I was really looking forward to our last mountain trip because we were going to build snow caves.

We left Kristiansand very early in the morning. We drove to Hovden, had a quick stop to buy some groceries and continued to our spot, where we got dropped of. We started our trip and so on and so forth.

I was extremely excited for the snow caves and they did not disappoint. I dont know why but somehow there is this great feeling of autonomy mixed with the sense of creating something with your bare hands that makes building snow caves so amazing. The feeling of lying in your self-constructed snow cave after hours of work is the best I had so far during the course. It is and will be one of the best experiences I had outdoors.

I accepted a few weeks ago that the course would not be very challenging, at least phisically. But, I was still upset by how little we skied every day. The first day was nice but the second day was very sad. If we had been a fitter group we could have summited a mountain and skied down. Instead we just skied to the face of the mountain and back to our camp.

Group-dynamic wise everything went well. We did not have enough gas but the groups helped each other out with that. Also, Julius felt sick on the last night, but here again the group did not disappoint. Everyone worked together to make sure that Julius has a warm place to stay and enough liquids and so on.

Things I would do differently are for sure my food rationing and preparation. I learned that one should always bring enough food to stay one day longer then intended. I did not put a lot of effort into preparing the food and was not considering how much food I need. That led to a situation where I ate 100 kcal for the first two night, which is obviously not enough for a tall, fit man that skied all day.

After this trip we have to organise our own last trip which marks the end of the winter OE programme.

Two weeks after our first ski trip we went on a ski trip with the norwegian OE group.

Our first field trip was a ski trip to Hovden. The conditions were amazing: sunshine and good snow, at least for the first day.

After the first day the weather forecast shifted and we had to arrange with the bad weather. I really liked the fact that the conditions were a bit challenging because I was not very challenged by the actual skiing. Some of our group were extremely exhausted or out of their comfort zone but all of them managed to get back safely after some struggles.

This trip marked the beginning of the winter outdoor activities and I really loved it. At that time I did not know what was about to come and looking back to that moment I feel like a pro now. Just four weeks after this trip we built snow caves and pulled pulks through the mountains of Hovden, which is amazing in my opinion. I can still remember the feeling of not knowing what the hell is going on on the first day. I did not know how to use the boots in combination with the skis and I had no idea what wax was.

Waxing is really annoying but the skiing makes up for it.

We arrived on the 3rd of January in the middle of the night.