The lead of the trip from Dean today... but this blog does contain a video of an ice climber expressing his feelings :-)
-11 on the car thermometer this morning (no clothes removal today ;-)) and considerably
colder in the Vemork Bridge area...even the big belay jackets weren’t really
warm enough. Richy and I were happy to
go with the flow today...secretly I think we are tired but can’t let it show to
the Cheshire boys ;-). Dean and Ed had
their eyes on the huge Vemorkbrufoss Vest a WI5 which they had seen the year
previously. Unfortunately or fortunately
depending how you see it, as we were walking past water started to run,
actually gush, down the whole route making climbing it out of the question.
The low temperatures overnight and the relatively mild
conditions experienced the previous few days had combined to make the ice rock
hard and took on the consistency of thick Perspex. This makes climbing these routes a little sketchy
along with this in certain areas the locals (supported by the tourism board)
have turned this part of the gorge into an ‘Ice Park’, expanding the amount of
steep ice available to climb. So Dean, unperturbed
by these conditions decides to lead a lovely looking line up the centre of some
of this new ice. What a lead it turned
out to be and only really appreciated by those who followed him up it. Sketchy hooks (normally bomb proof) did not
inspire confidence and that combined with the bobbley ice generally made ascent
very scary indeed. The ramps which normally bring relief for the calf muscles turned
out to be hollow and vibrated every time an axe or crampon was placed as if it
was completely detached from the rock below it.
Scary even on the top rope but unthinkable for the leader...Dean is my
current HERO!!!! What a boy!
For anyone who has ever had the ‘Hot Aches’ (rapid warming
of the hands after being very cold) I had the worst case ever at the top of the
above mentioned route (no tears though Craig ;-)...just!) ...These can be so
painful (as they were today) that you are unable to do anything and you rely on
your ‘friends’ to help you...However, when you are in most need they tend to
laugh behind your back and take sly videos of you suffering...of course being
away with a group of ‘macho’ men I shouldn’t have expected anything less. ‘What goes around comes around’!!! J
We soon escaped from the climbing and headed into town to ‘lick
our wounds’ in the fabulous local patisserie and do some reconnaissance for
possible future Roxcool trips to the valley. Following this we headed up to the
Osmosis area for a quick look and a little play (soloing) on the ice. The routes here were steep but full of huge
hooks which you could haul ye ass up on with no problems.
Ed is currently in the kitchen area concocting some dish for
our tea with the remainders of our food, Richy is chilled next to me playing
Solitaire on his phone and Dean having just come out of a cold shower (Richy
spent a long time in there for some reason ;-)) is surfing the net to see if
people are ‘liking’ our blogs J
Last day climbing tomorrow and the plan is currently to go
into the Lower Gorge area again.
Cliff signing out.
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