Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Volda
Folkestadvatnet via Storelva, Dec 4 2010
The round trip route
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My friend Åsmund invited Anne and me to join him and Olaug for a river climb up Storelva and subsequent skating on Folkestadvatnet. I accepted gladly. Trying to fight an inflammation, I hadn't done any form of outdoors activities in 9 days, and I was in the process of going nuts. Moreover, I had a pair of Black Diamond Cobra axes that I still hadn't used. I bought these from a friend who was quite attached to them. And I wouldn't be surprised if they had names, like Hugin and Munin, or something up that alley. I never asked, so I can't say for sure. But in any case, he had been asking on a regular basis if the axes had come to use, so here was my opportunity...
The skating part was a small hurdle. I didn't own a pair, and I hadn't been skating since I was a small kid. The noun part of the hurdle was fixed on Friday afternoon, when I bought a pair of skates in Ålesund. They didn't look like anything I've ever seen before, but I was assured that I had bought the latest and greatest. The verb part of the hurdle would just have to be dealt with once we reached the lake.
10:38am on Saturday, the four of us headed out from Folkestad. I had already called my colleague Tim (who lives at Folkestad) and given him a heads-up about the project. Tim said he would join us a bit higher up the river. I had no idea what this river looked like, but nevertheless, I looked very much forward to it. I don't have much experience on ice, but unless the waterfalls were 10-15 meters high, I figured I would be ok. Åsmund and Anne had previously climbed icy rivers. The rest of us were rookies.
Tim joined us a bit higher up. He didn't have any equipment, so Åsmund gave him an axe. Actually, Tim had a pair of something under his boots that was supposed to give him a grip, but it didn't seem to help much. And then, one of them got lost. But at least we were all accounted for, and the project was on!
The team
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Our first challenge was not to get soaking wet. The ice kept breaking up under our feet, but we were for the most part rescued by a second layer of ice. Not many minutes had passed, before I was standing in the river with water way above my (plastic) boots. Great! Just great! We would be outdoors for at least 2-3 hours, so there was a good chance that I would get frickin' cold. I would just have to rely on the value of inner boots. I also overheard Tim's thesis of the value of being second...
Not many minutes passed before Åsmund became a member of the "Grrrr - I'm wet up to my ..." club;
Åsmund - my partner in crime...
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As the river got steeper, and without crampons, Tim was facing consecutive challenges. We developed a good technique where he pulled himself up half-way, then grabbed my axe while I dragged him up to a leveled spot. If nothing else, this was a great maintaining-a-low-centre-of-gravity exercise...
The gradual rise of the terrain allowed us to steadily acclimate to climbing with crampons and axes. After a little while, the first notable climbing section presented itself. The ice was a bit crisp, and the first layer was often deceiving. Besides this, the climb went without any sort of problem. We were ready for bigger tasks. Bring them on!
Tim had to go around the steepest sections and joined us a bit higher up river. Then he called it a day and returned to Folkestad. Thanks for joining us, Tim. We enjoyed your company!
The first notable section
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The landscape kept changing, and we were really enjoying the trip. It was one of those trips that shouldn't come to an end. There were ponds, cliffs, small waterfalls, corridors, icicles and other fascinating details. I made a mental note about putting river ice climbing on my (virtual) to-do-more-often list. Not that I'm a stranger to scrambling/climbing rivers (the river route to Blåtind was indeed memorable), but I've never done it in winter.
Olaug, enjoying the scenery
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Next up was the steepest section of them all. I estimated the height to be approx. 8 meters from top to bottom. A fall (or slide) would have been really bad, and I suddenly started to wonder why we didn't wear helmets. But the climb went well, and we allowed ourselves to feel a little bit proud on top...
Anne, in the steepest section
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The hike up to the lake went fairly well, but Anne also joined the "Grrrr - I'm wet up to my ..." club. I stomped into the river 4 times before we reached the lake - after walking and climbing the river for almost 3 hours. It was skating time!
I put on my brand new skates, and after a few Bambi-on-ice seconds, I gained balance and had an enjoyable run across Folkestadvatnet. After 3,6km, my legs were tired, and I called it a day. But it was good fun while it lasted! We descended the forest road, thanked Olaug and Åsmund for an enjoyable trip and reached the ferry to Volda with a one minute margin. Perfect! The river climb got celebrated with a nice dinner at the Kaffikari restaurant in Ulsteinvik. There should be more days like this one...
Fun on Folkestadvatnet
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