Rock Climbing
Not Quite The Dawn Wall
Just across the water and a short walk out of town is a cove of walls with dozens of climbing routes. This site was established by the National Climbing Association of Norway, inspired by Børge Ousland, the owner of the island we were all living on, and Randi Skaug, an adventurer and the first Norwegian woman to summit Everest who owns the neighboring island.
I’ve climbed a handful of times before. My first experience was in Utah while visiting very outdoorsy friends. We spent an afternoon climbing in a beautiful gym, with 90 ft walls. My noodle arms could barely handle the 50 ft walls, and I was afraid of the height.
Then while living in Brooklyn, my sisters and I all took an introduction class together, after which I signed up for a membership. Unfortunately, $150 a month was too expensive for me at the time so my climbing career came to an end.
Luckily, one of the guys on the Island, Toby, had some experience climbing and was willing to be our teacher and guide. On the next glorious day of warm weather and sunshine, we headed to the mainland with ropes, helmets and a thermos of hot coffee for a day of climbing.
I was nervous to climb on rock. I thought it might be too hard, but it turned out to be way too much fun. On rock it is more of a puzzle to figure out a route, and you can create holds that work for your strengths. By the end of the day we were all buzzing. Even Marco who had started the day quite afraid of the height was warming up to the whole thing. As spring tried to turn the seasons and temperatures warmed every so slightly, climbing became our favorite group activity.
The image above shows me beached on a small landing after an exhausting bouldering climb up a small crack. My upper body strength is so limited, I was exhausted and only about ten feet off the ground.
Above: In typical Norwegian fashion, we always went climbing with a thermos of hot coffee.
Right: Eventually we also tried trad gear to practice lead climbing. Even on the routes we now new so well, it was an entirely new experience to climb untethered between anchors.
Toby repelling back down to earth
Photo by Toby // @broadhead