Lee Harrison Climbing

Winter conditions looked to be holding in Rjukan for another weekend and I was keen to capitalise. Anna's psych for more ice this season I sensed was starting to wane, but a combination of cross-country skiing and climbing I hoped would reinvigorate her. Gaustatoppen looked still to be well below freezing and, given this was the scene of my final act in December 2015 before I was struck down with long-term fatigue, it seemed fitting to make a return. After missing out on the whole of the preceding winter I was keen to drag this one out as long as I could manage. I should quickly point out that I'm a pretty poor skier. This wasn't helped by me forgetting to pack my skins, partly because everything that I had done prior to this was in groomed tracks. At least I was able to purchase some wax at the Gaustablikk resort without too much delay. The approach was far from the idyllic skiing that I had envisaged. Often the way was too narrow to herring bone, meaning my 210cm skis...

Despite seven days climbing in Oppdal I still hadn't climbed the classic Tøftfossen. I had planned to climb it with Anna two years ago but the cornice at the top of the route had looked massive from the valley and so we aborted a short way into the approach. On this occasion the problematic cornice was reportedly passable and with a perfect forecast the day looked ideally suited to something a little more alpine in character. Plus with Rick having travelled all the way from the UK we needed to justify the journey time with a big classic. The only thing not ideally suited was the avalanche forecast. Or at least the avalanche forecast that I was reading. Troms warned of windslab but this was of course is not the correct fylke for Oppdal. Fortunately rational thinking trumped my poor geography and thus we went to take a closer look. After all everything in the recent weather pattern suggested snow consolidation. No wind, no snow, freeze/thaw temperatures, and plenty of sunshine. It...

With temperatures warming up it seemed an ideal time to make my first trip to Drivdalen this season, where the high elevation would hopefully yield some good late season conditions. My friend Rick was visiting from the UK for the weekend. We have a history of driving from London to the Scottish Highlands and back in a weekend so Oslo to Oppdal would hopefully be easy by comparison. Saturday's plan was the slate quarries at Klevan, which had ice for the first time since I had moved to Norway nearly three years ago. A quick exploration of the place revealed some eye-catching lines, some of which were a blend of ice and mixed. Some were not sufficiently formed but there were plenty of routes that were. Rick was only starting to get back into climbing after years of ultra-marathon running so the harder lines could wait for another day. Despite being primarily a single pitch crag it didn't feel like 'cragging' as most of the routes were a full rope length and with pl...

The only WI5 that I had yet to climb in Upper Gorge was Verdens Ende, so this was Plan A for Sunday. Plan B was something nearby that was free of climbers. We opted to abseil part way into the western end of the gorge due to the unpleasant combination of powder snow concealing sporadic sections of hard ice on the descent. The last time that I had descended this way was following the fatal accident on Lipton in 2015 and it was difficult not think back to that terrible day. I had no interest in returning to the rocks beneath the climb where we had made futile attempts to save the Italian climber's life. This end of the gorge felt a world apart from the climbing busyness at the Vermork end with not a footprint to be seen. Rjukanfossen looked fat but Lipton was almost entirely absent of ice. Verdens Ende had seen better days with the ice on the first pitch looking eroded and hollowed out in the middle section. The route looked as though it had suffered some major thaws without t...

With unstable temperatures throughout Norway this winter I've experienced a lot of difficult ice conditions. If I had measured the number of axe swings verses the number of metres climbed then I am sure this season would be a record number. The rapid warming and cooling has led to some very brittle ice conditions and a lot of chopping to gain good sticks. In a way, visiting Rjukan during the latter part of winter felt like payback for some of what has gone before. I've mixed feelings about ice climbing in Rjukan. The short driving time, easy approaches, and the unique character and history definite pluses. I prefer my winter climbing to have a relatively wild, adventurous feel to it though and with such a high volume of climbers visiting Rjukan this can sometimes be hard to find. Particularly during milder seasons when fewer routes are in nick and everybody congregates in the same areas. I've climbed some exceptionally stepped-out ice at times, although I've largely...