Girls on the sharp end... Rjukan Day 4

Today was the day for Mo and Emma to get on the sharp end and lead some routes. We went back to Ozzimossis and they each led 3 pitches. Emma had a wee slip on her last pitch so rather than finish on a negative note she did the right thing and got straight back on and had another lead. They were both climbing well by the end of the day as well as coping with being on the lead. Nice work ladies!

On the Sharp End from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

Rjukan day 3

Ice climbing at Rjukan from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

Today we were in the Upper Gorge. We started with climbing Bakveien (WI4) in 3 pitches and abseiled down the line of Vemorkbrufoss Vest. Then we went to Nedre Svingfoss which we climbed in series to simulate the girls leading, they built some more belays for themseves and after 2 pitches drilled an abalakov thread to abseil off.

Conditions so far this week...

Krokan: Unknown (WI2), Kjokentrappa (WI4), Gaustaspokelse (WI4), Bullen (WI3) and Jomfrua (WI4) are all seeing many ascents.

Upper Gorge: Trapfoss (WI4), Bakveien (WI4), Sabotorfossen (WI5), Nye Vemorkfoss (WI5) and Nedre Svingfoss (WI3) are all also popular. Tracey's eyes is buried under snow (and this has been sloughing off). Blindtarmen hasn't been climbed in a while but is complete. Vemorkbrufoss Vest looks great but Ost is much thinner. Host and at least 1 other route nearby are also climbeable.

Lower Gorge: Camillafoss and Pentium (both WI3) are seeing ascents but there is a lot of snow down there.

Centre: Fabrikfossen is buried (has seen an ascent of the first few pitches until they ground to a halt under heavy snow) but Tjonstadtbergfossen is apparently good.

Ozzimossis: plenty of ice and numerous ascents have cleared the snow off this week.

Rjukan day 2

Today we went to Krokan for some more single pitch ice- a little steeper today with a couple of good WI4s and some easier stuff with 1 and no axes to help the guys work on their footwork. Sunshine today with us whilst the bottom of the valley was full of mist. Upper Gorge tomorrow for some multi-pitch stuff.

Rjukan first day of climbing

Mo, Emma and I went to Ozzimossis today with Heather, Mark and their teams. We did half a dozen routes and the guys worked on their footwork, tool placement and placing and removing screws. It started quiet but by lunchtime was very busy with Aussies, Spaniards, locals (including wee kiddies) and us. Plenty of ice but much of the easier angled stuff was quite buried. Back in the the huts I cooked fish and now everything the Instructor team owns has a unique fishy odour..... oops..... still its better than Mark's socks or George's farts!

That's the straight blog... for the inside story see Di's blog!

Rjukan 15 Jan 11 from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

Wakey wakey....

A fairly sleepy MCofS Rjukan team woke up round lunchtime after a 1am to 6am snowy drive from Oslo last night. Since then we have shopped, taken the mickey out of Di, had a team meeeting, slagged Di off, been for a quick recce and insulted Di.
There is ice, there is also a lot of snow, some areas are fatter than usual and some thinner... Mo, Emma and I will get on it tomorrow.

Last Arqiva day and off to Rjukan

Like it says on the title today was my last day with Arqiva team 2 and we went to a nearby hilltop mast to test their safety procedures.

Last night Jane and Sandy came over to see me as I'm off to Rjukan for the next week teaching ice climbing for the MCofS so conditions reports will be from there!

Arqiva and the thaw

Much milder in the Cairngorms today as my second Arqiva group played with some new toys (pulks, poles, snowshoes, goggles, maps, compasses, big orange bags, bothy bags and blizzard bags). We discussed weather and cold injuries and how to avoid them and after a bit of time in the Lodge grounds Jules and I took them up to the Ciste car park to use some travel techniques in anger.

Other teams were today in Sneachda and Derek made his way carefully into Goat Track Gully. You have to take real care in the area around here, Red Gully and indeed anywhere from Fluted Buttress Direct rightwards owing to the amount of loose rock around. In a thaw like the present one rock and ice fall is common and injuries and fatalities have occurred even to experienced mountaineers in this area. Take care folks.