Basic ski course at TrollAktiv

02. February 2020 – 07. February 2020

The week from February 3rd unteil February 7th we were meant to spend the week in Evje, learning how to cross country ski. As the winter has been extremly mild so far in Kristiansand we havent’t had the chance to go skiing around Kristiansand before, so for some of us, it’s been their first time on skis ever. During our ski course we stayed at TrollAktiv which is a company that offers lots of different adventurous and fun activities such as climing, rafting and skiing. The owner of TrollAktiv, Tim, was supposed to be out mentor during the week.

After arriving at TrollAktiv and getting settled in into the huts, Tim shortly briefed us about the course and some basic information about the following day. To make the teaching easier, we were split up into two groups for the following week, one lead by Tim, the other one lead by Sindre. After checking our gear we started our first experience on mountain skis in Hogås which was about a 20 min. drive from TrollAktiv. Luckily, it just started snowing just after we’ve arrived and it should be snowing the entire following night as well.

On Monday we’ve had the chance to get a first impression of the skis, we learnt some basic techiques of downhill and uphill skiing such as fishlegs and how to break (try to get your skis into a pizza shape: press the inner edges of the skis reasonably firm into the snow, merge the noses of the skis together). Todays evenig lecture thaught us some basic infromation about how to choose the right wax for the skis. Especially the snow grit is one of the most important indicators showing us what wax to choose

Second day, 04.02.2020: Hogås

On tuesday we got up to Hogås again. After a short ski-yoga-warm-up we learnt how to turn 180 degrees while standing. We started our tour along the tracks to get used to the skis and improve our skiing skills. During the night it has been snowing a lot, so we started the day with about 10-20 cm of fresh snow. This day we learnt how to ski the famous telemark technique. Sindre put up a slalom to practice little turn while telemarking. Even though it’s usually helpful to have visual support these sticks were clearly a bit too close together and the slope quite narrow as well. The evening lecture on tuesday was aimed to give us an overview of necessary items for our daypacks.

Third day, 05.02.2020: Hogås

On Wednesday our schedule was interrupted by a film team from the University who intended to film a new advertising video fort he outdoor education course. After showing or rather not showing our skills on telemarking, we’ve had another race against Tims group before we started to another tour. After our lunch break, we were meant to build a shelter that was supposed to keep us warm and dry for around 4 hours – in case of a storm or similar. Split up into groups of 5 we were given 30 min. to build something like that. The basic idea was to build a u-shaped shelter out of snowballs. The u-shape had to be at least as big, so that we could cover it with out skis. After stacking up about 3 lines of snowballs we put the skis on top and loaded them up with even more snow to build some kind of roof.

Finishing that, we left for another tour to the peak of Himmelsyna with Sindre. The tour had been pretty challenging as the last section had been very steep. Anyway, we made it to the peak at 649 m, which was a great feeling. Going down was much easier then and after 15 km of skiing we ended our day which has been a great challenge and experience as well.

The evening lecture consisted of items necessary item we needed in our individual first aid kid. The first aid kid we were meant to talk about and meant to take with us would be helpful for minor injuries and perhaps some preventative purpose.

Always remember: check the date of expiry and replace used items!

Fourth day, 06.02.2020: Bortelid

On thursday we made our way up to Bortelid. This day was aimed to take us on a short mountain tour. As the first part of the tour had been extremly steep we put skins under our ski and learned how to ski up a mountain. For me, it has been quite a new experience as it confused me to ski uphill just straight without sliding down. To facilitate the way up, we tried to walk  in a zick-zack. When we reached some kind of high platform we stopped, split up into two groups again. One group built a little snow shelter/hole and my groups task was to built a snow lounge where we could have a rest and eat our lunch. It was a good excercise to practice some building skills and moreover it kept uns warm. Getting back down has been the most challenging and best experience so far. While everyone of our group was struggling with skiing downhill in deep snow, bushes all around and not a big chance of making nicely turn as lots of us knew from alpine skiing, every second it put someone down, but it was great fun at the same time. We all had a big smile on our face when we made it down.

Fifth day, 07.02.2020: Hogås

On the last day of our basic ski course one could notice everyones energy was slowly decreasing. So we headed off to another day in Hogås to improve our navigations skills in a winter environment with lots of snow. Simon replaced Sindre and gave us some navigationing tasks along the way. Every now and then we were supposed to indicate where we are on the map or find a place on the map. As the snowconditions had been extremly icy today and already lots of snow have been melting the days before, we needed to put on some Klister to our skis.

Learning outcomes during the week and new experiences:

• Bring enough food when on a ski trip, same applies for water (why: keeps you hydrated and your energy supply covered)
• Take breaks rather often and short than only one long break (why: stay warm, hydrated and energized all the time, prevents snow bite and hypothermia)
• Recognising signs of hypothermia: shivering,calming down, taking of cloths (extrem case), talking weird things, blue lips, be very careful in case it gets serious
• Recognising signs of a snowbite: first pale skin, then blue-red colouring
• Establishing a buddy system: two take care of each other and make sure the other one is fine every now and then
• Skiing downhill can be extremly challenging, but in deep snow, falling is just a lot of fun at the same time
• Group dynamic of our ski group this week: while skiing with our group everyone, including Sindre, our teacher, seemed to have a lot of fun and enjoy the skiing; that especially applies to our downhill-trip in Bortelid when basically everyone was struggling with downhill skiing, but everyone had a big smile on its faces at the same time 🙂
• Social loafing: sadly I experienced some social loafing apart from all the skiing when staying in a hut with people how need to organize themselves and live together for 5 days