Foreign Rock & Ice

Want to improve your ice climbing without the long walk-ins? Norway has short and long road-side ice climbs ideal to improve your ability and confidence. Come along and see just what you can do in a friendlier environment. We will focus on your ice climbing technique, placing ice protection and creating sound belays while ice climbing. There will be the chance to do some leading if desired. Climbing steep ice in the III to VI grades there is plenty of scope for differing abilities. Why Norway?

• Huge volume of ice lines of all standards and at altitudes from sea level up to 1000m 
• Routes from single pitch up to 800m in length, many of which are still unclimbed. 
• Simple access with many routes less than an half an hour’s walk from the nearest road. 
• Fantastic snow and ice gully climbing and exploration on cliffs up to 1400 metres in altitude 
• Varied venues with majestic scenery; we can climb in a different valley each day 

You won’t have to queue for routes and the ice will be in pristine condition Norway caters for all…. Rjukan– Easy approaches, lots of mid grade ice, ideal for starting on ice and intermediate icefall climbers. A great place to maximise your climbing and time spent on the ice. Aurland – Big adventurous routes, just heaps of unclimbed ice. This year we are going to base ourselves in Aurland rather than Laerdal. This gives us access to Laerdal / Aurland areas with dozens of vertical ice adventure days to be had. Hardly anyone else climbs here except one or two people in the know! To get the most out of these weeks you should be able to climb Scottish IV comfortably. The best and most reliable time to visit is mid-January to mid-March. At this time, there are more daylight hours and ice will be in abundance. There is an annual ice climbing festival in Rjukan in February. This is a great time to go! By mid-February good thick ice will have built up on the major drainage lines above 300m altitude and the days have opened out to offer 8 hours of climbing. A deep freeze-up can take temperatures down to -20 with good ice forming down to sea level. Warmer westerly winds can make the ice softer and easier to climb with sea level temperatures a few degrees above zero and snow falling above 2-300m altitude. Aurland is sufficiently inland that heavy prolonged rain and snowfall is uncommon. Major thaws do not usually occur until early March and even then there will be good ice to climb at higher levels.

Fed up of the UK weather? Enjoy warm rock and clear blue skies in Spain, France, Italy, etc… take your pick. We have been out many times and know the best places to go. Learn to climb or improve your skills. Maybe a Via Ferrata ascent could be used to break up your stay. Give us a call – you will be surprised how little it will cost. We will arrange your accommodation, car hire and provide top quality instructors for your trip. What about Spain? With perfect climbing conditions from autumn through to spring, Spain has has become Europe’s premier winter sun rock venue. The area around Costa Blanca typifies the superb rock climbing on perfect limestone rock. There is everything from bolted routes a few minutes walk from the car, to multi pitch trad & bolted routes on the coast or in the mountains behind Benidorm. El Chorro in the Southern area of Andalucia offers fantastic multi-pitch gorge rock climbing. Also within Andalucia there are other great rock climbing areas around Malaga and Granada. The area around Barcelona offers many varied rock climbing venues, such as Sierra de Prades (in Costa Daurada), Les Bruixes & Berga to the north of the city in the foothills of The Pyrenees, and the excellent rock climbing at Montserrat on the towers of conglomerate mountain rock overlooking the ancient monastery. The premier bouldering venue in Spain is Albarracin, with its huge ancient sandstone blocks situated within a forest. There are a variety of problems to climb from quality slabs, amazing arêtes, overhanging walls on crimps and cracks, to huge roofs. Summer in the Alps? Mountaineering and climbing in the Alps opens up a wonderful world. Whether you have experience at home or not there are challenges for you at all levels. Allow me to introduce you to lofty peaks, long winding alpine ridges and sun baked granite.

If your planning a big walling trip for the first time or wanting to fine tune your skills, this 2 day course will give you the efficient techniques and get you in gear for your next adventure. We will head out and spend 2 days on a crag and the night sleeping and living on the ledges.

• Basic clean aid techniques
• Jumaring systems
• Hauling
• Pendulums
• Sleeping out - Partaledge skills
• Living on the ledge

Price includes the use of ledges, haul bags, aid gear, ropes & technical equipment.

Week days only. 

Some work we did for EE

Maybe your not planning a trip to a big wall but just fancy hanging out in a ledge for a night. ??