Norway: Lessons from Lofoten

I’ve been away on holiday.

Not just any holiday. A full blown, M&S quality holiday to the stunning Lofoten Islands located in the Arctic Circle in Norway. (And yes, the food bills were of a similar nature to M&S…actually more like an upmarket Waitrose…anyway!)

Exploring the mountains of Norway!

Where every turn in the road provides a new 360 degree views of breathtaking mountain scapes with sparkling fjords glinting in the sunshine beneath them. The roads wind lucidly along the coastline, dropping through tunnels channelled deep through the bedrock, and then breaking out into bright sunshine to reveal yet another stunning headland.

For the adventurous, it’s a full blown paradise.

And yes I realise I am using a LOT of superlatives, but as Seb and I were reflecting on this most recent trip together, it’s hard not to be effusive with your language when it comes to this corner of the world.

We’ve delved deep into trad-climbing in the area, forging along the well-trodden (and not-so!) paths towards some of the best introductory climbs in the area, along with many swims and runs that Lofoten has to offer.

Running above Svolvær on the Lofoten High Five Route

As you may be aware, I am still at the early stages of my climbing practice.

I started climbing not long after meeting Seb, who is an avid lover of the sport, and he has (every pun intended) shown me the ropes with regard to the trad, sport and bouldering disciplines. Eighteen months down the line, I have shed not a few tears in this journey (still do), grappled with fear and worries about falling (still do), but most of all have relished the fresh challenge of trying something new, and being able to explore mountain spaces in a new way (still very much do!).

And this was my first climbing trip abroad!

Lofoten is a climbing mecca: great swathes of granite in the most weird and wonderful shapes, rising straight up from sea level, making for striking scenes for tackling some fun sporting endeavours.

So what have a learned from this trip? I’ll try and break it down based on two of the key routes we chose:

Stetinden

This was by far my favourite day - a mountain adventure that was truly epic! Stetind (voted Norway’s most iconic mountain, and you can see why) is magical. Its summit can only be reached by climbing one of the many trad routes to the top, which then means that you also have to scramble/solo/climb back down to complete your day. It’s not a huge mountain by any stretch, but as it rises directly from sea-level, you feel the full extent of its height.

The day was incredible: setting off at 6am, trekking through woodlands, scrambling over boulders, passing glacial lakes with great flotillas of ice drifting lazily about, and crossing snow belts…just to reach the start of our twelve-pitch climb (yep, TWELVE pitches!)

On the way up to the start of Stetinden (peak on the left!)

The climbing itself ramped up slowly to reach a peak in difficulty just below the summit. From laybacks to chimneys, cracks and delicate balancy slabs, this route was phenomenal, with full sunshine all day, we cooked on Sydpillaren (or South Pillar), eventually reaching the summit at about 630pm.

My lack of experience in big mountain adventures of this nature meant that my brain sadly decided to switch off temporarily at this point, despite having the whole descent ahead of us…not great when you have to down-climb/scramble for another 2 hours before reaching our stashed bags…and eventually returning to the van at 11pm.

I had many moments of frustration, inklings of summit fever (where you are mentally and physically sick and tired of being on mountainous terrain). I also had moments where my brain just couldn’t manage depth perception, when we still had a fair amount of scrambling and traversing to do.

Celebrating the summit…before the loooong slow descent began!

It was a real challenge to re-engage, to make myself stay in the right headspace so that we could make it down safely. I was grateful to lean into Seb’s alpine experience here - he helped me maintain mental focus, tracking a few paces ahead of me so that we could successfully downclimb.

This day on Stetind really showed me that there is so much space for me to grow in the mountain space. In pushing my boundaries, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, and settling into a very different grind that I am used to.

But I will never forget the sweetness of drinking glacial meltwater on our way down, the refreshing swim in the freezing river, the light still golden in the sky.

What an EPIC! I am so hungry for more!

The skier (birthday climbing!)

So, I wasn’t up for this climb at all when Seb made the suggestion. It was my birthday, we’d spent most of the day not doing sporty activities (what?!) but exploring the uber cool town of Henningsvær with it’s hipster cafes and art galleries. Enjoying a birthday beer.

Birthday culture

The plan was then to go and climb a route called Gandalf (I know, great name) in the evening to round off the day…however Gandalf was swarmed by other climbers, owing to the great weather and it’s high season popularity.

So The Skier was proferred as an alternative. A completely different style of route, a style moreover, that I usually end up having some kind of mini-breakdown on because I can’t manage the moves, or I freak out. Usually a combination of both.

But Seb has recently been working on his rope rescue skills, and assured me that if there was a problem, there was no stress, I could simply be lowered to the ground, or he could winch me up passed the tricky sections.

So off we went. Wending our way up the mountainside to a steep and striking crack in the rock face.

I was nervous. It was pretty intimidating in my eyes. I know that I’d tackled some challenging climbing on Stetind, this stylistically wasn’t my favourite.

Seb had already glided his way up the route and was waxing lyrical above me about how great it was whilst I was nervously putting on my shoes, hands sweating despite the liquid chalk.

The first pulls on were a challenge, and they set the tone for the rest of the route.

But then something switched in my mind.

And although I felt like it was a struggle-fest for the whole route, I felt calm and could make clearer decisions on every move, and each body position made felt powerful and strong. After 30m of grunting effort, I topped out, and felt like I’d unlocked something.

You see, I’d done a route about a year ago that had a similar vibe, and I had a shocker. And yes, I have another year of climbing under my belt. But, the mental progress had not felt clearer than in these moments of tackling this climb.

It wasn’t the physical side of things that I was proud of, but the increased mental capacity to handle what would have previously been a very stressful situation.

I feel like my love-hate relationship with climbing will continue to flux as I keep working on this skillset. Climbing is hard. But the mental gains made are so worth it.

I’m excited for the next trip already.