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And then...
Feb. 12th, 2009 08:30 amThe last day in Rjukan was fantastic - we got an early start and headed to the most convenient waterfall in the whole valley, Svingfoss. You park the car about ten metres from the base and just get going. This was my first WI4 route, so quite a bit harder than I'd done before*. I managed to lead it pretty smoothly and calmly even though it was a bit knackering and the temperature was around -10C. Plenty of blood pumping round my system when I got to the top to warm my fingers up again. After Chris has seconded up, we abseiled off a tree and she led the route. For some reason, when I seconded it I found it much harder and nearly fell off due to frozen fingers.
Next up was the lower gorge again, but further along. A bit of a slog down through the snow and across the (mostly) frozen river got us to Camillas Foss. This was a long WI3 which went really well until 3/4 of the way up when I dropped 2 of my 3 remaining ice screws while placing one. As a result I had to go up the crappy (slushy or fracturing ice) top section with no gear until I got to a very small tree I could whack a sling round. Bit worrying..
Finally, Chris led a route who's name I can't remember now (WI3 again). This time it was a long easy snow/ice ramp leading to a nasty vertical step which she got over with minimal bother :). The top section over frozen turf and tree branches I didn't enjoy much due to being frozen myself and wanting to get it over with. Rather than abseiling down to the gorge and walking out we just carried on up and waded through the deep snow to the car park.
Leaving Rjukan at 3pm we headed firstly to Kongsberg, along roads completely covered in snow and which looked more like ski runs than roads. After a stop off ti repack all the now-dry bags for the flight, we bimbled on a slightly mad GPS route to the airport and home.
*WI2 is mainly slabby, WI3 has steep sections but ledges to rest on and place gear, WI4 can be all steep.
Nice easy morning today, heading off at 9.30 to Leeds to meet collaborators.
Next up was the lower gorge again, but further along. A bit of a slog down through the snow and across the (mostly) frozen river got us to Camillas Foss. This was a long WI3 which went really well until 3/4 of the way up when I dropped 2 of my 3 remaining ice screws while placing one. As a result I had to go up the crappy (slushy or fracturing ice) top section with no gear until I got to a very small tree I could whack a sling round. Bit worrying..
Finally, Chris led a route who's name I can't remember now (WI3 again). This time it was a long easy snow/ice ramp leading to a nasty vertical step which she got over with minimal bother :). The top section over frozen turf and tree branches I didn't enjoy much due to being frozen myself and wanting to get it over with. Rather than abseiling down to the gorge and walking out we just carried on up and waded through the deep snow to the car park.
Leaving Rjukan at 3pm we headed firstly to Kongsberg, along roads completely covered in snow and which looked more like ski runs than roads. After a stop off ti repack all the now-dry bags for the flight, we bimbled on a slightly mad GPS route to the airport and home.
*WI2 is mainly slabby, WI3 has steep sections but ledges to rest on and place gear, WI4 can be all steep.
Nice easy morning today, heading off at 9.30 to Leeds to meet collaborators.
