spionin Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Trip: norway - vang - some more routes Date: 3/8/2011 Trip Report: after leaving Bergen, we had only a few days left before flying out. we decided to spend a few more days climbing inland, and headed to the region of Oppland, just west of Lillehammer. our friend (and local hardman) Øyvind had mentioned seeing mad ice around Lillehammer in January, so that was a great suggestion. also, this site has a nice map with clickable locations, which sealed the deal: http://www.isklatring.no/kart.html. off to the Valdres district we went! oh, and the weather looked great (notice a pattern here??) 03/07: drive east to Vang 03/08: climb some big ice line (~200m) 03/09: climb Drøsja (~180m) 03/10-03/12: Oslo, fly back to Seattle despite some information about the general area, we once again didn't have a definite climbing plan or lodging this time. we decided to drive to Vang/Fagernes area and just stop whenever we saw something worth climbing. HA! the drive was painful. we could have stopped every 10 minutes along our 280 km route. consider this image and the striking ice line visible from afar. and as we got closer it's difficult to communicate its actual size. this is the type of stuff we had to deal with on our way east. when we finally decided to stop, we had to find housing. it seems that most huts were closed for the season, or we couldn't find owners to ask about rental. we literally went around knocking on doors, and came across Skogheim hytter. the owner, Tormod, agreed to rent us a hut - and gave us an amazing deal! our mountain palace could sleep 6, had a wood burning stove, a full kitchen, and sat on top of a cliff... 2 minutes away from the lines we were hoping to climb! roughing it at breakfast anyways, our 1st day there (8th day in Norway, and 5th day climbing overall) we climbed this: the approach took us up a powdery drainage and to a couple of ice steps. Doug chose the very stout pillar for p1 (about 45m) i followed up with a long moderate pitch (60m) two more moderate rope stretch pitches took us up to a large snow shelf there's all the ice above too, but we couldn't even see it through the trees, and the prospect of hiking up through deep powder wasn't very appealing. it was mid-day and we felt that we got our fill with the steep pitches we'd climbed. ah, the luxury! as in Eidfjord, all raps were off v-threads and trees. guess what we found on the approach??! another C-T hammer hard at work! after some serious banging, we succeeded at breaking the skull and splitting the antlers. we shipped them home, but will probably need to treat them somehow before hanging on the wall. if anyone has suggestions for killing off the current residents of the marrow, please let me know. the 2nd day we climbed a huge flow east of our previous day's line. this line is also described in this guide: http://www.isklatring.no/valdres/drosja.html and this overview of the area: http://www.isklatring.no/valdres/vangsmjosa_nord.html. it's listed as a 70m route, but really the ice goes on and on... we pitched out 4 sections totaling at least 180m, and there was a snow walk in-between. it was amazing, what can i say? as usual, Doug took the odd- and I, the even-numbered pitches. long, sustained pitches. warm sun. no belay jackets. sparkling ice! INTENSE CLIMBING! last swings... and another completed climb to bring a stellar finish to our norwegian vacation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldiente Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Good Lord that's a lot of ice! You'd climb there once and I suspect you'd never want to swing tools around the PNW ever again. Nice trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 That last shot is awesome. Congrats you two, thats a total dream ice vacation! I have an ice climbing pal who was UK-based for quite some time and between Norway for ice climbing (he had climbed in Telemark as well) and Chamonix for accessible winter alpine climbing it sounded like real good options with any kind of time off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genepires Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 being able to smash the skull of a deer is not a feature I remember reading about in the ice tool hammer description. Dane should add that photo to his site for the hammer attachment. This is why you need a hammer you fools! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Goddamit. Well done team. Very impressive... I hope one of your TRs win the March Trip Report Prize Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genepires Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 girl swinging ice tools is a +1 point girl swinging tool to smash skull is +10 points. (if the prize was based on content and not random) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson.g Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 girl swinging tool to smash skull is +10 points. Awesome TR and Quote of the day to boot! Thank you one and all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I'm pretty sure the creatures feeding on the marrow are doing you a favor (provided that you keep them outside). Bugs are a time tested technique for cleaning nasty bits off rotten bones/antlers. Leave the rack outside for the summer (out of the sun- better yet, bury it) and you should be good to go. If you want to speed things up, and have access to a huge pot and large propane burner, you can boil them. It'll stink, so don't even think of doing it inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spionin Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 thanks much! If you want to speed things up, and have access to a huge pot and large propane burner, you can boil them. It'll stink, so don't even think of doing it inside. mmm! maggot soup! i think i'll leave this option until after i let the antlers spend a hot, dry summer vacation in eastern washington. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonG Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Here's an interesting angle- these are Norwegian bugs right? There usually isn't much good that comes out of transporting bugs across continents, but if they are just house fly larvae, that cat got out of the Central Asian bag long ago . . .Still, you can see how species move all around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernman23 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 moral to the story quit your job or drop out of school and leave Washington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
televinny Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 So Rad! thanks for sharing! btw: there are more taxidermists in Everett than Taxis per yellow pages in case you want a pro to mount that rack (so to speak). ; ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spionin Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 (edited) thanks for the kind words and the suggestion, vinny! heinrich - i feel like a bioterrorist Edited March 15, 2011 by spionin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom_Sjolseth Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Wow, Nice work V & D. I have relatives over there, I think it's time I go visit them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edlinger Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Awesome pictures! A lot of the Petzl guys are of the opinion that Norway has the best accessible waterfall ice in the world. Great TR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_rutl Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 get at it! we all need to do dinner and catch up on your winter!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanl Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 damnn, that makes me want to put my skis away! Beautiful trip you two... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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