UKC

Saw a great photo of Tony Howard et al on this in the October 2003 Climber the other day (along with an amazing photo of Zodiac by Ian Parnell, if he’s looking).

Set me thinking – does anyone do the routes on this any more, or is this sort of thing terminably unfashionable? I guess the routes on it were Europe’s version of Yosemite’s pioneering routes of the fifties and sixties, only less accessible.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:
Haven't most of the routes fallen down in recent years? Or at least are so badly affected by rockfall as to make them unreasonmably dangerous?

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:
The Troll wall is very accessible, as it's just above the road. However, it does have a tendency for falling down - there have been a few sizeable rock falls on it in recent years, so i don't know if it is as popular any more.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
The classic free one - Rimmond Route has been badly knackered, and I don't think been repeated. Although people have been up to look I believe.

Most of the others were / still are aid routes I believe, so they don't count

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

Didnt they ban climbing there due to too many rescues?

In reply to Offwidth:
I think that was base jumping that was banned!

In reply to SornaBob:

I didn’t mean ‘accessible’ as in ‘not far to walk’. It may be near the road, but it’s also in Norway, which is rather more of a fag to get to than California. I also had in mind that it is streaming with water for much if not all of the year, which means your attempt is more likely to fail for weather reasons than in Yosemite.

Not popular 'any more'. Was it ever? Did Brits used to go there much in the 80's, say?

As to it being banned, I’ve no idea, but didn’t ‘they’ also once try to ban climbing in Yosemite because of too many rescues?

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1: Of the classic free routes (Svenskerutan, Rimmondruta, Trollkjerringruta) only Trollkjerringruta can be done after all the various rockfalls. Trollveggen is rather unfashionable now mostly due to the increased objectiv dangers since the last 3 huge rockslides. For a while it was quite popular among swedish and norwegian climbers.

There is other good routes in Romsdalen, Sydpilaren on Mongejura is an absolute classic apparently.

In reply to jwi: Forgot,

a nice list of Norweigen classic free routes on
http://www.steepstone.com/artikler/div/klassiskelinjer.asp

taul = pitches
grad = scand. grade. (hardest pitch)
The routes are ordered after overall difficulty.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:
Apologies for the accessible bit. Then again, short cheap flights from Stanstead or Prestwick to Torp and jump in a hire car - you're there in no time. Once your there, it's just above the road.....

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

I was out in Romsdal last summer. Troll Wall is fairly unstable and there were a number of significant rock-falls from it. Local climbers told me that noone goes on the face in full summer much anymore - but that it still sees a good number of ascents in winter/spring. We walked round the back and had a look down from the top - it certainly is impressively vertical. However, the rock looks very loose indeed but from what I saw it didn't look especially wet. Base-jumping (but not climbing) was banned some years ago - but plenty still jump usually at first light.

For pure rock-climbing, much better (more solid) stuff is available on only slightly smaller cliffs futher up the valley. Much less death potential! For winter misery Troll Wall seems very good value.

Tom

In reply to SornaBob:

Or you could do it like Phil who went in the 80s.

Drive from London, park under wall, leave note saying "If I'm not back in 4 weeks, please start to get worried" and then go and (very nearly) solo it.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:
I seem to remember that Simon Lee, an occasional poster in these parts, did it about a year after starting to climb, which would be back in the mid-80s.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

It was very popular when Tony Howard and the Rimmon Club were putting up hundreds of new routes between about 1965-70, leading to the first english language guidebook. Has I think fallen into relative obscurity since about the mid 80s at the latest. In late 60s a lot of top Brits made repeated trips there eg. Joe Brown, Tom Patey, Geoff Birtles, Ed Ward-Drummond, Ben Campbell-Kelly, Tony Wilmott, Mike Spring etc.

In reply to Carless: You omit the best part of the story - his fall resulting in a broken leg followed by rescue at the hands of the Norwegian armed forces. A debate was subsequently held in the Norwegian parliament as to whether he was a serious mountaineer who had had a bit of bad luck and should not be charged for his rescue, or a lunatic with no experience who should be charged the full cost. His mother made the immortal quote, 'Of course he's a serious mountaineer - he's practised for this on the White Cliffs of Dover'.

In reply to John2: 'Of course he's a serious mountaineer - he's practised for this on the White Cliffs of Dover'

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.............................

Felly funny

Stu

In reply to johncoxmysteriously1:

Andy Kirkpatrick and Paul Ramsden were there last winter.

In reply to John2:

It's entirely possible that doing Reasons to be Fearful is good training for the Troll Wall.

I presume he didn't tell his mother about his 13 day trip trying the first winter solo of the Harlin Direct on the Eiger.

In reply to Carless:
Didn't the rescue services have to blow up a snow ledge from under Phill before they could rescue him?
Incidentally where is he now? I had the dubious pleasure of climbing with him at university..very, very slowly.

In reply to John Alcock:

He described the accident and rescue to me some years ago.
I can't remember all the details, but the accident sounded very unlucky and very painful (apparently the femur is one of the hardest bones to break). He said it took him about 12 hours to ab back down the pitch and get into his tent because he kept passing out. And then 2 further days to get rescued because they couldn't get a chopper in close enough.

I'm not sure where he is now. Perhaps he still goes to the Palm Tree on a Wednesday evening with the NLMC crowd.

He was always a fine person to climb with - if you weren't in a hurry.

In reply to Carless:
As you know Phil was never known for his sartorial elegance.
On one occasion (when we were on club meet from York University)he and I climbed A Dream of White Horses on a Sunday. We were so slow the uni bus left without us. We began hitching from North Wales around 2000. Phil looked like an unwashed mad tramp with torn clothes and broken glasses and I didn't expect to get picked up. By 0100 we'd made it to a layby on the A1 less than an hour from York. The road was dark and we didn't expect anyone to stop. Then a lone woman in a 2CV picked us up and took us all the way home. Sometimes I'm tempted to believe in God.

In reply to Carless: Out of interest, do you know how the rescuers were alerted to his predicament?

In reply to John Alcock: Travel with Phil was always a risky business. Did you hear the story of how, after years of being too poor to buy a car, he inherited a substantial sum of money and bought a Volkswagen camper van? Unfortunately nobody had told him that when you replaced a wheel you were supposed to do the nuts up with a spanner rather than your fingers. The inevitable happened as he was descending an Alpine pass, but miraculously nobody was injured.

In reply to John2:

He managed to get back into his bivi tent and passed out (again). Unfortunately his tent was pitched on a tiny collapsing cone of snow with the door facing inwards. So he cut a hole in the back of the tent and signalled with his headtorch. He was spotted fairly quickly as, even though he had told no-one, everyone knew about the mad Englishmen who'd been on the Wall solo for over 3 weeks.
The choppers couldn't get in close enough, and they eventually bolted some wire winches to the cliff top and lowered in.
At least that's how I remember it (conversation a long time ago).