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NEWS: First Winter Solo of Troll Wall by Marek Raganowicz

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 UKC News 03 Feb 2017
Troll Wall winter solo selfie, 4 kbPolish alpinist Marek Raganowicz has made the first winter solo ascent of Troll Wall in Norway, with an ascent of Suser gjennom Harryland.(6/A3)

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 Andy Nisbet 03 Feb 2017
In reply to UKC News:

Phil Thornhill nearly made it many years ago before breaking his leg, as far as I remember.
 bensilvestre 03 Feb 2017
In reply to UKC News:

Hate to be that guy but surely this route doesn't count as an ascent of the wall, in much the same way as climbing the free blast wouldn't count as an ascent of el cap. Its a very impressive achievement however you look at it but when you're claiming 'first solo winter ascent of the troll wall', surely you have to reach the top of the troll wall.
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 bensilvestre 03 Feb 2017
In reply to UKC News:

And this isnt an attempt to troll a thread about the troll wall, although i suspect there may be some trolls waiting to troll this troll wall thread
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andy kirkpatrick 03 Feb 2017
In reply to bensilvestre:

A valid point, and a good pub discussion, what defines a wall, but believe me, when you get to the lower off you know you're at the top of A wall! Even without it being a wall or whatever, 16 days solo on the Troll in winter, on loose rock and sometimes rotten bolts equates to twenty laps of the Eiger North face.
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 Steve Perry 03 Feb 2017
In reply to Andy Nisbet: Marek occasionally climbs at Inverness wall.

In reply to andy kirkpatrick:

> A valid point, and a good pub discussion, what defines a wall, but believe me, when you get to the lower off you know you're at the top of A wall! Even without it being a wall or whatever, 16 days solo on the Troll in winter, on loose rock and sometimes rotten bolts equates to twenty laps of the Eiger North face.

It's not to do with 'what defines a wall', i.e the definition of a wall – because of course you can have a 'wall' as feature within a larger 'wall': e.g Terrace Wall on the east face of Tryfan, Red Wall on Lliwedd, or the Rote Fluh on the Eigerwand. But this is to do with the reference of a name. The Eigerwand, for example, refers to the whole north face of the Eiger, just as the Troll Wall refers to that whole particular wall on the north side of Trollryggen. To say simply that you've climbed 'the Eigerwand' or 'the Troll Wall' of course means you've climbed the whole thing from the bottom to the top.

If the names of mountain features are used in a misleading way, we're not talking about mountaineering but honesty. If someone tells me they've climbed the Eigerwand or El Capitan, etc etc, I assume they are being honest and do not mean they've only got part-way up it.
Post edited at 20:43
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 Andy Nisbet 03 Feb 2017
In reply to Steve Perry:

> Marek occasionally climbs at Inverness wall.

That's useful. He could give me hints about planning for the 16 days I'll need to get up the green route.
 Steve Perry 03 Feb 2017
In reply to Andy Nisbet:

You could borrow his porta ledge
andy kirkpatrick 04 Feb 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I don't think Marek is being dishonest, or the FA or anyone who's climbed the route, and your right that it's a clumsy term. It's a very hard route on a very hard wall, like Indian face is a thing in itself, you do need a brew in the cafe at the top to get the tick : )
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In reply to andy kirkpatrick:

> I don't think Marek is being dishonest, or the FA or anyone who's climbed the route, and your right that it's a clumsy term. It's a very hard route on a very hard wall, like Indian face is a thing in itself, you do need a brew in the cafe at the top to get the tick : )

The route is obviously a great achievement, but the headline is misleading. It certainly misled me - until I'd read the article, or rather, the very first two sentences of the article ... which actually contradict the headline: 'Marek's climb … tops out on the left side of Trollryggen Pillar, reaching more or less halfway up the North face of Troll Wall.' The trouble is that the headline looks a bit dishonest, even if it is merely, as you say, a 'clumsy' use of language. But IMHO we are seeing far too much of such 'clumsy language' recently (in this new, frightening 'post-truth' age), another more serious example being the use of the term 'the people' in 'the will of the people' to refer to just over half the people.
1
 Michael Gordon 04 Feb 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

A more honest title would be 'First winter solo of a route on the Troll Wall', or why not just 'first winter solo of Suser gjennom Harryland'? Presumably to claim a solo of the Troll Wall he'd have to continue up it.
1
In reply to Michael Gordon:

Exactly.
1
 Robert Durran 04 Feb 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

> Exactly.

I agree. These things do matter.
1
andy kirkpatrick 04 Feb 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

All the pictures of the route tend to be taken from the road and due to the angle of the wall by the time you're on pitch 15 you're around the first pitch of the Rimmon route, but you're right, a route on the Troll pillar would be more appropriate. Being a Pole who works in the UK, Scotland no less, I doubt he's a fan of 'the people' either!
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Hi Gordon,
The truth about this news is as follow:
I wrote the "story" explaining in the first few sentences, what I have climbed , but UKC put the headline. I had no intentions to make any impression, that I climbed anything, what I did not and that why I add the photo with red SGH line.

Cheers
Marek
Post edited at 15:00
In reply to Marek Raganowicz:

Ah, thanks for explaining! ... Yes, all we were talking about was the misleading headline ... which was nothing to do with you.
 bensilvestre 04 Feb 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Agreed
 lukegorman 07 Feb 2017
In reply to UKC News:

Amazing job Marek. I'm interested in what technical clothing you used on your ascent. If you have time could you post a list?

Thanks!
 d_b 07 Feb 2017
In reply to lukegorman:

When I read the article it struck me that it was a particularly minging temperature range to be climbing in. I would rather be out in -20 than a +3 thaw.
In reply to lukegorman:

Hi Luke,
Thanks.
On the wall I used Patagonia clothing and Lorpen socks.
Patagonia:
Merino base layers - top and bottom
KnifeRidge Pants - soft shell
Refugiteve Pants - Gore Tex
Nano Puff Hoody - Primaloft jacket
+ Nano Puff Vest
Nano Air Jacket - together with N.Puff Hoody for cold days
Refugitive Jacket - Gore Tex

Lorpen socks:
Trekking & Expedition STD
T3 All Seasons

Always feel free and ask if you have any questions. I will share my experience with great pleasure...

Cheers
m

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