Norway Part 1

         After spending a decade of my life in the crucible of frozen waterfall justice: the Canadian Rockies, climbing ice anywhere else has never held much appeal.   Though I'd long seen images of giant Fossens in Norway the thought of visiting there for winter climbing never inked it's way on to my wishlist.  In October, Jon Walsh and Jesse Huey piqued my interest in a mission to Senja Island, not quite your standard Waterfall ice destination but rather, a velouté of Coastal, Alpine and Arctic terrain.  Added to the crew would be all around under cover bringer Mike Pennings and lensmaster Paul Bride.

The crew

       We arrived in Oslo late January and bumped to the military outpost of Bardufoss in the northern reaches of Norway.  From there, a three hour rally on snowy roads brought us to Hamn i Senja our base for the following two weeks.  We got right into it and over the next week, managed to get into some good trouble in this enchanted land of Trolls and Fjords.

Fjordcountry

          While Jesse and Jonny jumped right on to the "Terminator wall of Senja" Finnmannen, climbing a grade 6 monster and attempting Ines Papert's still unrepeated M9+ masterpiece, Mike and I warmed up with some "mini-putt" on a route reminiscent of Polar Circus.

Heston

Mike on the Polar Circus of Senja

On the summi slopes

Mike would later pump and drop a hot lap on the compelling couloir at left.  

 Fjord villages: far from uncharming

Ditto for the locals

Reformed BC resident Charlie Long showed up for some fun

Charlie has not regretted expatriation 

During a break on a recon mish.   Norway is ok