From January 28th till Feb 13th I visited the awesome country of Norway to climb some ice. The team of four, Joe, Bryan, Jeff, and myself split up our stay between Rjukan and Eidfjord. Rjukan was a bit of a cragin place and Eidfjord are where the big rigs are located. The weather was warm and the conditions not perfect, but we climbed a lot of ice none the less.
The 4 of us in Eidjord.
Joe leading a pitch on our first day in Rjukan.
Joe high above the east end of town on top of a stellar pillar. We could see this climb from our cabin, all week long.
The climb below is what Joe above is on. He is on the top left pillar of the obvious route.
ummm.....yeah...different route, different place, different weather...
A 30 minute uphill walk from the town center. Got to love Rjukan. Joe leading another awesome route. follow the rope through the hole.
We got skunked on an awesome looking three pitch 5/6 early in the morning with +4C and rain. So, we went further up the Fjord to climb an alpine wall later on in the day. We got three pitches up to some NASTY ice and darkness due to our late start before we bailed. It would have been nice to finish the face. We tried the "thicker" ice on the right.
Joe on pitch two.
Joe on Pitch one.
Me leading pitch three. We bailed another 30+ meters higher.
Me leading a pitch of ice below the bridge in Rjukan. Just like Ouray, but without the farming.....until next season.
Me leading out of an ice cave for pitch 3 on a route above town. kinda cool!
Me climbing an M7ish mixed route in the Upper Gorge. Tthat ice was SHIT!
Another cool route high above town.
Getting into the steep.
So, we went out to a bar one evening. the exchange is 6 to 1 right now...you do the math.
and there local beer....FATOL Aass
And the end of the evening, Joe drunk. It only took about 300 bucks in Jim Beam, Boxed wine, some shitty white and a few 10 dollar beers to get there, but this was one result of it.
Brian below climbing a M8 bolted route in the Upper Gorge in Rjukan. This was one of the few bolted routes in town. The locals aren't too big on bolts, and they are hard to find. I actually missed Casket Quarry in Duluth this day!
Higher up on route, after turning the corner.
Below is from a bit snowier approach on a climb in Eidford.
It was steep and snowy
It also got a bit colder that evening, and i got hit in the nose...
Gang 'banging' this climb!
Ah, climbing above town is fun, 20 minutes down to the car.
YEAH, HI5
Beautiful
It was a bouldering trip after all!!!
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