First Ascents

Hurtnerfossen is this mythical climb of Norway you always hear about from ice climbing in Norway. Like on a day today I'm nervous. Everybody of us is nervous I think. We climbed it in 1982. This was the first ascent in one day. The funny thing is all this happened like 30 years ago and you can still talk and you understand each other. In a way it was so much energy he was transferring with his spirit. I think it was better than every food you can get. Hi Matthias, nice to meet you. And what's your name? Tanja, my name is Tanja. From Germany, but we live in Germany. We are twins. Also Germany, Matthias. I shall tell a bit about the ice climbing history in Norway. We saw Thomas already in the guide books and you see pictures when you do a little bit of research and things. But it's totally different if you meet him in person. I've worked with Norwegian sport since 1972. I started to design the first tent, the Norwegian Ravneskar tent. Then rucksacks, then clothing. You've seen that before? Yes. The first ascent was made in 1979 and they used two days. This is from the ascent I and Finn Daly. We climbed it in 1982. This was the first ascent in one day. Usually when I climb with a better climber, I put him or her on the lead. You can see the rope hanging here. It's quite steep. It's overhanging. These ice screws Finn put in, you just go... I was very happy he led it. Not me. About this Gore-Tex story. This is something I'm really interested in. Did Henry Barber actually have a prototype of Gore-Tex on the Wetterspossen? Both Rob and Henry had prototypes of Gore-Tex clothing. I tried it and I was of course climbing and it was dry. Under the rucksack piece here, it was wet. I said, wow, this thing works. I mentioned it to Norena, Jørgen's father, Ole Jørgen. He bought stuff from Gore-Tex and we made a prototype. What we know is the first Gore-Tex clothing in Europe. Then we made the Trollvægen design. Already in 1979. That means that the jacket we have now is kind of the succession of this 1979 jacket. The idea was to have bibs, so you don't have an opening here for clothing. And then you have a climbing jacket with a pocket up here so it wouldn't interfere with the seat harness. That was the idea. If I know stories like this behind a product, I feel very different when I climb with a product. Guys, I got the screws, you got the quickdraws, ropes, everything? Yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, ready to go back again for Hyttnerfossen. A little bit earlier. Let's see how it is, especially with the wind today. Super good today here. The plan is to climb here on the right side up. It's nice and cold. Yeah. If you don't see any traces, then you have to evaluate. Is the ice good enough? Where is the way? So if there would be one track there, everything would have changed. I could follow the tracks. You're not unsure that you get lost in this waterfall. Because every year it's fully new formed and you don't know what to expect. It's difficult to know where you should go, left, right. There are so many options. This is this big fascination about climbing on something that is very alive. One last pitch. So far, the first two pitches were very technical. So let's see, I guess this will be technical too. Every year it's fully new formed and you don't know what to expect. It is a different feeling, I would say, when you go somewhere and you know nobody climbed here ever before. But then at the end it doesn't matter. Because it comes back every winter. And when you are the first person that is venturing out on this line, you have the same kind of feeling like those that went there before. This feeling of being there and choose your own route, this is very important for me.