Speaking of participants: a glance at the list of participants that I received in advance makes me feel relaxed: I'm not the only female participant. But when I get there, I realize that I'm once again the only girl. It's a shame that there are so many boys/men who register for a camp like this on their own and so few girls/women who take this step. I automatically put myself under pressure: I'm sure they're all much faster. They'll be super annoyed if the girl slows the group down. I'm sure they all ski according to the motto "steep is cool" etc. But the very first day on skis dispels my doubts immediately.
The view changes
The 3 camp days are under the risk'n'fun motto "perceive - assess - decide". Our group of 8 is accompanied by a mountain guide and a trainer. But instead of giving us schoolmasterly theories or doctrines, they help us to form our own opinions. Little by little, our perspective changed. Whereas on the first day on the slope, I only noticed potential powder lines, I now also noticed wind loads, avalanche cones and potential rockfall slopes. Not that I hadn't seen them before - but not at first or second glance. After one day, we are already a good group. The level is quite homogeneous and the objective is the same: with so little snow, it's better to practice more than to let ourselves and the equipment get stuck on the rock. Unfortunately, we don't completely avoid both. But that's just part of it. It's great that nobody is afraid to voice their concerns and that the group always finds a consensus.
The second day greets us with -15 degrees and wind up on the glacier. The cold protection cream is shared in the gondola and I'm not the only one standing there with shivering legs. So it's off into the warmth to do some avalanche transceiver theory before heading out into the cold to dig again. We can then clearly see the poor snowpack structure during our avalanche transceiver exercise. The picture with the thin layer of snow will stay with me forever. We then spend the evening session working out our strategy for tomorrow in small groups. We will take the lead of the whole group in teams of two - we need to prepare for this.
Where was the meeting point again?
The third day is gracious with the weather. Now then: we lead the group. The group will not accept a simple decision along the lines of "we're going in there, it's cool". So we reflect again on the slope gradient, surroundings, wind signs and avalanche report and decide how to enter the slope and where to gather. As there are two of us doing this, I also learn a lot from the discussion with my partner. Of course, not everything goes perfectly. Out of sheer enthusiasm for a slope, we completely forget to agree where the meeting point is. But at least we ski one after the other.
