907 – ‘Ski Viking Trek 3’ – Norway

In the Easter break, twelve fortunate CCF cadets embarked on a highly challenging yet fulfilling ski-touring expedition to the Hardangervidda Plateau in Southern Norway. Our dedicated CCF Officers , Captain Tony Willmore, Major John Patchett and Lieutenant Zoe Scott, with their excellent leadership qualities and fun approach, ensured that the cadets not only gained fantastic new skills but had a blast at the same time.

Late afternoon on Monday 5th April, we gathered at Victoria Terrace to begin the first leg of the journey which was a very full minibus from Crieff to Edinburgh Airport. For the majority of us, what was going to happen over the next week remained a mystery, yet an exciting one at that. However, with our flight not leaving until 1945hrs and Norway being an hour ahead, we anticipated a long trip before experiencing the breath taking scenery of this beautiful country.

By the time our plane had landed in Oslo at 2300hrs, Norway time, a five hour coach trip to Haugastol lay ahead. Our baggy eyes and long yawns expressed that we were ready to ditch our iPods and sleep. Thankfully, we had a very luxurious coach in which we could have two seats each and catch some zzz’s before arriving at our destination. At approximately 0400hrs we were greeted by Eldbjorg, the hotel owner, and crept into the hotel as were shown to our rooms. Though not over generous in space these provided free internet access, ensuite-bathroom, bunk and sofa beds, fully fitted kitchen and lounge area with a TV! Despite our anticipation for the coming day, we soon drifted into a dreamy sleep….

Due to our late arrival, we were given a lie in until 1030hrs, and on first opening our bedroom curtains, we were instantly inspired by the beauty of the frozen lake before us. After enjoying a filling brunch, we collected our skis and boots. Hayley, who attended the expedition in 2009, headed to the Technique Area with Zoe and Tony where they created tracks for the rest of the group to learn the basics of cross-country skiing. Meanwhile John gave the rest of the group, Paul, Alex, Marianne, Jamie S, Jamie M, Liam, Ian, Zak, Marcus, Michael and Patrick, a briefing on their equipment and in particular how to not to bend the poles. Three members of the group, Liam, Marianne and Marcus, learned they did not have “fish scales” on the bottom of their skis. Did this mean much to them at the time? No, not really. But they soon discovered it meant it would be more difficult going up hills, but much faster when going down them. The group then spent the next few hours learning three classic cross-country skiing techniques – the classic technique of moving across country, double polling and double polling with a kick. This involved several falls and face plants (Michael securing the first one of the trip), and much shock amongst the many downhill skiers in the group at the vast difference between the two different types of skiing! We took an hour’s break for lunch at the hotel which consequently led to Liam’s room having to do 20 push ups each for being late back. This improved their punctuality for the rest of the week after Tony’s threat of doubling it for the following day! We then embarked on a small tour and then called it a day. Following a wholesome dinner, John gave us an interesting presentation on this area of Norway, the dangers of the extreme climate and how we should look after ourselves and others when ski-ing.

The next day began with an unfortunate start. Paul had to be taken to the hospital by Tony after he had taken ill in the night, meaning we were down a skier and an instructor…However the show had to go on, and the rest of the group headed to the test tracks with Zoe and John where we practiced our newly found skiing techniques. John then took us to a relatively small hill, which looked like a mountain to our inexperienced selves. When we thought the hills couldn’t get any higher, we climbed a very steep hill using the “herringbone” and “side stepping” techniques to conquer it. Our downhill prowess was then really put to the test and it’s fair to say that we all demonstrated excellent examples of “face plants” on the way down. We then came back for lunch and Zoe enjoyed taking pictures with the cute, fluffy, white Samoyed called Monty owned by the hotel owners. After lunch, we ventured into new territory along the nick named “Via Dolorosa” which translates to “Road of Pain”. This name was well suited to the route we had taken as it consisted of a very long and steep hill which required the herringbone technique for most of the way (particularly for those without fish scales). As we climbed higher and higher, it began to dawn on us that we would have to come back down again, a frightening prospect for some. Ultimately coming downhill was the best part of the day as almost everyone fell over (including Zak who achieved the title of “sissy”). We were then honoured to have an hour’s presentation by the current world record holder for the fastest solo trip to the South Pole, Hannah McKeand. Her inspiring yet modest talk spoke of her many ventures to both the Poles and her near death experience in the North. Her visit to Haugastol was due to her new love for kite skiing, which she hopes to use to cross Greenland.

On the whole, we as a group felt Wednesday was one of the best days of the week. The true beauty of the lake was enhanced by the shining sun. Consequently, this also meant much of the lake had started melting and made us feel a bit uneasy as we skied across it that morning! Tony set up a small race between two teams where we skied down a fairly steep hill, around a pole and then had to race back up the hill to the finish. Following this, we returned to the hotel where we munched on our homemade sandwiches. Everyone was excited when Tony announced we would be digging snow holes in a big snow mound beside the hotel in the afternoon. We were taught that had we been caught in a snow storm in the wilderness, these would be depended upon for survival. The group was split into two teams with Marianne and Hayley being Team Captains. After hours of “back breaking” labour, the snow holes were complete. On the contrary, no sooner had we accomplished our task; we were told they would have to be demolished in case anyone else fell into them by mistake. Immediately Hayley expressed her Scottish pride and attached her Saltire to her ski pole and placed it on the top of the hill. Subsequent to this, we enjoyed sliding down the huge hill like a slide and jumping into the 4ft depth of snow! Sadly, Ian lost his camera in the fun and a search was made but sadly it was never to be seen again. Before dinner, John gave another excellent slide talk about other areas of Norway and also about his time serving with the Parachute Regiment. As this was the last night we could access the lecture room we were given a second talk by John after dinner, this time focusing on his incredible journeys to the Himalayas. This truly was inspiring for us all, particularly Jamie Macdonald who is exploring there this summer!

On Thursday morning we prepared to set off for our most demanding day of the exercise yet – a full day ski tour. The night had been perishing, meaning the rock hard snow became a phobia for us to fall on. Just as we began making our way to a hut called Embretstolen, Marianne’s ski binding broke. Fortunately, Zoe very generously swapped skis with her and allowed the day to continue! Meanwhile, the group ventured onwards to the hut on what seemed like a never ending climb, well over twice as far as we had ski-ed up before and much more demanding. However after reaching the top, we enjoyed an exhilarating ski down to the hut where we ate our lunch and took some photos of the beautiful scenery surrounding us. Half an hour later, our journey back to the hotel commenced with another climb and a long and varied descent. After many a face plant, (including Ian who achieved a daily average of 15), we were amazed when Tony announced we had just skied 16km in just over five hours! Proud of our efforts and what we had a
chieved, we relaxed for the rest of the evening enjoying various card games and watching “The Hangover” on DVD.

On Thursday morning we prepared to set off for our most demanding day of the exercise yet – a full day ski tour. The night had been perishing, meaning the rock hard snow became a phobia for us to fall on. Just as we began making our way to a hut called Embretstolen, Marianne’s ski binding broke. Fortunately, Zoe very generously swapped skis with her and allowed the day to continue! Meanwhile, the group ventured onwards to the hut on what seemed like a never ending climb, well over twice as far as we had ski-ed up before and much more demanding. However after reaching the top, we enjoyed an exhilarating ski down to the hut where we ate our lunch and took some photos of the beautiful scenery surrounding us. Half an hour later, our journey back to the hotel commenced with another climb and a long and varied descent. After many a face plant, (including Ian who achieved a daily average of 15), we were amazed when Tony announced we had just skied 16km in just over five hours! Proud of our efforts and what we had achieved, we relaxed for the rest of the evening enjoying various card games and watching “The Hangover” on DVD.

On our last full day of skiing, we took a bus ride of about 20km to a downhill ski resort called Geilo, and Paul, after recuperating from his chest infection, was finally able to rejoin us on the expedition. Despite this being more familiar territory for the downhill skiers of the group, we still felt rather intimidated by the mini-Olympic five year old skiers whizzing past us at terminal velocity! We skied for about 6km on one of the resort’s cross country tracks, and stopped off at a cosy mountain café for an ice-cream to cool us down from the boiling sun. On the way to the hut, we watched some very playful dogs running around the ski area in bright orange coats. They were being trained to rescue people caught in an avalanche; however they were having such a good time they kept coming to us rather than their given task! We then had to cross one of the downhill slopes to join onto another cross country track. This felt like crossing a motorway of Formula One skiers, highly focussed in their approach to the mountain. The final descent down took a lot of time and patience as we zigzagged through the forest and into the town of Geilo. We spent a while exploring the town, and bought waffles, syrup and jam from the supermarket for supper that evening! Back at Haugastol, a kite-skiing competition was about to commence – which really was a spectacular experience for us as we could watch world champions practising such an extreme sport just metres from our bedroom windows.

Friday morning kicked off to an adrenaline pumping start when the two teams battled it out in a cross country ski race. After a close start, Marianne’s team took victory over Hayley’s. At 1330hrs, we took another bus journey to Geilo where we were ready to indulge ourselves in the spa in Doctor Holmes 5 star hotel. The luxury of swimming in the pool, stretching out in the steam room, relaxing in the outdoor Jacuzzi and even sunbathing in the hot sun and cool snow was the best way possible to sooth our aching muscles from a hard week’s skiing. Peppe’s Pizza Place was the final destination of our trip to Norway, and to quote from Zoe; it truly does do “the best pizza in the whole world.” There we stuffed our faces with huge, super-sized pizzas (especially Alex, Marianne, the two Jamies and Liam who unwisely attempted sharing three large pizzas between them). We then waddled back to the bus which took us back to the hotel where we could relax and pack our bags for our journey home at 1230 the following day.

Friday morning kicked off to an adrenaline pumping start when the two teams battled it out in a cross country ski race. After a close start, Marianne’s team took victory over Hayley’s. At 1330hrs, we took another bus journey to Geilo where we were ready to indulge ourselves in the spa in Doctor Holmes 5 star hotel. The luxury of swimming in the pool, stretching out in the steam room, relaxing in the outdoor Jacuzzi and even sunbathing in the hot sun and cool snow was the best way possible to sooth our aching muscles from a hard week’s skiing. Peppe’s Pizza Place was the final destination of our trip to Norway, and to quote from Zoe; it truly does do “the best pizza in the whole world.” There we stuffed our faces with huge, super-sized pizzas (especially Alex, Marianne, the two Jamies and Liam who unwisely attempted sharing three large pizzas between them). We then waddled back to the bus which took us back to the hotel where we could relax and pack our bags for our journey home at 1230 the following day.

In the days prior to our expedition to Norway, Ski Touring was a sport that most of us had little knowledge or experience of. Downhill skiing is held very close to the majority of the group’s hearts; however as our skills improved and the horizon of our abilities grew wider as cross country skiers, the satisfaction of knowing that we have witnessed the beautiful and breath-taking scenery of Norway by not just skiing down the mountains, but by climbing them as well, made our love and appreciation for this sport all the more valuable. There were no chair lifts, pomas or vehicles to drive us to the top, which highlighted that we were some of the few people on earth to have the opportunity to experience the true beauty of Norway’s landscape.

We as a group would like to give a huge thank you to Major John Patchett, Captain Tony Willmore and Lieutenant Zoe Scott for giving their time and expertise in cross country skiing to really make our trip to Norway the venture of a life time and one we shall always remember.

Most importantly, we would also like to express our gratitude to The Ulysses Trust, The Berlin Trust, The Highland Reserve Forces and Cadet Association and the Army in Scotland Trust Fund for their very generous grants which enabled the contingent to participate in an activity that would normally be financially unpalatable.

Marianne Inglis