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Gary_Yngve

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gary,

 

there are plenty of things to do in norway - depends on exactly what you want to do.

 

ive done some alpine routes in romsdal, and in that region you could get into just about anything you want to as far as alpine climbing/mountaineering goes. you asked for objectives and the names dont stick too well because they dont mean anything to me, but i remember doing routes on "venjetindan" and the "romsdalshorn" that were pretty nice. there is a guidebook for that region, but i dont imagine youll find it outside of norway. its in norwegian, but thats not really a problem - names are just names, grades are grades, and the book has photos. all youll need is a map. everyone there speaks english so if youve picked out a nice route based on the grade and the photo, just ask someone to translate the description for you.

 

ive also done a fair amount of ice climbing in norway, and i imagine some of what i did is still in in april, and im pretty sure that certain areas in the north are acutally better in april than during what we consider prime ice season - although may could be pushing it. as far as rock, all of my norwegian friends rave about lofoten (although i still havent been there), and ive seen the guide book - very user friendly, written in english by an american (ed webster). you should be able to get ahold of a copy somewhere in the states.

 

i can only think of one good site for ice climbing in norway, but of course there could be others. i dont even remember the name of the site, but if you search for "is klatring" (ice climbing in norwegian) you should find it in the first few hits. again, memory is a bit faded, but if you can figure out how to get onto the forum on there, there is a fair amount of english, and somebdoy there could probably tell you where to start looking.

 

i started rambling - hope some of that helps.

 

cheers, todd

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Thanks for the responses so far.

 

Well, there's still some more stuff I need to work out before I can play over there. My advisor will be there as a visiting professor at the University of Oslo. I need to get hooked up with a place to stay. I likely won't have a car (as rentals seem pricy over there), so I'd either need to take trains or hook up with someone who has a car.

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I copied this off the 8a.nu forum

 

Who knows something about bouldering and sportsclimbing in the south of norway. What are the best areas in summer to go to?

 

 

Erik Paulsen

 

Posts: 2 Posted: 2004-02-23 16:55:45 Login to Post Reply

 

in the oslo area its usually pretty hot in the summer. The Kristiansand area (www.ckk.no) and Stavanger area is also pretty hot, but there are walls facing away from the sun, lots of good, steep climbing and lovely bouldering. The Bergen (www.bergen-klatreklubb.no) area is a little more rainy, and also slightly cooler, but still it can be hot, lots of brilliant climbing.

 

If you head a little more north, to Romsdalen (www.buldring.no or home.no.net/bjartebo) there is lots of multipitch, sportclimbing and bouldering. North of romsdalen you'll find trondheim which has got a superb crag called Hell facing north, it might even be cold there in the summer.

 

Anyways, go to www.steepstone.com and either ask in the forum (diskusjon) or look around the page for links and topos.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Antti Liukkonen

 

Posts: 1 Posted: 2004-02-25 08:11:19 Login to Post Reply

 

Hey!

 

Howabout northern Norway, I mean really north (around Hammerfest). I´ve heard that there is plenty of beautiful boulders in that area, but do you know anyone who has been climbing in that area?

 

Antti

 

 

Erik Paulsen

 

Posts: 2 Posted: 2004-02-26 14:24:25 Login to Post Reply

 

I don't know much about Northern Norway, only thing I know is that there is plenty of beautiful boulders, both hard and easy ones. You should ask in the forum at www.steepstone.com which is a norwegian site. The "forum" is called "diskusjon", you'll find the link on the orange line at the top of the site (may take a while to load it). If you go there, please send me a mail about how it was, i'm pretty exited about going there.

 

 

also check out this ukclimbing.com post

 

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=73945

 

seems like Scottish winter is so crap this yr they have all been going climbing in Norway instead.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've taken numerous rock climbing trips to Norway, but I've just done some easy alpine stuff.

 

My wife and I went up to Lofoten in 97 and climbed for a couple of weeks. It was really awesome! If you don't mind a 10 hour train ride and a ferry trip to the islands, they are so beautiful. Jagged granite spires coming out of the ocean. We were very jet-lagged but it didn't matter cause of the midnight sun. We climbed "Svolvaer Gjeita" at 2AM. This is a famous route where you jump from one "goat horn" to another to get to the rap anchor. I have Ed Webster's English guide to the islands. It's a pretty good book.

 

There's some really fun granite cragging right around Oslo. A couple places you can take the subway to do some crack and sport climbing the likes of Pet Wall at Squamish.

 

Have fun! thumbs_up.gif

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  • 1 month later...

I'm on my way to the Lofoten Islands. I'm in Bodø right now, and the ferry leaves for Svolvær in a few hours. Then I take a bus, and at 23:00, I should be at the isthmus that connects to Austvagoya's wild NE side. Then it's about a 1000m slog up to the plateau where I can access the backside of the famous Trollfjord as well as other cool stuff. It's pretty much 24-hour light now even though Midnight Sun isn't until another two weeks. It was gray and drizzly in the morning, but there are patches of blue sky now. Weather seems quite fickle, but it't nice knowing that I can haul ass when the weather is good and not worry about darkness.

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Tuesday: Arrive in Svolvær in the evening. ID some peaks and discover the cloud level to be 500m. Yuck. Locals blame it on the west wind and don't see it getting better any time soon. They tell me how gloriously sunny and warm it was in the beginning of May. Hike a mile out of town in the rain and pitch the tent because I'm a cheap bastard. Curse the condensation throughout the night.

 

Wednesday: Hang out in town while reformulating plans. Trollfjord would be miserable in these conditions. Ah-hah! Moskenesoya has peaks at lower elevations and it has a MOUNTAIN HUT! Take the bus from Austvagoya to Moskenesoya and hike up to the hut in pretty grim weather. Can see bits of a peak with an elegant snow ridge (Støvla)... put it on the to-do list. Fire up the wood stove and start drying out gear...

 

Thursday: Skies are gray and every half hour, it gusts and hails couscous-size pellets for a few minutes. Decide to check out that peak. Hardest part looks like getting to the plateau where the ridge starts. Wet slabs look impossible, but I do see a snow finger piercing through some cliffs. Hike across the valley and around the thawing lake. Choose the wrong gully to go up and get thwarted by a bergshrund. See another gully that might go and try it too. Gets too sketch, downclimb. Check out a couple knobs to look at routes. Notice some cool stuff above the hut (Munkan). From one of the knobs, notice that I didn't traverse around the lake far enough before going up.

 

Friday: More of the same wonderful weather. Climbed Munkan by the standard route (snow slog), having to take two breaks on the way to hide from the mean nasty weather. Cloud level seems to be rising, got decent views from top though flat lighting. Descended back to the hut, brewed up, and climbed Munkan again by a couloir (snow to 45). Get back to the hut, chat with two friendly locals who showed up. Temperatures drop, and it snows 1 cm overnight.

 

Saturday: The fresh snow wasn't enough to be a concern, and the colder temps improved snow conditions. Cloud level seemed to be rising more, so I decided to go for Støvla, this time going up the correct way. I traverse what seems like way too long around the lake before going up the correct gully. Then begins the MF traverse -- at least a quarter-mile -long traverse of 35-40 degree snow above big bad cliffs. Snow was good for kick-stepping, though a little bit of a crust meant I had to work harder for each step. Finally, I reached the plateau, and psyched to be on easier ground, raced up a 15-degree snow slope with perfect snow for slogging. Rewarded with great views from the top. I then stared across the lake at the highest mountain on the island, Hermansdalstinden. For the past few days, if one mountain was going to be in the clouds, it was this one. Today, it was mostly cloud-free. I decided that if I wasn't too wasted from going back down the MF traverse, I'd try it too. Got down, went the rest of the way around the lake, and started up H. Some fine axe technique on turf was necessary to get past a few steep sections. Soon I reached the broad shoulder leading to the summit. 25-degree snow took my up to the summit block, where I stared at 3rd-4th class blocky granite that was all covered with snow. I looked at a few options, deciding too hard or bad fall consequences and almost turned around before I saw something that would go. About 50 feet of mixed climbing took me to the summit ridge. This ridge had been blasted by storms for the past X days, and was a blend of sastrugi, powder, and rimed rock. About two hundred feet of ridge brought me to the true summit. Looked around and took some photos before the wind started chilling me. Took my time heading down the summit block, given the nature of the terrain. Plunge-stepped most of the way down the mountain before finishing the circumnavigation of the lake and returning to the hut 12 hours later.

 

Sunday: Temps are warming and skies are clearing. Chat with some locals who tell me that there is a way through the slabs (when dry) to get to the plateau below Støvla. Hike out to Forsfjord (where hiking involved aiding off bushes, much axe-on-turf technique, etc.) and crawl over moss-covered boulders to Vinstadfjord. Walk though the village of Vinstad, consisting of about 10 houses and a hundred sheep. Go over a pass and see a magnificent beach looking north in front of me. Set up camp and head down to the beach for sunset. Unfortunately, clouds in the distant north.

 

Monday: Do some excellent airy class-2 ridgewalking above camp. Gorgeous views. Notice rock walls that look like El Cap and Halfdome. Go down to the beach and watch a sunset without clouds in the north. The only day of bluebird skies.

 

Tuesday: Play at the beach, hike out, take ferry back to Reine, eat a huge meal at Moskenes (salad, boiled potatoes, two huge 3/4-inch salmon steaks, cheesecake -- the first three items had a herbal butter sauce drizzled over them and the cheesecake was topped with vanilla cream -- the restaurant owner was impressed I ate it all). Met Mystery Mountain Couple. Used to be Seattlites, now living in New Mexico. They did FAs with Fred Beckey, did expeditions in pre-Soviet Afghanistan, etc. They were being very humble and modest so I didn't want to ask them who they were and make them tell me that they are famous. Hike up to the hut again, hoping to catch some NE light in the early morning. Clouds blow in.

 

Wednesday: Back to gray and low cloud levels again. Take the ferry from Moskenes to Bodø, where I am now.

 

Lofoten kicks ass!!!!

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