Basic Ski Course 3- 7 February Location: Syrtveit, Evje
Evje is a village and former municipality in Aust-Agder (one hour far away from Kristiansand if you go by car) Trollaktiv was the company responsible for offering us the basic ski course. Tim Davis was the person that founded this company 20 years ago. At the moment its one of the biggest company offering outdoor activities in Norway.
Learning outcomes. Focus:
improve our ski tecniques (basic level)
learn ski in different weather conditions
learn how to teach skiing
know different first aid in the mountain
– SKIING TECHNIQUE:
Balance: get a good corporal position is one of the most important items to start.
The Ankle Flex Test lets you know when you are centrally balanced.
Hip joints – Situated above the centre of your feet.
Ankle joints – Flex forward. (flexion of ankles, also flexes knees)
Shoulders frontal tips – Situate not just above but, vertically above knee-caps.
Hands – Carry wider than the elbows, above & to the side of your toe bindings.
Fall:
As best you can, determine that when you right yourself and are standing, you will have a firm footing and edge control. Now lean into the hill with both ski poles together and with one hand atop the poles and the other hand down low to the snow.
Leaning a little forward, with knees bent over your boots engage your leg muscles and push your poles into the snow. In one motion use the arms and poles to steady yourself as you push with the legs from a squat to a standing position.
Turn:
For beginner skiers, learning to turn on skis is important because it will put you in control of your direction down the hill, let you steer around other people, and help you pick a path down the hill.
To turn to the left, slightly drop your right shoulder toward the tip of your right ski, while increasing the pressure of your right ski boot on your right ski. Hold that position as you are moving down, and your skis will gently round out a turn to the left.
To turn to the right, gently drop the left shoulder toward the tip of the left ski, increasing the pressure on the left ski and your skis will turn to the right.
Parallels:
Parallel turns are turns where the skis always stay parallel to each other throughout each turn (ideally hip width apart). There are 3 main phases to a parallel turn: the initiation, the edge change, and the turn across and out of the fall line. As with the stem turn, to initiate a turn you still need to bring your weight evenly onto both skis and lean forwards, and to finish a turn you still need to put your weight over the outside ski, with your weight in the middle of the skis lengthways.
Stop:
One of those most important things to know when skiing is how to stop. To stop on skis, bend both your knees together, putting more of your weight forward, and point your skis inward. As you increase the pressure on the skis with both feet, you will feel yourself slowing your downhill travel and beginning to stop.
To get started skiing again, slowly ease backwards. With this forward pressure you will move downhill.
Jump:
Telemark ski- telemark position
The term Telemark comes from the county of Telemark, Norway where the knee dropping style of turning skis was popularized by Sondre Norheim in the second half of the nineteenth century. Norheim’s contribution to the refinement of skiing is a mixture of legend and fact, but he is widely regarded as the father of Telemark skiing.
The big difference is the heel is free and able to lift off the ski in telemarking. To go into the telemark position you have to slide one leg forward while bending the knee and the other leg backwards while bending the knee
– SKI PREPARATION:
Ski Wax: is a material applied to the bottom of skis to improve the ski’s performance on snow (grip). Depending on what activity you are doing, there are many kinds of waxes. You have to think about the snow and temperature.
– Green: it can be applied throughout the ski, using it as a base wax. Also is used in very cold temperatures.
– Blue: is suggested when the temperatures are betwen -3 to -9 ºC. – Lila: between blue and red.
– Red: only used when the temperatures are around 0.
Put on green or wihte wax 3 times (small layer around the ski)
Put on the daily wax (2-3 times) but only on the middle third of the ski (grip area)
We should aplied the wax in the middle third of the ski, because is the grip area where we put the weight. If your backpack is heavy we will have a increase of weight , therefore we have to apply the wax in a biggest area. *Skin: is other option when the snow conditions are hard. This equipment facilitate uphill ski.
– DIFFERENT KINDS OF SKIS
There are many different divisions that are used to describe skis. Many can be very confusing but there are only a few categories you really need to understand. First off, downhill skis are known as Alpine skis – they consist of a fixed boot, binding and the ski itself. Nordic skis, where the heel releases from the ski binding, make up the other class of skis and include both cross-country and telemark skis.
THE BASE is the area on the bottom of the ski that comes into contact with the snow. THE EDGES are the metal strips that run down the sides of a ski. Edges are very important, and can make a big difference to the performance of a ski. There are many things that effect the edges and how they work:
Sidecut Radius: If you look at a ski you will see that it is wider at the tip and tail than it is in the middle. This is because the edges have been shaped so that they curve along the sides of the ski.
Sharpness: How sharp the edges on a ski are makes a big difference to how well the ski will cut into the snow.
Stiffness: Generally the stiffer a ski is the more responsive it will be, the better it will be able to hold an edge in hard packed snow, and the better the handling will be at higher speeds.
Camber: is the shape a ski has vertically along its length. Most skis are arched so that the area under the binding is above the snow when there is no weight on the ski, with the areas at the ends of the sidecut touching the snow just before the tips start.The width of a ski can make a difference to how well the ski floats inpowder, and to how much pressure can be applied to the edges. If a ski is very wide, it will increase the surface area of the base, which in turn puts less pressure into the snow underneath and makes the ski float better in powder.
Firstly keep everyone, including yourself, out of danger. Then assess the casualty using the first aid “ABCs” (airway, breathing, circulation) and give any immediate treatment required. Once in a more controlled situation, examine the casualty thoroughly and provife any further treatment necessary. –Unconsious casualty:
breathing
bleading
AVPU (alert, vocal, pain, unresponsibe)
– Day pack contents and packing: One of the most important things in outdoor activities is the weather. Is the first item that we have to check, because we will pack our rucksack depend of the weather. This is the website to check the weather forecast in Norway: http://www.yr.no/
Hot water with a little bit of sugar. Not cafe because you will have to go to the toilet a a lot.
Selther: is a useful thing when you go to the mountain in winter (you can cover 10 persons)
Gloves /mittens/ hat / neck gaiter (You should take one of these in your backpack because you use during the crossing could be lost or wet. It is advisable that the material of these clothes is wool, is very hot.)
Waxes (2-3) and skin for the skis.
Shovel:
Do tracks easier
In case of avalanche
Make a shelter
Warm jackets (compact)
More equipment:
Compass
Light
Knife (make fire, cut something)
Candle/ matches/ lighter
Food
*We don’t have to forget*: Small things must be in the top of the backpackGlasses:– If you can’t see, you are finish – Keep warm the face.Rope:- make building for your skis,- carry another one to best place- build a emergency shelter.
Evje is a village and former municipality in Aust-Agder (one hour far away from Kristiansand if you go by car) Trollaktiv was the company responsible for offering us the basic ski course. Tim Davis was the person that founded this company 20 years ago. At the moment its one of the biggest company offering outdoor activities in Norway.
*Skin: is other option when the snow conditions are hard. This equipment facilitate uphill ski. 
THE BASE is the area on the bottom of the ski that comes into contact with the snow. THE EDGES are the metal strips that run down the sides of a ski. Edges are very important, and can make a big difference to the performance of a ski. There are many things that effect the edges and how they work:
The width of a ski can make a difference to how well the ski floats inpowder, and to how much pressure can be applied to the edges. If a ski is very wide, it will increase the surface area of the base, which in turn puts less pressure into the snow underneath and makes the ski float better in powder.
Primary assessment: