The aim of this exercise was to complete a 6 day expedition in Norway learning to cross country ski and shoot .22 to develop leadership, self reliance and physical robustness in a challenging environment. We would train in unfamiliar conditions and sleep in a Norwegian lavvu. It would also act as training for a future skiing expedition to Norway.
We met at school around 4am and after a day’s travelling we finally arrived in Evje. We met Brian, our professional skier and his dog Inka who were going to look after us. He gave us a tour of our accommodation and fitted us out with skiing equipment.
After good night’s sleep we were ready to ski and we practised on the local football field. We all had several layers on expecting it to be very cold but soon took items off after working so hard. The skis had fish-scales underneath the foot which gripped the snow when kicking off. They were much longer than alpine skis and this made the skis difficult to control. A bit uncertain at first, we quickly picked up the techniques and we were off. On our first ski trip into Evje we practised nordic skiing techniques; snowploughing, kicking and gliding. The next few days were spent perfecting these skills around Evje and up at Hogas at 503 metres where it was colder and ski tracks were cut. We all had a lot of fun!
On Wednesday morning we packed food and the equipment we needed for our overnight trip to the lavvu. We started at Hogas with heavy expedition rucksacks on, filled with spare clothes, cookers, sleeping bags, food, snow shovels and snowshoes. The skiing was very different with rucksacks on. We had to move our weight forward especially when going downhill and if we fell over we had to take our sacks off before getting up or risk breaking poles. We arrived at the lavvu tired, dug our way in and unpacked. It took a while to get the fire inside the lavvu going because snow sitting on top of the lavvu kept falling in. We set up the .22 range which was under 3 feet of snow; it took a while to dig out. We practised shooting at the targets then got ready in three teams to ski the biathlon route. Watching this event on TV it seems quite simple but when trying it yourself you realise it’s not that easy. All of us found the shooting far harder than in practise. Standing up to shoot was particularly challenging because you could feel your heart racing and we couldn’t stand still enough to align the sights with the target.
Later that evening we ate soup and pasta for dinner. We had all used our one flask for the whole trip so it was an interesting taste and smell when we had had hot chocolate and different kinds of soup and tea in them! Some of the boys had built amazing snow holes and one group had cooked dinner in one. Then, six of us including our officers went out for a midnight ski. It was pitch black and we made our own tracks in fresh snow, falling over a lot! We were out for 2 hours but we didn’t notice as we had a great time.
After an uncomfortable night in the lavvu, we woke up rather cold. The fire was out, the heat source gone, some left clothes out to dry but they had frozen and felt very cold when put on. We made porridge and packed up ready to go for 9am. We skied off and had more downhill runs than on the way up. We dropped our rucksacks off and went for a 25-minute ski to loosen up and relax. We were all extremely tired.
On our last day we skied into Evje. We had improved a lot, with better technique, and we all skied downhill sections without falling over. After a snowy ski back, we set about returning our equipment to Brian. The next morning we cleaned the Centre and thanked Brian and Inka, our amazing guides, for making our trip the best it could be. We all had a fantastic time but were all exhausted and eager to sleep in our own beds! We learned to live and travel in the winter environment and felt we were ready for the next cross country skiing challenge.
Elizabeth Kington, Loretto cadet
