29/3 – 1/4

 

The very last skiing of this season was on. I’ve said goodbye to skiing in Tromsø and the Snow-hole trip was something what I was looking forward not because of skiing but mainly because of overnighting in the snow-hole. It was new experience: I have slept outside in the winter, but just in the tent or in simple shelter with bivouac.

Tuesday

Our destination for Mountain safety trip was mountains in Bykle near by Hovden. We met there on Tuesday after the Easter around 12am. Collecting all equipment and dividing into two groups took us quite a lot of time so we’ve started around 2pm. We were supposed to ski up to the area around cabin called Berdalsbu. For most of the guys in our group was this first time experience with skiing with big heavy backpack on. This and quality of snow were the reasons why we didn’t ski much fast. Instead of ascent the valley on skis with heavy backpacks on was our task also to lead a group for about 500 metres using a map and compass for navigation. Navigation in winter environment is very much different from navigation in summer. There are fairly not much obvious features as in the summer. When we made it to the cabin it was already 5pm. Tim, our group instructor for this trip, took us into one of two cabins in the area and had some short talk about DNT (Norwegian tourist organization). After he finished small surprise came, we were supposed to sleep in the cabins not in the snow-hole as we were told before. It was very nice and cosy. We cooked ourselves nice dinner a talked in the lights of candles.

Wednesday

Plan for Wednesday was clear, build a snow-hole for overnighting in next two days. We’ve started day with short ski tour trying to explore the area and find best spots for building a hole. Instead of that we’ve found nice slope and skied down. Some of the guys, me included went up more than once. Afterwards we came back to cabins to collect our stuff and went to spots we’ve picked for building a snow-hole. There was Chris, Dominic and Michael with me. Our plan was to build big 4 person snow-hole. We’ve picked perfect place for building it, a huge cornice with a lot of snow blown at small slope. And there was also perfect view of course. We’ve decided to build a snow-hole using two entrances. That means there were 2 guys who were able to work in the same time in the beginning and all of us afterwards. Building it took se approximately 4 hours. We’ve worked using probe to probe the depth of the snow, shovels, and snow saws. The fastest way how to dig a snow-hole is making block from snow using a saw, making rhombuses which fits to each other and take out block after block.

 

 

 

 

Thursday

The night in snow-hole was nicer than we expected. I wasn’t finally too warm (probably because my bivouac sac and sleeping bag were open all night. The temperature there (according to my Suunto watches) was 3 °C. I made superfast breakfast (very tasty and rich for calories). It was an instant porridge with hot water from my thermos flask which I cooked the day before. Plan for today was to take our backpacks filled with lunch and emergency stuff (shovel, first aid, etc.). We went for a trip in our groups. Everybody had a map and compass and was supposed to lead group for approx. 500 metres. The weather that way wasn’t good. It was sunny bud very windy. Our plan was to ascent a mountain but we haven’t made it to the top because of the wind. We’ve at least used a group shelter “Sigg bivouac” which is simply big tarp made of light material suitable for more persons. Than we descend the mountain. The slope was quite steep and snow was icy. Some of the guys had quite problems with skiing down so they simply put off their skis and walked down. After coming back we made some navigation exercise in cabin. We were making a route plan using azimuths and grid references. We’ve slept again in our snow-holes.

Friday

We woke up at 7am, packed all our stuff and left our snow palace. We were divided into different groups this time – one stronger and one slower group. Me as a member of the stronger group climbed up the mountain on the north side from cabins. Then we skied slightly down to the parking lot. We’ve stopped on the way down and we made an emergency shelters. I picked a spot just underneath the cornice where were to layers of snow – icy and powder, so it was easy to dig out the powder snow and use ice as a protection. And it was possible to lay there. We came back to our cars at 1pm.

I’ve learned a lot of new at this trip. It helped me to improve my winter navigation skills. I really appreciate the possibility of building and staying overnight in the snow-hole. It was great experience which I’ll never forget.