UKC

Me and my mate a heading out to compete in an orienteering competition in Finland during August. We're flying out to Tromso in Norway and we're keen to get some trad/ multipitch/ sport climbing done ( Severe - E2 ). I've started looking at guidebooks to the area and I'm not sure what covers the islands/ mountains near Tromso and Northern Norway.
Has anybody got any ideas/ experience of climbing and/ or good routes to do in the area? We'll be out there for 10 days in total.

In reply to TobyA:

The event is in Saarielska, 650 km away! Its the world regaining championships. We fancied the roadtrip though and the flights were cheap. Many thanks for your reply.

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY:


The flights might be cheap but I bet the car hire isn't. We are off to Lofoten next month and checked prices for a month's car hire in Norway - £1400. In Sweden it was £400 - so we are going via there!


Chris

In reply to TobyA:

We are indeed hiring a car. thanks for the links to the pics, it looks awesome. Cheers

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY: The climbing close to Tromso is on the peninsula of Kvaløya - about 12 crags from 30 min to 1 hr drive from Tromso. Great bouldering, some excellent sport climbing and some brilliant multi-pitch trad routes. The Baugen wall up at Hollenderan is as good as the very best on Lofoten. 250m high. 2 hour hike in to a hut, then half an hour from the hut. Or you can climb in a day from the car. But if you go up to the hut, there is a ton of climbing to do up there. The guidebook is called "Kvaløya Selected Climbs". We had to hunt for it but found it at one of the books shops in the big shopping mall by Tromso airport (This was about a month ago). (As for car hire, we flew into Sweden - half the price for car hire compared to Norway.)

In reply to Chris Craggs: thanks for the great Lofoten guidebook. We just spent a very happy week working our way through a small part of it.

In reply to Cathy:

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed the climbing and the book


Chris

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY:

Thanks Cathy, I've been looking at Kvaloya and it looks like there's more than enough to keep us entertained. There is a guidebook for the whole country which I'm tempted to get instead of the guide to Kvaloya in case the weather craps out. I guess the thing to do is a bit of research into the weather up there this time of year. And yeah, maybe fly to Sweden and hire a car there next time..

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY:

Is the guide to the whole country not just sport climbing though? i.e. it will not include all the good, big stuff on Kvaløya.

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY:

Another vote for Kvaloya, absolutely amazing place and close to Tromso. I actually enjoyed the climbing more than Lofoten (also incredible!). Baugen and its multi pitch routes were the highlight, but the sport climbing was also good.

Enjoy!

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY:

I bought the guidebook to Kvaloya as I'm thinking about going one day, it wasn't cheap but you can order it from one of the Norwegian climbing clubs:
http://tromsoklatring.no/omtkk

In reply to SOUTHERN GRAY:
Weather is a total gamble. We had six days on Kvaloya and managed to climb on 4 of them, inbetween rain showers and by making the most of the midnight sun. But we did a lot of mooching around in the drizzle too, and it was cold. But then we moved on to Lofoten and then Stetind and had 14 days of sunshine - one of those amazing stable high pressures, and temperatures got up to 18 degrees. The Norwegian weather forecase yr.no is pretty accurate.