Gone with the Weed (n6-), Hægefjell
Anna and me tried to climb Gone with the Weed a couple of years ago. I was still getting over my chronic fatigue on that occasion and it had seemed an ideal stepping stone due to its long-ish length, short approach, and easy descent via abseil. It actually proved to be Anna's sore feet that was our undoing and brought about a descent after just two pitches. Big toe pain from too much friction-type climbing on moderate angled slabs to be precise. Gone with the Weed had also been the plan A when I climbed the neighbouring route called Reven a year prior, but on that occasion the route was still wet from snow melt. All in all the route could be described as a little elusive for me, although it had largely dropped off my radar in recent years.
Gone with the Weed hadn't been at the top of the list of potential routes in the lead-up to the weekend. Hægar was firmly at the top of the pile, however, upon arrival at Hægefjell on Friday evening it quickly became apparent that we had just missed a massive rain shower. Large puddles dotted the car park and, beneath the trees, the pine needles had been washed into parallel lines, like ripples, from channels of water that had washed through them earlier. The left end of Hægefjell had numerous broad wet streaks and grey clouds lingered overhead. We chatted to some climbers in the car park, who confirmed what we suspected, but the true evidence was in the form of their late arriving partner whose clothes were thoroughly drenched.
Since we were in Nissedal for the weekend the sensible approach appeared to be to exercise patience and wait to climb Hægar on Sunday in order to let any seepage dry up. The preceding weeks had been very dry, so hopefully a day would be enough to dry up the cracks. There were a few routes in Fyresdal that interested me, but these were at the lower end of the valley towards Treungen, where we had just driven from, and a visit would now add a couple of hours driving to the weekend. Two days climbing on Hægefjell looked the obvious choice since we were now here. The right hand side, which is less featured and gets the early morning sun, seemed the obvious place to head for, and so Gone with the Weed quickly found it's way to the top of the pile again.
Fine, warm weather had returned by Saturday morning and we found the rock largely bone dry. Anna was using stiffer soled TC-Pros on this occasion, instead the previous Mythos shoes, which would hopefully better support the affected toes and prevent the the foot pains materialising again. In case Anna needed to bail regardless we brought my skinny winter ropes as a spare set to allow an independent abseil descend. Bringing four ropes up the route wasn't a big deal since we had little else to carry. I was quietly optimistic all they wouldn't be called upon though as Anna had not complained about her toes for a while.
Gone with the Weed shares the same start as Hægefjell's classic route Via Lara, but quickly branches off to follow a much thinner crack system further left. The crack on the third pitch was visible from the base of the route, however the first two pitches were much more indistinct and involved either friction climbing or moving between good edges. Infrequent bolts partially guided the way, although these were sometimes hard to spot unless one peered at the rock with their eyes set level with its surface.
A definite advantage of doing Gone with the Weed on Saturday was the chance to practice efficiency with climbing as a three in preparation for Hægar, which was both longer and harder. I think we got this nicely drilled in the upper half once the routine became apparent. A few key points were that the first person to second needed to be the one leading the following pitch so that they could begin to rack gear upon arrival at the belay and read the description for the next pitch. Then it was just the case of the 'second second' passing their end of the rope to the new leader, so they had the two top ends, and then tying into one of the bottom ends from the previous leader. A bit of advance planning was also needed with regards where everybody stood at the belays in order to avoid the next leader needing to climb through the other two climbers during the opening moves of the next pitch. Maybe some of this is obvious to people who climb often as a three but in my case that has been very seldom.
The fourth pitch that Anna led continued in similar aesthetic fashion up the crack system, but only now easier. The crack became shallower and more discontinuous, often forming good pockets, and the edges around the crack became more frequent and generous in size.
Angela's fifth pitch was essentially a fully bolted pitch with trad gear worn just for show, and my final sixth pitch was a straight forward canter to the top via some easy crack climbing.
Gone with the Weed was good route, although it half-paled into insignificance compared to Hægar, which we climbed the following day. Some people rave about this route in the UKC logbook. Eg 'Better than Mot Sola'. Seriously? It's not even close in my opinion. It's been four years since I've climbed Mot Sola and I can still remember every pitch and could easily draw a rough topo. I doubt I could do the same for Gone with the Weed in four years time. The same criticism could be levelled at Agent Orange, for which I can only properly recall the main pitch around the dihedral/overlap. It's probably an indication that I've climbed enough routes at this end of Hægefjell and should start focusing more on the longer, more featured routes in the centre of the face and out left.
Gradewise the route felt like n5+, rather than n6-. A lot of the routes at Hægefjell were originally given a UIAA grade in the German Gå Telemark guide, and these seem to have been clumsily translated into a Scandinavian grades subsequently. Gone with the Weed is probably made more complicated by the Gå Telemark guide quoting both UIAA 6- (on the route list) and n6- (on the Hægefjell topo overview). In my view UIAA 6- seems the more accurate grade, which equates to n5+. Furthermore, the harder moves are focused around the bolts which, as trad (or mixed) routes go, makes them feel a little softer generally. Particularly given the bolts are very well placed to protect the harder moves.
As for the grades for the individual pitches there seems to be not much consistency between guides, although the online OSI Fjell guide is probably closer to the mark. It's arguably complicated by any difficulties being quite acute, thus grading the overall difficulty of a pitch becomes a little harder. If I applied UK tech grades to describe the hardest move on each pitch then I think the spread of difficulties would look quite different again compared to UIAA/Scandinavian grades. I'd say the route was n4+, n5+, n5+, n5, n5+, n4 when applying Scandinavian grades at any rate.
After some efficient abseiling we were at the base of the route again by about 3pm, and could probably have squeezed a similar route in to the day had we been very keen. After six pitches in warm sunny weather we were feeling a little lethargic, and so opted to drive a short distance to Kjølberg, where I had yet to visit.
The rock at Kjølberg was surprisingly steep compared to what is typical for the area, and either vertical or just off vertical. There was tree cover for belaying but little shade or wind once the climbing had began, making for some sweaty climbing conditions. The German guide describes many of the short single pitch routes as being mixed but they appear to be now be all fully bolted. I think this may have happened as recently as last year's Klatrefestival. To be honest, many of the routes were largely bolted anyway, so are probably better and less disjointed in their new form. The first route that Angela and me climbed for example, called Bad Bolt (V+), now has six bolts instead of four, with the only previous trad runners being low down where the climbing was easier. The rock at this crag generally seems too compact for trad gear. We managed a second route, called Mittenmang (VI), which I'm surprised I onsighted in my deteriorating state, and was definitely a confirmation that it was time to stop. Particularly in light of the fact that the harder, longer main event was still to come the following day.
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| Anna contemplating the second pitch of Gone with the Weed on our first visit in 2016 |
At least we had managed some single pitch cragging en route to and from Hægefjell during the first attempt. Anna's conclusion was that if she were ever to return to Hægefjell then it was best done in a group of three, so that she could more readily bail independently if needs be. With Angela joining us for the weekend's climbing it seemed an ideal opportunity to put that suggestion to the test.
Gone with the Weed hadn't been at the top of the list of potential routes in the lead-up to the weekend. Hægar was firmly at the top of the pile, however, upon arrival at Hægefjell on Friday evening it quickly became apparent that we had just missed a massive rain shower. Large puddles dotted the car park and, beneath the trees, the pine needles had been washed into parallel lines, like ripples, from channels of water that had washed through them earlier. The left end of Hægefjell had numerous broad wet streaks and grey clouds lingered overhead. We chatted to some climbers in the car park, who confirmed what we suspected, but the true evidence was in the form of their late arriving partner whose clothes were thoroughly drenched.
Since we were in Nissedal for the weekend the sensible approach appeared to be to exercise patience and wait to climb Hægar on Sunday in order to let any seepage dry up. The preceding weeks had been very dry, so hopefully a day would be enough to dry up the cracks. There were a few routes in Fyresdal that interested me, but these were at the lower end of the valley towards Treungen, where we had just driven from, and a visit would now add a couple of hours driving to the weekend. Two days climbing on Hægefjell looked the obvious choice since we were now here. The right hand side, which is less featured and gets the early morning sun, seemed the obvious place to head for, and so Gone with the Weed quickly found it's way to the top of the pile again.
Fine, warm weather had returned by Saturday morning and we found the rock largely bone dry. Anna was using stiffer soled TC-Pros on this occasion, instead the previous Mythos shoes, which would hopefully better support the affected toes and prevent the the foot pains materialising again. In case Anna needed to bail regardless we brought my skinny winter ropes as a spare set to allow an independent abseil descend. Bringing four ropes up the route wasn't a big deal since we had little else to carry. I was quietly optimistic all they wouldn't be called upon though as Anna had not complained about her toes for a while.
Gone with the Weed shares the same start as Hægefjell's classic route Via Lara, but quickly branches off to follow a much thinner crack system further left. The crack on the third pitch was visible from the base of the route, however the first two pitches were much more indistinct and involved either friction climbing or moving between good edges. Infrequent bolts partially guided the way, although these were sometimes hard to spot unless one peered at the rock with their eyes set level with its surface.
I had a vague recollection about the first pitch being on the long side and this rang true when, towards the end of the pitch Angela needed to scamper to put her shoes on in order to move together with Anna for a couple of metres.
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| Anna starting up the first pitch |
Only at the start of Angela's second pitch did any serious faith need to be placed in pure friction, however two bolts protected the key moves. Similarly protected moves presented in the upper part of the pitch, albeit a little easier. This pitch is graded the hardest according to the Gå Telemark guide but maybe that depends on one's ability to climb friction slabs verses cracks. Slabs used to be my forte but cracks have probably superceded this. Hence probably the friction moves felt the hardest part of the route to me, although easy enough with full commitment to the moves.
The third pitch fell to me. This was arguably the finest, most aesthetic pitch of the route, although it was fairly steady on the whole. The crack ate up cams, meaning I needed to pace their use, or be a little creative with nuts where possible. Overall it was very well protected, which was consistent with the route in general. The one negative aspect was that it reminded me of the third pitch of neighbouring Reven and therefore lacked destination. Reven's equivalent pitch felt a little harder, although possibly now I am just climbing a little better. After the first two pitches had used the full length of the rope I was somewhat surprisinged to encounter belay bolts at little more than half a rope length.
The third pitch fell to me. This was arguably the finest, most aesthetic pitch of the route, although it was fairly steady on the whole. The crack ate up cams, meaning I needed to pace their use, or be a little creative with nuts where possible. Overall it was very well protected, which was consistent with the route in general. The one negative aspect was that it reminded me of the third pitch of neighbouring Reven and therefore lacked destination. Reven's equivalent pitch felt a little harder, although possibly now I am just climbing a little better. After the first two pitches had used the full length of the rope I was somewhat surprisinged to encounter belay bolts at little more than half a rope length.
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| Anna seconding the third pitch |
A definite advantage of doing Gone with the Weed on Saturday was the chance to practice efficiency with climbing as a three in preparation for Hægar, which was both longer and harder. I think we got this nicely drilled in the upper half once the routine became apparent. A few key points were that the first person to second needed to be the one leading the following pitch so that they could begin to rack gear upon arrival at the belay and read the description for the next pitch. Then it was just the case of the 'second second' passing their end of the rope to the new leader, so they had the two top ends, and then tying into one of the bottom ends from the previous leader. A bit of advance planning was also needed with regards where everybody stood at the belays in order to avoid the next leader needing to climb through the other two climbers during the opening moves of the next pitch. Maybe some of this is obvious to people who climb often as a three but in my case that has been very seldom.
The fourth pitch that Anna led continued in similar aesthetic fashion up the crack system, but only now easier. The crack became shallower and more discontinuous, often forming good pockets, and the edges around the crack became more frequent and generous in size.
Angela's fifth pitch was essentially a fully bolted pitch with trad gear worn just for show, and my final sixth pitch was a straight forward canter to the top via some easy crack climbing.
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| Anna leading the fourth pitch |
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| Angela on the fifth pitch |
Gone with the Weed was good route, although it half-paled into insignificance compared to Hægar, which we climbed the following day. Some people rave about this route in the UKC logbook. Eg 'Better than Mot Sola'. Seriously? It's not even close in my opinion. It's been four years since I've climbed Mot Sola and I can still remember every pitch and could easily draw a rough topo. I doubt I could do the same for Gone with the Weed in four years time. The same criticism could be levelled at Agent Orange, for which I can only properly recall the main pitch around the dihedral/overlap. It's probably an indication that I've climbed enough routes at this end of Hægefjell and should start focusing more on the longer, more featured routes in the centre of the face and out left.
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| Top of the route |
Gradewise the route felt like n5+, rather than n6-. A lot of the routes at Hægefjell were originally given a UIAA grade in the German Gå Telemark guide, and these seem to have been clumsily translated into a Scandinavian grades subsequently. Gone with the Weed is probably made more complicated by the Gå Telemark guide quoting both UIAA 6- (on the route list) and n6- (on the Hægefjell topo overview). In my view UIAA 6- seems the more accurate grade, which equates to n5+. Furthermore, the harder moves are focused around the bolts which, as trad (or mixed) routes go, makes them feel a little softer generally. Particularly given the bolts are very well placed to protect the harder moves.
As for the grades for the individual pitches there seems to be not much consistency between guides, although the online OSI Fjell guide is probably closer to the mark. It's arguably complicated by any difficulties being quite acute, thus grading the overall difficulty of a pitch becomes a little harder. If I applied UK tech grades to describe the hardest move on each pitch then I think the spread of difficulties would look quite different again compared to UIAA/Scandinavian grades. I'd say the route was n4+, n5+, n5+, n5, n5+, n4 when applying Scandinavian grades at any rate.
After some efficient abseiling we were at the base of the route again by about 3pm, and could probably have squeezed a similar route in to the day had we been very keen. After six pitches in warm sunny weather we were feeling a little lethargic, and so opted to drive a short distance to Kjølberg, where I had yet to visit.
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| Angela climbing Mittenmang (VI) at Kjølberg |
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