Jen & I are just back from a great couple of weeks in Norway and more specifically the Lofoten and Vesteralen Islands. We met up with B and Butch for the first few days for some walking and climbing near Svolvaer and Hennigsvaer.
B & I climbed two classic local rock routes. Firstly the famous pinnacle of the Svolvaergeita (Svolvaer Goat) by the 3 pitch 1910 Ruta, the bottom pitch was damp but still good fun and the rest was excellent. Both B & I chose the stretch rather than the jump between the two summit block horns. Secondly we climbed the excellent 5 pitch Pianohandler Lunds Rute on the Pianokrakken, which gave very pleasant climbing in a stunning setting.
Additionally, Jen & Butch, accompanied by B and me when not climbing, walked the hills of Kongstinden, Floya and Festvagtinden. There’s some delightful walking in the area often on narrow ridges and frequently requiring some scrambling. We were also lucky enough to get a superb weather day for a sea kayak trip to Trollfjord.
We were then met by the sailing team of Bruce, Angela, Jacky and Fraser that had been the inspiration for the trip and picked up the yacht Klara. We spent the next week sailing around the islands up as far as Bleik and down as far as Nusfjord with a couple of drop offs for the walking team to do a traverse of Delpen and Malmora and a beautiful through route from Nappsstraumen to Nusfjord. The sailing was excellent and as a bonus we saw porpoises, orca and lots of sea eagles. On our last day on Lofoten after dropping off the boat Jen and I had a pleasant half day walk/scramble on Blatinden.
A memorable trip with stunning views, more granite than seems possible, twenty-four hour daylight and great company. I’ll add more photos on the Facebook page, once I’ve sorted through them.
