Another bivy night on the Barmstein, except this time in the snow. Adam likes it (apparently) when we do a route slightly outside his comfort zone, so we hiked up in the snow after work, ignored our snow shoes, and dug ourselves a coffin for a shivering night on the summit. The two bottles of wine helped.
A productive week in the gorge, taking Adam and Craig on their first multi-pitch trad routes either side of a day out with Steve Gibbs. The latter was fairly eventful as found myself back near the ground upside after taking a big lob off of Simian.
Adam and I returned for our third weekend adventure in Norway to backpack a lap of the Ringedalsvatnet lake to Trolltunga. As in previous years, we packed no winter gear and were then surprised with how ridiculously snowy it still is up high. Rather than take the usual tourist approach we headed up from Odda and hiked in isolation from the south side of the lake, breaking trail through the snow for up to 9 hours a day. On our last morning the rain cleared and we finally arrived at the crazy rock of Trolltunga, looking out across the stunning Norwegian landscape.
Starting from Rindal, myself and Adam hitched up the road towards Gråsjøen and then set off towards Snota. Snow conditions underfoot were hard going at times and perhaps more suitable for ski touring. Undeterred, we summitted and spent our second night down near Vassdalsvatnet before walking out to Rindal for the flight home. Stunningly unspoilt scenery and endless mountains to climb, a brilliant weekend.
Taking advantage of the four day holiday, myself and Adam headed out to Norway to walk the length of the Lysefjorden in three days. The main tourist attractions of Kjeragbolten and Preikestolen were joined together with some fairly epic backpacking in suprisingly wintery conditions.
