We were three girls digging six hours our snow hole, that had two sleeping banks, two sitting spot and space for kitchen. We also dug a toilet, a table for eating and a sitting bench outside.

The entrance for the snow hole should be as small as possible. In construction, it should be no more than shoulder wide and just high enough to walk inside. The hole should be approximately 3m deep to provide ample room to create your raised sleeping areas on either side. These sleeping areas should provide enough space for 3 people to sleep and sit up in. The sleeping areas must be raised approximately 1m above the ground. This is due to the fact that as the warm air rises, the cold air is pushed into the lower section of the hallway. In doing so, the sleeping areas warm up as they trap and circulate the warm air inside their walls.

Digging the snow hole out itself is a difficult task. Generally both snow shovels and saws are used. The quickest method to dig your snow hole out is to saw out large sections of snow, essentially creating large blocks of snow, which can be used later to seal up the entrance of the snow hole. In our case, the snow was not to difficult to saw out, so we were using the saws all the time, which saved a lot of energy. Once the main dimensions of the snow are cut out, it is vitally important to smooth out any bumps and points in the roof of the snow hole. Condensation and warm air that is breathed out by us can gather on the roof, so any little point or edge that is sticking out from the top of the roof creates a point where water can drip during the night.

Once the inside of the snow hole is prepared, you then need to block of two thirds of you door to ensure that wind and snow from the night does not make its way inside the hole. 

Putting skis around your hole is a good thing to mark it, so skiers would recognize it won’t ski across it. A solution to anticipating a lack of oxygen in the hole, is to leave a candle lit deep in you hole. When the candle stops burning, your hole is losing oxygen, and adjustments need to be done. A candle also gives you more warmth then you would expect.

In the beginning it was only one that could dig the entrance. We always changed after 15 minutes. After finishing the entrance it was always two people that could dig inside the hole, while the third person could rest or take out the snow, that the others digged out. Resting in the sun was the best part about the whole digging.

 

Nutrition

Appropriate nutrition while cross country skiing in the mountains is highly important in order to have safe and enjoyable trip. It is essential to get the right mix of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and liquid in your meals. Carbohydrates should make up around 50-60% of your intake over the day to provide you with plenty of fast burning energy. Fats are also very important as they are the key fuel for low intensity, long duration exercise. They are the second most efficient energy source behind carbohydrates but are equally important. Protein is very important in the regeneration and recovery of muscles. For muscles that are damaged from a day of skiing, extra protein that is consumed in your meal will help these muscles repair themselves for the next days skiing.

I had kind of the same meal every day and kept it simple.

• Breakfast: hot porridge with cinnamon and sugar and a hot drink
• Lunch: 2 slices of rugbrod, which is quite filling and has a lot of energy, with cheese
• Snacks: muesli bars and nuts
• Dinner: dried, powder trek meal, where you just have to add hot water, one meal has approx. 600kcal and provides carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamin and liquid. They are also quite tasty and have a exotic taste, which is also really important. After a long and hard day you want to have a proper meal that is tasty, fills you up and gives you enough energy to stay  warm during the night