Trip Report
Norway: Stetind South Pillar solo project
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Wednesday September 11, 2013 6:54pm
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This trip report is a video of my attempt to solo Stetind last week, a beautiful mountain in my country Norway. The climb is not hard, up to 6b, but the rock is amazing, pure and solid. And the place is very scenic, with the mountain raising straight from the fjord. The route is a classic. Very nice climb.
You may think I'm crazy where I'm without rope, it's just a safety technique to move fast on easy pitches and not spend more time on the wall than necessary to avoid getting caught in the dark or bad weather midways, which was really good I used on this climb. And when free soloing, you climb well within your margins, so that you know you "can't" fall.
It shows that even though weather forecast looks good, it's important to always be prepared for the worst. I knew there was an escape ledge 2 pitches up, and went for that instead of 15-30 rapells into the clouds, depending if I find the right route down in low visibility.
Sorry for any bad editing. Not easy with a GoPro camera, best if you turn on 720p. It's a bit dramatized, but hopefully a bit funny. Here's the video:
http://youtu.be/2clp2tqIiRs
eflaaten
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About the Author
eflaaten is a climber from Norway. |
Comments
ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
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Sep 11, 2013 - 07:08pm PT
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Nice job man ! I got the feel
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Rankin
Social climber
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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Sep 11, 2013 - 08:00pm PT
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Great stuff Erik! Definitely adding that place to my list. Thanks for posting up!
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 11, 2013 - 10:47pm PT
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I'm not a big fan of gopro movies, but you won me over. I was kind glad I knew the outcome, i.e. that you made it down safe enough to post else I would have worried too much.
Was the rock actually sound? It looked a little sketchy, but your climbing looked solid.
Tongue in cheek or not, Grieg works for me. And last but not least, what a beautiful mountain!
Thanks!
Darwin
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Sep 11, 2013 - 11:06pm PT
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Man I thought that was great. That is two new great climbing threads tonight not bad for ST. Way to style the climb.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Sep 11, 2013 - 11:17pm PT
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Very cool. Too bad about the bad weather. I'd have liked to have seen the views.
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eflaaten
Trad climber
Norway
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Author's Reply
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Sep 12, 2013 - 06:43am PT
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Yes, the rock is delightfully solid. There are some few loose rocks laying on ledges, but otherwise superb quality.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 12, 2013 - 07:24am PT
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Congratulations!
Excellent video, with some English even! (Thanks)
HÆLER TIL TAKET!!
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duncan
climber
London, UK
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Sep 13, 2013 - 04:18am PT
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Thanks for this. It's a fabulous looking mountain, looks like a fine route and I know it's a lovely part of the world (in summer).
Toby Archer has written another good trip report from a roped ascent here.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
The Ocean
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Sep 12, 2013 - 09:58am PT
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Love it when someone posts a TR from outside my area. Every time I see stuff from Norway it makes me a bit homesick for Alaska. The similarities and differences are really intriguing. Thanks!
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dave goodwin
climber
carson city, nv
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Sep 12, 2013 - 11:01am PT
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That was great. Good job!
I like to read through my old climbing mags, and just yesterday I was looking at Climbing #60 from May-June 1980 the one with Uli Biaho on the front cover. And there is an article on climbing in Norway with a great pic of Stetind in the beginning of the article.
Cool to read about it one day, and see a video the next day!
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Sep 20, 2013 - 12:06pm PT
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The best GoPro climbing video I've seen and a proud ascent. The weather adding a bit of drama. Stetind is a beauty, though William C. Slingsby was of a different opinion:“The ugliest mountain I ever saw” "nothing like it in the world".
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 12, 2013 - 01:26pm PT
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Who the f*#k is William C. Slingsy, and why was he so wrong?
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Sep 12, 2013 - 01:36pm PT
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William Cecil Slingsby was an English nobility and the "father" of Norwegian climbing. He wrote the bible of Norwegian climbing "Norway. The Northern Playground" - a book even more famous in Norway than Stein P. Aasheim's "Trango - Triumf og tragedie".
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eflaaten
Trad climber
Norway
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Author's Reply
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Sep 12, 2013 - 02:48pm PT
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Thanks for the positive feedback. The norwegian quote in the beginning comes from the Norwegian philosopher/mountaineer Peter Wessel Zapffe (damn I wrote it wrong in the video!) before his ascent up the normal route of Stetind in 1937. It translates "I lay here feeling that I hate this cursed mountain, as it has power over my mind". Which I'm sure many of us feel about certain climbs. And it is what I felt after thinking 'a lot' about this mountain for over a year. It's like it called me out to do it. Didn't really have money to go there now, but I just had to. Strange!
@climbski2 Never been to Alaska, but it looks like Norway, but on steroids
I think William C. Slingsy said "It's the ugliest mountain I ever saw" because he failed to climb it, some 100 years ago. He tried via the normal route, which has a very exposed traverse:
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 12, 2013 - 03:14pm PT
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He wrote the bible of Norwegian climbing
I doubt the validity of his bible if he called that the ugliest mountain he ever saw.
Sore losers make poor bible authors.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Sep 12, 2013 - 03:46pm PT
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Right on! All the way from Noorvay! Great job out there! Thanks for the fun footage. A mighty proud swath of stone you have there. Way to persevere and get to the summit in poor conditions. A mighty achievement. Thanks for sharing.
Scott
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 13, 2013 - 03:14am PT
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Norway bump.
Need more photos bump!!
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wallyvirginia
Trad climber
Stockholm, Sweden
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Sep 13, 2013 - 03:51am PT
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Great video!! I climbed this route earlier this summer and, like you, had to traverse right just below the top. Excellent choice of music for that part - In the Hall of the Mountain King - emotionally spot on!
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
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Sep 13, 2013 - 10:38am PT
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excellent. one of the best go pros i have seen in a while, footage and climbing wise, and in an incredible setting to boot. cheers!
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Sep 13, 2013 - 12:56pm PT
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Anyone know how that route is in english? E1, 6a, ?
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eflaaten
Trad climber
Norway
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Author's Reply
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Sep 13, 2013 - 05:31pm PT
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It's E1 6a at the top, (6- in Norweigan grade system), but you can do direct pitches up to 6b. Else it's all 4th and 5th class. Well protected
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 13, 2013 - 09:02pm PT
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So 6a is like 10a/b? What's E1?
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eflaaten
Trad climber
Norway
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Author's Reply
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Sep 14, 2013 - 04:48am PT
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6a I meant the french system. In british system it seems to be called 5a or 5b. Here is a great comparison chart:
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TobyA
Ice climber
Helsinki, Finland
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Sep 15, 2013 - 03:34pm PT
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For whoever asked in about the grade in English - if you mean in UK grades, it's given E1 5b (about 5.10a I guess?), but there is only one pitch out of 13 that I reckon is that hard.
If you can live with UK grades, you can get a free miniguide to the South Pillar from Rockfax.
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TobyA
Ice climber
Helsinki, Finland
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Sep 15, 2013 - 03:43pm PT
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Duncan kindly linked my blog post specifically about climbing the South Pillar of Stetind above, but I did another blog post that was a trip report for the full week of climbing I had up in that region of Norway last month. All the other places we climbed at are within about an hour of Stetind, some like Eidetind and the Kuglhornet - much closer. So it's a great place to go for a holiday - loads of possibilities in a relatively small area, from big mountains to single pitch sport climbing.
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fat-n-sassy
Social climber
San Francity, CA
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Sep 15, 2013 - 07:28pm PT
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STRONG.
Beautiful rock.
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eflaaten
Trad climber
Norway
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Author's Reply
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Sep 18, 2013 - 08:33pm PT
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To the left on the ledge of 6th pitch you get a (french grades) 6a/6b, and directly on the 7th pitch instead of the chimney (which is 4+) you also get a 6a/6b, it was probably 6a, but with some runout. The last three pitches are 6a, 6a, 6b. With a variant to the left which is 6b to 6c. I didn't get to do the last pitches though.
But overall it's easy climbing, it's alpine, not big wall, but highly recommended if you are ever in the area. And there is lots of climbing around like TobyA says, with good of possibilities for first ascents on long routes, according to friends who have been there. There can be a bit loose rock though in some areas.
Go in june/july and the sun never sets :-)
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