Mountain Experience
Snowball fights, skiing challenges, orange dancing, snow swimming and fire alarms! The Turbo Outdoors Club in Lysefjorden seeks wild and free experiences on a weekend trip to Alexander Grieghytten in Bergsdalen.
- There's the cabin! Someone is excitingly screaming from the back seat. We can barely catch a glimpse of Alexander Grieg Cabin as we arrive at the car park in Bergsdalen, a two hour drive from Bergen. The Turbo Outdoors Club in Lysefjorden are going on a cabin trip and the atmosphere is electric!
- I'm going to ski! Says one participant.
- I'm going to try the new sauna! says another.
- I have to go sledging! says the third.
There are many plans for the weekend and we are lucky, up until recently there has been little snow in Bergsdalen, but the day before departure a heavy snowfall cover the mountains and the whole valley in white!
We force ourselves through the snow and up the 400-meter-long hill to the cabin. We haven’t even sat down our backpacks before the children are totally involved in the process of making jumps and sledge trails down the wild downhills surrounding the cabin. We light a fire outside and sit down on reindeer skins to warm cold hands and feet and make sure the energy is filled up from grilled marshmallows and hot dogs while the cold winter evening envelope us.
Snowball fight outside the cabin
There is so much fun in a cabin trip. The children are super happy to be together and play outdoors and the parents get to know each other better and can rehearse their skiing skills. After a loud Saturday breakfast, it doesn’t take long before parka suits, ski boots, hats and mittens are in place, and then we take off into the outdoors.
- Snowball war! The young crowd shout loud and soon two large snow castles are under construction. A snowball flies and hits another one in the middle of the face! Large teardrops squirt out, but the need for revenge soon takes over. Adults try to cool the situation down – but it’s useless! Snowballs fly back and forth! The wisest thing to do is seeking coverage. Or maybe even better: plan a counterattack!
After the snowball fight, a ski trail is constructed, and the children can practice their skiing skills in turning downhill and their balancing skills as they ski over snow bumps. A toboggan race is taking off and some people go skiing up the hill. For the adult activity leaders, there is little point in organizing any special activities; as the children are totally into playing with everything the outdoors can offer them, and as a grownup we just let ourselves be inspired and throw ourselves into all the playful activities that the children instigate!
Stress testing the Alexander Grieg cabin
- Piip, piip, piiiiip!
We have had dinner and the sauna is on. The fire alarm is set off.
- Piiip, piiip!
The alarm makes a violent noise throughout the cabin and some of the children are a little scared by the sound. We manage to turn the alarm off. Danger eliminated. It was set off by the water vapor from the showering. The children challenge each other to run straight from the boiling hot sauna and right out into cooling snow.
- Uæææh! they scream and dive in to roll around and cool off both upper and lower body and disappear into the snow.
- My feet are freezing cold! they shout and run as fast as they can back into the cabin to great applause from everyone watching. Then some other children open the window on the first floor and jump from the window into the snow! Wow! It's a jump from over two meters high!
- No, no, no! That’s not allowed! Comes the strict instructions from the grownups and the window is closed.
The children shout and shout and are 100% turned on. They are having a great time! But they need limits. No more jumping from the window!
Orange dancing in the evening
In the evening we have a gathering in the living room and an orange dance. The children are divided into pairs and dance around with an orange between them. The pairs that manages to dance the longest without the orange falling down onto the floor have won. Some play cards, candy is devoured, and towards the evening small eyelids become too heavy to hold up. It’s time to go right to bed!
We don’t want to leave this magical winter weekend and the next day we light the fire outside and serve hot dogs, while we sledge and play outside in the dry snow. Some people makes a nice ski trip up and down the hills close by before we have to leave for home. It's feels sad to clean up and pack down, because it's been an absolutely super winter experience for everyone involved.
It’s easy to promise a soon return to the outdoors among the leaders and the children on the way home.
We will return next winter!
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