Ice Week in Rjukan

Wel, what a week we've just had. After 3 years of itching and wishing, I finally made it to Rjukan for the full-on week of ice-climbing that I have been promising myself for nearly 3 years. Yet again, Sue was the organiser, with eleven of us tagging along for the ride. Without going into too much trivial detail, it was the usual Ryanair hop from Prestwick, with myself, Greg, Brian and Tony arriving barely in time to repack the bags and get within the bold Michael's weight limits. The girl on check in duty must have thought she was being tested by lunatics as ropes, crampons, ice-axes and sundry thermals and fleeces were redistributed between hand, hold and sports bags. Amazingly we managed to get it all crammed in somewhere with everything fitting somewhere, within the weight and anti terror rules.

Krokan might be the baby of the Rjukan ice monsters, but it's a great place to cut your teeth and uncramp your Ryanair legs. When we found our way there, after an abortive look at a snow covered Susses Veil, things were looking pretty crowded. We plodded down to the bottom end of the section and found a selection of unnamed little icefalls just past Baktus, the first in the Rockfax guide. We spent a happy few hours here getting untrained limbs back into the swing of swinging and kicking and progressing up the ice. Brian found the perfect wildlife photographer's hide half way up the first route. All in all a grand spot to get started.

After a butty break we moved up the gorge to see if the more classic lines were available. The first line with space turned out to be Bullen. This fall is so wide that you can fit 3 or 4 teams on the various lines without too much chance of entrapment by another falling climber. The easiest way is a (almost) chimney on the right edge, then there is the main line which passes between the two steepest bulges and for the more desperate souls, the bulges either side of this give a bit more intense sport. Between us we did all 4 lines at various times in the afternoon, with the left hand steep bit being the best of the crop. By now we had all climbed more ice than we'd seen in years in the Lakes or Scotland!!

Ian and Bruce plus the Leeds team with their very own "ManBeast" were all over the place cranking out on little tough test pieces, till eventually our paths crossed at Gaustaspokelse and we finished our day top roping the line that Ian and Bruce had "Sport led". A great day.

Tuesday morning found us creeping up the switchbacks and round the hairpins on the on the road up towards the Kvitavatn ski resort. Pulling off the road into the verge beside a "minor" gorge, we geared up for the rather icy descent to the Ozzymosis sector.

Still only warming up we went to the right hand end where there were some quite nice WI2s. It was like the off at the Grand National as three of us fanned out and upwards on the slabby little numbers at the right end.  These were all variations of the slabs to the right of Skrueis a WI 3.  The slabby things themselves were probably about WI 2.  A good little warm up if you are feeling as shakey as me at the start of a proper ice session.  As the day progressed we worked our way back across the crag knocking off routes such as Julevask Arsdagen, Minidisken, and Anakje.  While I was up the left end of the crag I spied a little tantalising runnel leading up to mixed ground which tickled my fancy.  

In mid afternoon a space became vacant on the main event Ozzymosis, so I had to at least have a look.  It was years since I'd done steep fat ice, so the whoile thing of hanging on and getting the gear in had to be relearned - almost from square 1.  I'd forgotten how knackering a stretch of steep ice was when you are NOT fit and strong.  But as I gradually chopped and stuck my way up it all became  afocus and almost too soon it was over. Nice route.