Bits and pieces

Woke up this morning to find it snowing outside. The sheep at Tor Erik's farm are hunkered down to keep warm.

Tor Erik is the first farmer I have met to have a sauna on his property. The day before yesterday we tried it out. The wood burning stove worked a treat, and after 20 minutes we had to retreat to the relative cool of our cabin and a shower. No plunging into icy lakes for us.

As Nick has already blogged, yesterday was another huge day: over 14 hours between leaving the car and returning to it. The decision to retreat from the ice pillar (towards the top in the photo above) was the right one. Neither of us liked the hollow booming sound it made as Nick tried out his axes on its base. It probably would not have collapsed if Nick had decided to lead it, but "probably" isn't really good enough.

Stuck again

On the way back to the cabin from Sordalen, Nick drove off the road. He had been trying to drive and read the map on my knee at the same time.

I can't afford to be holier than thou about this (much as I might like to). I did the same last trip in heavy snow.

Nick set off walking up the road in search of a farmer with a tractor. He knocked on 3 doors but found no-one home. After about half an hour a passing snow plough stopped and pulled the car back onto the road in a jiffy.

Moose aboot

At the head of Sordalen we saw some young moose. No wonder there are roadside warning signs here. The moose didn't seem to be in any hurry to get off the road, and if you were to hit a full size specimen at any speed you'd be lucky to survive. They are big.

Recce in Sordalen

We got up at 04:00 this morning with a vague plan to climb something in Sordalen, a valley southeast of Setermoen that runs south toward the Swedish border. By the time that we had checked out the valley and decided on Skredbekken (a 700m WI5/6) as an objective it was too late to start. So the plan is now to get up tomorrow morning at 01:30 to give us the chance to do the approach and first easy pitches in the dark.

This is going to be a massive day, in a par with Polar Circus or even longer. We are going to spend the rest of day resting, eating and drinking lots before bed at 18:00.

By the lake

As Nick has blogged (http://nickonice.blogspot.com/2012/03/another-day-another-retreat.html?m=1) we failed to complete another climb today. But this time the walk in was short at least.

Walking across the frozen lake I heard a creaking sound and stopped dead, only to realise it was my backpack creaking, not the ice.

Shortly afterwards we saw the tracks of a large animal crossing the lake. Moose?

The ice on the climb was very poor as Nick says. The conversation as Nick climbed went something like this:

Jim: - How's it looking?
Nick: - Eh?
- HOW'S IT LOOKING?
- Scary!
- Can you see somewhere to put an ice screw in?
- No!
- You'd better come down then

And he did. Oh well. It was a beautiful place.

Cold blue

It's a beautiful, clear blue day without a breath of wind. Nick is still slumbering. I'm on my fifth cup of tea. I can't say I'm raring to go though, still being a tad weary after yesterday's 12 hour marathon.  

Nick's dressing gown has been on the porch for 2 days. Some insects bit him on Senja, and he got it into his head that they've taken up residence in his dressing gown. So he is keeping it outside, as he put it, to "freeze their ***s off". I told him it's no use, they'll only go into hibernation.

Nick has blogged about yesterday's climb: http://nickonice.blogspot.com/2012/03/henrikfossen-snags.html?m=1

View from Henrikfossen

Our cabin is on the far side of the (Lavangen) fjord.

Before and after

Here's what our cabin looked like on arrival, and now. The cabin owner Tor Erik did say we could use the sauna as a dryng room but it takes about an hour to heat and we're just too tired to stay up that long.

We've had another epic day, this time on Henrikfossen, a 6 pitch (normally 6 pitch anyway!) grade 4/5, 10 minutes from the cabin. Nick's going to blog about it so I won't steal his thunder.

By the time we finally got back to the cabin the temperature was -9 degrees and the Northern Lights were on display.

Staying sane on belays

There is a knack to staying sane on belays. You can be standing there for an hour holding your partner's ropes  while he is absorbed in the climb. You can't switch off completely as your partner is depending on you to catch him if he falls.

Usually you are in a beautiful place, with good views, which helps. In summer you can look down from a seacliff and see a seal watching proceedings from the water.

In winter you have to contend with the cold, and often it's windy and snowing too. I find the trick is to focus on small things, like the blue ice in an ice screw hole, or snow-crystals on an ice bulge. You see the world in new ways if you stand in one place for long enough, and look closely.

Sjybua

We have arrived at Aa-gård just northwest of Tennevol and are drinking Amaretto. Or rather, I am. Nick is "settling". Our wood cabin is called Sjybua and is huge. There is a sauna 15 metres away. The Grandiosa pizza is ready to go. Things are looking good.

Last day on Senja

Nick's blogged about our epic day yesterday: http://nickonice.blogspot.com/2012/03/epic-fail.html?m=1

We've recently woken up from a 10 hour sleep, to find that Yeti (who got back from Sweden yesterday) had torn open the rubbish bag so he could chew up the empty egg boxes inside. I removed the rubbish and took this photo. Butter wouldn't melt.

Thinking back on yesterday it's amazing how quickly the memories of discomfort fade: the epic slog through the snowy pine forest and over snow covered boulders on the beach, the long, cold belays. Already the good parts of the day stand out more: seeing ptarmigan and arctic hare, the view from the snow basin high over the bay as the sun came round the mountain. We wouldn't keep on winter climbing if the memories of it's less comfortable side didn't fade so fast!

Senja

We leave Senja tomorrow for Lavangen, on the mainland. Here are a few things that struck me and I jotted down while we've been here:

Peaks shaped like great broken teeth guarding the entrance to Ersfjord 
Lithuanian generosity
An eagle standing on the road, clutching a fish, head in profile watching our approach 
White houses in the snow, welcoming lights in all the windows 
The smell of fish around Senjahopen harbour
The sky bruised with snow clouds over a gunmetal sea
A seal watching us from the middle of a fjord
The green glow of Aurora Borealis over Mefjordvær village 
Walking on seaweed-covered boulders, in snowshoes

Trolls and pizza

It is still above zero today but only just. Nick and I drove southwest to Gryllefjord to scope out some ice lines we'd seen on the Senya Lodge website. On the way, at Senjatrollet, we came across one of the strangest sights we'd ever seen: the largest troll in Norway, weighing in at 125 tons.

The climbs did not inspire so we continued to the end of the road at Torsken before turning round and driving back for coffee at the ICA shop in Senjahopen. On the way, we developed a plan for tomorrow: to have a look (at least) at a WI6 on Finnkona. It will be a very long day whatever happens - which was excuse enough for us to buy the biggest pizza I've ever seen for us to eat when we get back worn out tomorrow night.

Ladies and gentlemen, we present the Grandiosa pizza, weighing in at 1.2kg.

The forecast for tomorrow is perfect for a big day out: -1 degrees, gentle breeze and no precipitation. But we've learned already that the weather here is fickle and there's a fair chance that we will wake up at 4am tomorrow to a howling blizzard. If so we will go back to sleep.

Iselvdalen

The Senja forecast was for more warm temperatures and rain, so we decided to drive to the mainland. Bent told us about 5 icefalls in a river gorge in Iselvdalen south of Bardufuss, and the plan was hatched. 

Rich and Jim climbed an ice pillar while Nick led the 2 pitches of the longer WI5 to the left. It was a good climb, if wet. 

On the way back we saw fresh moose tracks and spoor. 

Yeti again

Last photo of Yeti - he's gone to Sweden with Bent.