The Time Stealer

I don’t like to make this blog too baby obsessed, after all, I am a climber and climbing is what I do and why I set up this blog. If only...

I guess it is time I reluctantly admit there are probably more people out there interested in cute photos of the LadyBaby that there are people who’d like to look at yet another piece of ice.  And given she occupies the entirety of our lives now, she may as well occupy this blog too. So, for them, I present a few gems from the last couple of weeks.  She seemed to like the papoose (rucksack thing) which bodes well for going to The Lake District later in the year.

In other news, I might soon have a good post on a mega whisky tasting session I have coming up with James.  It seems he has gone a bit mental on the whisky front since Norway.  Speaking of which, Holly and I went gin tasting at the weekend – a spirit with much more going on than cliché and stereotype would have you think.  There were no tickets, just a list of names at the entrance – my name appeared not to be there, until I realised was down as  Mr Onice.  Nick Onice.  Never had that before!

Training has taken a boost these last couple of weeks as my old pal and climbing buddy Nick (with whom I did my first and only alpine season with – Chamonix for six and a half weeks back in 2006) has started coming over on Thursday night to use the wall. Yes, that’s right – I am finally using the thing!  I have written up a pretty mean circuit training session of 90mins.  We are still getting to grips with how best to use the wall itself, but it’s certainly great progress.

Fair Play

You may have noticed me bemoaning my recent crampon failures.  Well, I complained to Grivel and they have sent me an entire brand new set – you can’t ask for more than that. So a big thanks to Grivel, and more specifically Adam at The Mountain Boot Co. (UK distributors of Grivel).  I am returning the broken pair so it can take pride of place in their broken kit museum.

Interestingly, the connecting bar has been modified to the new ‘twin bar’.  This is apparently to better accommodate the new generation of B3 boots that are more flexible – such as the Scarpa Phantoms, as used by none other than little old me.

It’s nice to see a company not only standing by their products with great customer service, but also acting quickly to address design concern about them – this new bar seems to have come as standard for a couple of seasons following at least one similar breakage as discussed on Dane’s Cold Thistle blog.

So fair play to Grivel, TMBC, and Adam. Thanks.

The Yellow Dragons

In other news, I ran my, rather hilly, half marathon in 1hr 43min 50sec.  Not bad off the back of minimal training.

Lessons from The Norge

Lessons from The Norge:

• These trips are expensive whichever way you shake it. Even more so when you drive 2300km.

• I love ice climbing and also hate ice climbing. Mostly I love it. Even when it feels like I hate it.

• I can climb to a decent level without ever doing any rock climbing, not that I want to.

• I am starting to think WI5 is not that hard – I must find a WI6 next year.

• The Ice Training Rig works (although it doesn’t train one’s calves).

• One should take spare crampon parts.

• I am now very good at abalakov threads – first time, every time.

• I like pesto pasta, or at least used to. I love whisky.

• Norwegian speed limits really are very low.

• I have climbed in North Norway, Canada, Rjukan and Cogne – the potential of the area we went this year is literally unparalleled.

• Fjords are really deep. And full of starfish.

Good admin is important

 Attention now turns to the next thing, whatever that may be.  I have a half marathon on Sunday. My training will consist of four 3.7 mile runs.  After that, well, I’d like the next challenge to be climbing related but it is going to take a hell of an effort just to get back to where I was, let alone improve.  I am fairly psyched to stay (or get) fit though, which is good.

In other news, Willow stealth attacked Holly with an outstretched finger this morning, causing a nose bleed. We may have a job integrating this one into a civilised society.

 

Hydnefossen

We woke at the ungodly hour of 0430hrs yesterday to begin what was sure to be a very long day. In the end it wasn't all that bad, even though I am feeling quite battered today.

The two hour drive to Hemsedal set for the tone for the day with significant snow falling and roads made of ice.  The weather didn't improve much and we spent most of the day in cloud - so apologies for the disappointing lack of photos/evidence.  A description and photo of the route can be found here, I would say this year is a bit thinner than that photo.

Pulling up at the car parking spot we had scouted earlier in the trip, we realised that we were right next to the logging area mentioned in the guide - not sure how we missed that before, but it meant we were also next to the trail in.  After a hundred yards we decided that snow shoes would be just about worth it and so turned around to get them.  Less than an hour and a half later, we were standing in a wee snow cave on the right of the falls gearing up. I spent the next 20 minutes faffing with string and crampon parts.

Hydnefossen lies above the snow slope

We really couldn't see much but knew that the centre of the falls is the most common route up and began with a bit of a spray cone.  I traversed to the far (wrong, as it turns out) side of it and set up the belay.  The first pitch was a real effort. Not demanding climbing but cold hard ice and it seemed very physical.  The broken crampon felt poor, but then I realised the other one did too and soon I got used to having to kick a bit harder into the brittle ice than we had needed to for most of this trip. A screw came flying off my harness and landed by James. Badmin.  He later dropped one too that we also found. Double badmin, but thankfully no expense incurred.

The route was proving to be a bit of a calf-killer and the hanging belay was no better. Finally a reason to have been wearing knee-pads all week - I slumped into my harness and knelt on the ice.  By the time James arrived I was chuffing freezing. It was one of those days - warm (maybe a tad below zero) and so wet and so cold. I do so prefer cold and so dry and so warm.

The next pitch was supposed to be the crux and soon after leaving the belay I had to clip a screw to change my sopping gloves - a mild cheat perhaps but I learnt long ago that I need to trust my instincts when it comes to cold hands before I pay the price later.  There were some great moves finding my way up through bulges that felt almost overhanging in parts. Yet the climbing still didn't feel very hard. Or even steep - it wasn't until we ab'ed down that I realised how unrelenting it was.  I think being able to see where I was going as I snuck up through the steepenings would have made for a nicer day out but the cloud certainly added to the commitment. At one point a huge thick dinner plate of ice tore off and my left axe popped, only a fraction of a second after my right axe had buried into the ice - one of the closest I have come to falling, for sure.  I ran out of screws before rope and so belayed at about 40m.  Still wet, I settled in for another uncomfortable belay.

The next pitch was shorter and I belayed for the last time, maybe, 20m short of the top. The ice from that point ceased to provide any technical difficulty but looked of deteriorating quality and there was a cornice at the top - I didn't want to back myself into a corner. Besides, I come to Norway to avoid things like cornices. The route was over sooner than expected, but of course it was still almost 4pm.

Two very full 60m abseils saw us back at the base and then the walk out in just crampons was fast - despite a snow bridge collapsing from under me and me nearly ending up in the drink.

So all in all, a fine end to our trip and a great tick.  Spoilt slightly by grim weather only.  The route itself wasn't the epic I had expected and at 'benchmark WI5' I guess that bodes well for my development, or at least me being back to my top form. And ready to hit WI6 next year!

Oh, and the crampons held out admirably.

We fly back tomorrow, but there is no ice to be climbed to today.  I am looking forward to returning, and here's hoping, in a year of good conditions.  But for now, I am more looking forward to seeing the family; Holly has been feeding Willow strawberries!