Speed, excitement and versatile activity on snow, water and land. Here you get a lot of time with skis or surfboards under your feet. Test your own limits with other action activities such as MTB, kiting and ice climbing!
Adrenaline-filled experiences
The feeling of floating on untouched powder, or the mastery you feel the first time you balance your surfboard on a wave. Few things beat this. At Powder Surf - Japan, we hunt for adrenaline-filled experiences in a safe environment and train skills that make us good at this, all year round. This is the major for you who want to challenge yourself and have an action-packed school year with a focus on surfing, freeriding, outdoor activities and a good atmosphere - without too many nights in a tent.
Two main activities, but many additional activities
As the majors name suggests, we have a main focus on two activities, wave surfing and powder riding. From the first snowfall, we are mostly in resorts or in the mountains, where we hunt for the very best snow. When it is poor skiing conditions, we are usually at the coast, in good company with the surfboard - summer or winter, season no obstacle!
Although much of the time is spent on the two main activities, we do a lot of other fun stuff as well. This means that you will also get to test other actoin-filled and spectacular activities. We also focus on varied basic training that will help make you a skilled (powder) surfer.
You will learn:
- Freeriding
- Single track MTB
- Water skiing and wakeboarding
- Surfing
- Sea kayak
- Avalanche rescue
- Outdoor activities and trip planning
You also get to try:
- Study trip to Japan
- Kiting on snow
- About 20 days with lift based freerideing
- Ice climbing
- Ski touring
- Ice hockey/curling
- Climbing and bouldering
The teacher: Henning Mortensen
Henning is a trained outdoor life guide at HVL in Sogndal and is a certified kayak and climbing instructor. He has dabbled in most sports, but has been caught up in speed, adrenaline and excitement. He thrives best in the mountains, in the water on a surfboard or high up on a climbing wall. Henning has a passion for climbing, skiing, surfing and trail cycling. Also fond of chilling around the fire.
+47 91 85 65 45 
henning@nordvestlandet.no
Equipment
The school has some equipment, but to get the most out of the year, there is some equipment you must have yourself.
Equipment you must have
- Ski touring equipment (skis or snowboards with walking function)
- Avalanche equipment (transmitter/receiver, shovel, search bar)
- Winter wetsuit (recommended 6mm thick)
- Winter sleeping bag and backpack for travel
- Shell clothes/clothing
- Hiking clothes and woolen underwear
Follow the class on Instagram.
Costs
49.000,- NOK including all activity and the class trip to Japan.
To get an overview of what your year at Nordvestlandet will cost, visit our economy page.
Would you like a year of outdoor life at Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole, but are not quite sure which major to choose? Read the article Which outdoor major at Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole is right for you?
Hunting powder snow
Do you want to ski or snowboard more, improve your technique and get better? Or are you maybe one of those who want to ski deep powder and want to go outside as soon as the first snow arrives?
In the Pudder Surf class you will find people like you and you will get to spend a lot of time with snow under your feet. To get better at skiing you need to ski a lot – so you need good skiing conditions. Høgtun is located amidst many fantastic mountains suitable for ski-touring, skiing areas such as Eresfjord, Sunndal and Romsdal are just a day trips for us. Good ski resorts like Oppdal, Stordal and Stranda are not too far away either.
In other words: it is kind of hard to avoid good skiing conditions here. But an important part of hunting good powder snow is also to know how to ski safely in the backcountry. That is why you will learn a lot about avalanches and how to be safe in the mountains. We will have both theoretical and practical lessons about this throughout the year.
Even though it is an advantage if you have some experience in skiing or snowboarding, you do not have to be an expert – you can become one this year!
Your major at Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole will be taught three days of the week. You will also attend the Learning norwegian class. In addition you can choose some electives. Read more about our electives here.
Surf and good vibes
Before the snow settles or when there are not good skiing conditions, we use the opportunity to surf waves. Here you will be able to find challenges that suit you, whether you are a beginner or an experienced surfer. With notorious stretches of sea such as Hustadvika and Stad not too far from the school, it is clear that there will be good surfing waves. We therefore don't have to go far to find good conditions and good waves that invite you to play. During the year, you will feel mastery on the surfboard and in the face of the sea. You will learn have the knowledge to read the elements, and adapt accordingly.
Class trip to Japan
Have you ever heard about “Japow”? Powder snow in Japan is said to be so good that it got its own term. In February we are going to travel to Hakuba and the ski resort Cortina, a skiing destination with about 10-12 meters of snow each year – so we are really talking about bottomless powder here. In Hakuba we will experience freeriding you will never forget and in addition we are going to visit Tokyo where you will get a glimpse of Japanese big city life. Experiences like this will create a really good class environment and we will travel back home with lots of good memories.
Skiing week in Oppdal
In February the whole school will travel to the Oppdal ski resort. We are gonna live in cabins at IMI-Stølen which has a lot of good facilities and cozy rooms!
Here we will have a good time skiing and relaxing in the cabins afterwards. A lot of proficient instructors will accompany us and you will get lessons that suit your skiing level. We offer classes in alpine and telemark skiing as well as snowboarding and cross country skiing.
Making progress together
We always take some time to talk about and analyse the things we do and we also work on giving good feedback. We work together, get to know each other and get better together so we will become a good team. No matter the activity – our teacher focuses on every individual student and wants each of them to reach their full potential. Throughout the year you are going to develop your skills in both surfing and skiing as well as in other activities. In addition you will learn more about safety in the mountains and consideration of risks.
Friluftsliv at Nordvestlandet
There are a lot of folk high schools that offer friluftsliv classes all around Norway, so why should you choose one at Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole?
In addition to our fantastic teachers and staff, we might have the best location for friluftsliv in the country. Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole is on the northwest side of Norway with amazing nature for sports and friluftsliv. A lot of the mountains around our school are at 1500 -1900 meters above sea level and are perfect for hikes with or without skis. On skiing trips you can easily get to ski down 1600 meters.
Nordvestlandet folkehøgskole is located by the sea and there are great water sports and windsurfing opportunities right by the school. Boats and kayaks are free to rent for our students at all times. Hoddevika and Stad are also very close by, these places are great for surfing as well. Additionally, it is not far to drive to ski resorts such as Oppdal with Norway's biggest ski area, Bjorli with Norway's longest skiing season, Tusten ski resort in Molde and Stranda ski resort with amazing off-piste skiing.
If you find it hard to choose an outdoor major, you can read our article about which outdoor major is right for you here.
Basecamp Nordvestlandet
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