I just returned from a wonderful 9 day trip to Norway. It was my second trip there, my first was back in ’07. As with the last time, this one, too, exceeded my expectations! The ice climbing there is so good, it’s on an entirely different scale of magnitude that anywhere else. After my first trip, I thought we must have just been there during a freak, once-in-a-lifetime event of unusually fat ice conditions. I was wrong. There is world class ice routes up there every year. From what we were told by the local ice climbers (something of which there seems to be a shortage of up there), this was a lean year and not many things were in. Well, there was enough in to keep us very entertained for the week of climbing we had. We could have climbed every day for three weeks and still not have run out of great objectives.
Who needs the Stanley Headwall with a place like this? Ice above Gudwangen. Into the Wild (900 m) is the obvious line on the left.
We spent the first half of our trip in Rjukan, which could easily be compared to the Ouray of Norway. There is even a small gorge, much like the Ouray Ice Park, in which there are numerous single pitch flows and mixed climbs to practice on. There is also a number of other 2-4 pitch routes in the area, most of which were within easy walking distance of the Climb Inn, a fantastic climbers hostel where we stayed. Rjukan is probably more famous for the infamous Norwegian Heavy Water Sabotage of 1943, where elite Norwegian special force members executed a daring sabotage mission in the heart of winter of a then Nazi occupied hydroelectric plant where nuclear weaponry was being developed. Rjukan is a popular spot for English ice climbers as it is a short flight over for them.There is an awesome, grass routes style ice festival here in Rjukan which we were lucky enough to be part of. It is a very laid back and unpretentious ice climbing scene here and access to the ice could not be much easier.
Haugsfossen near Rjukan
From here, we ventured on to the bigger climbs found in the western Fjords. In 2007 I visited Eidfjord and struck gold with the dozens (no joke) of unclimbed ice routes that I found there. This time, we headed to Lærdal, which is in the Sogn og Fjord (supposedly, the longest fjord in the world). Though lonely, there was plenty of ice to climb here: you could easily spend a week climbing the obvious 1,000 foot plus routes. You could spend a few more going after the other, less obvious ones.
The small village of Lærdal, Norway.
We started out with a local classic, the Kjørlifossen, which was a 1,500 foot monster of an ice climb. The upper 1,000 feet was sustained WI 5 and over 200 feet wide. Its as big a piece of water ice as anything you find in the Western Hemisphere other than a lake.
After our 1o hour day climbing the Kjørlifossen, we took a rest day and drove through the 14 mile long tunnel south of town (also reported to be the longest in the world) to the even smaller village of Gudwangen to take a look at the routes Into the Wild (2,600 feet long) and Fosslimonster (3,000 feet long!), which are some of the longest water ice climbs in the world (I know, the superlatives are are a bit too much here!) It was warming, so the bottoms of these routes were on their way out, but the upper sections looked awesome, though would be something for us to consider on a future trip. They were beyond our scope for this season´s visit. There was ample potential for new lines there, as well (see photo above). We also drove a short ways up the valley to the village of Borgund to see a 900 year old wooden Stave church, for which Norway is well known.
After rested, we went out for one final route in this valley, another huge, 1,500 foot long sheet of ice, the Seltunfossen, which had 10 minute approach from the car. We harnessed up right at the car and just carried our crampons a short while to the base to start this 8 pitch adventure. It was a touch easier than the Kjørlifossen, but somewhat longer, with more WI 3 terrain.
Seltunfossen
All in all, this was an amazing trip and I’m already excited to return there next season to get after a few more of the big rigs. This place is without question home to THE BEST ICE CLIMBING IN THE WORLD! I’m not the only one who thinks so. Check out what Will Gadd has to say about the place. For me, Norway is the new Canadian Rockies.
See all of my photos from the trip here.
