Post Mael

So, Mael over and done with. Last night was a short night in the hut due to our late return. By the time tea was prepared (20:00 hrs) and it was eaten, plates washed it was late. The gear checked cleaned and hung up to dry, it was a quick couple of whiskies then bed.

So, morning arrives. Yep, pretty bushed from yesterday. Today's task is to head up to Kroken to run a coupe of routes, easy day not to strenuous. Every day starts with a good breakfast.

Busy in the kitchen.

Off to Kroken, full up.

Getting higher up above the valley floor the road is icy and very snowy. Easy work for the Fabia, this car is well setup. We've had no travel issues, the car is fully winterised and you can tell.

Walking into Kroken, misty and lots of deep drifts in the woods. Steep descent into the woods with lots of ice under the snow on the down hill section to the river crossing.

Norwegien army seem to have left a bit of kit behind.

Pretty cool, I reckon we will need this tommorow based on the weather we are getting as I write this BLOG.

Looking round for a route.

Ahead is the famous jomfrua 2* WI4. The route was shandeliered all up the main face, access from off the big Boulder to the side onto solid, but vertical ice was gainable.

Banked out sides, mega deep, mega white.

SO, we ran two routes today to keep it light. Tommorow we are looking at a bigger day. Heading up to the Kino above the town centre which will involve a bit of leg power.

Today the routes we ran were Gaustaspøkelse 3* WI4, well in the grade. The top section was steep (Vertical) difficult as the route was lean and the top section was tight into the crag giving issues when making axe placements. Too bigger swing and your axe hit the back wall, annoying when your pumped at this point.

The route leads out to the far left, hard to see but boy does it go tight. The top section is just one single cigar shape, vertical all the way with a big fat bulge then a snowy run out. Great route, I've done this route before but never seen it this tight.