Just back from a very memorable 2 weeks with Jim and David winter climbing on Senja island in Arctic Norway. Senja is just south of Tromso and a little way north of the Lofoten islands, and is a truly spectacular land of deep fjords and jagged mountains rising from the shoreline – mostly of modest scottish altitude, but with an impressive scale and its fair share of very gnarly weather! We stayed with local guide Bent as we did last year – Bent is the man behind Senja Lodge and Mountainguides, and big thanks again for making us so welcome and sharing your knowledge of the island (although you didn’t tell us everything I guess??). Its tricky to get info for this area but after chatting to Bent and one or two of his climbing friends we were persuaded that most of the routes we did were first ascents… but who knows! What was for sure was the quality and variety on offer – pure cascade ice, Ben style icy slabs, deep crack and chimney lines, turfy grooves – just brilliant climbing. Bent will be producing a guide to the ski touring, mountaineering and technical climbing around the island so route details will go to him, but here are some pics of the routes I climbed during week one with Jim.
