The basic ski course had equipped us with the skills we needed to in order to run our own group trips in the Norwegian backcountry. We were asked to plan and attempt a trip with full winter expedition kit using pre-made cross country ski trails maintained by the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT). We were also specifically asked to try and spend successive nights in a tent or bivouac in order to expose us to the elements and also get us used to reusing the group equipment when it was used the night before and when it was not necessarily dry or clean. This was however largely a recommendation to improve our ability and we could use the DNT cabin system if we so desired. The main aim was to challenge us in as many respects as possible; improving the way we packed our bags in order not to carry unnecessary weight, becoming stronger on skis, being able to carry more weight, navigating in winter conditions and deal with the Norwegian winter cold.

I was in a group with Frankie, Maike, Zoë, Jo and Janna and we had opted to travel from Haukelister, a manned mountain cabin at the Southern tip of the Hardangervidda, to Hovden, a skiing town located in the Setesdal Valley, directly North of Kristiansand. The route was expected to take 3 days, reflected by the fact that there are two cabins on the route and that it was approximately 45km in distance, fitting a tidy 15km per day, the limit for which Len had advised us to travel. There were different levels of confidence across the group with worries regarding distance and avalanche danger.

In order to travel to the start, we had to catch a bus, I travelled all the way to Hovden where I met the girls and we travelled together to Haukeliseter. We hired a small room for the night at the mountain cabin and ran over what we all needed to know regarding the route. The couple of questions regarding the route and safety were answered by the DNT staff. We headed out for a short ski around the local area without bags just to remember how it felt to be on skis and see what to expect.

The morning of the expedition ran smoothly with us heading off to reach our objective of Ingelsvatn. After a slow start we began to speed up over the course of the day. There was a real variety of ski terrain which was both interesting and, in some senses, daunting as we were completely on our own. These ranged from curving/meandering downhill sections, to lake crossings where the ice had fragmented (presumably due to expansion when freezing) leaving large vertical pillars of ice near the trail. We also had to climb up steeper sections where we had to ascend in zig zag fashion in order to reduce the gradient at which we were ascending. During this first day we met an interesting character who was skiing from the Southern tip of Norway to the Northern tip. He had a pulk designed for his dog which I was though was an amazing idea. We reached our planned final destination of Ingelsvatn for the day early and decided to push on as far as we could, perhaps even all the way to the fist DNT cabin where we would camp outside but with access to facilities. This involved a large descent down to Langevatn. We made our way down this slope with varying success. I was struggling a bit with the downhill sections despite being very fast on the flat and climbing sections. Eventually I was getting more control however by reducing the gradient. This meant it took a little longer but at least I wasn’t constantly having to get back to my feet which would equally have taken a lot of time. At the bottom of the hill the group had made the decision that we should climb back to the section we had passed at the top as there was greater wind protection and we would also not be camping on a lake. This was because it was unlikely we would reach the cabin before dark and since we still intended to pitch tents, it’s never fun pitching in the dark, especially in winter conditions. Once we had climbed back uphill we had to select a spot to camp. Some of the group were a little apprehensive of avalanche possibilities as there were two prominent slopes providing protection from the elements. One was a little steeper than the others and already looked a little chopped up so I think the whole agreed this wouldn’t be a wise idea. I was pretty happy with pitching below the other slope however, but in the interest of everyone being happy with the situation, we chose somewhere a little bit further out from the slopes. There’s always a trade off between risk and benefit in outdoors situations, this is a prime example of one. We pitched the tent easily after flattening out a flat-ish section which is good because none of us had tried to pitch the Hellsport tent before so this was the first time we had done it. In retrospect it would probably have been sensible to learn to pitch it prior. We also didn’t have quite enough snow stakes despite me bringing my full set of 16 which is fine for my own tent but Janna had her own tent too. This was fine though as we use the skis as alternatives. We cooked up dinner which was vegetable tomato soup and rice, it was nice to eat something hot however I was very glad I had my little pack of beef jerky to much on quietly. We boiled up water and went to bed, I was very comfy all night as my sleeping bag is a winter expedition bag rated to -35 however Maike was a little cold with her far thinner bag.

I awoke to the sound of the tent flapping next to my face. I was a little concerned as it sounded very much like the outer had come free of the ground. The wind also sounded quite strong. I checked my watch and as it was 7am decided to peek my head out of the tent. This is when I discovered our first mistake, We hadn’t weighted the snow flaps and as such our bags had been covered in a layer of snow. Not ideal but also not disastrous as it was too cold for the snow to melt and get everything wet. I also checked the tent and none of the outer had come free which was good however I couldn’t quite work out why it had been so noisy. I put it down to bad pitching. We ate our individual breakfasts; mine consisted of porridge, mackerel and a cereal bar and proceeded to pack the tent down. We left at around 9:30am and pushed back down the hill we had already descended the previous night. Good practice nonetheless. As this day was almost exclusively flat lake terrain it wasn’t very taxing and I was in my element. I could just get my head down and focus on moving, developing somewhat of a rhythm. We each took turn in breaking trail as we would for the entirety of the day. We reached Holmevatnhytte at about the perfect time to get lunch there. It was also nice to get respite from the wind which had become increasingly strong over the course of the morning. It was blowing from the North-West which meant it was hitting the right side of our body and sometimes full on. My face was totally numb on my right side. We set off toward Sloares (the next cabin) and after a short but steep descent we were on a large lake again called Holemvatn. We crossed this relatively quickly where we made our way into the valley at the far end. Again, we decided to camp where we were rather than push on the whole way as we would be a little late. We pitched in a section of the valley where the faces on each side were not as steep in order to reduce the risk of being avalanched on during the night. We had pasta and tomato sauce this evening for dinner. The sun had also quickly disappeared this evening due to us not being so high up and coupled with the fact that the air temperature was also much, much lower we were getting cold very quickly. Myself and Zoë decided to stay and boil water for the following day and most people decided to get into their sleeping bags. While boiling the water I lost sensation in my big toe as it was taking such a long time. It was also this night that 2 out of our three gas canisters had failed us which didn’t help. I realised however didn’t make a fuss as there was nothing more I could do than put a chemical warmer inside my sock and get inside my sleeping bag.

The following morning the sensation wasn’t back so I knew that I had at least developed frostnip. I was concerned but not too worried as I knew it wasn’t frostbite. I was extremely keen to get going for this reason so we had fairly quickly and pushed on to Sloares. Both moving and with the direct sunlight my body started to thaw, as did my toe. It was pretty painful as the blood started circulating properly and felt like my whole toe was on fire. Arriving at Sloares after less than an hour, we went inside. Here we opted to have a rest day. This was in part as and opportunity to warm my toe properly however most of the group was fairly tired and wanted to dry out their kit. We had camped out two nights successively (something no other group did on this trip to my knowledge) and as such had achieved an objective. The girls went out for a small day ski but I opted to warm my toe by the fire and read my book instead. It actually took an extremely long time to warm fully which was odd since I had it so close to the fire. It also lost its warmth very quickly whenever I moved away but I knew this could only improve when I had the opportunity to warm my toe for double the length of time it had been sensationless. We stayed the night in the cabin where we chilled a bit and played some games. We had the place to ourselves which was also a nice extra.

The following morning, we got up earlier in order to make the most of the day and so I could catch the earlier bus back to Kristiansand. We all felt strong after out rest day and we flew up the initial ascent. There was a second climb however which was long and also very steep for a tracked route. We all employed different techniques to climb the hill. Most of the girls used the herringbone technique however my skis were gripping sufficiently to use my body weight and just slide them up the hill. Eventually we found ourselves on groomed tracks and saw lots of day skiers signalling we were near to Hovden. The final descent was perfect. It was very gentle and on the soft snow it was very easy to turn. I was managing fine and even managed to get a few linked telemark turns in which I was very happy with. We reached Hovden nice and early which meant I could catch the early bus back.

This trip was great as we functioned well as a group, got to experience a fairly remote area to practice our skiing all the while doing distances that I didn’t find hugely challenging; an enjoyable journey.