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frodolf
Dec 27, 2006, 5:36 PM
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In these dark winter times, when rock climbing for the most of us is associated with cold hands and wet knees, dark descents and even more work than usual, I thought it would be nice to... dream a little bit out loud. And also advertise the beauty and grandeur of... Norway. Being a swede and a rock climber, I am painfully aware that the norwegians snatched the better half of Scandinavia right under our noses. They've got almost all the great mountains and big walls, they've got the oil, they've got Svalbard with their cute, fuzzy polarbears, and they've got roads that's actually fun to drive. Some experts even claim that they stole all the prettier girls, but that notion have met some fierce resistance. Anyhoo, I'd like to share with you a video of Kjerag. Beware, the people in this video have misinterpret what to do with a 2800 foot big wall, so instead of climbing it, they're jumping off of it. Luckily they've got parachutes. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6400684302984232865&q=kjerag The easiest route is "Vårlösning" which is not harder than 5.9 except two pitches (5.10 and A2-) out of a total of nineteen. Three quarters of the route is free in about 5.6. Maybe the most popular route is "Hoka Hey" which is more sustaining and climbs long, perfect corners for twenty pitches, and holds the grade 5.11d. (previously with the harder pitches being aided in the A2 range). This being in the aid forum, I should probably mention something about that as well. Three quarters of "Fjordcruise" is aid climbing which holds the grade A2+. It has one free pitch in the 5.11s which can be aided as well, and some 5.10 passages. The entire route sports ONE bolt. "Keyser Söze" is maybe the hardest route on the wall with nineteen pitches of A3+ 5.11. Also routes like "Mamma" (Mom) and "Angsten eter sjelen" (The anxiety eats the soul) is not far behind Kayser Söze in difficulty. Lysefjorden, which is the name of the fjord below, houses more big walls than just Kjerag (which in fact is only one of the walls). Smellveggen is an other big wall just beside it. It's steeper, a bit shorter, and has some really serious routes. The potential for making first ascents are still high. On about three kilometers (two miles) of rock in width, there are a total of twenty-thirty routes. The rock is superb granite, it's all northeast to northwest faces, and not seeing a city, hearing a road, and the modest bolting of the routes contributes to the feeling. Dream on!
(This post was edited by frodolf on Dec 27, 2006, 5:37 PM)
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tonloc
Dec 27, 2006, 6:09 PM
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looks pretty good to me, thanks for the available FA heads up in case i ever get really good...
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norm1057
Dec 27, 2006, 6:10 PM
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Registered: Apr 21, 2006
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Cool info. I went to Norway back in 2000 but, unfortunately, I was not into climbing at the time. Landed in Oslo, spent a week in Trondheim (I think it's spelled right), then turned around in Tromso. Had a blast and want to go back.
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br
Dec 27, 2006, 6:18 PM
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Registered: Oct 18, 2006
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Yes that's wonderful. Can you provide any video or photographic evidence of Norwegian women being better looking than Swedish
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hirvimaki
Dec 27, 2006, 6:34 PM
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Registered: Apr 28, 2006
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br wrote: Can you provide any video or photographic evidence of Norwegian women being better looking than Swedish Meh. Swedes and Norwegians are yummy (I dated both), but Finns are the hottest. I married one. My wife and my daughter PB
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frodolf
Dec 28, 2006, 1:22 PM
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hirvimaki wrote: br wrote: Can you provide any video or photographic evidence of Norwegian women being better looking than Swedish Meh. Swedes and Norwegians are yummy (I dated both), but Finns are the hottest. I married one. My wife and my daughter PB I don't know... I think you just got lucky there. Sorry, I can't give you video or photografic evidence... I think it has something to do with the languages though. The prosody of norwegian (the melody of the language) sounds "happy" to swedes. When a norwegian says: "God, I'm depressed" it actually sounds quite happy to our ears. So when a norwegian girl sais: "Screw you, you stink!" we (the swedish boys) tend to think there just being friendly... It's quite confusing from time to time...
(This post was edited by frodolf on Dec 28, 2006, 2:07 PM)
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frodolf
Dec 28, 2006, 2:06 PM
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norm1057 wrote: Cool info. I went to Norway back in 2000 but, unfortunately, I was not into climbing at the time. Landed in Oslo, spent a week in Trondheim (I think it's spelled right), then turned around in Tromso. Had a blast and want to go back. Did you go by car? Then I reckon you know what I mean when I say the roads are fun to drive, eh? First time I went I threw up three times in five hours! I've never been to Tromsö, but I've been to Lofoten a couple of times which is not as far north (but still way over the polar circle). A hike from Tromsö is the Blåmann, here's some pics: http://www.blixt.no/...amann_ruter00_a.html Seriously, It's an insanely beautyful country, and the climbing is absolutely world class. The video does not do it justice! Also, in the vicinity (within an hour drive from kjerag) there's a handful of what you would call grade II, III and IV walls.
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norm1057
Dec 28, 2006, 7:46 PM
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Registered: Apr 21, 2006
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Frodolf, Yes, the entire trip was all by car. I do however stand corrected. I dug out my trip map to see where we went. We took the ferry in Bodo over to Sorvagen then turned around at Stamsund. A bar glass my hosts took from the place we ate highlighted Tromso. So I've thought this whole time that was where we turned around. Great country and well worth the trip. We did take a detour into Sweden but could not judge on the women there. On the return trip, I was introduced to Norwegian fishing at Vagamo where your not fishing unless you set nets. We can't do that in NM. I would have had a better time going alone. My hosts insisted on showing me so much of the country that alot was missed by sitting in the car for so long. I would rather have slowed down and enjoyed more of the culture.
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