Summary

On the 5^th of February our class travel an hours drive north of Kristiansand for a five day course of learning to cross country ski. We learnt basic techniques of moving forward, turning, travelling uphill and down, stepping techniques and how to tack across hills.  We learnt also how to dig several different forms of emergency shelters and how to use avalanche transceivers. In the evenings, lectures on waxing skis, first aid and what to carry in the backpack were given. The course was to prepare us for future trips that would be spent in more remote places.

Area

A week of falling on bums and skiing on faces began within the grounds of Troll Aktiv – an outdoor centre based in Evje.

This was a heavily forested area with extremely undulating ground – great for practicing balance and stability. For the rest of the week, the skiing venue was largely based at Evje Hornnes, around fifteen minutes drive from the centre of Evje. The area offers many kilometres of prepared cross country tracks which can provide great day trips to various places. Competitions often take place there and it appeared to be well used by locals. Off track, the area was largely forested and had very hilly terrain. This provided good grounds for practicing skiing off piste and downhill skills.

~ The role of the veileader ~ 

In Norway, the leader or guide is called the “veileder”. The expectation of this person has changed over the last decades. In previous times the veileders role simply was to lead people up the mountain and down or wherever the desired location might be. In recent years, the veileader must fulfil many more roles. They are there to educate, to provide an experience, to coach, to be responsible for safety, to instruct and to lead.

My groups veileder for the week was primarily Len with the assistance of Thomas. The teaching methods over the week, from what I observed, were to dissect each primary skill and slowly build them over the week.

The days spent at Evje were planned with careful consideration of many factors. I would expect that our veileaders would have reviewed the following before organising a day out;

Conditions – Conditions will control what area is used, what is possible and what the objectives of the day will be. An example from the week was when the long tour day originally planned for Friday was changed to Wednesday due to good weather conditions. Snow and ground conditions are of course of utmost importance to consider.

The group –  The groups size and ratio to instructor would have played a big role within planning. We were a group of 12:2 students to instructor, so were quite slow and unable to travel huge distances.

 Ability – Though we were all beginners to cross country skiing, there was still a large range in ability. The leaders in this case had to plan each day in accordance to the weakest group member. The first few days also seemed to be planned without any huge inclines or declines as this would not be appropriate for beginners. By the end of the week we tackled much harder and more steep terrain.

 It is extremely important for the veileder to observe the students as it allows them to assess and provide feedback from which the student will ultimately grow. In the beginning Len and Thomas (our instructors for the week) paid very close attention to all of our skiing and made pointers often. They managed this by having us split into groups and do relay races, go down tricky sections one at a time and have us ski in circles around them. By doing this, they were able to purely focus on one or a few students at a time. As the week progressed, feedback diminished however students were often at the front of the group so teachers could observe from the back.

On the last day many were frustrated by the lack of feedback when it came to learning telemark turning. In reflection, I realise that you cannot always rely on the leader to improve your skills, sometimes it is best to simply learn through yourself through a lot of practice, trying and failing.

During this trip we were given an insight into the importance of the contents of a veileaders rucksack! A leader must be prepared for many potential scenarios and carry the necessary equipment to deal with them.  On the second last night we discussed what should be carried. On top of all the usual equipment such as a shovel, role mat, fire lighting kit etc. a veileader should also carry extra group items such as a group shelter, group first aid kit and in some cases a rope.

 

 

 

~ The role of the students ~

As students, we were on the course to learn as much as possible from our veileaders. The more we could take from them the more equipped we would be to carry out our own self organised trips. The days throughout the course were highly structured but we were also given time to play at the end to put to practice what we had learnt throughout the day. For me, both organised and free play were of equal help in improving my ski skills. Organised play allowed me to learn in a structured way where skills were broken down. Free play then allowed development of these newfound skills.

As with anything, motivation was a key ingredient to learning and developing fast! Cross country skiing came as a struggle to even the most experienced downhill skiers and it was pivotal to stay motivated in the beginning when falling every minute was a normal occurrence.

In reflection of this trip we have been asked to consider the “quality” of the motor skills. Learning motor skills allows us to make precise movements with maximum certainty. In the beginning, I possessed none of the motor skills needed for efficient or confident skiing. The skis used for cross country are extremely long and only fixed to the foot by the toe which makes natural movements very difficult. As the week progressed, I got used to the skis and  my motor skills grew considerably. By the end of the week I was able to comfortably ski across various different terrain types.

~ Learning Outcomes

For me, this trip opened up a whole new and exciting world!  I grasped how to move efficiently both on the flat and uphill. I also learnt downhill techniques such as telemark turning, however this was extremely difficult and I still have a lot of work to do on it. I learnt how to apply and remove wax to skis, which waxes are to be used in what conditions as well as understanding the science behind how it works in conjunction with the snow. The course equipped me with the skills to move on the flat, uphill, down, various turning techniques and how to deal with slippy skis.

~ Evaluation of the week ~

Monday – We wasted no time in throwing on our skis as soon as bags were dropped. The morning was spent getting used to the feeling of them on our feet and practicing the basics of generally moving around. I’m sure for both Len and Tim this was a hilarious sight to watch 24 internationals falling all over the place. Through various games I learnt different stepping techniques, gliding and turning.

In the afternoon we moved into slightly more challenging terrain where we would learn ballancing techniques and how to position the body. Learning to position one foot on front of the other for stability was a key skill I learnt that day and one that I have carried on into further ski trips.

Monday Night – On this night Tim gave a lecture on waxing skis. This was my greatest learning curve as I knew absolutely nothing of the subject. While there are many different wax types, we discussed green, blue, purple, red and klister. Green being the hardest for the coldest conditions and klister the softest for warmest conditions. We looked at various different ski types, which are most appropriate for different terrain types as well as learned the names of the different ski parts such as the gammel and camber. We learnt the science behind how the wax works in conjunction to the snow and how best to approach waxing before setting out. It was stressed that it is good to have a hard wax as a base layer, such as green and most importantly to wax in the middle third of the ski. Should the skis be slipping a lot we also learnt that you can extend the wax to the fronts which may help for them to stick better.

Tuesday – The class moved onto the real tracks! In our groups of 12, we continued our learning in Hornness firstly along prepared ski tracks to improve our gliding techniques and then moved onto practicing travelling through deep snow. I learnt on this day the importance of applying extra pressure to the skis when travelling uphill to allow the wax in the centre of the ski to stick to the snow better.

Tuesday Night – A lecture on first aid was given. This was a useful refresher for me. While I have undertaken first aid training fairly recently it is always extremely beneficial to be reminded of many things that are easily forgotten. I thought it was useful that we all discussed what we carry in our personal first aid kits as I was able to pick up some useful tips from some of the class!

Wednesday – The aim of this day was to make a tour to a summit called Himmelsyna due to particular good conditions on the day. Unfortunately we had not developed well enough to move at a good pace while navigating so we ended up cutting this trip short. Instead we focussed on micro navigation and downhill practice. We also learnt how to tack across the hill which was particularly useful. Tacking (zig-zagging across the hill) helps to make both uphill and down much more manageable and is a skill that can be used in day to day hillwalking.

Wednesday Night – On this night Thomas talked us through what should be carried in a veileaders rucksack. While most of the items were what I am used to carrying in winter in Scotland, I never considered carrying a fire lighting kit, which for Scotland may not be as useful but I will certainly carry one for the rest of my time here in Norway.

Thursday – On this day we went to the top of a peak which unfortunately I cannot remember the name of. This was the first time for many of us having to travel uphill and down for a considerable distance and period of time. It was here that I fully appreciated how beneficial it was to apply appropriate wax for the snow conditions. While many had to herringbone up the hill nearly the whole way using a lot of energy, I was able to walk normally most of the time thanks to the wax sticking to the snow well. On this day I also gained a greater appreciation of how difficult it is to navigate through forest and snow. While forest is very disorientating and snow almost acts like a blanket masking useful navigation features, the combo together require a lot of concentration and small micro-nav legs in order not to not get lost.

Thursday Night – ‘Ceilidh night!’ – our last night together was a special one celebrated around a cosy fire. Each nationality delivered an activity whether it was a game, dance or an interactive story from their home country. I of course taught everyone to ceilidh dance with the classic dance of the gay gordons.

Friday – On the last day we would also learn important lessons of safety. To begin we learnt how to dig various styles of emergency shelters. This is important to know should you ever find yourself caught out in treacherous weather and unable to return to safety. We learnt and practiced digging various shelters dependent on how many people it would hold. For a single person we simply dug a small hole into a bank of snow.

For two people, we practiced digging a shelter that should be used if you are on flat ground and do not have the option of digging into a bank. This one takes the form of a coffin and has a tunnel that should be crawled through feet first allowing the head to be nearest the exit. The picture bellow illustrates this. We further learnt how to build a shelter for a whole group by sheltering within the canopy of a tree itself and building around this.

The last lesson on Friday was how to use avalanche transceivers. While I have done this before, I learnt the necessity of knowing how to use different types of transceivers as I came to realise that not all were as simple as they seemed and that I would have had no chance of using it in real life had i not spent a considerable amount of time familiarising myself with it.

Personally, this was one of my favourite trips of the course to date. As a group I felt that we really bonded and began “performing” in terms of group dynamics. A great example of this was the way in which we organised our dinners. Each evening each person contributed to preparing meals or to cleaning afterwards. In my experience it is quite unusual for a group of 24 to all work cohesively together and something I think is quite unique about our course! Each evening we would take advantage of having the cabin to stay in to play games, make music or rest from the long days ski! All in all it was a superb way to introduce cross-country skiing and was the key starting point to many adventures also writing about in this blog.