In Northern Norway, within the Arctic Circle, there is an amazing collection of islands where massive lumps of clean granite tower out of the sea.  This article focuses on two of the main climbing areas, Kvaloya and the Lofoten Islands.

Getting there and logistics

We flew from Edinburgh to Tromso, with an overnight bivvy in Oslo Gardermoen airport.  An early morning flight took us up over Norway and we landed in Tromso mid morning.  The vague plan was to try and find a supermarket where we could load our packs up with enough food for two weeks, then hitch from Tromso Island to the next island over, Kvaloya.  This all went surprisingly smoothly and within fifteen minutes of being stood by the side of the road with our thumbs out, we got a lift to the start of the walk to Hollenderen.  We estimated each of us was carrying around 40kg on our backs.  For the next 6 hours we cursed the weight on our backs and also realised that perhaps trainers weren't the best footwear for this trip.  The final two hours of the walk were up reasonably steep snow and we arrived at the hut, exhausted, and with wet feet.  Even in August once the snow has melted I'd recommend taking walking boots.

The climbing in Kvaloya

The crag of Hollenderen is a big granite cliff that runs for about 1k in length and averages around 300m in height.  However, from stepping on the rock, to topping out, the rock is of fantastic quality and sustained all the way.  With the remote setting of the cliff and the unpredictable weather I would describe the environment of the cliff as being alpine.

For our first route we set off up Midrute, a Norwegian 5 just behind the hut; this was a nice introduction to climbing in the area with fantastic positions.  It also provided an insight into the Norwegian grading system.  The route was graded 5, which equates to about VS, although I think a single pitch VS leader would have been tested!  We abseiled back to the hut in the evening sun; being this far north in Norway in the month of June you can climb in twenty fours hours sunlight.  However, once the sun had gone around to the North, the whole crag was in the shade and it would have been quite cold climbing on the face.

For our first route on Baugen (the main crag on the Hollenderen cliff) we chose a climb called Baugsprydet (Norwegian 6) as a warm-up.  This is supposed to be E1 5b - maybe it's Scottish E1 5b however.  This warm up climb honed a few techniques I'd need for the rest of the trip, especially lay-backing and hand jamming and I was very glad I had some tape gloves.  For the next ten days we listened to Norwegian pop on an old radio, watched snow fall, climbed amazing granite weaknesses when the snow wasn't falling and enjoyed the solitude of this place.  The climbing itself is fantastic, the rock is clean and the climbs are very sustained, linking obvious features on the cliff.  A fine example of this is the Flygende Hollender.  This follows a series of corners and cracks right the way to the top of the cliff.  Every pitch is tough, Norwegian 6 is the grade given by the book.  We were soon learning this could be anything from VS to E3.   We had a double rack of cams, which we were grateful for as plenty of cracks were a similar width for a full 50m rope length.  

The wealth of climbs available on the Hollenderen cliff could keep you occupied for a long time.  The routes start at around VS, although those leading E2 and above will certainly get the most out of the area.  Oh, and a liking for cracks and wild laybacks will help.

We weren't sure if we had good weather or bad weather, but in our ten or so days up in the mountains, we had 4 days of snow.  Our original intention had been to stay up in the mountains for a week or so more, but due to a fatality on the cliff and being involved in the search for the bodies, we decided to head down out of the mountains to clear our heads after this.  We hitched back to Tromso for a beer, during which we made a snap decision to get a 14 hour ferry southwards to the Lofoten Islands.

Lofoten

We arrived in the Lofoten Island at Svolver, with no information at all about the climbing.  A quick trip to the tourist information centre and we found out we needed to head round the coast to Henningsvaer.  Again, hitching proved easy enough and we got dropped off outside of Henningsvaer.  There is an area just outside Henningsvaer where you can camp for free, lots of climbers camp here; and with a camp fire in the evening it can have quite a good atmosphere.  

The views around Lofoten are beautiful.  The rugged pointy peaks right next to the sea provide the perfect backdrop for this granite wonderland.  Sitting down on the beach as the sun got low in the sky, but never quite set, was a great way to end many a perfect day climbing.

We had heard about a famous route called Vestpillaren that was nearby.  We managed to find a topo on the internet and convinced a hotel to let us print it out.  Armed with this and a feeling of release in our new snow free world, we set of to enjoy the uber-classic Vestpillaren.  This provided 14 pitches of beautiful climbing that never felt too hard, but there was always something of interest on each pitch.  This is graded Norwegian 6, or E2 5b.  We felt that on the whole the grading in Lofoten was a lot softer than in Kvaloya.

Over the next two weeks we sampled many of the top routes in the area that we could reach on foot from our camp.  During this period the weather was great and we climbed every day.  However, having spoken to people who have been on different years, I think we were lucky.  The climbing was really varied with cracks, laybacks, slabs and all the other features you would expect from a granite venue.  The grade range in Lofoten is perfect; starting at V Diff, where there are some great adventures to be had, through to the mid Extremes and beyond.  The area of Henningsvaer where we were based felt very relaxed and didn't feel too serious.  The descents were uncomplicated and lots of routes were equipped with abseil stations, where necessary.

Amongst the routes we climbed in Lofoten (apart from Vestpillaren) the two that stick out are:
-Månens døtre (Nor 6-).  This had some fantastic pure friction climbing, with two lonesome bolts to protect one entire rope length.  We both felt if this was in the UK it would be an uber-classic E3.

-Himmelen kan vente (Nor 6+).  This route weaves its way up next to Vestpillaren finding an excellent line up the cliff, culminating in a wild position for the final pitch.  Vestpillaren is the classic line of the cliff and therefore attracts a lot of traffic.  The day we were climbing Himmelen kan vente, a rather slow British team were causing a huge tail back on Vestpillaren whilst our route was completely free.  For the final pitch a corner is ascended to a roof, climbing leftwards under this roof provided some memorable moves. Beyond this the climb is suddenly over and you can sit back and enjoy the vista before you.

Shopping

In the small village of Henningsvaer you can buy food and there is also a little climbing shop which sells the two guidebooks to the area, the Lofoten Rock Rockfax guide, and the other guide - "Climbing in the magic islands".  We went for the Rockfax guide.  It's much more up to date and is simpler to use.

There is also a small bar here.  At the end of our trip we had some spare cash and headed down to find out what the night life was like in this small village.  As is common in Norway, our spare money was soon spent on weak beer, and we left the bar when the local folk songs started being sang, feeling that the party was only just getting started.

Other climbing

I feel that with both Kvaloya and the Lofoten Islands I only sampled a small part of the huge amount of climbing that is on offer.  The Lofoten Islands has seen teams head out in winter from the UK putting up lots of fantastic looking winter lines.  I felt that Kvaloya looked like a truly amazing place to have some adventures in winter.  Kvaloya also has the mini big wall of Blaemen.  This has lots of aid lines on it, and looks like a great place to go if you wanted to learn aiding without a trip to Yosemite.  Some of these lines are starting to be freed, starting at Norwegian 8 (if the grading follows the pattern of other routes in the area, these will be very hard!).

The other major venue I would love to go and visit would be Stetind.  This looks like it has some great climbing if the new guide is anything to go by. The guide for Kvaloya also has a fairly healthy section on bouldering and sport climbing.  The sport climbing seems to be lower lying and so this would be better for making the most of the weather on a visit.  The amount of bouldering potential is huge.

If you are on your way out of Lofoten and have a spare few hours before a ferry, you could always go and jump the Svolvaer Goat!

See the images in this article in larger scale via the accompanying gallery here.