Jon, Phil and me climbed Contamine-Grisolle on the Tacul Triangle for acclimatisation purposes. The lower slopes of the Triangle were icy and lean but the snow conditions on our route were excellent. The route was of no great difficulty and we moved together for the entirety. We abseiled down the Western side of triangle on completion.
Phil between my legs. On the lower slopes of Contamine-Grisolle
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. 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 e...
A Silly Game Esoteric... intimidating... worrying... exhausting... are some of the words that I would best describe climbing on the white cliffs at Dover. It's one of the most unique and memorable places that I have climbed at and somewhere that has filled me with equal measures of dread and ambition. The style of climbing is far from perfect but it is partly the imperfections combined with the unique experiences and high levels of adventure that kept me returning.What's more the journey time of under two hours from my former London home made the area positively 'local' by London standards. Mick Fowler's exploits were one of the main catalysts to me trying chalk climbing. I visited Saltdean a few times to climb the bolted chalk routes at Saltdean but was keen for bigger adventures away from in situ protection. An excellent article on Dover by Ian Parnell in Climb Magazine further raised my interest in the purely trad form, particularly in a route called The Tube...
Plan A had been to visit Romsdal for the week but there was too much rain forecast in the North. Particularly along the coast. Staying in Southern Norway looked to be the safer option if we wanted some mileage. The new plan would be first Setesdal and then Rogaland, which would hopefully offer some contrasting variety. The former would provide some long multipitch slab climbs and when we were bored of slabs there would be some steeper single pitch climbing waiting for us in Rogaland. After my brief ice climbing trip to Setesdal in February I was curious to return in the summer months. Anna was still finding her feet on long, more committing, multi-pitch routes so a bolted friction slab looked a good medium with which to progress, as no doubt we would climb it comparatively quickly. There was the minor issue of spaced bolts (one pitch had three bolts in 60m for example) but I anticipated there would be protection where needed. Plus we were feeling tuned to the rock after some single p...
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