From the 14th of February, a group consisting of instructors, Kevin Edwards (OC CCAT), Graham Carter and Mr Othen from CCAT, Gavin Kerr, an adult cadet volunteer, two Welbeck cadets, Naill MacMillan and Dan Blythe, and ourselves George, Verity and Victoria - embarked on a week of ice climbing in Rjukan, Norway; a classic ice climbing area; with the hope of obtaining our winter climbing foundation awards.
Travel Day - Saturday 14th February (Valentine’s Day)
After a long 19 hours travelling, consisting of two flights, a four hour car journey, Verity falling asleep face first on the airport floor, paying £4 for a sausage roll and of course the surprise complimentary Valentines chocolates on the plane, the group awoke from their beauty sleep to a scene of icy mountains and enough snow to shut down the whole of the UK.
Day 1 - Sunday 15th February
After a hearty breakfast of cheese and ham sandwiches we were raring to set off on the first ice climb of the week to Krokan. Despite the slight detour, giving us more than a warm up, we arrived at our destination to learn the basics of ice climbing. On approaching our first climb, Mr Othen decided to walk on what he thought was solid ice, when in fact he ended up testing the depth of a running river. Needless to say, his right foot was fairly damp for the rest of the day, as was his ego. We spent the first half of the day learning climbing techniques and crampon work with tool placements and hands only climbing, enabling us to attempt our first real climb. Gavin, Ali and George, who had previous climbing experience, went to climb Bullen, a classic route of the Krokan area consisting of steep ice and a tricky abseil. Meanwhile, as less experienced climbers, Victoria and Verity attempted to jump down a ledge, resulting in a synchronised face plant. However, more successfully, three climbs later, they were quickly learning the tricks of the trade. After Verity’s attempt at performing the splits during her abseil, we realised just how hard ice climbing is, but we left the mountains with rosy cheeks, and dreaming of our beds and showers.
Day 2 - Monday 16th February
On Monday morning, we awoke aching but excited to put our newly learnt skills to the test. We started off in the Upper Gorge, situated by the Heavy Water Factory in Vermork, the scene of a famous Norwegian commando raid in the Second World War. Our first climb, consisting of a single pitch climb up Nedre Svingfoss, a grade WI3 rating, saw George dodging the constant flow of falling ice on his WI4 route. Victoria was left hanging by her axes, searching for foot placements, and as Verity showed her air time skills with trapeze work through her abseil, it was full of excitement. Our second route, Lettvann, a WI2 of three pitches proved to be our first real multi pitch climb with a rucksack on - proving difficult for the shorter of the group, particularly Verity, who couldn’t see much further than the inside of her helmet. This provided quite an amusing test, but as we experienced a mixed terrain of ice, frozen turf and tree climbing, it proved to be fairly technical. Overall, a total of 200m was completed during the day, ending on the road, with just a short distance to a local cafe, where we indulged on the most cream-laden hot chocolates, and later in the evening, the most expensive pizza in the world, at £20 a pizza.
Day 3 - Tuesday 17th February
Tuesday started once again with a hearty breakfast, fuelling us for our advancing technical climbs. After a short walk in, we found ourselves faced with the steepest climbs of the week, with all three of us climbing Minidisken a WI3 route, and moving on to Skrueis, a WI3 multi-pitch climb. George appeared to hack the mountain to pieces, as he smashed his axes into the ice, and as Verity found herself in a perfect photo posing position, her shouts for a photograph ended up with a mini photoshoot, a tactical move to give herself rest time without actually admitting it. We did however, witness two lead falls from other groups around us, reminding us of the importance to kick our feet in and swing our axes with force. Upon arriving back at the hostel, we were graced with cauliflower soup to start and honey glazed pork steak to finish, giving us the sleepy food feeling, leading to an early night after an enjoyable day.
Day 4 - Wednesday 18th February
Due to warmer conditions, we revisited Krokan on Wednesday, the area of our first climbing day, hoping to prove just how much we’d learnt. Verity and Victoria began on a WI4 route called Gaustaspokelse, a mean feat after just three days climbing experience. George pushed the boat even further, as the first Oswestry School pupil to lead an ice climb up a WI2 route, proving how much we’d all learnt in just a few days. Ending the day, we all advanced to climb Bullen, a classic WI3 route of the Krokan area, seeing Victoria experiencing her helmet falling off mid climb and as Verity chose to take her crampons off before the walk back, a rather amusing attempt at walking up a frozen rock, reminding us all of Bambi on ice. Once again, we ended the day with hot chocolates, and in George’s case, a massive slab of chocolate cholesterol.
Day 5 - Thursday 19th February
As the temperatures continued to rise, the group returned to Ozzimosis, the area we went to on Tuesday. However we were climbing different routes. Verity and Victoria led their first routes of the week, making the most of newly acquired skills and the best of the ice conditions. With more experience, George led an unknown route to the left of Ozzimosis, but by the end of the day, we had all managed to achieve the same grades of climbing. Verity’s choice yet again, to take her crampons off for the walk in, ended in a pretty amusing face plant – despite assuring us all that they weren’t necessary. We ended the tiring day in our local café, afterwards deciding to visit Rjukan’s leisure centre, with an outdoor Jacuzzi surrounded by mountains - fair to say, it beat Oswestry’s for location.
Day 6 – Friday 20th February
As our last day, the group were all keen for our final ice climbs of the week. Returning back to the area of Ozzimosis again, we were now all able to climb the Ozzimosis route itself, the steepest route of the week with a WI4 rating. Due to our early flight in the morning, we cut the day shorter than usual, but visited the Heavy Water Factory in Vermork, learning in more depth about the heroes of Telemark. We also had the pleasure of being graced by the sun, reflected from the mirrors in the mountains, a rare occasion in a town with no sunlight for five months. On approaching our café, a television crew stopped and asked for us to sit back on the benches for an undue attempt at being models. Egos high, we spent our last time in the café, and returned back to the hostel to pack and receive our certificates.
Overall, beginning from what can only be described as novices, particularly Verity and Victoria, who managed to face plant every ledge on the first day, we would not have imagined being able to climb, and lead routes up to the rating of WI4, whilst completely a total distance of over 700m. Our thanks go to all of our instructors, Mr Othen, Kevin and Graham for their help and support over the week, and to Nail, Gavin and Dan for their company – a half term well spent.
