Basic ski course

Basic ski course
03.02 – 07.02.20

Day 1

I started the sking week by catching the bus from the university to a small town called Evje, which is approximately 2 hours north of Kristiansand. I chose to take the bus, rather than driving with Selina or Manuel, as it is more environmentally friendly.

Our class split up in three different groups according to their eating preferences. I was together with Jasmine, Melanie, Ed, Liam, Michelle, Stefan and Ho in the “Meat Eaters” house.

We didn’t have much time to settle down in our accommodations, we brought our stuff into the rooms and then we had to meet up again in main building of “TrollActive” where we met Tim and Sindre who gave us a briefing. We talked about behaviour rules at “TrollActive”, different types of weather and snow conditions and why this winter is so warm.

Shortly after the small briefing we got separated in two groups. I was in the group of Sindre.
We went up to Høgås, since most of us were total beginners and there wasn’t that much snow, we only learned the basics of cross-country skiing. We did some balance exercises and learned how to get up a hill using a technique called heron boning or we called it “doing the fishlegs”. To achieve this skill, you must get your skis into an “V” shape. The angle of the “V” depends on how steep the hill is. A steep hill requires a wider angle than a small hill. It’s also useful to put the edges of the skis into the snow to achieve more grip. The poles can be used for more stability.

When we came back to “TrollActive” we had a second lecture. This lecture was about waxing cross country skis which is different to waxing downhill skis. On cross country skis you need wax if you want to go uphill. Basically, there are three different kinds of wax which you use in accordance to the weather. The blue wax is working as a base layer which must be spread on the entire ski, but it’s also used for cold temperatures. It’s important to notice the difference between fresh and old snow. The crystals on a fresh snow have a different structure then on old snow. A fresh snowflake at -15 degree Celsius is in a form of a Stella Crystal, it is six sided with sharp ends, which means the snow grips into the skis. The blue wax would be nice for this situation because it’s not sticky. If the weather is getting warmer or the snow isn’t fresh anymore, the snow will sink a few centimetres the crystals are getting tighter together and the snow isn’t that sticky anymore. That’s the reason why it’s important to switch the wax, the purple one or the red wax are stickier and give you more grip on older snow or warmer temperatures.

Day 2

We met early in the morning to go back to Høgås again. The first time with waxed skis. Over the night it snowed a lot that means we had good conditions to go skiing. We went up a small training hill and tried to go downhill afterwards, I noticed quick that I put too much wax on my skis and didn’t corked it in very well, so my skis were too sticky. Sindre told me a trick to get rid of the wax without taking the skis off. All the other people in my group formed a line and I walked over the front of their skis, so the wax on my skis scraped off.  We started to do a little trip, I was really excited when Sindre went of the slope and we walked through the fresh snow even if it was only for a few meters. For me the feeling of walking in fresh soft snow is way better than walking on the slopes. It feels more like being in the real nature and it proofs that you are not bound to the slopes. After a few minutes of walking we took a break at some benches. I learned that it’s important to take smaller breaks than one big break to stay warm and keep the same energy level over the time. It’s better to eat smaller snacks that one big meal, so you never get hungry or tired, but also if you eat too much food at one time a lot of energy is being used to digest the meal, a lot of blood is going into the stomach and fingers or toes could get cold.

For the breaks it’s very nice to have a down jacket, if you stop moving you get cold quickly, and also a sitting mat because if you sit with your warm butt on the snow it’s going to melt and wet butt gets you cold fast. After the break we tested what would happen if we were in a total whiteout and cannot see anything. We blindfolded ourselves and tried to walk in a straight line. Just after a few meters most of us started to do a small turn instead of walking straight. The result of that would be that you walk in a big circle, so the best decision in a total whiteout without a compass would be to just stay in your hut and wait until it’s over. The rest of the trip we just continued skiing until we were back at the parking spot.

On Tuesday our lecture was about packing our Daysack, the items that must be in the Daysack can be separated in personal items and group items.

Personal items:

  • Down jacket
  • First aid kit
  • Snacks (also in your jacket)
  • Food
  • Hot and cold drinks
  • Sunglasses and/or goggles
  • Headtorch
  • Sitting mat
  • Avalanche equipment (probe and shovel)
  • Extra pair of gloves or mittens
  • Sunscream
  • Lip cream (with sun protection)
  • Map and compass

Group items:

  • Camping stove
  • Group first aid kit
  • Knife
  • Multitool
  • Ski wax

Day 3

On day three we went again to Høgås, the snow conditions were still decent. This time we directly went on a trip. Our group was faster than yesterday, so we reached our lunch break spot earlier than planned. Because we were waiting for the other group, Sindre had enough time to show us how to build an emergency shelter for a snowstorm. Firstly, roll a lot of snowballs to form a “U” shaped wall, then you lay your skis on top and put some more snow over them. If you use the sitting mat on the ground, you have it comfortable enough to survive a snowstorm.

Afterwards our group decided to do a longer trip to the top of a near mountain. The trip was about extra 3,5km. We didn’t had skins on our skis so the walk to the top of the mountain was difficult. On the top it was very windy, the wind has dragged away the snow, so it was impossible to ski last few meters, we had to take of our skis and walk.
The way back down was hard, because it was very steep and the snow was hard, the best solution for me was going down by breaking by doing the “pizza” with my skis. At the bottom I was very fast, went over some dirt and fell. Next time I have to watch out better for spots with dirt, because they are slowing down the speed really fast and can cause serious crashes.

We had another lecture, this time it was about first aid. We figured out what must be in a first aid kit:

  • Sports tape
  • Compression bandages
  • Tweezers
  • Band-Aids
  • Panadol
  • Antiseptic wipes
  • Safety bandages
  • Rubber gloves

A first aid kit is of course useful to treat minor injuries, but it can also be used to fix things, like tents, jackets, sleeping bags etc.

Day 4

This day because of the bad weather our group decided to go to another spot called Bortelid, it’s more in the north and higher, so the snow conditions were much better than in Høgås. Bortelid has skiing lifts and slopes for downhill skiing. We put skins on our skis to make it easier to climb up the mountain. Skins are used provide traction for climbing, they help you saving energy by keeping you from backsliding. While going up it’s important to stay on the entire ski and don’t go on the edges because the grip with the skins is much higher than on the edges even though it’s a weird feeling. The ascent was difficult, but I really enjoyed it, the view was getting better and better. Sindre told us for very steep parts it’s useful to walk up in zig zag lines. On the top of the mountain we spilt up in two groups, one group started building a shelter, the other group where I was in started building a big bench/lounge to make a proper break together with Tim’s group. We made small snowballs then pushed them down a little hill, as this saved time for rolling them up with our hands. After we had our lunchbreak on our self-made lounge, Sindre showed us a way to build a snow anchor, for abseiling in such a terrain. First you make a small dig with your hands or feet in a large waterdrop shape, then you put the rope inside, so it has an equal length on both sides. Snow on top of the rope makes it even more safe. The anchor is strong enough to hold a person with the full bodyweight, but jerky movements should be avoided.
Given the time, we put our skies back on and tried to go down the hill. It was difficult because we went down off-piste, the snow was wet, and it was hard to turn. We fell multiple times but everyone made it to the bottom without injuries. We had some more telemark training on a small piste at the bottom of the mountain.
Back at TrollActive, we had a group evening at one of their huts, everyone showed a talent from themselves or a typical dance from the country. We had a fun night together and I learned a bit more about the people from our group.

Day 5

The last day was a short day on skies, we went to Høgås again. The conditions in the snow were bad because it kept getting warmer and there was no fresh snow. Waxing the skies would not have helped, so we put Klister on our skies, which is a sticky liquid that comes out of a can when you pressed it on your skies. The last day was only for some more orientation practice, we went around the same spots as on Day 2 and Day 3 this time we used our map a bit more and looked every 100m on it to make sure we know exactly were we are. Because we followed the tracks, it was easy to locate our position, but I can imagine that it could be more difficult when you are out in the nowhere, it was a good practice. We had to go back to Kristiansand at the same day, so we just had a short lunch break and made our way back.