22-02——-25-02-2016

Self organized trip 2.

For this trip we “outdoor’s” had to separate in to 5-6 people groups and prepare the plan what we are going to do for the next free week ( because of holidays). In our group with me there was 6 people and we decided to get back to Bortelid ski center and ski around some routes and do some off piste for 4 days (from Monday to Thursday). Before we left Kristiansand we ordered accommodation near Bortelid ski center, maybe 10 min. or less walk from it, it was expensive, we couldn’t find anything cheaper, but also it was comfortable. So when we done our plan and showed it to our professor Len (He approved the plan), I started to prepare for the next week’s adventure.

First day on Monday something went wrong with busses schedule and we (our group) left Kristiansand really very late, so when we get to the Bortelid and the place where we had to stay, Sun was going down and it was too dark for skiing. I was a little bit upset about that, because we lost one day of skiing. When we get to the apartments, I noticed why it was expensive-everything is modern here, with TV, all new kitchen stuff, a lot of space. After we settled there, cooked some dinner, we got some serious conversation what we are going to do for the next day, because our plans had to change, and after that we all went to sleep.

Second day on Tuesday our plan was to wake up at 9 o’clock, get some breakfasts and go to do some off- piste in deep snow with skis, because this trip also was about practice before big snow hole trip in the mountains. I and one more guy from our group (Joey) decided to wake up little bit earlier at 7 o’clock, and go to play on the big slope near the ski center, we offered to other group members to join us, but for them it was too early. So we went there, the slope was all empty because of early time, and because of this we could do anything what we wanted. At first I was trying to improve my telemarking skills on the slope, but it was really very hard for me so I decided better firstly to improve just landing skills ( land down from the slope by going from one it’s corner/side to another by turning with  parallel skis). It was really nice practice and nice play with beautiful view of rising sun from the slope. After some playing on the slope me and my buddy get back to apartments, we waited for the rest group members until they done with their breakfasts and preparation for the day, and after that we all went near Bortelid’s ski center restaurant, where was our starting point. So as we planned firstly we were skiing on the ski tracks, but as we noticed good place for doing some off-piste, we instantly turned there. Our professor Len recommended for us to put some weight on our backs, so I all the time was caring my rucksack on my back (first day it was about 10 kilograms). So at first It was little uncomfortable to go in deep snow with some extra weights, but I quickly adopted and later it was fine. It was serious off-piste training for us, because without skis your all leg could drown in the snow. Also because of some up hills and down hills, we were improving our climbing skills like going up from side to side -“zig-zags”, It was much harder than normal tracks, because if you don’t know how to turn and how to stand and walk on your skis, you could easily slide down backwards J. After while we suddenly start to go down all the time. At first it seemed really good way, but latter we noticed that the hill/mountain starting to get steeper and steeper, and if you not going to be carefully, you can easily fall and roll down the steep hill. Its sounds stupid that we kept going very slowly down and down, but some of our group was guarantee that he saw skiing tracks down here, so that’s why we not turned back. After while we definitely noticed that It is too dangerous to go more down, because you could see a lot of huge cracks, some of them was covered with snow and you hardly could notice it, besides we were standing near the river, we could hear the flowing of water, but it was covered with deep snow too. So our group voted to get back up and find normal tracks again. Going back was not so easy too, so after we made it, it was something around 14.00-15.00 o’clock. We decided to get back to apartments, because we could ski on tracks until our apartment doors J, cook some food and later ski again. Later, when we done with our lunch (I didn’t eat very much, because I knew after big lunch it’s going to be hard to ski again, so I just got some sandwiches and chocolate to get some more energy), we went outside again and were skiing on normal skiing tracks until Sun started to goes down . Then when we get back again, I got normal dinner- rice with sauce of chicken, coconut milk, vegetables and spice curry- the same meal like always but I like it-simple to prepare and it is good nutritious food. After diner we again decided what we are going to do next day, played some card games and went to sleep.

Third day on Wednesday Me and the same guy like day before, went early in the morning to play and practice some sliding down on the slope again. After this we get back at our apartments, now all group prepared their things for skiing, I just put more weight in my backpack (15-17 kg.) and we went outside. This day our plan was ant first part of the day to get on one of the mountains peak, and second part just ski around on the tracks, try to find places where you can play in off-piste. So we were on the way to the peak, but as we get higher we noticed the wind started to get stronger and stronger. Later we even couldn’t see what’s happening on the peak, because it was hiding under the cloud of snow. The wind was getting wilder and wilder, people were coming down from mountains part, we needed to use our “googles” if we wanted to see something, because of wind and snow. We decided it’s too dangerous to go on the peak because of wind and snow storm, and there was no point to go further, because we still couldn’t see anything from the peak. So we just turned back and rest of the day were skiing around on tracks. At many points and places on higher hills we were doing some off-piste, skiing down, trying to land with turns and bumps, just played and got good time. I was happy about that I couldn’t see any examples of social loafing, yeah maybe in our group there was some better skiers and less experienced, but our pace was not so fast so all the time we were going together near each other and don’t needed to wait for someone. Latter when It’s started to get dark outside, we went back at our apartments, this time we didn’t get back at middle of the day at it, because yesterday It was a mistake to get back and later go again when you relaxed and lazy to do that.

Last day on Thursday early in the morning we done some skiing around the tracks, but not for so long because we had to clean our apartments and leave it early. Also, our buss arrived early so we just packed our things and left the Bortelid.

All in all I can notice good and bad things about this trip. I think because we all in the group were not experienced in planning something with skiing, our group organized but not executed the plan fully. We were skiing only 2,5 days ( or even less) of 4, some decisions and misunderstandings take away our time and energy. But on the other hand, we like always increased our groups cohesion and friendship, I even could feel that we are now like true friends doing something together not like just group who need to do that for studies. Also we improved in skiing, we done some off-piste, played around and had good time in holidays.