04.05.2020 Mountain engeneering trip Bukkenutten

We started our trip at the entrance of uia where we met the Group the first time after two months. that was so nice to see everybody and also to see some of the norwegians again. After we packed our stuff, one by one with a lot of distance, in the bus , we had an amazing 3 hour drive to hovden where everybody was really talkative about their past weeks. In total we were 8 international students and 8 norwegian students. After we arrived at the start point, we got ready, splitted up in groups and skied up the hill to find a place to stay for the next two nights. The weather and the view was amazing and I had a lot of fun walking up the mountain. It was so nice to be out again on skies in the snow and I could not imagine that I am actually skiing in mai.

When we arrived at the top we just had one more slope down. when we  observed the terrain around us we decided (or more len decided it because he has the experience) to stay here and take a break before we start Building our snowholes.

Because Len and Thomas decided we can also build a snowhole for two Person and Sarah didn´t wanted to stay alone in a snowhole, I decided to build a snowhole with her together. First of all we had to find the perfect spot where the snow is Deep enough ( Minimum 2 meter). We checked this with useing our probes. so we checked first how Deep the snow is and how the Underground is (45 Degree probe proofe to figure out if ist just a hill out of snow or if it also contains soil). after we figured that out and len checked it as well we started digging our (in the end) 2m Deep Corner. In the beginning Sarah and me splitted up so we had some breaks in between. But because i had the Feeling we could be more efficient, we decided that Sarah would start making blocks out of snow, whoch we could use as the Roof in the end while I was working on the cave. I already knwe that it is going to take us a while to build our snowholes but it was quite crazy how much work it was. But i enjoyed the work as well because I never have done something like hat before and I loved to get to know the techniques and to see the Progress in forming it. AFter the Corner was done, len showed me how to cut out the benches. he also showed me the technique of triangles and squares. so you first cut out triangles and then with the rest snow you can cut out squares. the blocks you will get out of this technique, you can use as the Roof blocks. I was quite proud when finally the first bench was done and we decided that the first one is going to be mine because im the taller Person out of us two so we dont Need too much time anymore for thesecond bench. For this process i almost just used the snowsaw. It took me a bit before i finally found the best way of useing it.

After we were done with the benches and lowered the entrance (so the Cold air can flow out of the cave), we topped our Roof with the blocks we cutted out (in the end we had way too much because actually it worked quite well the tequnique len showed me so Sarah shoulddnt have made Andy blocks. 🙂 once the blocks been on their place fixed with a smal steps so they would not slip down, we filled the holes and topped everything with loose snow. After around 10 Hours we were finally done and placed everything in our snowhole, closed it with our backpacks and went to Sleep.

the next day started with Beautiful weather so we enjoyed the breakfast in the sun and got Ready for the day. Our dayly Topic was orienteering in snow and mutain conditions. Len gave us some places we had to guide the rest of us. so I started with Guiding. The hardest Task for me is that I sometimes just have to trust me more that i know where we are and what the plan was instead of checking to often if we are still Right or if there could be another or better way. ALso a big Task was the snowcondition. It was quite slippery so i had to put a lot of clister on my skis and i was still slipping a lot but it was still a lot of fun and the mountains and the sun just made me happy. We made a lunch break at a frozen lake and sat at a bench of a private hut. after the lunch break we went a bit on with orienteering and got a Task at a frozen lake to close our eyes and try to go strate. The result was that all of us where Walking in a wrong direction. Len wanted to Show us that it doesnt matter how much you think you go straight, if there is a snowstorm or really bad sight in Long distance you would Always walk in a circle.

Because of that fact we wanted to practice our Compass skills. for that we took a bearing from the map to the next spot and Sarah had to send Ho Always 100 meters in front and tell him where to go. after 100 meters he stops and Sarah follows him and then it starts over again. this was a really good practice because to that time i was still a bit unsure with useing the Compass but it just showed me again how easie it is and that i just have to practice more! after a short tea break we went on the way back to the camp.

when we arrived there len showed us first some emercency shelter we could build when the weather rapidly changes (Hole where you can sit in, skiis cover the hole in the end).  Other emercency shelter would be the grave, the buried backpacks which you digg out again or just useing Blogs as a shelter or Building a shelter out of snowballs.  after that len showed us how to digg out a snowprofile and how we can check the Avalanche Risk with tsking the shovel and tapping on it. in the end i hd to take on my skis and had to jump to check if there is a avalanch Risk.

after that we buried selina to simulate a Avalanche Rescue with just a probe. so we stand in a line and probed step by step (Always together, one is giving comandoes and then together one more step, till one Person gets a found if not the same Thing again back (sometimes just 2cm fail of finding the Person. with this exercise we ended the Course today. so we decided to take a coffee break and after it to make our bed benches a bit bigger so we will have a bit more comfortable Sleep that night. after dinner thomas told us some fcts About dog sledding that was really interesting and I am really shure i want to try that out some day (sadly thomas just let his Group try to do the dog sledding i think all the People of my Group would have loved to try that out onces as well. after the dinner i felt quite Cold so i decided to go on a hike. Sarah and selina joined me so we hiked on the top of the moutain next to us to see the sunset. it was sooo Beautiful and ended up this amazing and instructive day. After the hike i went directly into my bed and had an amazing, cozy and warm Sleep.

The last day Sarah and me decided to have breakfast in our snow hole. so I packed everything away of my bench so we could cook on it. after we packed everything and cleaned our hole and were Ready to go skiing, i took the last minutes to just enjoy the snow, the nature and the time we had before we went back down. The way down was really nice. I tock a bearing again and felt a lot more comofrtable with it and was quite proud that i could direct the hole Group in the Right direction.

All in all i really appreciated the hole 3 days. It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot with how to make a snow hole, how to build emmergancy shelter, how to orientated in snow mountain Areas, how to use the Compass properly and improve my cross Country skiing. also i really appreciated our Group because everybody had their part in our Group and it made it Kind of perfect. We laughted a lot and enjyed the amazing weather!

I am more than happy to be still here in Norway and can´t imagine to be somewhere else at the Moment! Thanks to our teachers that they made this trip happen and I am Looking forward to the next trips we will have!