My form was partly a mystery after dislocating my finger in April, but some slab climbing in Setesdal the previous weekend had at least provided reassurances that the footwork was still intact, and the 1200m of climbing suggested that the calves were still fighting fit. Arm endurance was another matter but Sunset Boulevard didn't look to contain anything too punchy in that respect.
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| The first pitch (VI-) |
The second pitch followed for the main part a slabby ramp that was hemmed in by a wall to its right to form a corner crack. Things looked ominous at the start of the corner as the crack was stuffed tight with vegetation, and by this point I was a good distance above the second of two bolts that had protected the initial slab above the belay. At least my footing was excellent, meaning I could patiently make an exploratory dig beneath the grass with my nut key. This was no easy task as the roots were tough as leather, and ultimately the crack proved hopelessly flared to protect. There looked at least to be good protection maybe 4m higher, so the only practical option looked to be to run it out a little more. In reality it wasn't that difficult and a good clump of heather or grass to grab hold of at least provided some psychological reassurance. The remainder of the corner was very well protected, allowing me to lace it like a classic Bohus crack. The climbing was equally sustained in technical difficulties, but with some good resting points in order to fiddle with gear.
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| Kristian climbing the slab at the start of the second pitch (VI) |
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| The well protected corner on the second pitch (VI) |
The third pitch started with an unexpected punch above the belay, with probably the hardest single moves of the pitch, utilising some small crimps to regain easier angled ground. The pitch then snaked right and back left to gain a similar corner in appearance to the last one, only harder in reality. The footwork often involved steep smears that relied on good hand placements, but fortunately the perfectly spaced finger locks just kept on coming. It was climbing that was vaguely reminiscent of Hægar's main corner, and not far behind in the quality stakes.
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| The hard moves at the start of the third pitch (VI+) |
The forth pitch climbed a few metres before traversing rightwards. It was moderate VI- difficulty, but the traversing nature across foot smears added to the exposure and felt psychologically harder than otherwise. Two bolts protected the pitch, but reaching the first of these proved a bit of a head game. I dithered as to whether to go high or low, backed off from high, tried low, then opted for high. The thought processes were a lot more jumbled with the background noise reminding me of the pendulum that was in store were I to slip. A medium brass offset a little further right lowered the tension, and the final moves to the first bolt weren't that hard once I got on with it.
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| Towards the end of the fourth pitch traverse (VI-) |
The fifth pitch was another VI+, although this time purely slab climbing, with three bolts and no trad gear to protect. For me, this was the easiest of the VI+ pitches, although a weekend in Setesdal immediately prior may have contributed to that feeling.
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| The fifth pitch (VI+) |
The sixth pitch reverted back to trad, climbing a short corner and subsequent parallel crack. Not too difficult, but the quality of climbing was maintained.
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| Near the top of the sixth pitch (V+) |
The seventh pitch was the final section of VI+, which again fell to Kristian. I had done a good job of unintentionally dodging all the VI+ sections on lead, although after dislocating my finger a few months prior I had enough on my plate with leading the easier pitches. It looked from the belay as though I might be able to dodge the moderately short difficulties with a long reach, but this was wishful optimism, and the section proved to be the crux of the climb for me. The difficulties involved just a few metres of hard climbing. Handholds were poor but the wall was just off-vertical enough to stand on the series of edges with the body pressed close to the wall. The problem for me was that this made the foot edges half blind and difficult to link. The warm temperatures didn't help with the friction either. The onsight attempt quickly disappeared, but luckily the difficulties were right at the start of the pitch, meaning the redpoint would go with enough patience. After the third or fourth attempt I had the footwork sequence clear enough in my mind that I was able to link the moves successfully, albeit still a little desparately.
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| The seventh pitch crux section (VI+) |
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| Above the seventh pitch crux (VI+) |
The temperatures had been a little hotter than ideal, with often nowhere to hide from the sun. By this point I was largely out of drinking water, and the few remaining gulps that I had saved were now so warm that there wasn't much relief to be had. A dry throat wasn't going to be a problem at this stage in the climb though. Finishing the seventh pitch was a partial weight off my mind, knowing the climbing from this point onward was largely easier. The pressure of trying to climb the route cleanly had eased a little.
The eighth and ninth pitches were easy slab climbing, before the tenth provided the last line of resistance, up and across a grade VI slab, protected entirely by bolts. It was the banana skin pitch, and coincidentally shaped like a banana. Fortunately my slab climbing skills were feeling relatively refined by this point and things were fairly clockwork. Completing the tenth pitch felt like a top of sorts as from here we would run to the top. Just two moderately easy pitches remained, which we quickly knocked off, and soon, with a mixed sense of jubilation and relief, we were on top.
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| The last of the hard climbing on the tenth pitch (VI) |
Neither of us were keen to walk down, having done it a couple of times before, so we made an attempt to locate the routes towards the right side of Hægefjell with fully equipped abseils. This proved relatively easy in fact, partly due to the traffic at the top of Via Lara acting as a reliable reference. These routes finish a significant distance lower than Sunset Boulevard, meaning a little down-walking on the easy-angled slabs was needed. We understood that a couple of climbers we were told were on Gone with the Weed, so we opted to abseil Reven. The reverse was actually true, so after two rope lengths we temporarily switched to Gone with the Weed in order to dodge them. In spite of this, the descent was much quicker than by foot.
Sunset Boulevard was excellent in summary. The line was not as strikingly obvious as Hægar, but the climbing was varied and often excellent, with the blanker, slabbier sections bolted minimally enough in order to maintain the trad feel and element of head game. I'd say Hægar remains my favourite but this route really isn't far behind in terms of quality, and I'd say one are almost guaranteed to have it to oneself.
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| Sunset Boulevard - The route |
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