Each winter, Lakeland Ascents head out to Norway, to the small town of Rjukan for a week or so of cascade ice climbing on the 150 odd frozen waterfalls that can be found within a short distance of the town. This year was no exception and Will and Dan joined me for 10 days of frozen fun.
I’d been concerned about conditions in the run up to this year’s trip, as temperature across Norway had been uncharacteristically high for the time of year, but in the run up to the trip things cooled down significantly and we started to see positive reports of good conditions coming from the Rjukan climbing community.
The cold temperatures did a great job of freezing things, but unfortunately they were accompanied by a lot of snow… and by that I mean a LOT of snow! It snowed for a good 10 days in the run up to our trip and snowed heavily practically every day we were there. This meant that a lot of easier lines were buried and that getting in to routes was tough going. Steeper stuff was in descent nick though, with most routes of WI4 and above giving good climbing on solid ice.
Here’s some pics from the 10 days:
Vermorkbrufoss Ost (WI 4)
Vermorkbrufoss Vest (WI 5) – in great condition
Vermorkbrufoss Vest (WI 5)
A fair bit of snow!
Breaking trail into the Lower Gorge
Jomfrua (WI 4) at Krokan
Breaking trail into the Upper Gorge
Vermorkbrufoss Ost (WI 4)
WI 5 Sabotorfossen
Ozzimosis WI4
Sabotorfossen WI5
Looking over towards Juvsoyla & Trappfoss