Kjerringhelvetet - Haugfjell

This summer has produced a lot of weather in all kind of styles.
From super warm in the beginning of june to really miserable and rainy stuff in the end of the summer. One day sun, next day rain.
But overall, I have been most lucky and had the good sunny stuff on the important days.
So a trip up to Norway and E-Fjord booked in august with a few weeks of work I thought that I could lengthen that with a week or 10 days to get some private time for some bigger routes and maybe even to be able to look for a new route.

Kjerringveggen

But how wrong this would become. After the first week of sun the weather turned Norwegian style and I became to spend most of my time in my new running shoes, weightlifting in the gym and reading at the sofa in the back of my van. Luckily my good friend Jonny was in Riksgränsen so we could at least focus on good dinners and wine...

There is also some good fishing opportunities, view from the top.

So this meant I soon gave up the ideas of bigger routes and focused the climbing towards Haugfjell. A quite nice mountain some 20k after the border to Norway. Easy access and good solid granit with every type of climbs; slabs and  steep cracks. But not so high and most of the bigger things already climbed.
So, it was to my surprise to find, at least for me, a new wall with a bunch of steep sport climbs, bolted and trad route and up to 25mts high at Kjerringveggen. And even more surprise to find a bolted route that hadn't been freed yet, but an open project perfectly bolted!
Good thing when someone puts up a new topo like the "Dancing on the Devils dance floor" written by Mikael Ekenstam and Lars Thulin via Topptur Förlag.
This wall, suited some 15 min walk west of the parking lot and super easy access is just perfect for unstable days which might produce rain.

Crimping at the best

After a first glance the route looked just super hard, with a good reason that it never had been freed actually.
But after climbing a couple of the other routes like "Skidor är löjligt", "Pilutta" and "Escalade Feminin" I thought I might at least give it a try.
And it was mostly a try. Working my way up past the 4 first bolts quite easy but then I banged straight in to trouble and soon my fingers crimped out and all the skin was gone. Two serious tries and that was it. The crystals was just to sharp and the sequence on the last bit with hard pulls on micro crimps on friction steeps was just to much.

After a weekend ´s rest in the archipelago of Luleå with a lot of finger training I drove back north late in the evening. Scanning the meteo that it would be a couple of sunny days coming in before the next front splashing in from the coast.
So I had an early morning start and got up passing the border again for a second try. A couple of warm up routes and I had an other go.
But, over focused I misjudged the second clip and just fell of by pure f..ked up!
On the second second try I relaxed a bit more and got to the small left hand crimp with a long right reach followed by a right dyno. And felt the pull super easy to hold. But a bit surprised by this I fell of again!! And again my left finger was not up for a third try the same day...so just spending the day on easier stuff. At least able to insight "Hjørnet Direct" 7a.

The next days became mostly gym days, again, combined with a lot of running. But then the day before departure I got the spell I hoped for. It cleared up the evening before and the whole day was to be filled with sun.
So after a healthy breakfast, its always healthy at Jonny´s place, I drove off with a good spirit.
Drove the 22k, parked and walked up to the cliff for the third time in a week. This time I changed the rhythm and only climbed one warm up before my first try. Which was a bad idea. I was stiff and didn't have a good footwork. So again I just slipped of at the start on the second bolt.

So, a new try and this time just let everything go.
Relaxing and memorizing the route during the time I climb an other warm up route;
1:A small slopy hold with the right hand followed by an other for the left and then up to a good right pull.
2:A small left crimp and then up high with the right to a side pull.
3:Left feet up high and a left undercling to reach a crimp with the right hand.
And then easy in to a left finger jam followed by a right easy to pull out right jam.
4:Friction feet up to some good crimps but with very precise feets with a high placement for the left foot and then a long side pull out left to a good side pull, dyno.
5:Change to a better left side pull keeping the right on the crime to place left foot a little higher for the better left pull.
6:Then keep the right hand on the crimp and move the body out right and feels more right to take the weight of the arms/fingers. Then up to a tiny crimp with the right followed by a slow move to a very small crystal with for the left hand finger and a short dyno out little right to a tumb/finger crystal. Followed by a similar move to an exact similar hold for the left, tumb/finger.
7:Then move first right then left feet up on tiny friction steeps getting high enough so its possible to reach a tiny rightward crimp with the left fingers. Keep the right crystal and then semi move up to a faiding crimp with the right hand. Steep up with the left foot and dyno up high again with the right.
8:HOME!!
9:After this its an awkward but easy move high placement with first the right then the left foot to give a long reach with the left hand to an other good hold. A couple of easy moves over easy terrain to the anchor.
10:Done!!
(this is for someone in the length of 172cm, might be totally different if you are 165 or 185)

I left the proposed grade of 7c+ and also kept the name "Kjerringhelvetet" by respect of the original driller, Børge Soleng, who put up all the hard initial work on this route.
Many thanks to you Børge!!

Route:

Kjerringhelvetet
Grade 7c+
Bolted with rappel anchors.
FFA August 2017
Link to topo over E-Fjord/Narvik

Access from the parking and view over the walls of Haugfjell

//Every awake moment is a new opportunity

Haugfjell

Norske semester del lV, dag 4

Haugfjell, last mountain before the border and a perfect spot to enjoy the last day of the holiday climbing tour

A new route on Storsteinsfjell followed by an endurance climb on Eidetind and then a solo race on Stetinds South pillar. 3 days of intensive climbing. So some small craging on this easy accessed north northeast wall makes a good plan. Only issue is last nights heavy raining, might be wet sort off

But, since I'm anyhow passing the place and the approach is done in about 10min walk, it's ok just to have a look see. Off course the main wall was still wet but since I have climbed the routes up there before I didn't mind just to look around a bit more. First finding a short boulder crack close to the path, suddenly the walk in had paid back!

A glance further down to the east turns out to have some interesting stuff as well. And a huge off width up the wall, quite short but still, I'm not a tall guy either...

At the base it sure feels small, specially after the last days climbs. But I pull out the gear and rack up. It will be fun I tell my self and start climbing the fist muddy meters. The crack is filled up with moss but a bit of cleaning and it will be fine. Up to a small roof which has this perfect hand crack that turns into a ring lock up to a free hanging ledge or something similar

Up the small corner I find myself pulling on moss, grass and bushes. Which all comes of when I rappel back to actually clean the pitch

Next one is a most interesting off width protected with a no#4 Camalot at the base before it gets to small, sending me on a 7-8 meter run out. I said its gonna be fun!

Again up on a ledge, big one this time, I walk over it crossing up to a small short dihedral that takes me up to the footpath descending from the summit.

Brutna Sällskap, 3pitches 6+

And just to the base of some established routes going up some nice cracks, left and right. So I climb both of them in turns, the right one turning out to be pretty stiff

Summit crack at Haugfjell, established since before

Rappelling back down to clean the last short pitch I only have to enjoy clogging the pitch back up. Climbing trip is over and done for this time

Easy descente down the ladders...

But still, a nice dinner waiting over at Anders and Merjas place! And then back to work, out on the slowly dissapering glaciers...an other story

Stetind showes it's best side

Haugfjell - You need

50mrope, 1set of stoppers, 1set of Camalots 0.5-4.0, 6-8QD's (Aliens and micro stoppers might be useful for some of the thinner crack lines)

Arriving from the Swedish side there is a small dirt roade turning to the left just after the wind turbine, follow this for about 200m, parking site. And then just follow the foot path, the wall is on obvious.

A full topo is found at topptur.nu, look for "dancing on the devils dance floor"

//S & S, a smile solves any problem, silence keeps you out at first place...

 

Mountainpassion