Just back from a week in Gressoney, Italy. We had fantastic weather with sun all over. The snow pack was decent, but off course there is not much powder snow in such conditions. We skied all over the place between Alanga, Gressony & Champoluc. It’s a ski fantastic areas that has skiing up to over 3300 meters. Especially the off-piste from Punta Indren is spectacular.
Hot and Cold
It’s been a while since I last had time to do some blogging, but I have have been busy traveling. In January I went a week to Tenerife with my family and some good friends. We went for general beach relaxation at El Medano, but also a bit of rock climbing. It was a super fun week! We climbed in the Arico gorge and a little bit at the Las Canadas plateau in the middle of the island. The plateau is located at 2200 meters so it was a rather chilly experience to climb here, but a little cold can’t distract from the fact that it is a marvellous setting with a view to the Teide volcano. In the Arico gorge it was warm and pleasant during the day.
I had fun shooting some pictures on a regular old fashioned SLR film camera. The film is the new Kodak Ektar 100 – I am quite pleased with the results so I hope you enjoy the pictures.
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Back in Rjukan
It was good to be back in Rjukan for a long weekend of ice climbing. This time I did not have super high ambitions since I really haven’t done much ice climbing recently. It was just nice to be climbing and having fun with my friends. Just being back on the ice was a good kick. I did not do anything hard, but I had a good time doing the moderates in Krokan and around the Vermok bridge. Simon and I climbed the classic WI5 ‘Sabotørsfossen’ on Saturday. After a late start and a bit of warm-up on Swingfoss we dispatched Sabotørfossen in about 1½ hrs. It got dark while we where doing the last pitch and we topped out in complete darkness. A super day on a fantastic route!
Simon starting the 2nd pitch on Sabotørfossen in Rjukan, Norway
2010 Highlights
The year has come to an end and it’s time to list the climbing highlights of 2010. My memory is off-course dominated by my 7 week summer road in the VW California. I’m listing my hardest ticks in each discipline, but please remember that climbing is far more than hard grades. My biggest and dearest memories from 2010 comes from just being on a long climbing road trip. I really enjoy the travelling lifestyle, climbing with old friends and making new friends during the trip. 2010 has been a good climbing year that has fuelled a lot of ambitions for the coming year.
Trad Multi Pitch / Alpine
Itaca nel Sole/ Rattle Snake, Valle Orco – 220 meter (ED, 6c) with Paoli Zanoli
Oceano Irrazionale, Val di Mello – 480 meter (VII) with Anders H. Pedersen in a day
Voie Rebuffat. Aig. du Midi South face, Chamonix – 200 meter (TD+, 6a+) with Morten Johansen
Me climbing the roof section on Rebuffat. Photo by Morten Johansen
Belay on Rebuffat – Photo by Morten Johansen
Trad Single Pitch
Hollywood, Göteborg (7-)
Yosemite, Kullen (7-)
Stepper, Göteborg (6+)
Sport
Kong Hellig Hans, Bornholm (7a+, FA)
Monica Tesoro, Valle Orco (7a+)
Doigts de Fee pour coeour de lion, Chamonix (7a)
Ice
First Ascent of four 25 meter ice-falls (Grade III-V) in Ekkodalen on Bornholm, Denmark.
On a Bornhom first ascent in Jan 2010. Photo by Kim Sørensen
Bouldering
Not much bouldering this year, but I have done some fine problems up to 6B/6C in France, Italy and in Sweden. I like to think of Bouldering mainly as a fun rest day activity.
Rest day in Chamonix. A fun 6B bloc!
GBG Climbing
On Sunday we went climbing in Göteborg, Sweden. Together with Anders, Anders & Michael we left Lyngby at 6:30 in the morning. It was still dark, but when we got to the ferry in Helsingør the sun was starting to show.
Sunrise in Helsingør
A couple of hours later we where at Fjällbo just outside the centre of Göteborg. It was still cold and the temperature was just above freezing, but once the sun got on the rock it was warm enough to go climbing. We had a grand day doing many good routes. Utby/Fjällbo is a fantastic place to climb with quality trad routes all over the place.
Anders Vedersø leading Caligula (6-)
HP following my lead on Slowfox. We did a rather hard grade 6 variation in the top.
CAAI Trad Meeting i Orco
I hele sidste uge deltog jeg i Club Alpino Accademico Italiano (CAAI) Trad Climbing Meet i Valle Orco nord for Torino. Vi var ca. 40 klatrere fra hele verden i smukke Valle Orco. Danmark var repræsenteret af Michael Hjorth og undertegnede. Vi havde en herlig uge sammen med de yderst venlige og hjælpsomme Italienske værter, som virkeligt var begejstrede for at vise deres område frem. Om dagen blev der klatret granit jam-riss til den store guldmedalje og om aftenen blev der spist lækker Italiensk mad. Det var i det hele taget en fantastisk uge, hvor der blev skabt nye bekendtskaber fra hele verden.
Jeg har klatret et utal af ruter, som jeg nok skal liste senere! Den bedste var dog uden tvivl “Itaca nel Sole/Rattle Snake” på Caporal formationen. Ruten er ca. 200 meter lang og er graderet ED, 6c (6a obbl.) – der er ingen borebolte i selve reblængderne, men standpladserne har normalt en bolt eller to. Kvaliteten af klatringen er ganske enkelt fremragende med både kamin/slabs og fantastiske jam-riss. Det lykkedes mig stort set at klatre ruten frit på nær et par hæng i de sidste tremmeligt anstrengende top-riss.
Der kommer en fuld rapport fra mødet i næste nummer af ‘Klatring’ – men i mellemtiden kan i kigge lidt på nedenstående slideshow og se min photo-stream på her
Chamonix Update
Morten og jeg har haft et par herlige da i Chamonix. Fredag brugte vi på sportsklatring lidt uden for Les Houches ved Copeau. Jeg fik sendt en fin 7a og Morten fik ram på en fin 6b+ og nogle gode 6b’ere
Ander sender 7a ved Copeau, Chamonix
Lørdag ville vi have lavet en lang rute i Aig. Rouges, men da vi kom op med liften stod vi midt i et lokalt whiteout og efter et par timers famlen rundt i tågen fandt vi aldrig indstigningen. Vi gik over til Index og klatrede lidt på Perroux ruten og afsluttende med normalruten, hvilket nu også var ganske spændede med 10 meters sigtbarhed.
Morten på vej op i tågen på Index
I dag var vejrudsigten heldigvis fin, så vi tog morgenliften på til Aig. Du Midi for at klatre den hyper klassiske Rebuffat rute på sydvæggen. Ruten er TD+ med lidt UIAA 6+ klatring i flotte riss på bombefast klippe. Vi var i fin form og det gik helt efter planen, vi havde en herlig dag i september solen mellem alle bjergene og stort set ingen andre mennesker på ruten.
Morten følger efter i 6+ cruxet i S-cracket
Morten i topkaminerne
Road trip blog
Yes, we are going on a big summer/autumn climbing road trip starting August 7th. We will be on the road for 7 weeks driving around in Europe. We will visit classic climbing destinations like Chamonix, Val di Mello and the sunny rocks of Provence, but also more unknown destinations like the sandstone crags in Alsace, France. We will be driving around in a trusty camper van, a white VW California 1993 2.4D equipped by Westfalia.
We did a successful test run this weekend to Kulleberg in Sweden. We had good fun sleeping in the camper and trying the facilities in the car. I will try to keep this blog updated when we are on the road, documenting our climbs and life on the move!
Summer is here
Summer has finally arrived here in Denmark. Today the temperature is just around 20 degrees and the sun is out. When I look out and see the sun from my office window here in Copenhagen, it gives me the usual craves for touching rock. Fortunately I’m going on a weekend climbing trip to Gothenburg in only a couple of days. I have been a regular at the local climbing gym and I have been punishing my body at the training board in my carport.
While browsing the internet I saw that the strong Swedish ski mountaineer Fredrik Ericsson is now at K2, trying to make the first ski decent. I had the chance to meet Fredrik on several occasions. First when I was trying to climb Pik Kommunizma in 2003 and later on in Chamonix when he worked at The Bellevue. His project looks very ambitious, but he definitely has the skills to pull it off. You can look at his blog for updates. I wish him the best off luck!
Fredrik Ericsson - Photo (C) www.fredrikericsson.com
Bananna Park Open
I participated in the Banana Park Open climbing competition on the 8th of May. The reason for the competition was that a new climbing has been built here. The wall is rather impressive and is 14 meters high, featuring overhangs and 3D structures that gives it a real rock feel.
To spice things up I wore some rather colourful 80’s climbing Lycra tights. The tights provided me with many laughs and comments. In the competition I came in at #8 out of approx 50 starters. The results can be found here
Anders climbing in retro tights at 'Banana Park Open 2010' Photo (C) by Martin Paldan
It was a good day, and I was quite happy with the result!
