovden, 5 km skiing, sleeping in the tent

Day 2: 10km skiing, sleeping in a hut

Day 3: 10km skiing, sleeping in tent

Day 4: 5km skiing and taking the bus back to Kristiansand

Description of the area:

Hovden is a ski area and a hotspot for the southern living Norwegians. Many people are spending their weekends there in little huts and weather go cross-country skiing or downhill skiing. Hovden is surrounded by great “big” mountains and offers some prepared cross-country-ski-tracks.

The weather forecast and the actual conditions couldn´t be better. The sun was shining, a lot of nice new snow, perfectly to walk on with the skis and the temperatures were around -10° which means a dry and not too wet air, easily to get warm by moving.

Already in the very beginning of our tour we passed quickly the tree-border, by skiing up on steep terrain. After the first day we were as high as the highest lift for the downhill skier and continued our second day on a quite high level in between several mountain ridges. Being out in this surrounding gave me anoverwhelming feeling. Walking up far away from any civilization, streets, buildings or other man made things and being set out just by the elements was a new experience. We were sourrounded by mountains and a wide blue sky, our skiis were gliding over the powder snow and we could hear nothing but a magical silence.

Suddenly on our own

Our first self organized trip was coming faster then expected. I experienced the outset comditions weren’t the best, as the groups were selected very ramdonly and spontanious, as non of us were familiar with the area here in Norway or had much experience with touring in winter conditions with cross country skis. We gatherd together as a very mixed group with different ski skilled level and expectations on the trip, which we recognized more after the trip.

I was quite motivated, excited and prepared myself for beeing ready whatever comes. Beeing away from a safe home, touring through the mountains with cross country skis and sleeping in tents was the task and challenge for the next days.

After a 3h bus drive from Kristiansand, we arrived in Hovden, which is a very popular ski resort for alpine skiing and cross country skiing. The area is blessed with nearly always good weather and snow coinditions during the hole winter time. And so for us, as we arrived. The sun was shining, fresh powder snow and the temperature around -10°.

On the first day our group was very ambitious. We wanted to start already with our first leg and started to find the way to our beginning point. This was more challenging than expected, the bus station were not in our self printed map and we were confused by all the streets, houses and signs and mountains around us. Scott was quite self confident in knowing the direction, so we followed him and afer we asked a friendly man, we ended up in skiing off pisete, then I fell the first time with my heavy bagback on a steep path and a river made us taking a detour. Finaly we saw our first sign «Sloraros» and happyly took a first break. The mood in the group was good as we realized that our path to the hut would be marked and that we could follow a prepared track. The steepnes of the mountain increased and quickly we passed the tree border and were high up in the mountains. Our paste was good as we needed around 1h for 3km.

After 4km we decided though to stop. It was already 4pm, there was no much time left until it would get dark and we prefered to build up the tents in bright light conditions. A little bit away from the track we found a good flat area for our tents. With our skies, we compressed the powder snow for an even ground and built up our four-man and three-man tent. On the way up we got quite hot and sweaty but now after standing a while in the cold, we started quickly to freeze. We decided to cook.

And out first dinner in the mountain was thankfully delitious, hot and filling. Zsofi, Lilla had prepared an hungarian dish. And as it was precooked we just needed to heat it up with the storm kitchen. I brought some precooked fried aubergine and with the snow around us we boiled water for hot tea. (To avoid the cold wind we ate in one of the tents.)

After this long day of travel and skiing the motivation of the group seemed to be a little bit down, as there was a major silence after I ask what they like on a winter hike. Images and clouds of warm summer hikes locked the view on the present situation with its positive sites as for example, having permanent access to water and no problems with conserving food. You don’t have to worry about getting too hot while moving, you can easily cool down by a short break. All the advantages weren’t that convincing in the cold and dark condition.

Around 7pm we were already tired and decided to go to bed early. I quickly ran a few times around the tent, did some yoga exercises and crawled in my down sleeping bag. It was a nice feeling to have a good sleeping bag to trust on in the cold. I felt very comfortable and warm and enjoyed being in the middle of the mountains, far away from any civilization, noise, buildings or man made things. Slowly falling asleep with the laughter of the Hungarians in the other tent an exciting day ended peacefully.

In the morning it was hard to motivate me to get out of the warm sleeping bag. But at 8 o’clock I went out of the tent and looked for a nice spot for my yoga practice. This session turned out as one of the most spectacular sessions. It was cloudy but the rising sun showed up between them and colored them in pink and orange colors. This was just topped by an rainbow appearing on the right side over the mountains. We discovered also deer tracks and Abby told us about strange hearings in the night. Excited maybe seeing some deers on our further way we started our second leg of our journey.

The second leg started easy but very soon it turned into a very steep track. We couldn’t use the classic technic, fishboning was now the only way to get up and that for a long time! On the top we saw a black cross with a Norwegian letter, which we couldn’t read and continued following the track. Happily it went mainly downhill now. And as Abby was always the front person with her steady and fast steps, it was now me, speeding downhill at the front. The others struggled to my surprise very much with skiing downhill and we had to make many stops to stay together as a group.

We were a little bit worried, the track now didn’t seem to be the same as in our map we wanted to follow. Then we saw a man coming from the opposite direction. We thought he must come from the “sloaros hut” because the path was a one way track and not a round trip. The man had no bags and was quickly on his way, and when he passed he ignored our greetings and asking for the path and went away. A little bit lost and perplexed we continued our way. Then we saw another group coming along. Those women were very friendly and they insured us, that we missed the junction to the sloaros hut and we are on a round trip back to Hovden again. This was disappointing. Two other men came along, they knew the area very well and informed us, that the track to sloaros is closed for the protection of the reindeers. So in the end, those deers, I was wishing to see, were the reason of canceling our trip to sloaros. Now all the different motivation of each one, level and skills clashed together. We had to make a decision on how to continue with our trip with this unexpected change. Some of us wanted to continue, trying to find the way off piste, some were already too exhausted from the last day and the morning skiing, Sam was in very bad conditions as she got sick in the morning and was suffering more and more. We decided to stay together as a group and to finish this trip together as a group as well even if that means to let go the original plan and to break up earlier than expacted.

After the Trip is before the new experience

Back in Hovden we took the bus back to Kristiansand. As I personally was a little bit disappointed by the quick end, I took the chance of the following free 3 days to firstly practice my orienteering and navigation alone in Jegersberg, the recreation area close to our university. As I was on my own, it was very intense and I improved in it very well.

On the second free day I booked a room in “Samsen”, a cultural meeting point offering rooms for dancers, and created a choreography on my own, based on a poem of nature by Ingeborg Bachmann.

The last day I went with Zsofi and Lilla to Arendal, a city around 80km from Kristiansand. There we took a walk around the City and and on the Island Tromøy.

Learning outcome:

As a result, even if the trip was shorter than expacted, the outcome of that week was immense.

I got to know the area of Hovden and its great mountains and best conditions for cross country skiing. We managed to organize and prepare the trip included managing food and cooking equipment, tents, maps and bus connections. A very efficient way we used was to split up the tasks and trust that the responsible person is doing it well. We improved staying together as a group, toleranted and accepted differences and learned how to communicate so that everyone was included in decisions and planning. I personally had a too heavy bagback and took as a conclusion to better think about twice what to bring and what to leave. Fruits are for example are too heavy and sadly to say but not too important for a few days. And even the amount of food was very overloaded. Which is better then too less but on a trip where every gramm is counting I should choose a little bit more wisely.