(Back to: Europe, Norway, Tromso Region, Lyngen Peninsula)

Stovelen, Northern Lights; various icefalls.

By Philippe Batoux, France (translated by Todd Miller)

April 2008: I’m eating dinner with Benoît Robert, who has just returned from a skiing and sailing trip to the Lyngen Alps. He shows me his pictures of Stovelen, a steep 850m face rising straight out of the sea and laced with thin lines. I’m immediately intrigued and must go there. There are so many first ascents to be made on that face, so the project is born. I log on to Google Earth. The region seems perfectly designed for the formation of ice climbs—cliffs topped by snow slopes. The first obstacle is the cost. For a Frenchman, Norwegian prices are exorbitant. The price of renting a boat is equivalent to about six months’ salary. But, despite the cost, eventually greatly reduced by our partners Millet and Petzl, there was no problem finding people who wanted to come along. I put together a team primarily of guides and aspirants,…. (read more)

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