Second Self-organized Overnight Trip- 16th-18th of March

This trip was my second self-organized overnight trip, which I made with Mike, Martynas and Jonas. We went skiing in the area of Stetsdal for 3 days and two nights. We spent both nights in DNT Huts and brought our own food. We started our tour in Ljosland which is located ca. 100 km north from Kristiansand near to Bortilid, where we had our Basic ski course. During the trip we had very nice weather and warm temperatures. Due to the warm temperatures during the day and the cold temperatures at night the snow conditions were very icy.

1 Day ( Wednesday, 16th of March):

On the first day we skied about 20 km from the car park near Lyosland to the DNT Hut Gaukhei. On this day the temperatures raised 5 degrees and most of the time we only skied in our woolen underwear on top. About 2 km before we reached the hut, we watched the sundown on a small mountain and skied the last kilometers in the dark.

Day 2 (Thursday, 17th of March):

On this day we skied about 9 km from Gaukhei to Josephsbu.  Before we started our tour, we skied in the area around Gaukhei, improved our skating technique on the lake in front of the hut, climbed up a mountain and relaxed in the sun. It was a very sunny day without any clouds. In the sun we even skied shirtless. At 3 am we started the tour to Josephsbu, arrived around 6 am, watched the sundown and spend the rest of the evening in the Hut.

Day 3 (Friday, 18th of March):

On Friday we skied about 20 km from Josephsbu back to the car park. The Sun came out around 12 am. That’s why it was much colder than on the other days. This also effected the snow conditions. The morning sun, on the days before, made the snow softer. But this day the snow was very icy and hard. Especially the lakes were very slippery. After every downhill our wax-layers were totally gone and after the third time re-waxing, we started to ski without wax. Without any grip it was very hard to ski uphill. On the downhill, it was very hard to stop, to turn and to stay in balance. Every fall hurt a lot and every one of us got some scrapes. That’s why we skied very carefully and I took of my skies several times.  Even though I enjoyed the last day, I liked the challenge and after 12 am the weather was very good.

Evaluation

On this trip we skied about 50 km, which was the longest tour I made on skies. I got a lot of practice in skiing with a heavy backpack.  Especially the last day was very challenging. But I think on this day I improved my skiing skills a lot and we experienced how much the sun effects the snow condition.  The rest day on Saturday helped us to recover and we had lot of time to enjoy the great weather. This was one the best days on skis I had in this semester. The way to the DNT-Hus was marked with wooden sticks. That’s why we had to use our maps only few times a day. I think if you really want to improve your navigation skills you have to leave the tracks, but therefore you need more time and at least one who has good navigation skills and knows the area.  All in all the trip was very nice we had good weather and improve our skiing technique.