Lower gorge- take 2.

Today we headed back down to the lower gorge as with most areas here in rjukan there are just so many amazing lines you just can't do them all in one day,

Once we had located an adequate tree to abseil from to get to the base of the gorge, as this is the only way down. One by one we ab'd off, it turned out once at the edge of where we could see to at the top it was a 40m overhanging cliff.

Once down cliff and richly headed over to a route which was not in the book but was a WI3 ramp route of about 35 metres. Me and Ed went over to Swiss army a WI5 steep tower onto a an undulating ramp. In hie sight I should of warmed up both physically and mentally (school boy error). I set off up the route and got to about 3/4 of the way up the steep tower and my head went and I all I could think was to down climb and get off. At the bottom I looked back up at the route and couldn't believe how close I had got to the top and then down climbed using energy I could of used to finish the hard section off.
At the bottom I was so angry I down climbed, so I shook out and got straight back on it and climbed it happily adding one more screw before topping the hard head wall.

Video on YouTube http://youtu.be/q50kQSVJoN8

Next up was richly and he decided to do the right line of Swiss army a WI4 line up beautiful ice, this would be his final and greatest lead of the trip and one he enjoyed immensely. Once completed he retired on a high and what a route to finish on.

Next we decided to have a bit of light competition with a speed climb, I was up first and had to set a president. Of course I did with a good time of 45 seconds, next Ed with 1 min 10sec then richly who unfortunately had a fall at the top and got 1m:25sec, then came Sunderland's finest (cliff) who came in at 1m 15sec. Needless to say I was one happy camper but thought I could improve so we all went again, I still won and then my third and final attempt I managed to get 33sec which I was happy to walk away at.

NOW I felt warmed up properly and wanted to do a nice looking line I had seen the previous day called hjemreisen WI4 in the book, but today it was far steeper and fatter than shown in the guidebook. From the bottom I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did once completing it. It was a really good climb, steep ice all the way and great steady climbing. Highly recommended if you ever go there.

Time was getting on and me and cliff decided to do one more route with the little light we had left, so we decided on knerten. A 2 pitch WI 4 route up good ice and into an amphitheatre and the first pitch which cliff led, it then went up another steep section of ice for the final pitch. However this upper section was gushing with water, which me n cliff couldn't understand as it was -13 and in no time my gloves and arms were frozen stiff with all the water splashing and running down my axes.
A quick ab off and we were speedily packing up and off up the steep gorge side with only the thought of a Huge burger and chips from the hytteby Resturaunt, which was a hot topic of the day.(it didn't disappoint)

All in all a great days climbing to finish on and a week we have all thoroughly enjoyed and are already talking about the route we want to do NEXT TIME we are here.
Tomorrow we head home unfortunately and my only regret is that we didn't come for two weeks as I am now feeling really fit and strong and have so many amazing routes i want to do but will now have to wait for..

Rjukan....... Till next time!!!!!

Lower gorge and even lower morals.

After our supposed rest day yesterday (see previous post) we all woke up not feeling our best.
Today we chose to go up to the lower gorge as we were told by a couple across from us at the hytteby huts that all the routes were excessively iced up and there were even route formed that weren't in the guide book.

On arrival to the car park there was another group of six Spanish climbers gearing up, once we had found an adequate tree to abseil off to reach the base of the gorge we geared up and one by one ab'd down into deep snow (gaiters would have been useful).

On first inspection Richie and cliff went to do the pleasantly named skrotfossen WI 3 ramp route which Richie led and me and ed went over and started on camillas foss WI 4 3 star steepish route which I led.€€
Camillas foss had a good step angle and was alot steeper and wider than shown in the guide book, it had seen a bit of traffic so there were plenty of steps and hooks cut by previous climbers which made the climbing a touch easier.
When stood at the base about to start I looked at the route and not feeling 100% I was going to take a easy line but once climbing I felt really good and strong so I went up the steepest section which was highly enjoyable and a great route to shack the cobwebs out on.
Walking back down the gorge we found cliff and Richie who'd just finished there route which they sed wasn't in the best condition, cliff sed the ice was wet and chewie and the axes placed first time but the ice wasn't trust worthy. I

Mine and Eds next route was one that was not in the roxfax guide book and accessed by a short solo up a ramp to an amphitheatre with a steep but short lived ice buttress into a gully stance then finished by a short wall WI 4. Ed led this one and whilst he was climbing i got hit by a ping pong sized piece of ice right on the bridge of the nose(it made my eyes water) I followed up the route which from the bottom didn't look as steep as it felt as once I was on it, luckily it was short lived and I was in the safety of the stance in no time.

Cliff and Richie had head over to our previous route, camillas foss which cliff led and had equally enjoyed.

The next route we had our eyes on was one called Swiss army, a WI 5 which was in extremely good condition and had a lot more ice than was shown in the guide book. Unfortunately the afore mentioned Spanish team had set up shop for the day and my ambitions for this route had been smashed. One of the Spanish team members came over to use and told use of some "mucho hielo" (lots of ice) thankfully cliff used his Spanish vocab and we headed off down the gorge to our next route.

After what seemed like a long trudge through a deep snow filled river basin filled with boulders we arrived at the base of lillebror, which in the book says its a WI 3(not a chance) with the additional ice making everything a lot steeper this was no exception. The route in the book showed one route but we could see at least three independent lines all of exceptional quality.

Me and cliff decided to led the route at the same time side by side, unfortunately much to my disappointment cliff wasn't in a chatty mood while we were climbing and all my attempts to spark a conversation had no effect, as I think cliff was concentrating to much to chat (stuck in a sea of ice).
This was an amazing route and in the guide book only gets 1 star, I can tell you now it's worth 3 stars.
A great route of steep undulating bulges and three steep near vertical sections of 45 metres in height, well worth doing.

On completing our route and getting to the bottom cliff had an idea that he should strip off and get some nude pics of him self in his harness on the climb and myself and Richie got the unfortunate job of taking pictures which can be seen on www.clifflowtherroxcoolblog@blogspot.com

After the photo shoot we set of up the banking back to the car and to the supermarket to get the ingredients for a curry which Richie was making.

Another great day of climbing and psychologically building ourselves up for the big ticks we want to bag before we leave.

Day 2- Back to krokan.

After yesterday's session at krokan and with so many great routes to climb which we didn't get to do, we decided to head back to krokan again.
After a hearty breakfast of bacon egg and cheese butties, we all headed off with a lot of excitement a healthy amount of psyche for all the routes we had seen the day previous.
On entering the venue cliff and richly got stuck into bullen, a WI 3 fat waterfall, I headed of up the right hand side of this fall on a route we dubbed scotch corner as it reminded us all of a route you may find I Scotland, it started as a nice ice ramp and in a gully like formation from half height which took you out into the trees to finish.
We then headed down to the far left end and got stuck into the large, steep independent icicles hanging from the rocky cave.
Edward led the first of the icicles which started on a free hanging formation, led onto a ramp and then onto a steep top section, this route wasn't in the guide as the shear amount of ice this year had made additional formations.
Cliff led the second of the icicles which the lower 3/4 had broken off but wedged its self against the rock face behind , which made a great technically challenging transition from the lower part to the fix upper section. Cliff stuck in a few heel hooks and breezed his was to the top of the section.
I then went on to led a wide but excessively thin and delicate route were a campus move and light foot placements made the start of the route accessible and from there tentative axe hooks and controlled footwork got me to the top of the icicle, once there it was a case of shovelling of deep snow and hacking up a very rotten and brittle ramp to a stance in a corner where I finished the final section up large runneled awkward ice over a bulge and through deep snow t the safety of the belay.
Once ed had seconded up we went to the next fat route to the left of us and ed led the next route, after that went wanted to finish of on the classic line of jomfrua which ed led onto the belay stance and then I follow to which cliff turned up and wanted a slice of the action, so I climbed up and led through the second pitch and to the top to set up a belay to bring the two of them up.
Ed was halfway up and cliff at the base so I decided to bring them both up at the same time, to which it was a similar experience to crab fishing, I was fighting with two people climbing at two different speeds and I couldn't see one of the until he came over the bulge, so I had to watch ed climb and feel the other line for the tension dropping so it knew when cliff was moving and to pull the rope in. I won't be doing this again, to much hassle.
Once down we all headed back to the hytteby for mackerel, pasta crisps and whiskey. Another awesome day had and tomorrow will hopefully be another great day out.

Check the video on YouTube http://youtu.be/76e5gr8qn-4