spionin

Trip: norway - rjukan - various Date: 3/2/2011 Trip Report: Doug (cbcbd) and i just got back from a little vacation (11 days) in norway. i'd been wanting to go for some years, and the time/partner finally worked out. with all the reports from climbing there in the past 2 years, it was definitely THE place to go. in short, the trip was incredible. we only saw a small part of this beautiful country, but explored a few different areas. ice seems to be hanging off just about every cliff (and there are LOTS of insanely huge walls, especially in the fjord regions). the nature, the incredibly friendly folk, and the gorgeous weather all made this worthwhile, and we highly recommend for everyone to go there! [i like JF's format...] 03/01: arrive Oslo Gardemoen, pick up rental car, drive 6 hours west to Rjukan. 03/02: climb Vemorkbrufoss Øst (WI4, 2p) and Tungtvann (WI4, 2p) 03/03: climb Trappfoss (WI4, 4p) and Nedre Swingfoss (WI3, 1p) 03/04: climb Nye Vemorkfoss (WI5, 2p). drive out to Eidfjord. Rjukan is a very well known and well developed climbing area. depending on the source, 150-190 frozen waterfalls are described. googlemaps tells me that driving there from Oslo takes 3.5 hours, but with ice patches on the roads, winding one-lane highways, 40mph speed limits, and a stop at a grocery store, it took us about 6 hours to get there. good page: http://www.rockfax.com/areas/area.php?id=1027. there is a guidebook in english available for the area (see link above, with chapter on lower gorge climbing for free download), but we mostly used this free guide (http://www.mountain-environment.com/rjukanguide2005.pdf) and additional bits of info available online. a list of top 50 routes was very helpful: http://www.rockfax.com/databases/best50.php?area=1027 given the access and popularity of the area, we saw quite a few other groups: poles, french, and lots of brits. the weather was incredible a common lodging option is hytte, a traditional hut with a mini kitchen, beds, and sitting area. our hytte was about 20 min driving from the climbing area. many of the icefalls are visible from the city proper: these lines at the base of Gaustatoppen mountain are 15-17 pitches long! Vemork hydro station was an important site in WW2, and many of the routes are named in reference to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vemork the first day we planned to climb Rjukanfossen, but after hiking out and deciding that we didn't want to first rap down a 3-pitch route to climb it, we went to a far more accessible upper gorge/vemork bridge area. we first climbed the 2-pitch Vemorkbrufoss Øst. upper pitch of the route visible next to the bridge: doug on the more sustained 1st pitch (~40m): 2nd pitch (50m): next we walked about 10 min and spotted this great route, Tungtvann ("heavy water") - route in orange. the green line on the right approximately follows another route, "shit happens", which is formed by the sewage runoff from the houses above 1st pitch (70m): 2nd pitch (40m): the second day we climbed Trappfoss. the route is located at the farther end of the upper gorge, and took a whopping 50 min approach. upper pitches of the route are visible from afar. i think the route description includes the small ice step and a long ice ramp as separate pitches (both soloed). they both had screw holes and multiple v-threads in them. these were followed by two long, steep pitches, ~40m in length. i love my visor on the walkout we decided to jump on another pitch - a fun, plastic 35m WI3: on our final day in Rjukan we climbed the local über-classic Nye Vemorkfoss. it's described as a 3-pitch route, but we did it in 2 mondo pitches with our 70m rope. doug on the steep money pitch followed by a rambly long pitch norwegian definition of "mostly cloudy" the route ends right at the Vemork station and offers a mellow walk-off to the lot. done by noon, and off west! Gear Notes: 70m 8.2mm rope and tagline was very helpful. no need for stubbies Approach Notes: 10-40 min walking from the parking lot

haha! awesome report, fantastic side notes, and a word up to feisty!

nice report!

a vote for canon. love my little SD780. and the battery has lasted days (3+) at high altitude, and in cold temps. one thing to look out for in any camera - flat edge of the camera body if you're ever planning to set it down on a surface to take a pic. ...i have a number of SLRs (NOT digital), rangefinders, and a complete photo lab at home - and i love this little p+s.

very entertaining. way to get yourself off the couch! cheers!

nice climb! glad to hear that you took advantage of the conditions and had a great climb, summit or not.

wow - great report. hats helmets off!

whew - reading that was totally intense! haha! awesome report!

nothing worthwhile as far as beta - they turned out really crappy. but the snow was really nice, light, a few groups were out skiing coleman. compare this picture (not mine) from last feb: you should totally ski the polish route. d.c. would have!

nice! you know what had too much snow on it for good time this weekend? colfax. you should look into skiing that

5'4.5" and 127. the weight can stay the same, it's fine, but the leaness will change. i generally run less during winter and it makes a big difference. i used to row a lot (on water, not just an erg), and that used to do wonders for my hamstrings, which helped a lot for uphill hiking. by spring i am planning to ramp up the trail running, and gym climbing.

great trip and AMAZING account. it sounds like you guys just got back from the crusades or something! in general, yes.

recall info: http://www.totemcams.com/blog/?p=738&preview=true

really beautiful rock and aesthetic routes. good job and thank you for sharing!

as a learning ice climber i bear no dilusions about my abilities. i did not post pictures pumping up my climbing abilities. i was on a cragging trip, practicing climbing, and trying to lead a route that was difficult for me. granted, i don't like to be made an example of, let's pretend that i'm ok with being made into a public learning aid. i have many pictures of myself in bad climbing form - behind just about every climb. everyone (there were at least 3 parties at rainbow yesterday) who saw me climb can vouch that i probably bit off more than i could chew. but hey - i tried.

i know, i know. i'll start by pointing our the poor screw placements, and the clipping of both ropes to the screws. i should say though that there wasn't a z-clipped screw there, and although the rope on the left looks to be going up, it wasn't the actual case. the screws where also placed more than a foot apart. in this picture the climber is next to the screw with the green screamer. there is no way i could have placed anything above to the left of it - the ice next to the rock was very thin and hollow. i did not place any rock pro. but that just sounds like an excuse. the route was hard, with variable ice, and i had to traverse to get good placements.

yea-yah! good style!

wow! fantastic!

that's awesome! second month of skiing, huh?! way to pursue this! stay safe!

wow - glad you finally posted this! the falls look great - i love how complex the terrain appears to be with multiple crossing ice lines.

whoa... productive! sounds like an excellent trip! thanks for the additional beta, great to keep other options in mind.

word. 4 people, $54 (tax included)/night for two nights. artery - i only have two pics, and in both the bottom is obscured by a rock. i do remember noting that it was touching down, especially since valentine was totally melted, but i didn't look too carefully. sorry!

Trip: cody, wy - various Date: 12/27/2010 Trip Report: cbcbd, Z-man, PeakPimp, and i took a trip to cody, wy for some ice climbing this week. i didn't love the 15-hr drive, but we got a little odometer present just as we rolled into cody. i'll take anything as a positive omen: beautiful the first day we wanted to attempt a 4-pitch route called wyoming wave (wi3+), which is approached by climbing a wi4, 60-m route called cabin fever, according to "winter dance". however, mountain project describes cabin fever as a 3-pitch route, combining the title pitch with the first two pitches of the wave. Z-man and i approaching cabin creek drainage first pitch Z-man and PeakPimp jumped on first. Z-man's lead cbcbd, leading half-way up the 1st pitch it was incredibly pumpy. in addition, the ice was very cold and dinner plated a lot. i tend to whack the ice, so i had to try a lot for good placements. definitely got my ass handed to me on that one. a very stout warm-up! 2nd pitch (1st pitch of wyoming wave) - wi3+ PeakPimp leading again, very blobby, very brittle ice Z-man and PeakPimp got to jump on another pitch, but due to fading light cbcbd and i didn't have the time for it. bummer - we heard it was the best. PeakPimp and Z-man getting ready for the final rap day 2. we learned from our inefficiency on day 1 and split up. Z-man and PeakPimp went to do main vein (wi3+ in the guidebook), and cbcbd and i headed off to broken hearts. approach Z-man on p1 of main vein funky ice parasol PeakPimp found an ice cave for a belay broken hearts is noted in the guidebooks as "possibly the single best route in the united states". a pretty strong statement, though the route was indeed pretty awesome. we climbed the 4 first pitches and a number of small steps in-between. bighorn sheep pitches 1 and 2 of broken hearts blobby, brittle ice cbcbd leads p2 the money pitch! (as it always works with foreshortening - the part above the crack is in reality longer than the bottom part) cool ice "roots" yep, a 45-m wi3+! one of the coolest things about broken hearts is that the longer pitches are spaced out by numerous solo-able steps, up to about 15 feet in height ...climbing its right side pitch 4 (wi3) the first 4 pitches are most commonly climbed, and offer a walk-off. the next pitch is my only valentine (wi5), which is the unformed route on the right in this pic the thin, green pillar on the left is carotid artery (wi6). no we didn't climb that. pitches 6 and 7 of broken hearts are rarely formed and even more rarely climbed. both go at wi6. this is a route called left ventricle (wi4), which we passed on the descent. as usual - awesome, cold trip with cool people! Gear Notes: the usual Approach Notes: don't drive to wyoming with a punctured tire. if you have to, air compressor proves very useful.

makes perfect sense. thanks guys!

thank you for the very diplomatic response i wasn't picking on CO! i was just wondering - i had also climbed in ouray area as well as around colorado springs during two seasons in 2007 and 2008. at the time the climbs seemed plenty challenging, but looking back at the pictures i'm surprised by the raw numbers assigned to them. having gone to bozeman and cody since then, the numbers suggest that i not only failed to improve my climbing ability, but have actually gotten worse. great. still, for those of us lacking in judgment and/or confidence to jump on any given route, those numbers do provide a convenient guideline, and i just wanted to hear another person's opinion. thanks again!