UKC

I'm off to Lofoten in a few weeks and will be staying in Henningsvaer, and weather permitting will be climbing some of the bigger routes in the area.

Reading the Rockfax guide I get a mixed impression about how much fixed gear there is in place, both for belays and on the routes themselves.

Would appreciate any comments on the situation, and any recommendations on what gear to carry on routes. Is it best to assume that the routes are totally trad? I have a typical british trad rack ie one of everything, but perhaps for Lofoten I might be better off with several cams and nuts of the same size?

Also particularly interested in the state of the gear on the abseil descents. Are they generally bolted?

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks

In reply to Andy Chubb: There's very little fixed gear - most belays are naturally protected. We climbed routes up to 7- (up to 13 pitches long) and our rack was:

Double set of nuts 1-9, plus a 10.
6 or 7 cams, finger to fist size mainly.
1 set of microwires.
14 draws.

This is the most you could need, slim down as you see fit. (if you place loads of cams adjust accordingly)

Most of the time we walked off routes. Some of the stuff has bolted abseil stations. The Presten has bolted abseils from midway to the bottom, beyond pitch 4 it's all trad.

In reply to Fultonius:


Are they bolted (or all bolted)? I remember there being insitu belays on the direct start - in fact last time I was there we re-did the first four pitches and then abbed off - but at least some are 'trad' insitu anchors. Same on some other routes. We added a couple of nuts to the insitu trad anchors on Mosquito Pillar for example.

To the OP. Take a good, full British rack and you should be fine. Most pitches are 40 mtrs + so you can go through a lot of runners leading and then off course you need enough gear to be able to have the belay where the second is, and another belay for when you finish the pitch. If you have rockcentrics or hexes taking them is good. I tend to make belays with those and nuts, and then can keep all the cams for leading.

In reply to TobyA:

All double bolted now.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:


Do you have any idea by whom and why? The insitu trad anchors were pretty reliable looking, so it doesn't change the nature of the climbing much I guess - but after the Jasper kerfuffle of this winter I am again completely bamboozled by Norwegian fixed gear ethics. And "ethics" in plural seems to be pertinent word.

In reply to TobyA:

I think it was done by NNKS staff (though don't quote me). The old fixed belays were doubtless reliable but they were also a bit of a mess with 3/4/5 wires and a heap of tat. I believe they have moved the fixed belays away from the cracks too, which might ease congestion a bit too

Chris

In reply to TobyA:

I can confirm what Chris says. They are basically solid double-bolt chains which were added as the escape off Presten and they are in more sensible positions. I don't think there have been loads of bolts added to other crags. It certainly does look a lot tidier, however I tend to agree with you regarding the slight vagueness of Norwegian ethics when it comes to fixed gear.

Alan

Thanks for the guidance. The challenge is carrying a full rack, double ropes etc and not paying excess baggage!

Andy