Bergbjorn Fjellservice

Chamonix climboholic vacations

5. July 2018 by Karin Bergbjørn

Two weeks in alpine climbings mekka. Two weeks with perfect weather, and a long to-do list gave us a the max-climbing-meter/vacation ever and a skyhigh calorie-consumption. Tromsø didn’t gave us an optimal preparation but motivation was high and the day after leaving Tromsø we were heading towards Envers des Aguilles.

They really know how to make nice hiking trails in Chamonix…

Nice camping spot we thought… the day after the Refuge des Envers opened their friendly doors. This must be the refuge with the nicest hosts and best food!

Climbing Le Piege at Envers, really nice climbing close to the hut (seen in the background), and a perfect starter. The climbing are first class the whole way!

In little Yosemite, we found perfect splitters on Guy-Anne. It was steep and gave us a hint of what to come… This was really awesome climbing on Nantillons, and none of the slab nonsense found on more modern routes.

Nantillons and Auguille du Requin in the background

Checking the topo… Next day we went for Aguille de Roc and Subtilite Dulferiennes and 16 pitches of climbing… We thought the grade would be well within our abilities and that we would be able to climb fast and efficient since we now were well acclimatized. Aguille de Roc is just an amazing piece of mountain and it is so much steeper than you would think… It started off nice enough but soon switched to endless, vertical, immaculate dihedrals that really put us to the test. All belays were hanging and on your own gear, no bolts in sight, route finding and extremely exposed position made this one a true adventure.

Endless dihedrals!!

Our calves needed a break so we headed back to Chamonix and went to Italy and Torino.

Acclimatizing on Aguille d’Entreves, and on the approach we saw our next objective, Dent du Geant in the background.

Early start and alpine glow in Mont Blanc.

The slabs of the normal route is great climbing with a French touch!

Looking over Rochefort ridge and Grande Jorasses in the background

Rappelling of with Rochefort in the background. Two days at Torino and we headed back down to Chamonix the same day as we climbed Dent du Geant. We had unfinished business at Envers that we wanted to do… The next day we went back in (restday) and the other morning we started on Grepon Mer de Glace. Easy scrambling but 850 m of climbing makes a long day.

Tiny climber in a sea of granite…

Upper third of the wall steepend and gave us beautiful climbing!

Summit of Aguille de Roc to the left, closing up on the summit of Grepon.

Summit!!

Just below the summit, with some rappelling and a lot of walking left. We headed down the backside and went down to Chamonix.

Just 2000 vertical meters left before reaching burgers and cold beer!

Tore stayed for a week of guiding on Mont Blanc, and they got to the summit! Chamonix is a special place in so many ways, and we will be back very soon…

Fresh snow June 8th!

9. June 20189. June 2018 by bergbjorn

It’s June 8th, and I guess I would rather be climbing on dry rock in the sun, than skiing at this time. But when the conditions is like this, we just have to go skiing anyway!

And this was a perfect day of skiing in our backyard. Didn’t even use my car today, but started with a couple of kilometers with bicycle on a trail straight out from our front door.

The weather changed a lot during the day, with everything from snow, to sun and bluebird.

White mountains and green valley

View to Paras on the way up

“Loppeskaret”

The skiing was great with a lot of fresh snow from 5-600 mas. The couloir was about 600 vertical meters, and the snow was great all the way down.

Winter conditions on the top.

Great snow, and nice skiing

Deep snow all the way, and 600 vertical meters of great skiing

Great day in the mountains, and another reminder that we have chosen the right place to live!

Signaldalen

Otertind

Spring 2018

26. April 2018 by bergbjorn

The winter has been good, with cold snow, hard snow, soft snow and now the latest week wet snow. We have had many great guests so far this winter, and there are still some time left of the spring skiing season.

I have been working on different boats the last two weeks with ski and sail in Lyngen, Senja and Lofoten. That is a really good way to experience our beautiful coastline up in the north, and at the same time get some great skiing from summit to sea.

Karin is doing a fantastic job with our dogs, and the puppies are getting really big. For the next season they are all big enough for many great adventures, with and without guests. We also want to combine skitouring with dog-sledding next year, so we can get fast into the mountains and do longer trips, to mountains that is not so often visited.

Now we are starting to look forward to summer, climbing, and maybe a little vacation to the alps.

Winter 2018

25. February 2018 by bergbjorn

First year in Signaldalen has been adventurous, and the winter season 2018 is on! We have had guests from Australia, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden +++ and done alpine climbing, ice-climbing, skiing and dog-sledding. At the moment we would be grateful for a little bit more snow for the skiing season, but the ice-climbing conditions are really good at the moment. The light up here has been amazing so far this year, with a lot of northern lights, and now the sun is back and the days are getting longer really fast!

We have also been on several multi-day dog-sledding tours, and spent the nights in both tent and cabins in the mountains. The possibilities of combining dog-sledding and skiing or climbing are actually pretty good in this area, and i think this might be a good product for the future. Then we can get to areas and mountains who most skiers or climbers wouldn’t even think of going to because of the long approach. But with a dog sled packed with skies, equipment and good food, and some happy dogs in front pulling the sled, the area for adventures really expands. And the approach is going to be really fun too!

Now we are looking forward to the next couple of months with a lot of activities and outdoor fun!

Here are some pictures from the winter season so far:

The snow has been good, but it’s time for a refill now

Ice-climbing conditions are great in Signaldalen at the moment

The light is amazing at this time of year.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Ersfjordtraversen

11. August 201711. August 2017 by Karin Bergbjørn

Already a couple of weeks ago (time flies), two guests joined us on the adventure that is Ersfjordtraversen. The traverse climbs along the entire Ersfjord on Kvaløya, starting in the west by the sea and follows narrow ridges, pinnacles and summits along the fjord to the highest mountain on the island, Blåmann. It is one of the longest ridgeclimbs in Norway, covering 16 km and 2800 m of vertical climbing. Although Kilian Jornet did it in 4:49 most people uses 2 days to complete it.

We started in the fog at Rekvik, and didn’t see a thing until we reached the first summit Skamtind, once there we were rewarded with a fantastic view: only the highest summits were visible above the clouds, sticking up like small islands. The sea, the fjord, and the rest of the world was just one fluffy white mass.

P1070821 — Almost the whole traverse seen from Skamtind, with Storstolpan to the left and Hollenderen to the right.

Skamtind, and the mountains on the other side of Ersfjord. The famous Storsteinnes, Skittentind and Middagstind

We rappelled down Skamtind and started the narrow ridge towards Storstolpan, dooming in the background. The terrain is then quite complex and exposed and we used the rope for quite a way.

P1070841 — Coming down from the first summit… and we see the backside of Skamtind

P1070847 — The skies clear and we finally see the fjord

P1070855 — Sky, sun, fjord and mountains… We were so lucky with the weather!

P1070864 — Hollenderen in the background, and faaaar away Tromsø and Tromsdalstind!

P1070871 — The Ersfjordtraverse… it is a giant!!! up and down and up and down…

P1070877 — We spent the night at the base of Storstolpan, on the little height just in front of us.

Goodnight! Sun was shining all night, and we slept at the most beautiful hotel in the world!

P1070872 — Getting started in the morning….

P1070896 — Finally Storstolpan, Hollenderen clearly seen in the background

Getting ready to start the climbing of day 2

Belaying the second pitch on Storstolpan

P1070899 — The view from Storstolpan, Skamtind all the way back there!

P1070902 — The view of the rest of the traverse, Blåmann in the middle.

We had two fantastic days in the mountains, climbing, rappelling and scrambling, as well as a truly unique dinner+bivvy under the midnight sun. The guests pushed their limits and learned new skills, and we all had a blast. The rest of the traverse waits for a later venue, the ultimate adventure to complete!

Thank you Katrine and Lasse for these two days, it was a summer memory never to forget!

Piggtind

30. July 2017 by bergbjorn

Yesterday we finally went to visit Piggtind.

Piggtind is a beautiful and iconic mountain located in the south of Lyngen, and separates the boarders of Storfjord, Balsfjord and Tromsø kommune. It is 1505 meters above sea level and we startet the trip on about 120 meters above sea level at the east side, and parked by Fjellås.

Peter Wessel Zapffe, a well known Norwegian mountaineer has written about the mountain in his book “Barske Glæder” under the chapter “fire korstog til Piggtind”.

It is a fantastic trip in beautiful surroundings, with an iconic peak, were you need to use rope and climbing techniques to summit.

The morning fog disapears and Piggtind is visible straight ahead

Scrambling before the final climbing to the top.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Bouldering in Signaldalen

25. May 201711. August 2017 by Karin Bergbjørn

*Update*

Publishing new boulders below 🙂

***

Snow is gone and out comes the rocks….

We have found quite a few boulders that we are cleaning just a walking distance from our house. The quality is fine, and there is both easy and hard (and high) problems. We will post updates here with photos, and please come by if you want any tips!

We don’t claim any “first ascents” as we know the old boys have been scrambling around most of it, back in the days.

Skjermbilde 2017-06-22 16.43.37 — Second bridge over Signaldalselva to Fosseveien, green star marks Høgsteinen and purple Elvesteinen. Parking between the two or just up the hill.

Sitstart in the overhang on crimps, 5 or easy 6a: Linies hjørne. Very nice!

On the right sitstart on good holds, grade 5 and called it Balance. Sitstart on the left arete on good holds: Fjottetid grade 6a. These two and Linies hjørne are all very nice and lies on the second boulder by Elvesteinen

Tore climbs a very nice 6a on Elvesteina, Luft i magen, sitstart. Just left of this problem there is an easy sitstart Kristall.

Minijam, easy problem on a small boulder next to Elvesteina.

Beastmaker, 6a+ sitstart on Elvesteina, Minijam is just to the right.

Elvesteina 2, a beautiful boulder, with so far one very nice problem, Findus 6a+ sitstart on the jug under the dihedral.

Also working on Elvesteina…. Løiten wonders why we are so frustrated… In the background you can see both Findus and Beastmaker.

Jørgen climbs a nice problem up to the middle jug. Standing 6a, sit 6a+, on Høgsteinen.

Solveig tries a project on Elvesteinene, standing one move wonder…. Elvesteinen also holds a Luft i magen, 6a on the other corner…. And many other projects and fun traverses.

“Fosse hjørnet”, sitstart by the arete, on the short side of the slab

“The slab” many easy variants, on the other side of Fossehjørnet.

“Høgsteinen” main rocks close to the road. The dihedral is graded as 4 although it is quite high, the overhanging fistcrack on the left is 5. On the right of the dihedral there is a sitstart 6a+ and standing start 6a, finishing at the big jug half way up.

“Solsidan” on the backside of “Høgsteinen”. Follows the edge in the middle of the wall and tops out straight up 6a, supernice problem! NB! The loose rock on the left at the start is not part of the problem.

Arctic Haute Route with Norgesguidene

2. April 2017 by bergbjorn

Last three days I have been guiding for Norgesguidene the old Hurtigruta “Nordstjernen” and the “Arctic Haute Route”

It has a nice trip from Bodø to Tromsø, with good snow, and great people!

Here are some pictures from the last days:

fullsizeoutput_8ed — From Blåtinden in Lofoten – Svolvær

One of the mountains on the island “Rolla”

Perfect weekend in #Lyngen

9. March 20179. March 2017 by bergbjorn

Great people, a nice place to sleep and eat at, soft snow, sunshine and beautiful mountains… Normally you only need a couple of this ingredients for a good day in #Lyngen, but this weekend we had it all!

Lyngen 2017-49 — Early start, and soon up in the sun. Everything is well documented 🙂 Foto: Hans Henrik Bruusgaard

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lyngen 2017-132 — The guide and his dog almost always get first tracks… Foto: Hans Henrik Bruusgaard

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thank you for a great weekend!

Ice climbing in Signaldalen

26. February 201727. February 2017 by Karin Bergbjørn

26.3.17

Classic alpine start. Late breakfast, two extra jugs of coffee, got out of the house just after noon… Hey let’s try something new..??!

So we went on an adventure…

Up in one of the gullies we found this 40 m tall pillar, a total of 3 pitches, last one of overhanging ice. Never climbed so steep ice before…: Fun!!!

The approach involved a new way of canyoning, in wintertime… Alone worth a visit!

© Bergbjørn Fjellservice 2016