Western Norway is where mountaineering in Norway started 150 years ago, and where the climbing scene is still pushing the limits.
Lihesten in Sunnfjord is one of many spectacular mountains in the region. There is a lot of potential for new routes.
Photo: Anders Waage Nilsen
The Troll Wall, Åndalsnes.
There are several beautiful areas well suited for
sportsclimbing, wall climbs, bouldering and alpine climbing in the Fjord Norway region. Some of the
most developed areas are listed below. Please note that Norway has its
own grading system – from grade 1-10, partly similar to the UIAA system. Many of the climbing areas have guidebooks in Norwegian only. They may be hard to order from abroad, but are usually sold in sports stores in the nearest town. The swiss online bookstore Piz Buch und Berg sells guidebooks to the region and ships worldwide. We will add english guides and online guides as they are available in english into this article. You may also want to check out Visitnorway.com climbing guide.
Innerdalen
Mountaineering, ski
mountaineering and lots of routes graded at 3 – 6 with 5 - 14 pitches
on walls up to 400 m. height. Most popular for climbing are
”Innerdalstårnet” and ”Skarsfjell” with numerous routes. Typical
approaches of two and a half hours. Practice crags close to
"Innerdalshytta". Check out Rock & Ice online guide to Innerdalen.
Molde & Romsdalen
Three walls at
Julsundet, near Molde. Nearby Åndalsnes, easily accessible with train
from Oslo Airport you find a wide range of mountaineering, ski
mountaineering, bouldering and ice climbing possibilities. Norway's
probably most famous big wall is located here; theTroll Wall, 1000 m
high. There are, however numerous other climbs in Romsdalen. Easy
classical routes, one of the most popular being the north wall on Romsdalshorn. Many 5-7 pitch trad routes
on Hornaksla. On this site they have made some information available in english.
Sunnmøre
Alpine area with lots of peaks. Up to 400
meter high walls in beautiful Molladalen with routes at grades 4-6,
including the famous ”bladet” – the knife blade. A good place for easy
scrambling, combined with beautiful walks in the fjord area. On this site you will find topos, norwegian text only..
Hurrungane (Western Jotunheimen)
This
is Norway's classical climbing area, opened by C.W. Slingsby
(British) in the late 1800's. The mountains are alpine in character,
with numerous glaciers and narrow ridges. Rock quality is generally
good. Ridge routes of varying difficulty and length (including snow
& ice). Walls up to 750m, with long free routes (grade VI-VII). Some
mixed routes (grade V-VI). In addition numerous shorter routes of
varying difficulty (grade II-VII). Most approaches require glacier
crossing. In addition to offering excellent summer mountaineering, the
area holds great potential for winter climbing and ski mountaineering. Guides and lodging at Turtagrø Hotel.
Bergen/Hardanger
Sportsclimbers
heaven. Lot of climbing routes at Øygaarden, Laksevåg and Sotra of all
grades. Sotra has both short traditional routes, and countless
sportclimbing crags at all levelse. In Hardanger, nearby Rosendal,
there is a 600 m high wall at Vetletind in Uskedalen in pure granite. The Climbing Club of Bergen (link in norwegian) have published several guidebooks with good topos.
Stavanger
Lots
of local crags. Big walls 500-1000 m high a few hours drive from
Stavanger; Tau Hunnedalen, Dirdal, Skeisfjell, Espedalen. Kjerag is
known as the worlds best basejumping spot, and is probably one of the best walls for long
wall routes, with solid granite. There are some english information on the local climbing club webpage.