The basic ski course ran in February at the Troll Aktiv activity centre near Evje. The area is heavily forested but is situated rivers, fjords, crags, lowland hills and some smaller mountains. This provides a highly varied environment for activities to take place. For the purpose of winter activities particularly skiing this was great as it provided ample room for upscaling the challenge over the week as our ability improved. We stayed in the Troll Aktiv accommodation where I was in a small alpine looking condo with 5 others.

Prior to training we had each received the kit we needed. This was a pair of boots, a set of cross country skis relative to our height, a shovel and a set of ski poles. This Nordic skiing equipment differed massively to what many others in the group were used to, most of whom had only been downhill skiing with much heavier boots and skis which lock the heel in place. The difference with cross country/ Nordic skiing equipment is that the heel is loose and the binding therefore only attaches at the toes. This allows for a much easier kicking movement when crossing flat and uphill terrain

The teaching began with a brief explanation of waxing. We had all been asked to bring kits containing red, blue, green and purple wax, all of which were designed to work best in different snow conditions. The aim of perfectly applied wax was for there to be no visible bumps of wax and that the wax would easily glide over the snow but that there was enough friction such that when weight was applied to the centre of the ski (where the wax is mostly concentrated), that the ski would hold its place. This process of being good at waxing skis requires a great deal of experience to be able to judges the snow and as such was mostly just a process of trail and error for us beginners. Layering different types of wax was also an option. For example, we were advised to put green wax over the whole length of the ski and then a layer of blue in the middle. The caveat of this however is that hard layers generally should not be placed over soft layers. When done, the wax can be scraped off fairly easily. Pretty much all of the waxing process is made easier by waxing and scraping in a warm area. Particularly if the ski is given time to warm.

We were split into two groups and put with different instructors. These were Len and Tim, Tim being the owner of Troll Aktiv. I was in Tim’s group and the first thing he asked us to do once we were on our skis was to practice moving and turning. We broke in tracks and moved around a large oval practicing simply sliding on our skis, making particular effort not to step as if we were walking. In respect to turning we practiced simply stepping with our skis in 45 to 90-degree angles and the tried kick turns to varying degrees of success. This required far more balance than the previous method and involved lifting the leg and twisting the ski 180 degrees so that it was facing the opposite direction. We also started to learn some basic ascending and descending skills. This involved practicing the correct position of the body when sliding down a small 2 or 3 metre slope. We then ascended the same slope elsewhere. Here we learned how to herringbone. This involves using the inside of the skis and placing them as wide apart as possible in order to push off the snow in a perpendicular direction to the ski. Another but slower method was to ascend in a zig-zag fashion. This essentially allows for a lesser gradient to be ascended which is useful on steeper mountain slopes however as stated requires turns which adds time. To finish off we briefly moved around on a sort of obstacle course to practice certain scenarios and then practiced descending on a larger slope. I was falling over a lot however there was still a significant improvement from the start of the day.

The following day we hopped on the mini bus up to the Gautestad area to ski on groomed tracks. We covered some significant distance and also go the chance to use the skis in deeper snow for the first time too. There was allot of guided discovery on this day.

The following days were looped trips out. This involved us going up to the top of several hills/mountains and then skiing down. The terrain was really varied with some really deep snow sections, steep sections, groomed trails and icy windswept slopes. This gave us a full understanding of how to approach each type of terrain differently and which skills did and indeed didn’t work. Tim’s leadership was fairly hands off which meant little support so motivation had to be fairly intrinsic.

One evening we had a lecture ran by Len on cold weather and mountain injuries. This involved quite realistic scenarios such as how to deal with early frostbite such as frostnip and also hypotheticals such as high altitude sickness (AMS/ Hypoxia). We went through medications which can help and also the useful things to have in our first aid kits.

For the final day we looked at winter mountain safety. This meant looking at many ways of creating or using the environment to create improvised shelters. There was not time to dig full snowhole type shelters as these were more for emergency use. One of the simplest was the snow grave. This involved digging a pit and using a sleeping mat for cover and the skis for support beams. This protected the individual from the elements and meant that air could warm inside. Another idea which was used was using a spruce trap. Spruce traps are generally not good things however for a shelter they can be used to our advantage. The pocket of air created by the branches at the base of the tree can be dug out and using compressed snow as a wall to cover the top. This won’t be as warm but it required far less physical effort and was able to fit far more people. We were able to fit over 10 people at the bottom of just one tree and the whole shelter was constructed in about 20 minutes.

Not only was the ski course good but but I also learned a lot. Balance and core strength are not my strong points so I found many aspects of the week challenging however there was clear development. I learned all of the basic skills and techniques used to explore the easier mountains of Norway safely.