Iceland AWS
Iceland
Skardatindar, new route. In February Jean-B aptist D eraeck, Sebastien Ibanez, Séb astien Ratel, a n d I clim bed w hat we th in k is a new ro u te on S k a rd atin d ar ( 1,385m ). We did n o t have any in fo rm atio n on this m o u n ta in . We expected to find a ro u te, b u t c o u ld n ’t know in advance because it’s a half-day walk to the foot o f th e wall. We did n o t need to clim b to u n d erstan d that the rock is ro tte n — to see it is enough! O n the o th e r h an d , we saw th a t a beau tifu l line o f ice and mixed clim bing seem ed doable. We had a bad night bivouacking in the m oraines above the glacier due to the w ind. T he follow ing day we clim bed up the co rrid o r 40– 50°, then a sheet o f 60°. We then found ourselves at the foot o f a mixed passage o f M 4+, and finally, despite the bad rock and som e stiff slopes, we clim bed an arete in the face. Eventually the slopes o f the center o f the face led us to o u r line in the gulley itself. Ice and steep snow took us to the foot o f the last M5 pitch. It was the hardest and certainly the m ost exposed p art o f the climb, and we were b a t tered by a fu rio u s w ind th a t knocked us o ff balance. Easy slopes th en to o k us to th e top. We descended along the edge (on the right w hen looking at th e w all), then a little dow nclim bing and a rappel took us to the huge glacier below. Because o f the high w ind we hiked to the road, b u t the next day we regretted this because we could have clim bed the beautiful waterfalls on the right side o f the face. We called o u r ro u te Jö k ullélé (500m , T D + , M 5, W I4). Jö kull m eans glacier in Icelandic. T he few days that rem ained did give us a little ice an d som e rock, b u t we co u ld n ’t clim b the beautiful ice lines because o f a rapid rise in tem p eratu re. This is a bit o f a problem in Ice land: w hen it is cold, the days are very short, and w hen the days are longer, it can be too h o t for the ice! But th at is the chance you take w hen you try an alpine holiday in this low land country. D u ring this trip C h risto p h e M oulin clim bed w ith Julie G erber, Aurelie Leveque, Cecile C hauvin, and Laure G audin to open a ro u te on the left side o f the Porcelain Wall. A nd Patrick
Pessi clim bed w ith Basile F erran, M ath ieu M aynadier, M athieu D etrie, F rançois Delas, and Benoit M onfort on the rig h t side o f th e Porcelain Wall, c o m b in in g D oug S cott’s ro u te w ith a m ore recent route opened by Icelanders. S t Ep h a n h B
e n o is t ,
FFCAM , France
Skardatindar, new route. In February Jean-B aptist D eraeck, Sebastien Ibanez, Séb astien Ratel, a n d I clim bed w hat we th in k is a new ro u te on S k a rd atin d ar ( 1,385m ). We did n o t have any in fo rm atio n on this m o u n ta in . We expected to find a ro u te, b u t c o u ld n ’t know in advance because it’s a half-day walk to the foot o f th e wall. We did n o t need to clim b to u n d erstan d that the rock is ro tte n — to see it is enough! O n the o th e r h an d , we saw th a t a beau tifu l line o f ice and mixed clim bing seem ed doable. We had a bad night bivouacking in the m oraines above the glacier due to the w ind. T he follow ing day we clim bed up the co rrid o r 40– 50°, then a sheet o f 60°. We then found ourselves at the foot o f a mixed passage o f M 4+, and finally, despite the bad rock and som e stiff slopes, we clim bed an arete in the face. Eventually the slopes o f the center o f the face led us to o u r line in the gulley itself. Ice and steep snow took us to the foot o f the last M5 pitch. It was the hardest and certainly the m ost exposed p art o f the climb, and we were b a t tered by a fu rio u s w ind th a t knocked us o ff balance. Easy slopes th en to o k us to th e top. We descended along the edge (on the right w hen looking at th e w all), then a little dow nclim bing and a rappel took us to the huge glacier below. Because o f the high w ind we hiked to the road, b u t the next day we regretted this because we could have clim bed the beautiful waterfalls on the right side o f the face. We called o u r ro u te Jö k ullélé (500m , T D + , M 5, W I4). Jö kull m eans glacier in Icelandic. T he few days that rem ained did give us a little ice an d som e rock, b u t we co u ld n ’t clim b the beautiful ice lines because o f a rapid rise in tem p eratu re. This is a bit o f a problem in Ice land: w hen it is cold, the days are very short, and w hen the days are longer, it can be too h o t for the ice! But th at is the chance you take w hen you try an alpine holiday in this low land country. D u ring this trip C h risto p h e M oulin clim bed w ith Julie G erber, Aurelie Leveque, Cecile C hauvin, and Laure G audin to open a ro u te on the left side o f the Porcelain Wall. A nd Patrick
Pessi clim bed w ith Basile F erran, M ath ieu M aynadier, M athieu D etrie, F rançois Delas, and Benoit M onfort on the rig h t side o f th e Porcelain Wall, c o m b in in g D oug S cott’s ro u te w ith a m ore recent route opened by Icelanders. S t Ep h a n h B
e n o is t ,
FFCAM , France
