Rjukan Ice Climbing Trip, Norway
March 2006
George Taylor
After spending two snowy weeks in the Alps I was ready to climb
something. There had been more powder in Chamonix than you could
expect to find in a supermodel's handbag and ploughing through this to get to
routes was pretty tiresome. So when the opportunity arose for a quick trip
to Rjukan I jumped at it. The promise of stable weather, reliable ice,
short approaches and plenty of scope for climbing convinced me. One (long)
day, 575 miles and numerous plane and train journeys later we arrived in
Oslo. Picked up a car from Rent-a-Wreck (seriously!) and began the drive
into the home of cross-country skiing - Telemark. Destination - Rjukan.
Norway is a strange place to those of us used to the business of life
in the south east. It's a stunning landscape with eye-catching
architecture and during the three hour drive to Rjukan we encountered
seven people, two of them worked in a shop. The rest had the appearance of
androids. Three hours later, just as I was convinced that we had stumbled
into a Norwegian remake of 'The dawn of the dead' we arrived in Rjukan.
For those who haven't seen 'Heroes of Telemark' Rjukan may need some
introduction. It's a semi-industriaised valley and the most notable things
are the hydro-electric plants. These were taken over by the Nazis during
the war to produce 'heavy water' used to manufacture fissile materials to
blow stuff up.
We arrived at the village of Vaer which is well-placed in the Rjukan
valley with many routes 10 minutes from the door. I was convinced the
owners had mistakenly booked us into their own house by accident. Compared
with the usual hovels that I frequent this was like a five-star Hilton
with climbing modifications. For the same price as a 20m square ramshackle
hellhole above a nightclub in Chamonix we had an enormous apartment with a
big, well equipped kitchen, huge lounge with DVD, TV (essential for
keeping up with Desperate Housewives), stereo, bathroom with power-shower
and heated floors. The bedroom was bigger than my last apartment in
Chamonix! The piece de resistance was the changing area/drying room; a
room underneath the apartment with a collection of Heath Robinson heaters,
radiators, air blowers, dehumidifiers and a washing machine. All this kept
the climbing equipment out of the apartment (I know from experience that
impaling your foot on an ice screw is bad for your health) and meant we
had nice warm gear to put on every day. By this stage we were feeling
pretty pleased with ourselves but still concerned that the owners might
realise their mistake and try to reclaim their home in the night!
Day 1 - Krokan
After a good sleep we awoke to blue sky and low temeratures. Perfect! We
bought a guidebook from the only climbing shop in Rjukan (an expensive
business - better to buy everything in the UK) and headed to Krokan.
Krokan is a great ice-cragging venue with a ten-minute walk in and a wide
selection of routes from WI3 to WI6. There are also some good mixed routes
giving sport to M10 if that's your thing. The layout of the gorge makes it
easy to bottom-rope routes and we spent the day ice bouldering and
bottom-roping some more difficult lines whilst Stuart tested out his new
leashless axes.
Day 2 - Rjukan Centre
The route Fabrikkfossen is a seven pitch WI3 cascade in the Rjukan centre
of the valley. It's a behemoth of a route that's impossible to miss from
the road but the path up to it can be elusive. We parked outside a random
warehouse in the Hydro area and started postholing up the hillside through
thigh-deep snow. Finally the path veered off to the start of the route and
at 11am we set off upwards choosing to solo the first easy-angled pitches.
As this cascade is so vast it's possible to tailor your route by choosing
the path of least, or most resistance. The left-hand finish looked
exciting with a 20ft step of vertical ice at the top where Stuart broke
the Britis record for concurrent ice screw placements! As the light
faded we abseiled back down and were in the apartment by 7 pm.
Day 3 - Bolgen
Kvitaa is another vast cascade towering over the valley in the Bolgen
area. At 500m, it's a big route. The climbing is never difficult but steps
of WI3 are possible if you seek them out. The NW aspect ensures afternoon
sun making the route feel warmer and less daunting than its shady
neighbours. As we were climbing late in the season the ice was thin in
places. The cascade has a high water flow and the water flowing beneath
the ice gives the first few pitches a wierd, ethereal appearance. The
route itself took four hours and we were pleased that the guidebook
describes the descent as a walk off to the nearby road. Having decided
that this sounded like hard work we decided to abseil. After nine abseils
from trees in various stages of development (tree, sapling, big twig) we
had decided that we wouldn't be doing that again but finally reached the
ground.
Day 4 - Vemork Bridge
Looking from the windows of our apartment, across the gorge towards Vemork
power station, two obvious slithers of ice framed the bridge itself.
Unsurprisingly, they're known as Vemorkbrufoss (Vemork Bridge) Ost and
Vest. We chose Vemorkbrufoss Ost - two pitches of WI4. The base of the
route is accessed by an abseil from the bridge itself and a two minute
walk brought us to the base of the route which looked harder than it
should. I started up the first 3m step to a little snow ledge, placed a
screw and headed up the right-hand side to the route proper - a 90 degree
wall leading to a small cave. After a few swings I found that the ice was
more delicate than I'd like. After sending several dinner plate-sized
pieces down to Stuart I placed another screw. Starting to get pumped now I
climbed upwards into that frightening place where you're too pumped to
stop and place a screw and too scared to climb. Reaching down for a screw
I'd none left on that side and faffed for a bit on the other side. Finding
one - no wizzy handle this time - my forearms and calves were burning.
Finally I got the screw in and crawled upwards to the safety of a cave.
The final pitch was slightly easier (it needed to be) and we pulled onto
the top happy.
Day 5 - Krokan and Fission Bowl
For our last day we headed to Krokan with its short
approach and found a cascade called Swingfoss WI4. Apparently a little
creative car parking will light up the whole route at night for nocturnal
activities. This being Saturday we were the main entertainment for the
many Norwegian families who like to watch the dumb-ass Brits climbing
frozen waterfalls. Finally we fancied trying a bit of mixed and headed to
an area called Fission Bowl. A route called Two Assholes and Five Nice
Bolts seemed more than appropriate at M6. After a disco-leg start Stuart
found himself at the lower-off on his second attempt. Not bad for a first
mixed route. We both tried the first moves of an M10 called Fission but
didn't make the first bolt!
Rjukan is an amazing place with lots to do regardless of the grade that
you climb. The easy access makes climbing here a joy and much less
stressful than the alps as you don't really have to be as organised. After
a week in Rjukan I'm a leashless convert and have climbed more ice than
I'd typically climb in a couple of Scottish winters. Recommended!
Click [here]
for more photos from this trip.
Useful Links
Accommodation: http://www.rjukan.co.uk
Car Hire: http://www.rentawreck.no
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