Blog
2010-01-19 13:39:43
Photo shoot with Bill Frakes and Laura Heald
Yesterday we did the big photo shoot with star photographers Bill Frakes and Laura Heald. They arrived with a 8 man strong crew and a trailer loaded with all sorts of fancy camera gear. There were also 12 special guest photographers invited by Nikon, national television and local press, a bit too crowded for my taste to be honest. Due to tough conditions on Lipton, we decided to drop our original plan of doing the link-up of Haugsfossen, Juvsøya and Lipton, and instead do the photo shoot on Lipton, which is pretty much the only route in the area which is suitable for such a big event. This means a spectacular route with easy access to minimum 3 different spots for shooting photos and film, safe enough for people without climbing skills. Normally, shooting a route such as Lipton, takes 2 days with a climbing photographer. Bill and Laura had four hours. We could have faked the whole thing on the routes close to the bridge, but our instructions was to do a "real" climb, ie not an arranged photo session (you should know that most of the good climbing photos are posing, no matter who is in front or behind the camera).
Because of some technical problems with cameras etc and a short intervju, we couldn't start climbing before 12:30. The conditions on Lipton yesterday was horrible and all pillars on the traverse under the roof was broken off high up. There was also a nasty free hanging ice cicle in the roof above the first pitch, the kind of stuff you don't want to mess with, unless you have to. Instead of doing the normal route we traversed out right to do a more direct version, right under what was left of the main pillar. The plan was to battle our way up 30 meters of thin ice and then stretch out and reach the pillar, then climb this to the ledge before the last pitch. I started leading and after 7 meters of WI6+ climbing and not one single good piece of gear to protect a questionable belay, both me and Ola knew what we were up against.
I slammed in a stubby at the bottom of some thin ice cicles and put a sling around one of them. Unfortunately, my next tool placement put a crack in the ice, from the top of the ledge all the way down to my stubby AND the tied off ice cicle. At this point, as a father of two, I decided it was time for the much younger and more promising talent, Ola, to lead the skinny ice cicles up to the next ledge. I down climbed and we switched ropes. Ola managed to get up to the next ledge and slammed in two good screws. We switched lead a few times and eventually Ola could swing his tools in the pillar, mission accomplished. I had totally forgotten about the photographers and film crew on the other side of the canyon. By the time I started climbing, my focus was on the route and the guys with the cameras just had to get whatever shots they could. I think some of them wondered how the hell we could spend so much time on 60 meters of climbing.
This was one of the most serious routes I have ever done, a lot because we didn't bring any rock gear, except for a few cams. I have climbed Lipton many times and normally it's pretty easy climbing, but in the conditions we found it I'd say it was a hard WI6+.
What a great day! Every season you need a scary route to get back in the saddle again, and this was it!
Yesterday we did the big photo shoot with star photographers Bill Frakes and Laura Heald. They arrived with a 8 man strong crew and a trailer loaded with all sorts of fancy camera gear. There were also 12 special guest photographers invited by Nikon, national television and local press, a bit too crowded for my taste to be honest. Due to tough conditions on Lipton, we decided to drop our original plan of doing the link-up of Haugsfossen, Juvsøya and Lipton, and instead do the photo shoot on Lipton, which is pretty much the only route in the area which is suitable for such a big event. This means a spectacular route with easy access to minimum 3 different spots for shooting photos and film, safe enough for people without climbing skills. Normally, shooting a route such as Lipton, takes 2 days with a climbing photographer. Bill and Laura had four hours. We could have faked the whole thing on the routes close to the bridge, but our instructions was to do a "real" climb, ie not an arranged photo session (you should know that most of the good climbing photos are posing, no matter who is in front or behind the camera).Because of some technical problems with cameras etc and a short intervju, we couldn't start climbing before 12:30. The conditions on Lipton yesterday was horrible and all pillars on the traverse under the roof was broken off high up. There was also a nasty free hanging ice cicle in the roof above the first pitch, the kind of stuff you don't want to mess with, unless you have to. Instead of doing the normal route we traversed out right to do a more direct version, right under what was left of the main pillar. The plan was to battle our way up 30 meters of thin ice and then stretch out and reach the pillar, then climb this to the ledge before the last pitch. I started leading and after 7 meters of WI6+ climbing and not one single good piece of gear to protect a questionable belay, both me and Ola knew what we were up against.
I slammed in a stubby at the bottom of some thin ice cicles and put a sling around one of them. Unfortunately, my next tool placement put a crack in the ice, from the top of the ledge all the way down to my stubby AND the tied off ice cicle. At this point, as a father of two, I decided it was time for the much younger and more promising talent, Ola, to lead the skinny ice cicles up to the next ledge. I down climbed and we switched ropes. Ola managed to get up to the next ledge and slammed in two good screws. We switched lead a few times and eventually Ola could swing his tools in the pillar, mission accomplished. I had totally forgotten about the photographers and film crew on the other side of the canyon. By the time I started climbing, my focus was on the route and the guys with the cameras just had to get whatever shots they could. I think some of them wondered how the hell we could spend so much time on 60 meters of climbing.
This was one of the most serious routes I have ever done, a lot because we didn't bring any rock gear, except for a few cams. I have climbed Lipton many times and normally it's pretty easy climbing, but in the conditions we found it I'd say it was a hard WI6+.
What a great day! Every season you need a scary route to get back in the saddle again, and this was it!
Some of the Nikon photographers, Laura and Bill and NRK.. pretty crowded.
More Nikon photographers
More Nikon photographers
2010-01-06 19:42:11
2010! Here we go!
It has been game on for weeks now, with tons of guiding, climbing, family and friends. I have not had the time to update this blog because I have focused writing a few lines on the Rjukan Adventure blog every day. December I spent instructing and guiding lots of cool climbers, from beginners courses to guiding classic WI5 stuff in the canyon. Very inspiring indeed!
Christmas and New Year's were spent in the best possible manner, with family and friends and lots of good food. After all, that's what it's all about.
Me and Ola is training for the Big Link-Up that is going to happen in a few weeks. Tomorrow we're meeting with the guys from Sports Illustrated, to check out location before camera crew arrives on the 18th. The only thing that worries me about this event now is the temperature, I don't want to haul ass on WI6 ice in -15 C, but if I have to, I'll do it.
Our good friends Anneli Pompe and Fredrik Sträng has stayed in the valley for a few weeks, climbing and training. As always, hanging out with these guys is tons of fun, and everytime I climb with Fredrik, my collection of fun anecdotes involving my good old friend, grows bigger.
Anneli is not only a talented climber, she is also a great photographer. A few days ago we combined a climbing trip with a short photo session and the result was great. I spot a great future with photography for this young lady. Below are some of her photos of me climbing in the canyon.
It has been game on for weeks now, with tons of guiding, climbing, family and friends. I have not had the time to update this blog because I have focused writing a few lines on the Rjukan Adventure blog every day. December I spent instructing and guiding lots of cool climbers, from beginners courses to guiding classic WI5 stuff in the canyon. Very inspiring indeed!
Christmas and New Year's were spent in the best possible manner, with family and friends and lots of good food. After all, that's what it's all about.
Me and Ola is training for the Big Link-Up that is going to happen in a few weeks. Tomorrow we're meeting with the guys from Sports Illustrated, to check out location before camera crew arrives on the 18th. The only thing that worries me about this event now is the temperature, I don't want to haul ass on WI6 ice in -15 C, but if I have to, I'll do it.
Our good friends Anneli Pompe and Fredrik Sträng has stayed in the valley for a few weeks, climbing and training. As always, hanging out with these guys is tons of fun, and everytime I climb with Fredrik, my collection of fun anecdotes involving my good old friend, grows bigger.
Anneli is not only a talented climber, she is also a great photographer. A few days ago we combined a climbing trip with a short photo session and the result was great. I spot a great future with photography for this young lady. Below are some of her photos of me climbing in the canyon.
2009-11-17 20:21:45
The Big Link-up - part 2
For anyone who is not familiar with the term "link-up" I will start with a brief explanation. A "link-up" means climbing two or more routes in, for example, one day. Yes, you could say that you have done a link-up if you climb two routes in a row on the local crag, but to raise the tough-guy level, people often chose to link up big routes, the type that you would normally spend a significant amount of hours climbing. And, to raise the tough-guy level even more, you can try and climb it as fast as possible...
The link-up I'm doing in January is of the classic ice routes Lipton, Juvsøyla and Haugsfossen. Each of these routes are about 150 meters and hold the grade WI6 or harder. The goal is to see just how fast it can be done. We need rules to play, and as usual I have made up my own set of link-up rules:
A really cool thing is that a team from a major magazine will document this link-up. I love working with photographers, makes me feel like an artist :)
Stay tuned for more updates!
For anyone who is not familiar with the term "link-up" I will start with a brief explanation. A "link-up" means climbing two or more routes in, for example, one day. Yes, you could say that you have done a link-up if you climb two routes in a row on the local crag, but to raise the tough-guy level, people often chose to link up big routes, the type that you would normally spend a significant amount of hours climbing. And, to raise the tough-guy level even more, you can try and climb it as fast as possible...
The link-up I'm doing in January is of the classic ice routes Lipton, Juvsøyla and Haugsfossen. Each of these routes are about 150 meters and hold the grade WI6 or harder. The goal is to see just how fast it can be done. We need rules to play, and as usual I have made up my own set of link-up rules:
- Snowmobiles are fun and allowed, to cut down approach time
- Fixed ropes are convenient (who said you have to start from the ground??)
- No soloing. Roped up when climbing, anything else is cheating
A really cool thing is that a team from a major magazine will document this link-up. I love working with photographers, makes me feel like an artist :)
Stay tuned for more updates!
2009-11-16 01:14:22
The big Link-Up
On January 18, I'm going for the link-up ascent of the three classic routes Haugsfossen, Juvsoyla and Lipton. I've been thinking about doing this for years, but for different reasons it has not happened. To just climb these routes in a day would not be a challenge at all, since they are pretty moderate routes and I have done them all many times before. The goal would be to do it reasonably fast, meaning in less than 7 hours, with transport between routes included. To me this seems fast but not to the point of stupid, I think.
Well.. more on this later.
On January 18, I'm going for the link-up ascent of the three classic routes Haugsfossen, Juvsoyla and Lipton. I've been thinking about doing this for years, but for different reasons it has not happened. To just climb these routes in a day would not be a challenge at all, since they are pretty moderate routes and I have done them all many times before. The goal would be to do it reasonably fast, meaning in less than 7 hours, with transport between routes included. To me this seems fast but not to the point of stupid, I think.
Well.. more on this later.
2009-11-05 14:10:20
It's taking shape!
Picture from Krokan, taken yesterday. A few more cold nights and it's game on in Krokan.
Picture from Krokan, taken yesterday. A few more cold nights and it's game on in Krokan.
