Winter Mountaineering: Snow-Hole Trip

Our winter mountaineering trip took place in a town called Berdalsbu, Norway, which were a couple kilometers south of Hovden. The overnight snow-hole trip took place in the high mountains of Setesdal after a 6 km cross-country uphill trek to the desired

Mountain Environment

location that was able to enough snow depth to dig snowholes. The geography of the area was icy snow, with a slight uphill. 400 m mountains on all sides surrounded the tree valley where our camps were. Although the scenery was beautiful, the high mountains also posed a large threat for avalanches so we need to take the necessary and safest routes to avoid those areas.  The flora in the high mountains was very constant because the only floras visible with the high amounts of snow were the boreal deciduous trees roughly 3 meters in height, also because it was winter, we did not see any leave structure because the trees were in the dormant state because of the low amounts of nutrients available in the cold weather. The wildlife on our trip was also very scares. Because we are such a large crowd, we tend to scare off everything before we can see them, but we were able to see birds flying around us, and also singing songs to attract mates. I was able to spot moose (or elk) tracks while skiing to our base camp so they were in the area! That’s very exciting for me because I love to hunt back home in the United States. My learning outcomes were different for this trip. Instead of group-learning outcomes, I chose to base my outcomes on an individual basis. My learning goals were to learn and practice winter navigation, learn how to build and live in a snowhole, learn about slope gradient, avalanches, and emergency shelter building.

For our meals, our group of 5 decided to keep it simple by planning meals that could be easily boiled and could fill you up. For the first nights dinner, we had peppers, chili sauce, and rice (the reason for no meat was because we had 3 vegetarians in our group). The last dinner meal was the same except for spaghetti, which gave our bodies lots of carbohydrates needed to withstand the excessive amounts of skiing, digging, and just being in the cold. With the large amount of physical endurance our bodies went through over the trip, I would expect to use at least 1,000-2,000 calories per day. With just the vegetarian menu, I do not think that the menu satisfied the requirements; therefore I became pretty sick the first night I was there. But for breakfast, lunch, and snacks I focused on trail mix and fruits for breakfast, sandwich meats for lunch, and lots of chocolate for snack breaks. By over compensating with my calorie intake during the day, I made up for the light dinners we had at nights. Therefore the menu did satisfy my body’s calorie intake requirement. If I were to change something on our menu, it would be to add meat to our dinners.

Our shelters that we used, was made entirely by snow. The structure we made was

Construction of the Snowhole

called a snow-hole. We used the snow-probe to see if the snow was deep enough of us to dig down for our snow hole. For the construction of our shelter we took turns of two people at a time. One person chipped away the snow and the other would push the snow down the hill until we had more room for more people to work. The total man-hours of work were four hours of straight digging. The shelter functioned exceptionally well! It was very warm inside even when the temperature outside was rather chilly. The only problems we had were the length of the sleeping area. We had some pretty tall people with us so we had to extend the area more and more until we all fit. One member of our group was a little claustrophobic so he slept near the door for fresh air when he needed it. The only small problem we had with our shelter was with our door. It was difficult to find or make the right shapes to seal off the door from using heat. The door ended up falling a few times and needed maintenance every couple of times.

Skiing with a heavy backpack was challenging in the first part of the year, but after a few trips to practice, it seemed very simple for this snow hole trip. For our skis, we wore mole-skins for added grip on the icy snow surface, which helps skiing with a pack on quite a bit easier because it was easier to hold a strong base for the weight on my back. Practicing cross-country skiing with a heavy back on I think is the best way to get a feel for the different balances for when the heavy pack is on, as to when its off. I think the most challenging element in winter weather is dealing with cold hands and wet equipment. With digging a snowhole, both things are bound to happen. We couldn’t build a fire because the wood was wet from the snowfall previously, therefore we could not dry out our gear, or warm up our bodies. Luckily I had a pair of spare gloves and dry clothes with me.

The most important learning outcome regarding the equipment that I used during this trip would be the construction of a snow-hole. We used everything that we brought we it came to the construction of our shelter; snow-probe, shovel, ice-saw, and extra-dry clothes. To complete that task, it was very important to use all of that necessary equipment. Also this type of shelter can save your life, when a huge storm hits and you need to build a shelter right away or if someone gets injured, everyone can be sheltered from the elements outside with a snowhole.

As an individual, I achieved basically all of my learning outcomes by hands-on

Building Emergency Shelter

experience in the field. As a group we navigated our way up through the mountain valley to our snow-hole location with the use of a map and compass. We constructed our snowhole, and also an emergency shelter as a group, but the one thing I wish we could have spent more time on was learning more about avalanches and slope gradient because that is also a matter of life and death in the Norwegian terrain.