Location: Berdalen in Bykle municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway

When: 3^rd -6^th of april 2018 (4 days)

Introduction:

In the last Winter field trip the level of the set requirements where on a high level. Now our experiences in the snow of the last trips, our navigation skills and skiing skills were been asked. The first night was planned to sleep in a hut, the following nights then in a selfmade snow hole.

As the spring started already in Kristiansand and we enjoyed the last days climbing outside and having an easter bonfire on solid ground (and not in snow) Berdalen was still in deeply winter mood. Valleys and mountains were still covered by a thick layer of snow. The temperatures on the downside were just around 0° which concludes to very wet conditions.

Thursday, 3^rd of april

We left Kristiansand in two cars and one bus early in the morning. The weather changed further north into a not very blessed way. The streets were full of snow and it started snowing and storming. The car I was sitting in was really struggling with this conditions and we had to drive very slowly. But around 3 ½ hours later we arrived at Berdalen, our starting point.

We split into two groups of 12 and 11 people. Tim, who I meantioned already in the Evje-report, was again the leader of my group. Sindra, also an experiences outdoor coach, took over the secound group. The challenge of the day was to ski up to the hut “Berdalsbu”, navigated by each group member in a pair. In the begging we were skiing through densely wooded areas of pine trees and in higher elevated areas birch trees were present in less density. In short legs we navigated with map and compass slightly uphill to the hut.

Learning outcome of the day:

• navigate in short legs to make sure u are definitely on the spot you think you are – espeacially in bad weather conditions (as it was snowing and the view was bad)
• always be aware and follow the navigation even someone else is leading

The last few hundred meter Tim took over the navigation as the weather became more worse and it was already late in the day. We were happy to arrive safely in the huts and having those accommodations for the night. We lighted up the fire and cooked a warm nice dish (rice noodles with zucchi, pepper and tomatoe sauce) and went to bed early to get a good rest for the following day.

 

 

 

Wednesday, 4^th of april

Every morning I am trying to do a little Yoga session to be prepared for any challenge coming up in the day and training my concentration and meditation practice. So I did in this morning and enjoyed my view in the mountains and the fresh air and silence in the morning. Zoe joint me for a mantra singing and so we started the day.

Schedule of the day:

Morning: little Trip around the area to find some spots for the snow holes

Lunchtime: lunch in the huts

Midday: packung and cleaning the huts, skiing to the snow hole spot + digging the snow holes

This day we went together as a hole group. Tim in the front, Sindra in the back. The conditions were bad as it was snowing wet snow. We were struggling with our wax as we couldn’t get grip with the skies in the wet snow. But we kept on and found a good spot for our snow holes.

How to find a good sport for a snow hole?

We were searching for a nice slope. Which should have been high and steep enough to get deep in and is on the east side, as the wind was coming the last days from that direction and would have blown all the snow in the slope.

We found a very nice slope which had enough space to build all 6 snow holes (groups of four) next to each other and appeared like a little mountain village in the end of the day.

 

How do dig a snow hole?

With this pictures we got the instructions to start digging:

                              

From above: two entrances and a sleeping platform in the middle

2) From the front: The entrance paths are around one meter deeper than the sleeping platform. And a dome shape for the roof.

We, Theresa, Bogi, Lilla and me, decided for this type of snow hole because we were four people, so two persons could dig on each entrance which made the work very efficient. With one big platform in the middle we took the benefit of having the most effect of keeping us warm by sharing our heat in the night.

The result made us really proud. We found that we worked very efficient and accurate. Our snow hole had the perfect size, it was either too big, so a waste of energy, nor too small. Our dome shape of the roof was nearly sleek which avoided water dropping from the top. And some shelves for some equipment and candles created a cosy atmostphare.

Thursday, 5^th of april:

Schedule of the day:

Morning: avalanche training

Lunch in the hut

Afternoon: “ski leke” (=Play area)

In the avalanche training Sindra was our leader. He experienced already two times an avalanche by himselfe. One experience was very serious, when he was caught by an avalanche and two meters of snow were above him. He was rescued by his friend who saved him within 8 minutes. I was really impressed, how he coped this experience and has still a positive attitude towards skiing.

The best way to avoid to be caught in an avalanche is some knowledge about it.

How does an avalanche happens and what kind of avalanches are there and what causes an avalanche?

This was taught to us in some lectures before. Now we had the possibility to train some practical experiences with it. Firstly, we made a “snow profile”. This gives you a picture of how the snow is constituted in this area. It shows “weak layers” of the snow which is an evidence for a risk of an avalanche.

We made a quick and small one which is not that evident but can give you already a hint about the terrain. And then we made a big one, where we had to cut out a 2m block of snow with shovels and a rope. Here is a link to a video if u are more interested in it or want to get an idea of how it looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HoGgXneLm4

We made a test as someone with skis just stepped on the block. Our result was a very high risk of avalanche in this slope, as a 40cm layer fell off by this pressure.

The following task was to find a rucksack, which was hidden in the snow, with snow props. In a specific way (4 people are standing shoulder to shoulder to eachother and always stick simultaneously into the front and to the sides then taking a next step forward) we found the rucksack after 5 minutes. It is said that someone can survive 10-12min if he/she is covered by 1,5m of snow and reduces half by double of the meters of snow. The rucksack we had to find was just 30cm under the snow but it was really hard to feel a difference between the ground and the rucksack with the props. And sadly its often a search for death bodies when you have to find someone with this method. Here it is mainly important to ski mindful in slopes and in the case an avalanche is happening you should try to keep your eyes on the caught person to find him quickly or use the hints of loosen gloves/huts/skies/…

The most interesting task we have done on this day was however the self-experiment being under snow. Here is a Video of Abby. After we put a good amount of snow above her and tried to hear her as she was instructed to scream, but we couldn`t hear anything (snow absorbs sound). My experience with it, when I was under the snow was quite good. I had enough “air” to still breath for a while (snow consists mainly of air) and after I calmed down my mind it wasn’t that scary as I thought it would be. A really new feeling and important learning outcome. ( https://www.facebook.com/abby.n.clark/videos/10204800371885471/ )

After a lunch in the hut our second task of the day waited for us. We were meant to build up a “play ground” with different obstacles out of snow. The aim of this parkour was to find a way to give clients a feeling of snow and its different aspects.

We splitted up in 2 big groups within 4 working together on following obstacles:

1. Balance obstacle were alternating the right and the left ski went up and down
2. Two jumping rumps (one smaller, one bigger)
3. A slalom made by ski poles
4. And a path with dips and bumps

Then, we tried out the obstacles we made by our own. Finally, we got together into 5-6 man/woman team (new mix of the group) and had 15 min for each obstacle to tried out without pressure and open for any possibilities we could find. In the end we nominated for each station one of our group for a final group competition. Next to a winner team we ended up with one broken ski and one bloody nose.

All in all, this parkour created much fun and was really good to lose any fear of bumbs, dips or steep slopes. We learned how to deal with it by facing it.

Friday, 6^th of april

The second night in the snow hole was much more relaxed and deeper. I had the experience of the previous night and the knowing that the snow hole is safe. We left our little self-designed village  and took a big bag of experience with us.

Completing out last cross country skiing trip we went for day tour around the mountains. We had the choice of an more relaxed last day or a final more advanced trip. The week was full of action and experience and I wanted to get back safely without any injuries. But I wanted to challenge me a last time and decided for the advanced mountain trip. Luckily it was a good decision. We went up to the top of the mountains, had beautiful weather and some fun with slopes and off piste fields. The tempo wasn’t too fast or exhausting and we found a good flow within the group. During the hole day one of us were meant to lead to a given spot. That gave us the chance to deepen our knowledge about orienteering and leading a group. Even if one was leading everyone else was meant to follow it. So we were bearing, finding streams, valleys, lakes, huts and peaks in an astonished landscape.

Close to the end on an open field Tim gave us an exercise which made us more sensible for our movements and the nature. We were standing in one line shoulder to shoulder, closed the eyes and were asked to walk blind 300 “steps” straight forward. The result was amusing. We were all spread around the area. None of us walked straight, either too much to the right or too much to the left, Marjin walked in a circle backwards which took the bun at all! This task really taught us not to trust too much in our direction instincts and should give us a thought if we would ever been caught up in snow storms or bad weather cnditions.

Racing down the last bit of our route should have been the last pleasure for the winter season. Sadly Marjin felt badly and hurt his neck. But he was tough and went slowly down till the end. We figured out it has to be the muscle and excluded a big danger about it.

Around 3pm we finished our last ski trip, happily in the sun and ready for the spring and all the coming “summer activities” waiting for us.

 

To put it in a nutshell, this was the most intense trip as a mountain winter trip, covered with this big range of activities as building and living in a snow hole, building parkours and orienteering in the mountains in changing weather conditions from snow storms to bright sunshine and powder snow.