There are not many who do expect anything like Gongenzaka, to be fair. He has had, perhaps, a string of the oddest luck there is with regard to changes of the extreme sort. Enough that mentioning how long he's been there at all has resulted in some....large misconceptions.

"Hmnhh....where I, the man Gongenzaka am from, I have certainly seen contests such as this while training within the mountains...however, they were a mix of 'entertainment' and 'skill', while there. ....If this is something like that..." Well, Lavellan was already taking a guess at it being some sort of contest, herself, so he shrugs. "...Hmnn. Perhaps the majority of us have not had enough time in the snow, if this is 'skill'..."