The only place in Denmark where it is possible to climb ice is on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic sea. Conditions are not reliable and it has been many years since it was possible to climb ice here. The winter of 2010 is the exception, there is solid ice all across the island. I made a day trip to the island on the 17th of February and I had a great day climbing with my friend Kim who lives in this isolated region of Denmark.
Anders climbing ice on Bornholm (Photo: K. Sørensen)
We explored several ice falls in the centre of the island. Many of these climbs where probably first ascents, and in any case there is no recorded knowledge of previous lead ascents. This is quite understandable since ice climbing is a rather rare activity here.
Kim on a first ascent
The ice formations are fantastic, and there is plenty of lines left to be done. I will have to go there again before the winter ends.
Yet another fantastic line to be climbed
Kim works as a gymnastics teacher on Bornholm and he has taken his class out to teach them ice climbing on several occasions. This was documented by the local TV Station. It’s possible to see the clip here
This year has been a fantastic year for ice climbing in southern Sweden. We have not seen conditions like this for more than 10 years. Skåne is not really a big ice climbing destination, but when conditions are good it’s great to go ice climbing on day trips from Copenhagen. Usually we go to Norway or the Alps, but that is hardly a day-trip thing.
Some of the best ice in Skåne can be found around the town Båstad. There is a nice seaside attraction at the cliffs of Hovs Hallar
Morten Johansen climbing 'Hovsfossen' WI4 at Hovs Hallar Skåne
Closer to Båstad there is an old quarry with some really good climbs that rarely forms. But this year they are in perfect conditions. These climbs are not often done, so it feels like a big privilege to go climbing here.
Morten Johansen climbing 'Sidesporet' WI4+
The main attraction is the wild and beautiful 27 meter high ‘Järnvägsfossen’ that comes in at WI6
The Skåne ice testpiece 'Järnvägsfossen' WI6
More pictures in the Gallery
Winter in Denmark and southern Sweden is normally a grey slushy thing, so it’s really spectacular when we got a long spell of cold weather. I do hope it will last for a while!
My article from ‘Klatring’ about Cracked is now online here
Anders climbing ‘Cracked’ on Kullen. Photo (C) by Martin Paldan
I have recently updated the Publications section with new articles. It features samples of my published work. Photos and stories from my adventures around the world. It’s all in danish, but the pictures are worth a look!
On the 9th of August I climbed this thin traditional route on Kullen. It was first climbed in 1987 by the legendary Australian climber Kim Carrigan. Since then it has been climbed only a few times and never by a Danish climber. It took some soulsearching and I had to dig deep to get this route done. It is by far the best Kullen route of my climbing career!
Anders climbing Cracked 7+/8- on Kullen
Last week was spent skiing at Badgastein in Austria with my family. We had perfect snow conditions and even at a few days with nice sunshine. Heidi and I had some great moments skiing ofpiste and putting new tracks in the fresh snow. The area around Sportgastein was closed due to avalance danger, but good safe off-piste was to be found in the woods at Graukogel and Badgastein. Have look in the gallery
Heidi Tracking Powder
I went to Dansk Bjergklub’s X-mas meet on Kullen last weekend. This involves climbing on very cold rock during the day and consuming insane amounts of Christmas food and alcohol at the club hut during the evening. The temperature was just above freezing and it is has a pretty masochistic feel to rock climb in conditions like this. We did however enjoy ourselves and had a good time on the rock and at the feast during the evening.
Leading the classic Svenskerruten in rather cold conditions (Photo: C. Hylleberg)
I have not previously told you about my running on this blog, but for the last couple of months I have made very good progress on the 10K distance. Each month I try to participate in Bagsværd Sø Løbet in order to test my current form. On Sunday I did my best time this year running at 0:44:57
Anders running at Bagsværd Sø
My progression at Bagsværd Sø this year:
02/06/08: 48:30
07/07/08: 47:11
01/09/08: 46:01
28/09/08: 44:57
02/11/08: 44:23
07/12/08: 45:36 – (I was recovering from a cold)
A very satisfying form curve that I hope to keep improving! The next race is on 02/11/08 and my aim is just to keep improving. It does not matter if it’s only by a few seconds as long a there is improvement, because improving is winning!
I am having a great time climbing all grade 7 routes on Kullen. If I keep up the pace I will run out of routes within a few years. This photo was taken by Camilla Hylleberg last weekend. We had a good time on one of the most impressive walls on Kullen ‘Vandflyvervæggen’ The route is ‘Harlekin, 7-’ and it’s bolted, but only just. There are some very scary run out sections and the top is close to unprotected. It’s a good route in any case!
Anders Strange climbing Harlekin, 7- on Kullen
On Thursday I discovered a fantastic probably unclimbed line on the island of Bornholm, Denmark. It was only 6½m high, but what a line! A clean thin finger crack came down the grey granite of Holkadalen. It had to be climbed by me.
Should I climb it as a Route or just try to do it as a scary highball boulder? It looked hard and I figured that I would have no chance of placing gear while climbing.I brought out the crash pad and recruited Heidi as my spotter. It was hard, my fingers could barely fit in the crack and brutal finger locks was the only way of progress.
It took me a few tries to condition myself to accept the pain while jamming my fingers. I was at the point of resigning, but all of a sudden it all came together. What a fantastic line, this will surely become a classic.
The first ascent of Holka Risset, 7a, Holkadalen, Bornholm, Denmark.
