Blog
2009-11-03 11:28:54
Preparing for winter!
November.. and time for some real training. This summer I have done a lot of mountain biking and some flying, but very little climbi ng. Also, I have not spent one hour on the local climbing wall, because it just doesn't make sence anymore. I focus on cardiovascular/respiratory endurance and core strength. I seem to have a less scientific (and philosophical) approach to training than some of my friends, but hey,I'm still relatively young
This season's scheduled adventures involves some extreme approaches and gnarly climbing, so better be fit and focused. Yeah!!
November.. and time for some real training. This summer I have done a lot of mountain biking and some flying, but very little climbi ng. Also, I have not spent one hour on the local climbing wall, because it just doesn't make sence anymore. I focus on cardiovascular/respiratory endurance and core strength. I seem to have a less scientific (and philosophical) approach to training than some of my friends, but hey,I'm still relatively young
- cardiovascular / respiratory endurance
- I find interval training to be the best way. I'm not a runner, in fact I hate running, but interval training (running the trail behind my house, uphill) is pretty fun.
- When we have enough snow for Nordic / cross country skiing, I'm switching to that. I'm a decent skier, and it's one of my favouritesports.
- Aerobic training
- Cycling works best for me. I like the mixture of road, dirt road and trail, in a 2.5 - 3 hours trip. To get efficient training out of it I like to use a pulse watch, to make sure I don't slack.
- Switching to Nordic / cross country skiing when we have enough snow.
- Core strength
- Good ol' push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups.
- Weight training, in a crossfit kind of way.
This season's scheduled adventures involves some extreme approaches and gnarly climbing, so better be fit and focused. Yeah!!
2009-10-21 16:44:29
Holy ice!!
Early season ice climbing, one of my favourite things to do in the autumn. This October has been the best one for as far back as I can remember. Cold temperatures and snow(!!) in beginning of October is a damn good sign for any ice climber.
This weekend me and my friend Øystein stuffed some ice gear in a pack and went up to Gaustatoppfossen. If you have any ambition of climbing ice early in this country, then this is the place to go. It's not impressive in terms of size or quality of the climbing, but in beginning of October I'm willing to let a lot pass, just to get to whack some ice. The whole cliff is about 100 meters wide and 30 - 40 meters high, but some of the lines are fun climbing, no doubt.
We did the approach in about 30 minutes and when we got to the route I was impressed by how fat the ice was. Most of the lines were possible to lead with good gear. We spent a few hours social climbing and drinking coffe, beautiful day! Amazingly, no other climbers had turned up, not even locals. People were probably working, since this was on Friday (weird priorities ey?). It's pretty satisfying to realize that after a summer of sitting in the harness under a paraglider and on a Mountain Bike, it still feels like I climbed ice last week. That's what a couple of thousands of hours of experience do to you!
Condition reports from Rjukan are up on www.northernalpine.com.
Yeah, the season is ON!
Gaustatoppfossen from a distance
Ice whacking at its best
Early season ice climbing, one of my favourite things to do in the autumn. This October has been the best one for as far back as I can remember. Cold temperatures and snow(!!) in beginning of October is a damn good sign for any ice climber.
This weekend me and my friend Øystein stuffed some ice gear in a pack and went up to Gaustatoppfossen. If you have any ambition of climbing ice early in this country, then this is the place to go. It's not impressive in terms of size or quality of the climbing, but in beginning of October I'm willing to let a lot pass, just to get to whack some ice. The whole cliff is about 100 meters wide and 30 - 40 meters high, but some of the lines are fun climbing, no doubt.
We did the approach in about 30 minutes and when we got to the route I was impressed by how fat the ice was. Most of the lines were possible to lead with good gear. We spent a few hours social climbing and drinking coffe, beautiful day! Amazingly, no other climbers had turned up, not even locals. People were probably working, since this was on Friday (weird priorities ey?). It's pretty satisfying to realize that after a summer of sitting in the harness under a paraglider and on a Mountain Bike, it still feels like I climbed ice last week. That's what a couple of thousands of hours of experience do to you!
Condition reports from Rjukan are up on www.northernalpine.com.
Yeah, the season is ON!
Gaustatoppfossen from a distance
Ice whacking at its best
2009-10-07 01:59:35
Wow, conditions!
Several nights with temperatures well below zero has given us a flying start of the ice climbing season. October is a fun time for ice climbing because nothing is obvious when it comes to conditions. It is kind of like the same as with paragliding here, you have to wait until it's good before you can play.
If this cold weather stays, we're gonna have an epic start of the season. I have written a more detailed condition report, read it here.
Several nights with temperatures well below zero has given us a flying start of the ice climbing season. October is a fun time for ice climbing because nothing is obvious when it comes to conditions. It is kind of like the same as with paragliding here, you have to wait until it's good before you can play.
If this cold weather stays, we're gonna have an epic start of the season. I have written a more detailed condition report, read it here.
2009-09-25 16:51:26
Time in the air!
Finally a few days with flying conditions again, yeah! A few pics from inspiring flying sessions.
Playing with the wing at the Gaustablikk take-off
Getting ready.. Luca is checking the glider.
Take-off in sunset, sweet...
Checking out conditions in Hjartdal
Family is hanging out in the sun
Launching in perfect conditions
LZ in Hjartdal
Now, have you ever seen anyone THIS happy
Finally a few days with flying conditions again, yeah! A few pics from inspiring flying sessions.
Playing with the wing at the Gaustablikk take-off
Getting ready.. Luca is checking the glider.
Take-off in sunset, sweet...
Checking out conditions in Hjartdal
Family is hanging out in the sun
Launching in perfect conditions
LZ in Hjartdal
Now, have you ever seen anyone THIS happy
2009-09-18 23:36:38
Autumn flying
Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (except for November, which is pretty much winter without snow or ice around here). In only a few weeks the mountain slopes go from boring green to yellow, brown, red and a few colors I don't know the name of. It is something special to have a cup of coffe out on the porch on a cold September morning, with perfectly clear air and blue skies.
Many people would say paragliding season is definitely over in September, because the thermal activity is close to zero, and chances of doing long XC flights are slim. You can be lucky, on a good day, and find weak thermals here and there as late as October, but those days are rare. Now, when it is "off season", I fly for other reasons and it is as much fun, no doubt. There is nothing better than carrying a lightweight wing and harness on a morning training session in the mountains, and then fly back home. Get up early, breakfast and coffee, a few hours of hiking up the trail behind my house, then fly back home, in time to open the office. Perfect way to start any day I think.
On Monday, me and my bud Ove decided to check out a new take-off on the north side of the valley, that has great potential for soaring and launching in different wind directions. The good thing about any spot on the north side of the valley is that you can use the cable car, Krossobanen, to get up to 900 meter asl, and from the top of the cable car it is an easy hike to pretty much anywhere. From the top station we followed the road for a few kilometers and then took off in the direction towards the valley. Total hiking time was 30 minutes from the top station. It is easy to spot this take-off from the road because it is an obvious high point in the area, dropping straight into the valley. It turned out to be perfect, as expected, for wind from south, east and west (north-east not so much because of a pretty steep cliff, but possible if you are motivated).
The cool thing about this valley is that it is so narrow that it is pretty much in the shadow from mid afternoon at this time of year. Looking down into the valley from the top is like looking down into a black hole and the steep North Face of Gaustatoppen on the opposite side of the valley, looks so close. While we were enjoying the cool view from top, the wind shifted from east to north-east, but it was really weak, around 3 km/h at the most. As I mentioned earlier, launching in wind from north-east is possible, but with less room for errors because of a 10-15 meter cliff below. With weak wind it can be tricky to get off the mountain.
Ove was first to launch and even though we waited for the best little wind gust we could get, he failed on his first attempt, but managed to abort about half a meter before the nasty cliff. By the time he was ready again, the wind had died completely, so now we could launch pretty much anywhere. We relocated to a better spot and eventually got in the air. We both had perfect flying conditions above the valley that evening, totally smooth air (yeah, it can be pretty turbulent here) and overall happy flying. I flew over my house a few times, waving to my kids on the porch, and enjoyed life. Ove, with his much older glider, was a few hundred meters lower than me, and after a while I could see him above the LZ, which is the soccer field close to the town's swimming pool. It is a pretty big field, but the landing possibilities are limited by trees, goals and other stuff that people put on soccer fields. If it is windy it can be really tricky to land there because it's leeside and it is really not that big. Ove landed 5 minutes before me and was packing his glider as I did a few sharp turns down low and landed nicely on the center field. We packed up and walked back to my house for a beer and watch the election crazyness on TV. Life is good!
Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (except for November, which is pretty much winter without snow or ice around here). In only a few weeks the mountain slopes go from boring green to yellow, brown, red and a few colors I don't know the name of. It is something special to have a cup of coffe out on the porch on a cold September morning, with perfectly clear air and blue skies.
Many people would say paragliding season is definitely over in September, because the thermal activity is close to zero, and chances of doing long XC flights are slim. You can be lucky, on a good day, and find weak thermals here and there as late as October, but those days are rare. Now, when it is "off season", I fly for other reasons and it is as much fun, no doubt. There is nothing better than carrying a lightweight wing and harness on a morning training session in the mountains, and then fly back home. Get up early, breakfast and coffee, a few hours of hiking up the trail behind my house, then fly back home, in time to open the office. Perfect way to start any day I think.
On Monday, me and my bud Ove decided to check out a new take-off on the north side of the valley, that has great potential for soaring and launching in different wind directions. The good thing about any spot on the north side of the valley is that you can use the cable car, Krossobanen, to get up to 900 meter asl, and from the top of the cable car it is an easy hike to pretty much anywhere. From the top station we followed the road for a few kilometers and then took off in the direction towards the valley. Total hiking time was 30 minutes from the top station. It is easy to spot this take-off from the road because it is an obvious high point in the area, dropping straight into the valley. It turned out to be perfect, as expected, for wind from south, east and west (north-east not so much because of a pretty steep cliff, but possible if you are motivated).
The cool thing about this valley is that it is so narrow that it is pretty much in the shadow from mid afternoon at this time of year. Looking down into the valley from the top is like looking down into a black hole and the steep North Face of Gaustatoppen on the opposite side of the valley, looks so close. While we were enjoying the cool view from top, the wind shifted from east to north-east, but it was really weak, around 3 km/h at the most. As I mentioned earlier, launching in wind from north-east is possible, but with less room for errors because of a 10-15 meter cliff below. With weak wind it can be tricky to get off the mountain.
Ove was first to launch and even though we waited for the best little wind gust we could get, he failed on his first attempt, but managed to abort about half a meter before the nasty cliff. By the time he was ready again, the wind had died completely, so now we could launch pretty much anywhere. We relocated to a better spot and eventually got in the air. We both had perfect flying conditions above the valley that evening, totally smooth air (yeah, it can be pretty turbulent here) and overall happy flying. I flew over my house a few times, waving to my kids on the porch, and enjoyed life. Ove, with his much older glider, was a few hundred meters lower than me, and after a while I could see him above the LZ, which is the soccer field close to the town's swimming pool. It is a pretty big field, but the landing possibilities are limited by trees, goals and other stuff that people put on soccer fields. If it is windy it can be really tricky to land there because it's leeside and it is really not that big. Ove landed 5 minutes before me and was packing his glider as I did a few sharp turns down low and landed nicely on the center field. We packed up and walked back to my house for a beer and watch the election crazyness on TV. Life is good!
