Lee Harrison Climbing

After a big day on Makalu the previous day, there was certainly enough reason for Nikolay, Anna and myself to return to Stavadalen in order to take advantage of some decent ice conditions. Some of the routes at Stavadalen were a little on the thin side but O'hoi looked fat and enticing, although apparently not as fat as it can be some years. It was both shorter and potentially easier than Makalu and, with no rising traverses to negotiate, it was hopefully more predictable. Some friends had also climbed the route the day before, which further reduced the uncertainties. Anna had climbed the route the previous season but she was more than happy to climb it again, given Stavadalen's close proximity to our cabin and the poor alternatives elsewhere, such as in Hemsedal. The route's name apparently originates from the first ascentionists who needed rescuing, and apparently shouted 'o'hoi' in the dark in order to gain attention. O'hoi (WI4, 100m) I was now

Anna and I had tried to climb Makalu on New Year's Eve but we had bailed after one pitch due to the ice was becoming too wet for comfort. Small ice debris had even began to fall from high up the route, which was quite disconcerting. We had hoped that the hard climbing would largely be done by the time the warm weather arrived but it had beaten us to it. Anna climbing the first pitch during our first attempt on NYE. We drove to Hemsedal that same day during late afternoon, as some friends were spending New Year there. The forecast indicated that the warm temperatures would linger longer in Hemsedal than in Valdres, and our suspicions that maybe we were driving in the wrong direction were partially confirmed when it began to rain whilst crossing Golsfjellet. The car dashboard read 5 degrees and by the time we had dropped into Hemsedal it was 7 degrees. Four of us crammed into a tiny cabin in Hemsedal, which needed creative thinking in order to find places to hang wet gear

28th-29th January NO CLIMBING! REST! [Edit] Ok climb with Stig but nothing too hard or long That was my calendar entry for the immediate weekend. The following weekend I would hopefully be off to Scotland for a week of climbing and so wanted to be fresh for that. Some easy climbing wouldn't do any harm though I thought, provided not too much travel or days too long. Maybe a good opportunity to explore somewhere new. We headed to Bagn, where there looked to be a number of moderate multipitch options. In particular, the routes south of Bagn sounded interesting, although I had dismissed the possibility of climbing at Stavadalen as knew the south facing routes would be in a terrible state. They had been in a terribly skeletal shape when I had recce'd them a month prior. We headed to Dammen area on Saturday, which I knew to be a reliable area from a previous visit just before Christmas. In particular a WI3 called Gul Foss looked worth the return visit. As the name sugg

I bought an ice cream the previous day as a silent protest towards the latest bout of warm weather. Hemsedal was looking in spring condition with little snow in valley. Even the ski pistes were developing green patches. It was time to leave. If we had brought our rock shoes with us then I think would have managed a rock route on Skogshorn or Skurvefjell no problem.  Our plan was to relocate to Espedalen, where over last month the warm spells looked to have been more moderate, although the latest one looked have been just as bad. The day's strategy was to drive in that direction until something wintry presented on route. Then hopefully we would get some climbing done, although we anticipated needing to lower the levels of ambition.  Hydnefossen looked in terrible shape as we left Hemsedal. Midtlinja had totally collapsed and was now running water, and routes further left were in no better shape. It was evidence of just how destructive the latest wave of warm temperatures at

It was +4.5 degrees in Hemsedal centre Sunday morning. Even high up the forecast looked warm. According to Yr.no it was colder in Oslo centre than at Kongsvoll, although there didn't look to be a temperature inversion at play in Hemsedal itself. It seemed a good day to drop the level of difficulty and be conservative with objectives. The forecast indicated it was colder in the valleys further east and I had been keen to climb in Valdres for a while. Fagernes was supposedly -1 degrees and the WI3 icefall called Hyllebekken seemed a good bet, given its large volume of ice and consistent gradient that would make it more resistant to warm temperatures. The broad scale would also mean that Anna and myself could share the route with Espen and Emmi, who were sharing our hut, without knocking ice on top of one another. It was 0 degrees as we skirted Gol, then +2 degrees over Golsfjellet. By the time we had reached Fagernes it was -2 degrees and the plan looked to be paying off. Hy