The original plan was to start at Languid and ski 7km to the hut at Tjönndalen then to Gaukhei (13km) and finally to Bortelid and get the bus back to Kristiansand.

On the way up there we started to notice just how little snow there was in the valleys but thankfully there was still a lot in the hills. The first three or four kilometres were up a very steep track with only a thin layer of very wet snow, which we didn’t have the right wax for, so we just walked up to save time and energy. Even on the plateau at the top of the hill the snow was really wet but it was quite flat so it wasn’t too hard to ski. The weather on the first day was great and we reached to hut in very good spirits which made for a good group dynamic.

After checking the weather for the next day we decided that we should probably make another plan as there was lots of snow forecast and very strong head winds all day. We decided to evaluate it in the morning and just go out for a day trip.

We got about one kilometre into the day trip and decided to turn back as it was just too much hard work with the wet snow and the head wind and spent the rest of the day in the cabin playing cards. Despite all this it turned out to be a good day and brought us all closer together.

On the final day we went back to Languid to get the bus home. The only issues we had were that were had to ski around all the lakes as they were starting to melt but apart from that it was a pretty easy day.

The most useful learning outcome from the week was about how you need a flexible plan. For us it would have be unnecessarily hard to for to try and stick to the original plan on the second day and it would have led to safety issues. As we planned to stay in huts we only had bivi bags in case of an emergency and no tent.