Just above halfway, Peter Harremoës is
stepping out on Narrow Slab, Rimmon Route, Trollveggen.
.
|
Romsdalen,
Norge
Climbing on Trollveggen and Mongejura Webgallery
further down I visited Romsdalen in May 1992
for the first time when Peter Harremoës and I had the luck of climbing
Troll Wall by a combination of the Swedish Route and Rimmond in an early
summer heat wave. Up to 30o down in the valley and just a bit
less up high. I have been there twice since, and without having become an
expert I must sing you a song about Romsdalen.
Located in West Norway Romsdalen and the town of Åndalsnes should
experience a steady yearlong drizzle. But it's not so. Before I did
Mongejura South Pillar together with Klaus Preisler, I checked the
web-camera of Isfjorden from mid March to mid May and never saw a single
cloud. The stable weather continued the rest of that summer! But OK - climbers are advised to stay away should the wind go into west or north
west.
The river Rauma cuts NNW into the green and canyonlike Romsdalen.
Mongejura, Hornsaksla and Romsdalshorn build the righthand side and the
impressive buttresses and pillars of Trolltindarne the left wall.
Trollveggen / Troll Wall - the higest vertical wall in Europe - is just a
small part of the Trolltindarnes westface.The rock is gneiss, locally
called gråstein, a foliated granitic rock with large feldspar-augen. Most
often it is extremely climbable with good friction and lots of
nice incuts. But it can be loose especially on a large scale as the recent
huge rockfalls on the Trollveggen show. The best updated source of
information on rockfalls and newrouting is the Romsdalen guidebook writers
Anne Grete Nebel & Bjarte
Bø's website.
It is easy to get to Romsdalen. Just 6 hours by car from Oslo (try
to avoid rushhours on the narrow roads between Oslo and Hamar) or by train
to Åndalsnes.
Standing in Åndalsnes you can look up into the valleys of
Vengedalen, Romsdalen and Isterdalen, and in one panoramic view you can
see more climbable rock than you can dream of doing for the rest of your
life! But do try!
The following pictures are my own from Rimmond in 1992 and Mongejura in
2002. In between are a few shots kindly provided (or straightout stolen)
from other websites. Please notice that the pictures are best watched in
1024 x 768 pix and full screen (press F11).
|
|
|
|
|
Troll Wall
|
Approach
|
Great
Wall
|
Black
Cleft
|
Narrow
Slab
|
|
|
|
|
|
Narrow
Slab
|
The
Overhangs
|
Exit
Cracks
|
On top
of Rimmond
|
Mongejura
|
|
|
|
|
|
Romsdalen
|
Klaus
Preisler
|
Pitch 7
|
Pitch 11
|
Pitch 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pitch 21
|
Pitch 22
|
Exit
|
Top
|
Romsdalen
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decent
|
H.
Chr. Doset
|
Romsdalen
map
|
|
|