UKC

Hi everyone. I'm trying to find a guidebook that covers troll wall and I'm struggling a little. Could anyone point me in the right direction please?

try this as a summary by John Middendorf https://www.bigwalls.net/climb/Troll.html

there will be guidebook in Norwegian, though I don’t have access. A bit more googling might help

Thank you for that. I'm currently learning Norwegian and have Norwegian family so that won't be a problem especially since this is a 2/3 year plan so I have plenty of time for preparation. 

Tony Howard: Climbs, Scrambles and Walks in Romsdal, Cordee. Revised ed. 1998. 

Still available on Amazon. Now a 2005 edition:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Climbs-Scrambles-Walks-Romsdal-Norway/dp/190420724...

Very good. Very detailed in every way.

It's the French edition, but presumably that shouldn't be a problem.

Umm. I hadn't noticed that! Could be a big problem because text is bound to be in French, isn't it? But the English version is probably easily available amongst those New & Used options.

I think it's fair to say that climbing guidebooks, which tend to use a fairly limited and specific vocabulary, are probably much easier to understand for somebody who doesn't actually speak the language than more general publications. And Google Translate is pretty handy these days; indeed I think there's an app now whereby you don't actually have to enter anything yourself but simply wave your phone at the offending text.

Of course we're both too old to understand such things!

Klatring i Romsdal from 1999 is probably the last printed guidebook covering the Troll wall. It is out of print but should be possible to lend at any larger library in Norway.

You can find topos for all routes on the Troll wall online. Here's the Rimmond route for example: http://www.granholt.no/klatrebilder/trollvegg_2/rimmond.pdf

May not be the best idea to actually climb there - a little loose. https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/destinations/troll_wall_swedish_route-422...

Maybe if I could read the text it would help, but I reckon that my chances of staying on route using that topo are not much more than zero!

Does anyone have any idea how well travelled the troll wall routes are? Obviously not hugely popular, but do they get ascents every year?

Given the fact that most of the Troll Wall is now in Andalsnes, most of the remaining routes are rarely visited in situ. In the late 80s/ early 90s I took a walk with an American living in Oslo towards the bottom of the wall to see that it looked like. The size and frequency of the falling rocks was truly impressive. Having said that one of the Wide Boys and his partner went and did the ? Swedish Route? and posted on YouTube 

The ‘classics’, as it were, are done multiple times every year.

Norwegian Route Norskeruter (n7-), I think. It should possibly be spelled '...ruta' - other routes thereabouts use that spelling - but, confusingly, 'Norskeruta' appears to be a 3-pitch route on a crag near Bergen!

Edit: It's possible that the 'Norwegian Route' uses a large part of the upper section of Trollryggen's earlier 'East Pillar Route' Trollryggen (n6), also first climbed by a Norwegian team; 'ruter' is the plural of 'ruta' - so I wonder whether, in the native language, it's simply known as 'Norwegian Routes'.

The route from 1965 on the Troll Wall is definately called Norskeruta.

Thanks.

Aye I've seen that but wasn't sure if it covered what I need. To be honest I'm looking at a new route anyway but that's not possible without knowing what has already been done. 

Aye I know of the instability of the rock. I'm looking at the left side of the wall, much more stable, the huge slab section and a line that follows, in most photos, the shadow line to the summit. Probably the longest possible line and although probably not considered the Troll Wall proper is still a part of the mountain. There are some fairly easy lines including Balticka I thing is called that's run at about E2 5c/E3 6a equivalent but I'm not really interested in covering old ground. 

The slabs that bound the left edge of the Troll Wall are the Trollryggen East Pillar which is a very very long route at around HVS I think. Possibly the longest rock climb in Europe. Not sure if that's what you're describing but it sounds like it so maybe it's already been done.

Tony Howard's guidebook is incredibly detailed - the Troll Wall section alone covers no less 13 pages, with 7 diagrams and 7 major routes – from left to right on the face: The Norwegian Route, The Arch Wall, The French Direct Route, The Escape Traverse, The French Direct – Polish Variant, The Rimmon (English) Route, and The Swedish (Trollgubben) Route. It also mentions two Russian routes, and another British attempt. Here is just one of the 7 diagrams. I just cannot understand how you don't consider this guidebook essential for your purposes.

PS. There's also a Russian Climb, and several useful diagrams that can be found on the internet of it and other adjoining routes: 

http://www.russianclimb.com/troll/t03.jpg

http://www.russianclimb.com/troll/t06.jpg

Yes, it does sound as if Barneyhighropes has in mind the East Pillar, a major landmark in Norwegian climbing history when it was first done by Hoibakk and Heen in 1958. Grade VI Inf, and over 2,000m long! Has been climbed dozens if not hundreds of times. Tony Charlton and Bill Lounds were doing it at the same that we were on the Fiva Route to the right of the Troll Wall in 1969. We could see them for several hours in the final diedre on their second day.

Yes it sounds like that. However I would say that i having being climbed before doesn't detract from the experience, as anyone taking on one of these routes will be new routing to some extent! I doubt it has been climbed twice in the same way.