Beginners in winter attire?
Keen on vast expanses of snow? Little experience of mountain and outdoor life? After this mountain course you will be able to move about on your own, feel safe and enjoy the mountains in winter.
Being in the mountains can do wonders for your well-being and will make you feel healthy and strong, as long as you know how to handle it. Over a four day period, you learn everything from how to interpret the weather and use a compass to how to enjoy skiing and getting a good night’s sleep in a tent.
After a steady breakfast, you have your first theory lesson before starting out on skis for the mountains – the impressive wilderness region of Vålådalen and Sylarna in western Jämtland. You start off at a comfortable pace and take some time getting accustomed to the silence and the vast open spaces. Each person carries his own equipment and food. Annica and Torkel Ideström who lead the tours have a longer experience and more thorough knowledge than most when it comes to mountain life, partly due to their long expeditions in the Swedish mountains and to Greenland. Their company promises interesting conversations by the evening camp fire in the middle of the wilderness.
One element of your mountain training is a practical exercise in a storm simulator. Under safe conditions, you can feel what it’s like to be exposed to a hard wind up to hurricane force and feel how hard it actually blows at a mere 10 metres per second. Then you can practise how to put up a tent under similar conditions, or how to use a bivouac sack. When you really have to face a problem the only things that count are knowledge and experience!
The course is rounded off with a well-deserved sauna and feast at Vålådalen Mountain Lodge with its fine old traditions.
Head photographer Staffan Widstrand With the exception of press images, no images in this website may be used without the permission of the photographer.