On our final winter trip here in Norway some of our goals were, to have good cabin life practice, be able to navigate through the winter terrain, learn about some new mountain safety guide lines and set up a camp like we never have before. All the trips we have been taking before having just been preparing us for this journey. Packing for this trip to Berdalsbu, we needed the essentials as usual, plus a few extra things for the new mountain activities we were going to learn about.
Equipment:
- Extra warm clothing
- Waterproof clothing
- Map/map case
- compass
- Sleeping bag
- Sleeping matt
- Bivey bag
- Candle
- First aid kit
- Stove
- Snow shovel
- Knife
- Matches
- Sunscreen
- Water bottle
- Sunglasses/goggles
- Kitchen utensils
- Gas
- Headtorch
- Avalanche probes
- Ice saw
The first day after traveling by mini bus from Kristiansand to Berdalsbu, we set off toward our cabin for the night. The landscape of this area had little flora and fauna besides some pine trees. The incline to the cabin wasn’t very harsh but the snow was super slick making it hard to keep balance on skis. We started out by taking turn 
navigating through out the group but as the weather got worse from the storm coming in our leader, Tim, took over navigation toward the hut. Once finally arriving at the hut the wind was blowing the snow so hard we could almost not see. Making ourselves cozy in the hut by the fire, we played games, made dinner and crawled into our giant double bunkbed.
We gathered the next morning after breakfast. The original plan was to go on a ski tour and have lunch along the way, but the snow was still so iced over that the group decided to just ski around to find a good area to build our snow holes. We would then come back to the huts for a nice lunch. After eating, around noon we got everything out of the huts and brought it to the area that we would sleep for the night. Getting out our shovels, ice saws, and splitting up into groups of four, we picked an area and started digging straight into the snow. We made two holes that were a couple meters apart and were tall enough for us to walk in. 
After a while we got our ice saws out to make blocks of ice instead of just shoveling the snow out. The blocks would later be used to cover the entrance to one of our holes and to make a door in the other. We started digging from the top of both holes toward each other, down to the middle and connected them. The Area in the middle needed to big enough for the four of us to sleep on. The reason we did not make the bed lower was to make a cold trench. A cold trench is area near the ground where the cold air can escape to the outside. We kept our heads near the hole with the door for an easy escape, just in case there were to be a collapse in the middle of the night. We also lit a candle in the night. This candle not only provided us with light and comfort, but it was also an indicator that there was oxygen getting in the snow hole. After sleeping just one night on our snow bed, we realized how warm a snow hole can be compared to sleeping in a tent outside.
On the third day, we planned to go on another ski tour and learn about avalanches, but again the snow was too icy to enjoy a ski tour. Our instructor Tim gave us the option to do our avalanche lecture then to make an obstacle course instead of navigating a ski tour, we all said yes. First, we found a hilly area that could be avalanche prone, but not too big of a hill where we were in danger. We dug holes in the snow about a meter and a half down and wide enough to fit a person in. Then one at a time we would lay in the hole we dug to be buried alive from the knees up, this was to get a simulated feeling of what being in an avalanche would be like. Every shovel of snow felt like a ton was dropped on you, it was dark, no one could hear you, but you could hear them, I couldn’t imagine how scary it would be to be lost in an actual avalanche. After everyone had been buried, we learned how to do an avalanche profile. For this we dug two holes about a meter apart straight into the snow. Then took a string from both holes isolating the snow in the middle. After jumping on the isolated area with a pair of skis on, the area would either stay strong meaning it was safe to ski on, or it would collapse, showing it was prone to avalanches. The last activity for our avalanche lecture was practicing using an avalanche probe. The instructor hid an item in the snow and gave us an idea of where it was last seen before the avalanche came through, then timed us. We found the item just in the amount of time we would have to save a person from an avalanche. Everyone met back at the cabin for some lunch, then we split into groups to make our obstacle course. We made jumps, races based on turning, and races based on balance. After building them all up we took turns in our groups practicing the obstacles, then each group nominated one member for each of the courses to compete. After a bloody nose and a broken ski, we went back to our snow holes for dinner and a warm night of sleep. Not only was this day fun because we got to compete against our classmates, it also helped us work on our ski skills in a different way than normal.
The next and last day of the trip we cleared out our things from our snow holes. Then Just too see how strong they were we got multiple people jumping on the tops to make them collapse. We meet our instructor at the cabins. Then we then split up into two groups, the group I was in had an easy day. 
We took turns navigating our way to where our bus was parked. Along the way we stopped for lunch and to do some activities. The first activity we were all blind having to direct ourselves to a certain tree across an open area, this was to get a feel of what its like to be in a storm in the night time when there is no way to tell where you are going. Some people ended on falling, or on the complete wrong side of the area. The other activity we did was building an improvised shelter. These shelters are supposed to be made in about twenty minutes. They are for when a storm is getting so bad to the point where you cannot see where you’re going, making it safer to stay where you are. Improvised shelters are small and slightly Closter phobic, but they will keep you warm and safe while waiting for a storm to pass. After doing these two things we navigated our way back to the bus and headed back home to Kristiansand.
This was a great trip over all. I was expecting it to be more of a challenge to live in a snow hole, but it was warm and big enough to comfortably sleep and make dinner in. We did not do as much skiing as I expected but we worked on our ski skills in other ways. Through out the trip I was in lots of different groups, each one was very cohesive, we all worked very well together because our class is a close knit group.