Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
A³
(Avalanche course, A gorgeous weekend and Auskjeret),
Feb 9-10 2008
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Storbua and Dyrdalstinden
(Click for larger image)
Avalanches ...
should be regarded with proper respect. The Sunnmøre region is
definitely avalanche country, and now that I was made aware of an
upcoming avalanche course, I signed up. I definitely needed to raise my own
awareness on the topic. The introductionary
course was
sponsored by Sunalp,
Rongve Intersport,
Arena Overøye and
Mammut. The course was arranged as a 3
hour seminar in Ålesund on Friday, Feb 8, and hands-on exercises at
Overøye Feb 9-10. In addition to avalanche search & rescue techniques, we also
had a visit by a Sea King helicopter from the Norwegian Air Force
330
Squadron and demonstration of a certified rescue dog from
Norske Redningshunder in action.
Friday, Feb 8 2008
I attended the seminar along with my buddy Terje. Christer
Lundberg Nes (IVBV/UIAGM/IFMGA) gave us an "avalanche 101" presentation
while Jarle S. Bjørdal from Ørsta/Volda Skredgruppe
presented their group - an organization under the Norwegian Red Cross. What I
took away from the seminar was that moving around in the Sunnmøre mountains in
winter seemed like a tremendous hazard. Terje had the same sensation.
Driving a car suddenly seemed free of risk. Sunshine was bad, rain was bad, wind
was bad, cold weather was bad and fresh snow was bad. To be fair, staying away
from slopes steeper than 30 degrees, and outside the avalanche courses was still
regarded fairly safe, but hey.. this is Sunnmøre!
15 minutes was probably the keyword from the
talk. That's the time - under snow- you have to make it to the positive end of
the statistics. Your buddies are your only way out of the mess. The rescue teams
mainly bring out corpses. That said, there are of course miracles...
Saturday, Feb 9 2008
The weather forecast had promised a miserable weekend, but
Saturday morning was just gorgeous. To get into the right mood, I drove
from Ålesund to Overøye with the car roof in the trunk. The temperature was
close zero deg. C. at Valle, but I was properly dressed for the outdoors. Thus, I was in
a jolly mood when I arrived Overøye.
The group rendevouzed at the parking 11:00AM, and we were
organized into smaller groups. The first part of the day focused on search and
rescue techniques. This was nothing but promising. The instructors were well
prepared and, of courses, skilled. Practicing was fun. It wasn't the first time
I've used avalanche transceivers, but I acknowledged the fact that you're just
as good as what you have trained for. Digging up "bodies" was also interesting.
Nothing is left to coincidence. There's a well-founded approach to everything.
It was fun to get to know others in the group. It seemed that
most of them were die hard skiers from the Ørsta & Volda region. I
was for sure a newbie in this type of group, but that was OK. I've grown past
terrible on skies, and somehow manage.
The Sea King arrives
(Click for larger image)
After lunch, we got a visit from the 330 Squadron. Very
interesting. We had an hour long Q & A, and I'm sure this was the day's
highlight for many of us, as this is a crew you don't run into every day. Full
of knowledge about the Sea King specifications, navigational capabilities,
rescue techniques (I learned that the basket was not found on
board Norwegian rescue helicopters!), and more, the day continued with a
demonstration of a rescue dog.
The rescue dog was called Millie and her owner presented
herself as Kristin Dyrkorn. A member of the Red Cross group had been buried and
it was Millie's task to find this person. The dog radiated "Let's get to
work, damnit" while Kristin gave a talk. After the talk, it was time to go
to work. For a brief moment, Millie searched the outskirts of the simulated
avalanche area before going full-speed towards the buried person. After a
crazy dig, the finding was properly marked. Very impressive.
The day had been gorgeous from its beginning to its end. At
16:30PM, we called it a day, and I drove, convertible style, back to
Ålesund, where a cold beer was awaiting.
Sunday, Feb 10 2008
A grey morning, but with a promise. We met at 10:00AM and the
day was almost just as beautiful as the day before. Today we focused on
measuring slope angles, digging snow profiles and practicing search & rescue. In
addition, part of the plan was simply to have fun. In other words, to go
skiing. Downhill. Fast & furious.
My only furious side is when I ascend something, and I traded
my lunch break for a visit to Auskjeret. Due to a very hectic start of the year
(job wise), I hadn't been above 1000m elevation. I took the ski-lift up to 760m and
continued upwards 13:00PM. One hour later, I was standing on top of Auskjeret,
1340m. I noticed two other skiers about to summit Øverøystolen. Apart from that,
nothing. I was alone up here, and it felt good.
Skiing conditions weren't all that great after yesterday's
sunshine followed by below-zero temperature during the night, but it wasn't all
bad either. 20 minutes after leaving the top, I joined my group on Øverøynakken,
and went right to work. After a good round with the shovel, I had dug a 1,75m deep
snow profile. The conclusion was that the snow was solid as rock. There would be no
avalanches today.
16:00PM, I left the course with a very positive feeling. The
organizing party had put a lot of good work into this, which I hereby would like
to honor. What I took away from the weekend was a will to pay NOK 3000,- for a
personal transceiver beacon and a whole lot more attention while roaming the
Norwegian mountains in winter. All instructors gave a very positive
impression. A special thanks to Christer for a job well done and
to Kjetil Leknes - my group's instructor. |