First days in Flatanger

Believe what you hear, but double your "could-it-really-be-that-big" expectations. It's bigger. And having said that, whatever you now have envisioned, it is bigger still. You just can't understand the size until seeing it. The routes are long, the extensions are longer, the extensions to the extensions are longer even, and these still don't go half way up the hanshelleren wall/cave!

Seb under the finish of Move

Despite the intimidation I felt, I was beyond eager to climb. Walking into the cave elicited a feeling I imagine is similar to what Jay felt his first time walking into a Sheetz. I was lucky to meet and partner with Seb who is here for a few weeks trying his project, Move 9b/+. I have a guidebook, but don't even bring it because Seb is a live guidebook with move-by-move beta!

On our first day of climbing, we warmed up in the barn, which has a nice bouldering wall and other exercises. After 30 mintutes we made our way to the cave, and Seb warmed up on a classic 7c called Eventyrblanding (Fairytale Mixture). I followed suit, feeling a bit of pressure to perform. I didn't realize seb had skipped several bolts, so found myself doing the same (having not brought draws). Though it was a bit too much for a warm up, I was happy to flash this as my first route in Flatanger. There is an 8a extension that looks worthy as well!

Warm up/training wall in the barn

Seb went for a brush n' beta run on Move, and then I tried a short bouldery 8a called Flaggermusmannen  (Batman). Still a bit flash pumped, I fell at the crux. This route has an amazing crimpy intro with a tricky kneescum, which leads into - I swear - a double clutch dyno! One of the most badass moves on rock I have done! From here you get a full rest, do a lil v3/4 and then finish on a classic 7a. Luckily I was able to do this second try. I believe there is also a seldom tried 8c extension.

Next up Seb recommended I try Nordic Flower. I suspect the real reason was so that he would have draws hung on the first section of Move (which splits after doing the 8b section of Nordic Flower), but I was psyched so up I went! The first 5 bolts are incredible and bouldery. Most of the climbing in flatanger seems to be on big hands and bad feet, whereas these 5 bolts are small hands and bad feet! Nonetheless I unlocked these sequences fairly quickly, arriving to a kneebar from which Seb said the route is juggy 7c+. I had quite the shock for the next part, as I wasted so much energy on big underclings with very bad smears. The progress nearly halted and I grabbed every draw I could just to clip.... The features are so strange. It feels like my technique is stuck in 2 dimensions when it needs to be climbing in 3. I lowered off before reaching the intermediate anchor, but am definitely going to keep trying!

Such was day one!

Day two was at least as good! I had to do some work in the morning, which meant 3 hours of quite physical weed-eating. Around one or two, I walked up to the cave and warmed up with a nice crew of Norwegians that were staying in the house with me. I onsighted the classic 7a+ Tungt Møblert (they roughly translated to "Heavily Furnished"), climbing much less smoothly than I'd like. After this, I tried a short, bouldery 7c+ called Andre Hoyre (Second Right). I'd seen a video of this one, so I had some idea of what to expect.

It breaks down as 3 boulder problems separated by good rests. I made a very tough and scary second clip. Someone later told me "it's 7c+ if you don't stick clip the second, 7c if you do". I was glad to have gone ground up in this case, because I continued to flash the route! Seb was super encouraging and another french climber, François, was belaying me! A great vibe indeed.

At this point I was torn with what to try. There are so many good options that I think my biggest crux here is choosing which route to try! I was split between an 8a+ called Massih Attack, and a 7c+ called Paltergeist. I decided I should wait before sinking my teeth into something too hard, so I tried the 7c+, which is a very long (30+ meter) route. François had been trying it and hung draws, so he was able to give me beta when I panicked and asked for it. It was a funny combination of beta coming in different languages from below!

Paradise! Every route but nordic flower climbs on the sunny left side of the wall

After spending an eternity on the wall, I was lucky enough to flash this one as well! It was certainly tougher than Andre Hoyre to me, but I loved it!

I wrapped the day up getting a blistering pump onsighting Waliserne Kommer (The Welsh are Coming). I'm very eager to try the extension to this one, a bouldery few bolts that boost the grade to 8b (Waliserne Kommer og Kommer "The Welsh are Coming and Coming").