Blog 2. Basic Ski Course: Observation tasks:

Area:

On Monday the 5th of February 2018 out international Outdoor education class begun our 5 day basic skills skiing course. The course was based around Troll Aktive adventure centre and the surrounding mountains in the Evje area, one hour north of Kristiansand. The facilities in the area proved to be useful for progressively developing our cross country skiing skills. We where able to begin with the basic movements on skis in the immediate area around the cabins  at Troll active. As our skills progressed we where able to take a short trip into the mountains at Hornnes where we encountered slightly more challenging terrain developed skills more relevant to ski touring such as skiing up and down hill and navigation in snowy environments.

The role of the (vei)leader:

For the duration of the week we had three veileaders Len, Tim and Thomas. Each of them adoted various roles throughout the week. This kept the learning engaging and providing the group with the different knowledge and skill sets from varying backgrounds. For the majority of the practical skiing part of the week the veileaders seperated us into two seperate groups half with us with Len and Thomas and the other half with Tim.I found this method to be extremely effective for my own learning and development for skiing as we where in smaller groups allowing Len to work more closely on correcting skiing technique in specific areas for each individual. The smaller group also made it easier to communicate effectively with Len and Thomas asking them one on one questions about how to improve upon skiing.

Whilst this method of group orgisiation did prove to be effective it may have been for certain individuals to work with both instructors throughout the week as it is likely that Tim had slighty diffefernt teaching pedagogy to Len this could have catered for more learning styles bu would have been difficult with limited time frame.

 

Throughout the week Len appeared to used several different teaching methodologies the most obvious of which was guided discovery (Nichols, 1994 cited in Dyke, 2018). This was done by giving a set of clear instructions at the beginning of a task with an explanation of what was expected of us. This would often also include a clear demonstration, in which Len would position himself central to the group demonstrating the technique clearly several times, before asking us to repeat it. It was then up to us as the students to explore and problem solve allowing us to discover what worked best for us when completing each new ski technique. Personally i found this style of teaching to be of great value in equipping us as learners with the necessary skills and allow us to problem solve enabled us to develop inderpendence and resilience in completing skills which can be transfered to ski touring in more challenging terrain for future expeditions.

 

I found the lectures at the end of each day to be useful and interesting as they where relevant to what we had been doing throughout the week. It was also useful the way that they where structured being delivered by the three individual veileaders all giving different information from varying experiences and backgrounds. Tim’s skii waxing lecture was the biggest learning point for me personally as it was something i was completely unfamiliar with having not done skiing of any kind before coming to Norway. I found it to be particular interesting the difference in the construction in the touring skis such as the gemmel and it’s purpose in stearing the ski. This lecture also gave good insight as to why we used ski wax and how different waxes and used for different conditions and how wax can be combined applied and removed in order to suit a variety of conditions. The lecture about emergency equipment was eye opening for me personally as their was several additional pieces of equipment necessary for cold winter conditions such as a fire lighting kit which i would not have normally thought about bringing in the conditions we face back home in Australia. Similar to this with the lecture about day packs there was several items Thomas had in his day pack i would not ordinarily consider necessary for an expedition in Australia. These lectures proved useful for me personally having spent minimal time in winter conditions and will use the suggestions given by both Len and Thomas of making a list of gear before each expedition and ticking things off to refine packing and ensure that i am bringing the most vital pieces of equipment for each expedition.

The role of the students:

During the initial two days of our basic skills ski course i feel as though the sessions where more structured or ‘organised play’. We where given a set of instructions about how to complete a task or skills then carry it out. The skills where also a lot more basic such as just getting used to walking on skis and going up and down small hills getting the feel of basic techniques and getting to know more about skis when they needed more or less wax. As the week progressed we where given more freedom and responsibility around how each day was structured. Len begun to move from autocratic leadership style to more democratic style (Martin 2006). This change was particularly evident on the third day when we once we where given the basic skills for ski touring Len handed us the map and set us the goal of navigating around Hornnes gave us as students additional responsibility and created challenge problems to overcome. I found the navigation in this area to be more difficult that what i had expected, this was largely down to the lack of features and quality of the map. Additionally the challenge of navigating in a vastly different environment to what i am used to at home in Australia i found the terrain featureless for large sections making it difficult to determine where we where on the map at any point.

The motor skills related to skiing where quite simple to pick up at the basic level. This is due to the fact that certain level of balance in transferable from other prior sporting experiences and for day to day life. However it was quite difficult to become more proficient in these techniques in such as short time frame as they are quite complex techniques in particular telemark turning down hills.

The learning outcomes for me personally over this trip was that i gained a sound understanding of the basic skills required for cross country ski touring. These included how to wax skis, how to walk with skis, how to ski down hill on cross country skis and several basic turning techniques for making it easier going both up and down hill such as tacking and herringbone technique. Additionally to this i also gained useful knowledge on vital considerations to make when planning and preparing winter trips particularly in relation to packing and emergency equipment. This week has also highlighted my weak points when which must be improved upon in future skii touring expeditions including turning down hill and navigation in snowy environments.

 

 

Comments for the week: a summary of each day’s activities

Day 1: Len gave brief demonstration of waxing and we applied one layer of blue just enough to move around and complete basic techniques for the first day. We were then separated into two groups half with Len and Thomas and half with Tim. Len first taught us to basic movements of ski including, walking, gliding and turning.

Night 1: Tim took our first lecture about ski waxing. We learnt about the structure and uses of different types of skis and their pros and cons for varying situations. He explained to us why we used the cross-country skis for our expeditions as well as the types of wax we would use and the appropriate conditions to use each in.

Day 2: Took short bus ride to Horness, we begun the day skiing in the prepared tracks working of techniques such as gliding and turning. Thomas pointed out the fact that we all looked like we were trying to run and should exaggerate the movements of bending the knees and use arms to help push us along. This proved to help significantly reducing the effort required to ski. We then went of a small tour around the area practised walking through some deeper snow as well and getting use to going down some larger hills.

Night 2: On Tuesday nights lecture Len talked about the various items he takes in his first aid kit when on a winter expedition. Some of these which I would not have thought of ordinarily for personal trips back home included a fire lighting kit and emergency shelter.

Day 3: We had our first opportunity to ski tour as we changed days as the weather was forecast to be poor on Friday. The aim for us was to reach a high point called Himmelsyna, developing skills in navigation and skiing through deeper snow. Navigation proved to be difficult in this terrain despite there being tracks as several where un marked on the maps. We relied mainly upon obvious features such as lakes and powerlines. Because of the challenge of first time snow navigating for many of us we did not manage to reach our destination and instead spent time learning new techniques for going up and down hill with Len and Thomas. These included tacking and step turns which Len suggested where a much better less energy consuming method than herring-boning.

Night 3: Wednesdays lecture Thomas explained what he packs in his day pack. This proved to be quite eye opening for me as I did not consider a day pack needing to contain everything necessary for a night’s survival. After this session there are some definite additions I need to make to my own day pack for future expeditions such as extra food warmer clothes and a fire-starting kit.

Day 4: We skied a slightly different area to the previous days. We skied to the top of a hill which was quite a long and steep climb. This was a new experience doing a sustained climb o ski. We met Tim’s group at the top had a quick break before going back down the hill. On the way down Len taught us new techniques for moving down steep sections such as similar to tacking but downhill. We then finished that day an open paddock area with a reasonable long but gradual downhill. Here we were able to practice several down hill techniques such as telemark and stepping.

Night 4: This was our final night and was our Caleigh night where each Nationality in their group shared a cultural dance or other activity to the group. This was a lot of fun and was a great way to end the trip, was a good indication of the progression we had made as a group throughout the week so far.

Day 5: On the final day the conditions where not favourable for skiing so we spend the day practising emergency techniques. Our group begun with emergency shelters Len demonstrated several different methods. These included a scrape, a coffin style shelter and a shelter in low lying tree branches. Each were not extremely comfortable but was evident the purpose they would serve for survival in an emergency. After this we had lunch in the small hut at Horness where we discussed how to use transceivers in the even of a person being buried in an avalanche. The then practices this in the car park in shallow snow. This small practice run highlighted just how difficult it would be to really find a body in an avalanche.

In summary the basics skills week at Evje was an amazing experience which helped equip us with the basic skills for cross country skiing. as well as highlighting areas for improvement for each individual for future expeditions.

 

References:

 

Martin, B., Cashel, C., Wagstaff, M., Breunig, M. (2006). Leadership in outdoor education and recreation. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

 

Pyke, K 2016, Teaching Styles, Kerry Pykes webpage, viewed 26 Feburary 2018, <http://www.mun.ca/educ/ed4361/virtual_academy/campus_a/dykek/page7.html>