When? 5.2. – 9.2.18

Where? Troll Aktiv and Hogås (skiing area around Evje)

Our basic ski course took place in Troll Aktiv, which is a centre for outdoor adventures situated about 8km north to Evje and in a skiing-area close-by. The main aim of this field trip was to familiarize ourselves with the cross-country skiing techniques and practise orienteering in the winter scenery.

Day 1: On our first day, we stayed in Troll Aktiv, split in two groups and practised how to move on cross-country skis. For this familiarization, the area of Troll Aktiv seemed quite appropriate: On one hand, the flat area between the little cabins allowed us to do a lot of activities and play little games on easy ground. In this way, also the students who never stood on skis before could get used to the skis very easily. In this part of the day, the role of our teacher Len was more like an instructor, because he had to demonstrate the main elements of the cross-country skiing technique. He also gave us a lot of tips how we could improve our posture and movements. On the other hand, a little slope between the cabins enabled us to take our first steps into down-hill skiing. We also trained this in the little forest area next to the cabins, where we played around for a long time.

 

Here we also practised how to walk up little hills sideways or in the fishbone manner. In this part of the day Len was more like a guide, because he merely gave us some tasks which we should practise. Then, step by step he let us play around by ourselves, observed and answered questions if they came up. The main thing to do was becoming adjusted to the skis and everyone had to do this by him or herself. For me, this first day was more than helpful because I only had skied on classical langlauf skis before.

After about 5 hours of doing exercises on the cross-country skis I already felt quite comfortable. After we cooked and had dinner together, we met again for a waxing-lecture. We learned the differences between purple, red, blue and green wax and in which weather-conditions we should use them. Moreover, we have been taught how to use the cork and scraper. This lecture was really informative, because I have only waxed skis by using an iron so far.

 

Day 2: In great weather, we drove up to a skiing area called Hogås the next day.

In this area, we practised different skiing techniques such as walking sideways, turning in an 180° angle or how to use the effort-saving sliding technique.

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore we both stayed on prepared tracks (loipe) and did a little cross-country tour. In this way, we got used to different ground conditions. Len and Thomas’ role was a mixture of an instructor as well as a leader, because they again demonstrated different techniques which we should copy and try out by ourselves (role of an instructor). When walking in a cross-country manner, we followed their tracks (role of a leader). Again, I could say that this teaching method was really appropriate because on the second day we still were beginners and had to learn a lot about how to move on cross-country skis. For me it was helpful that we did a lot of activities which were instructed and shown by Len and Thomas. My personal learning outcome of this day was to figure out how to turn in an 180° angle, because in my opinion this skill is really necessary when walking up a hill or whenever there is a need to turn. The evening lecture covered the topic “cold weather injuries and first aid”. We talked about how to treat injuries like sprains, bone fractures, cuts, burns, hypothermia / hyperthermia, altitude sickness and frost bites / frost nips. Based on this knowledge we discussed what a first aid kid should contain.

 

Day 3: On the third day, we did a ski tour around Hogås. The main topic of the day was how to navigate with map and compass. In pairs of two we were in charge of finding the way through the winter scenery. Len and Thomas assisted us if we had problems. Still I felt uneasy leading the group, because I was really short on experience in orienteering with map and compass. And also after this day I still didn’t know how to use the compass correctly. Some of my fellow students reported the same. Thus, it would have been much better if we have had a proper orienteering lecture before going into the field on the skiing trip. In this way, we all could have shared a common understanding and starting position. Another disadvantage was, that we stayed in the same groups as we did the two days before, although we had clearly visible differences concerning our skiing skills. This lead to problems like a feeling of pressure and insecurity within the subgroup of the “weaker” skiers and an underload and extra waiting time within the subgroup of the “better” skiers. As far as I can see, all of us would have profited a lot more in homogeneous groups: For less experienced students it would have been easier to follow the group and participate more in the orienteering process and for more experienced students the trip would have been less boring and instead more demanding. Of course, a heterogeneous group involves also advantages like taking consideration for each other, entering into agreements, motivate each other etc. Sadly, these advantages barely didn’t show up. Still, I had a great day while improving my skiing skills step by step and enjoying the sun and the winter landscape a lot.

My personal learning outcome of this day was to always take a little break after a certain period of time (about one hour), even though you don’t feel like it. But in order to keep the energy and mood on a good level, you should drink enough and eat some energetic snacks like nuts or muesli bars. When walking around in a stunning area or while having problems with orienteering, it is easy to forget about taking little breaks and consequently, in the worst case, risking the danger of dehydration. Thus, it is really important that the leader (of course all other group members as well!), keeps little breaks in mind and sticks to them. Also, these breaks can be very useful to adjust the waxing or putting on / off a layer of clothes. Moreover, whenever the group needs to stop (e.g. because out of orienteering problems), group members who don’t lead the group at this time, should use the break to eat, drink etc. instead of just standing around and doing nothing except of getting cold.

 

Our evening lecture dealt with the topic: “How to pack a day bag”. In my opinion, this lecture took place way too late. It would have made much more sense if we have had this lecture in our first or second week in January in order to be able to use the knowledge on our first trips. On this evening, it felt more like a repetition instead of an increase of knowledge. Still, I think it was a good and interesting teaching method to bring a personal item to the lecture and see what our fellow students carry as a special item in their bags.

Day 4: On day four we went for another ski tour and continued orienteering in groups of two or three students. The task was to find the way up on a hill called Bertesknapen. This tour was nice to train up-hill and down-hill skiing because at some points it was kind of steep. According to this enhanced difficulty level, the problems of our heterogeneous group, which I mentioned under Day 3, increased during this day. The “weaker” skiers had significant problems in keeping up with the group. It seemed like the leaders did only concentrate on orienteering instead keeping also an eye on the skiers at the end of the group. Thus, the group straightened out and the feeling of a good group cohesion was lost. I personally enjoyed the trip a lot, because it was nice to experience a proper ski-tour which contained different elements such as up-hill and down-hill skiing, skiing in a forest area around trees and bushes or crossing a lake. It was much more demanding than the other days but at the end I felt really content. After this tour, we had a little lunch break and drove to an open and sloping field where we practised down-hill skiing. Len taught us the down-hill technique “Telemark” and asked us to do different activities in order to train this technique. After the precedent tour, this technique session was a bit exhausting, because we had to walk up the hill a lot of times. I also fell down a lot of times, which was annoying and also exhausting. In my opinion, this technique part would have been much more affective if we had done it either before the tour or on a prior day. In this way, we could have been able to test the Telemark technique during the tour. Also, it is always nice and much more motivating to end a day with a good feeling (here: manage the tour) instead of the feeling of failure (here: falling down while how to us the Telemark technique).

In the evening, we had our “Ceilidh night” which was a lot of fun. Each nationality presented a typical dance, party game etc.

Day 5: On our last day, we went to Hogås one more time. Len demonstrated us how to build emergency shelters in the snow by using our shovel, probes, skis and ski-poles. In total, he taught us three different types of shelters. A one-person shelter can be built in an area which already offers a heap of snow. In a relatively flat area we dig out a coffin-like hole with an entrance on the front side. This emergency shelter can be covered with skis and a foam mat and is also suitable for two or more persons if the sides are carved out. For the third emergency shelter we used trees and snapped of the lower branches in order to sit down at the bottom of the trees. Depending on the size of the tree, this shelter can be used by a lot of people and is really easy to “build”. My personal learning outcome of this day: it is more energy-saving and a lot faster to build an emergency shelter when digging snow blocks out instead of loose snow.

Afterwards we had lunch in a little hut around a fire. During this little break, Len told us about how to behave in case of an avalanche and therefore introduce avalanche devices such as “Pieps” etc. When going on a ski-tour, all devices of each member of the group need to be putted on “send” and have to be geared to each other before starting the tour. If a group member is caught in an avalanche, the others need to put their devices on “receive” and follow a defined pattern of searching the buried person (examine the relevant area in a figure of a cross). Our task was to hide some devices and try to find them by putting other devices on “receive”. In hindsight, this last day was really interesting and insightful. After this “shelter building and avalanche lesson” another learning outcome was to always take a shovel with you when you go skiing, because you never know if the weather changes and you need to build an emergency shelter or your group has to deal with an avalanche.