Sunday 19 February 2017

E6 North of Skibotn

There are some routes near to the E6, north of Skibotn. The northernmost routes are very near the road and are approx 60m, WI 3:

Slightly further south is an icefall higher on the hill, "Gehsteig" WI5+ and "Roadside" WI7, appox 80m in length.  Driving from the south they are located immediately after the headland with the obvious notch on its skyline:

In poor heavy snow they can take a long time to access, despite the name.  First climbed, we believe, by Albert Leichtfried and Benedikt Purner in 2010.
Nick high on Gehsteig, WI 5+


To the south of the above, but still north of Skibotn we spied a couple of mighty looking ice lines in 2011. They are very high up, and easily viewed from the Lyngen side of the fjord. They can be seen only from that side (where the picture to the left was taken) from about the same latitude as Kvalvik. There was a corner with ice on the left and a thin pillar leading to a larger fall on the right. One day the pillar disappeared overnight so we reckon grade six at least.  
In 2013 Ian Parnell and co. climbed both, the left-hand line going at WI5 and being the best pitch at that grade Ian has ever climbed!  The right hand was somewhat harder.  
In 2017, the lines were all incomplete.

1 comment:

  1. Update:
    In Feb 2014 a strong British team including Ian Parnell, Neil Gresham and Kenton Cool visited the area. On 17 Feb Ian led the left hand line and Neil the line on the right. Nicknaming the icefall Project Wall, Ian said the 2nd 55m pitch on the left was the best ice pitch he'd ever climbed - and graded it WI5. Neil thought the right hand line was WI5+ M5 so, easier than it looks for such an outrageous line.

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