Lee Harrison Climbing

It took me three attempts to reach the base of the climbs in Botnajuvet. Largely because of the approach notes in the Hemsedal Ice guide sent me on a wild goose chase. It advised me to descend into the nearby gorge of Lauvdøla, follow this for 100m downstream to the junction with Botnajuvet, and then follow this upstream for 200m up until the ice routes at its head were reached. If first you don't succeed... I first tried to reach Botnajuvet two years ago with Anna . We made a few attempts at trying to descend to the base of the Lauvdøla gorge via different ways but soon got cold feet (metaphorically). Partly because the audible running water at the bottom of the gorge and partly because the icefalls we were aiming for looked worryingly far away. Deep snow on the approach to the gorge and no snowshoes had also cost us time. We decided to cut our losses and instead climb the short icefall at Øvre Lauvdøla. Descending to the Lauvdøla gorge on the first visit  (Shortly bef...

I missed virtually all of last winter due being totally wiped out by fatigue. Much of 2016 has been a slow recovery and for a long period I suspected moderately serious winter climbing might be a thing of the past for me. I've really improved in recent months, with rock climbing becoming a regular activity again, but a return to winter climbing would inevitably involve longer, more taxing days and generally a greater degree of suffering. It was important to me therefore to build up gradually through the season in order to check my progress and avoid any repeat issues with fatigue. In any case I was happy just to be climbing again at the start of winter and so the psych for harder stuff wasn't there. No doubt that will change as I begin to take my health and fitness more for granted. Last week had been off the cards due to a big dump of snow combined with strong winds. This weekend I was hoping that things had consolidated and that there would be favourable mixed condition...