This course was based at Troll Akiv activity centre near Evje. We stayed in some fully furnished cabins which was great because we could unwind at the end of the day. I shared a cabin with the other English students. This allowed us all to get to know Kirby as we hadn’t really spent much time with her up till then.

During the days we would go on trips in order to improve basic ski skills and move onto more advanced skills if suitable, during the evenings we would have lectures on subjects ranging from cold weather injuries and their treatment, how to pack an overnight winter rucksack and how to wax skis.

We arrived at the centre at lunchtime, unpacked and went skiing for the afternoon. We practiced going up and down small slopes near to Troll Aktiv and basically followed the leader taking it in turns to try to read the ground and take the easiest route. There was lots of falling over and crashing into trees but we all took it on the chin and laughed it off. Next we moved onto a larger hill in order to try going a little faster. This led to more falling and more trees but the weather was good and we were in high spirits. As we got better we started going from higher up the hill and Len showed us how to cushion the bumps with our knees. Getting down successfully was a great feeling and I felt that I was really improving.

We finished up on a large open field on the side of a hill. This is where Len introduced us to the Telemark turn. I found this really difficult but with some practice could do something that roughly looked like what it was supposed to and was falling a lot less than at the start of the day.

On day two we went away from the centre to an area with some ski tracks. This was the only day that I was with Tim, the owner of Troll Aktiv and another Brit. Tim’s approach to teaching skills is more guided than Len’s ‘go and try it’ approach, personally I feel like I learn better by trying it for myself and then working things out on my own. However at the end of the day my skiing was much improved. We went for a short tour on the tracks that involved some small up and down hills and one massive downhill that I promptly face planted on. We spent a large majority of the day on a small hillside practicing our Telemark skiing, Tim introduced us to lots of different exercises to challenge us and gave tips where they were needed.

The next day we headed back to the same area but were heading off the cross country tracks and up to the top of the mountain. We took it in turns to map read and worked our way to the summit. After a short break we started to head downhill and back towards the mini bus. However on our way back we took the wrong valley and ended up being forced away from the direction that we wanted to go. This meant that we had to do some serious off piste, weaving around trees, taking our skis off to descend some big drops or cross streams. By the time we reached a snowmobile track some members of the group were exhausted and fed up. Shortly after we reached the road and were picked up by the mini bus to head back to Troll Aktiv and a well-deserved shower.

Day four was to be the longest trip that we’d do during the week, starting by following a steep road, summiting a mountain and descending down an abandoned downhill ski slope. That was the plan anyway, the day started well with most of the group walking up the hill rather than skiing. It all went wrong when I ended up with the map, I got lost and only got the group to the lunch destination with some educated guess work by Len and me. Unsurprisingly I wasn’t given the map again that day. We worked our way to the top of the mountain, met up with the other group, came a little way down and had lunch in the sun. Then refreshed we headed for the top of the ski slope. This proved very steep and a little more overgrown with trees than Len and Tim had anticipated and so it was getting dark by the time that we got to the pickup point and everyone was tired and cold.

For the last day we could choose if we wanted to do a technique day or go on a more challenging day trip, whilst I think that I was more than capable of doing the trip I chose to do the technique day as I thought that this would benefit me more in the long run. We went over turning into the hill to stop and did some skating. I was really pleased that I opted for the skill day as I hadn’t been able to skate when I had tried it earlier in the week but managed to crack it with some help from Len.

By the end of the week I was tired and covered in bruises but my skiing had come on leaps and bounds and I had learnt lots about skiing and winter mountaineering in general. The week was also a good indication of how people in the group coped when they were tired and hungry.