Winter Mountaineering

On April 3rd-6th, the class would journey to Berdalsbu DNT hut to undertake our winter safety skills course. We would learn about DNT hut life and how we should behave while resident in them. The main element of the course would teach us how to dig our own snow holes in which we had to survive in for two nights. Other learning outcomes included avalanche awareness, studying snow profiles, navigation training and how to build a skileke – the Norwegian term for a ski play area.

The area

The trip took place in the Setesdal east, Berdalsbu area not too far from Hovden where we had previously been. The area is very mountainous with its tops reaching >1400meters, though the hills are quite rounded. At lower altitudes the land is heavily forested while the tops are bare and scoured with exposed bedrock. The landscape is clearly a glaciated one with glacial moraine scattered around, huge eratics and U-shaped valleys. The area is heavily used both during the winter season with winter ski trails and summer hiking trails.

Monday

The first day would be spent skiing into the hut. The class would be split into two groups of twelve lead by Tim and Sindre. This was a fairly easy journey of around 5k with the added challenge of each person being responsible for one navigation leg en route. The snow conditions were tricky and several of us had to readjust our wax. Sindre, our veileder had a very laid back attitude. At first I felt that he could have challenged us more but I later appreciated his approach as I believe it made us think on our own, use our initiative and work as a group rather than relying on his directions and guidance.

Once arrived at the hut, Tim dedicated roles to each of us to allow the running of the hut to function well. These roles included; snow and wood collection, fire tending as well as cleaning. He stressed the importance of leaving the hut in a better condition than originally found. We enjoyed a cosy and relaxed night in the hut that night, resting up for the weeks activities ahead.

Tuesday – Snow hole!

The second day would have us say goodbye to the beloved cosy hut and head out into the snowy wilderness. The plan would be to do a short tour to search for suitable snow hole sights. Unfortunately, extremely poor snow conditions didn’t allow for this to happen but luckily we found a suitable sight not 10 minutes from the hut. We turned back to the hut for shelter and a quick bite of lunch before packing all of our stuff and heading out to dig our homes for the next two nights.

Upon arrival of the snow hole area we learnt of sight suitability for digging the holes. This depends hugely on the design but for a group of 24 a sloping, heavily snow loaded embankment worked well. We also had to be mindful that 6 different snow holes were to be built and to give each other suitable room. We began firstly by probing to ensure the depth of snow was sufficient. Maike and I then began to dig our entrance while Brad and Tom worked on the other. Our snow hole design had two entrances which parallel at the same level would allow us to work most efficiently as a team of four. The sketch bellow illustrates the design that we eventually went for.  We learnt the importance of making the entrance wide enough as well as high enough to allow the person digging to stand straight and avoid bad back strain! Maike and I took this advice a little too far and ended up digging too high and too close to the surface so much so that we would see the light from above coming shining through. Quite hilariously, Tim’s response to this was ‘You’re building a bloody cathedral!’. Other lessons included that it was very important to make the roof as smoothed off as possible using the shovel as any lumps or bumps would create dripping when the hole heated up. Once we had dug a meter or so into our entrances, the snow became considerably harder and we were shown how to efficiently cut away triangular blocks of snow using a snow saw. These blocks would later become useful for blocking and ceiling the entrances. After six hours we finally had made a home for ourselves in amongst the snow and spent the cosiest night I had had yet in the mountains.

Thursday

We woke in the morning to the ceiling being a little lower than the previous night due to all the heat generated by cooking as well as our bodies. After another failed tour due to poor conditions, we would spend the rest of the morning learning of avalanche awareness and safety. First of all we would learn energy efficient ways of gaining height without becoming too exhausted or sweaty. We did this by tacking across the hill with regular stops. Perhaps this was Tim being overly considerate as we had mild conditions and got easily hot however I think the group benefited a lot from this approach to climbing the hill. Tim discussed flat light and how attaching some kind of string/rope to the end of a ski pole can be useful to identify any upcoming drops/changes in the terrain. We learnt of the difference between convex and concave slopes – convex being the most dangerous and to be wary of. Tim further discussed how it is important to see, hear and feel the conditions. When hearing, one should listen to any ‘boomf’ sounds which indicate changes in the snow pack underfoot.

The main purpose of this afternoon however was to learn how to dig and observe snow profiles. Having already attended a couple of winter safety courses in Scotland, I already appreciated how important it is to know and be wary of the surrounding snow conditions. While I knew about snow profiles I had never actually dug one and been through the various layers so this was a fantastic learning experience for me. We dug a profile of around 2 meter meters deep with isolating columns on either side. Tim told us of how it was important to dig straight down. We were taught how to identify the layers using fingers, a fist as well as running a knife through them. We also identified weak layers by tapping the top of the snow profile with the hand, with a shovel and lastly by jumping on the top with skis on. When we did the final test the whole top section came away meaning that the slope was most certainly an avalanche risk! Tim further discussed what one should do in the incident of witnessing someone being caught in an avalanche. We would learn of the necessary steps to be taken and how to dig someone out.

After this rather serious morning we were promised some fun and oh what fun we had. The afternoon was dedicated to building a ski lek (ski play) which is a extremely useful way of entertaining a group for many hours. The course split into two, one group focussing on building two jumps of varying heights as well as a sort of ‘organ peddle’ exercise and the other to developing a slalom course as well as bumps and dips. It was extremely impressive to what we could create in just one hour and even have a thrilling competition out of it where we witnessed our award winning snow kisser Tom face plant it nearly breaking his nose on the ski jump. Other impressive sights were of Jed breaking what we were told to be unbreakable skis. The exercise all in all was a great tool for improving the skills of beginners.

That evening we rested up in the hut once more where we were broken the news that we would not have to spend a night in our own emergency ‘solo’ snowholes. While this was a relief, I was a little disappointed and up for the challenge of having to survive alone for the night. Nevertheless it was nice to know that we could relax and enjoy the last night in our snow hole knowing we our cosy home beds awaited us the next day.

Friday

The next morning it was time to say farewell to our beloved snow holes. Many jumped on top of theirs and tested their durability. It was surprisingly hard for many of them to break through which gave me comfort in how safe they really are! Once met up with Tim and Sindre we were given the option of taking part in two different tours. One would take a slightly more relaxed route along the valley back out to the van and the other a more challenging route heading out over the mountain tops. Keen to test myself, I opted for the latter and we set off promptly up the hill. Tim gave each one of us navigational legs which tested our skills and I appreciated how skiing while navigating is a little more tricky than simply walking. Tim also made us do a fun exercise in which we had to attempt to walk in a straight line with our eyes closed for several hundred meters. This of course did not happen and many of us had strayed in multiple directions. Marijn was according to Tim the first to walk an impressive 180 degrees in the wrong direction. The end of this tour is a memory Ill remember fondly as we got to glide through the powder freely at our own pace on the way down. It was incredibly enjoyable to get into the flow and feel in control while not going to fast. Marijn injured his neck which reminded us all to take care especially at the end of a trip.