Activities:

Navigating around Jegersberg in the rain with various challenges along the way.

In order to get used to the weight of a touring backpack, the Norwegian students asked us to show up at nine o’ clock in front of Spicheren with a full pack. Equipped with a piece of wood each we split up into two groups and headed into Jegersberg on two different routes. Taking turns, two persons guided us to distinct spots along the way. This was good practice for the map and compass work we had done with Len in class.

At the first stop next to the clearing in Jaegersberg we practiced strategies for emergency situations by carrying injured persons up a hill in teams of three. The fastest method for carrying someone who had broken a leg was to support him under the arms. Fixating the leg could easily be achieved by wrapping it in an isolation mattress. Constructions made out of a branch and rope proved to be very unsteady.

The next challenge was to build a tower of wood on top of a hill next to Ovre Jegersbergvann in 10 minutes. Max, Dom and myself spend the first couple of minutes collecting as many branches of a decent size as we could and later divided the work so that one person was breaking bigger sticks down and stacking them while the other two were searching the area for matching branches. We worked great as a team and won the competition.

We met the other group for a short lunch on the other side of the lake where they had already got two fires going, also set up as a challenge of who could burn through a small rope in approximately 25 cm height. A big tarp between the trees kept most of our equipment safe from the pouring rain.

On the way back to University we played two more games. One in which we had to memorize the structure of wooden bricks up on a hill to replicate the same structure in our team. The pressure of the race made it harder to memorise and remember the structure and colours. Therefore some teams had to go again to be sure they were right. Last game of the day was a relay race on an open field next to University with Nordic walking and piggyback races.

Lessons:

Make sure your map is in a waterproof map case or orienteering will suddenly become a lot more difficult when the rain comes.

Division of labour is great, works for most tasks and should ideally go well together with the individual skills of the team members.

When starting a fire, reusing the coals of an extinguished fire facilitates the task tremendously.

Even Jack knifes of high quality are not suitable for splitting wood with. Multiple knifes gave their functionality on that day for us to learn this lesson. Eventually the hinge will give in no matter how cautious the hits are placed.

Group Dynamics:

The rainy weather dragged down the mood noticeably. Nevertheless, during the various challenges it almost seemed like withstanding the bad weather together increased the feeling of togetherness in the teams and created an environment that facilitated collaboration and consent.