Climbing Extreme

We spent the first weekend of January in Stora Sjöfallet. Along my self I had Juho Särkilä and Tuomas Lahti. During the four days we climbed two and used the other two days for ski touring nearby mountains. Though there’s a very good and well located inn there, we decided to go camping instead.

Picture above: Greven and Grevinnan.

First of all I have to say that Stora Sjöfallet is a good place for both ice climbing as well as ski touring. For ice climbing there are several fairly easily accessible ice falls, up to 300-350 meters high and difficulties to fit all the tastes. In addition to these frequently visited falls there are several others less frequently climbed ones, as well as certain sweet spots with very high concentrations of high quality ice. In regards one of these sweet spots a fellow climber, Tapio Alhonsuo, has even claimed that the “barrel valley” is perhaps the best place he has climbed. As Tapio was kind enough to share the location details we went there as well. Furthermore a mountain that has the highest height difference in Sweden, Akka, is also located there. In addition to Akka there are several other great mountains for ski touring.

During the first day we climbed on Grevinnan, which is about 250m high grade WI IV fall. In the beginning, it was pretty easy, with a few snow sections in between. The actual steep part starts fairly high, almost at the end of the fall. The second day was dedicated for ski touring and naturally we went to wrong side of the mountain. While within treeline there was decent amount of snow (+trees and stones) the wind had blown away every bit of snow above it. Newer the less, it was good to be on skis.

Picture above: The barrel valley, lots to climb.

The third day was dedicated to “barrel valley” mentioned above. As Tapio told, it’s magnificent place. The hike took about an hour, perhaps hour and half on skis. In the valley there are 6-7 ice falls within radius of 500 meters or so. On the left side they’re mostly low 1-1.5 pitches, whereas on right side high, perhaps up to 250 meters. While it might be a bit difficult to cross the valley through bottom, it can be done using the snow around the valley perimeter. The amount of snow in the valley is also one of its dangers. It really looks like worst kind of terrain trap and an avalanche magnet. So check the snow conditions before approaching and take avalanche gear with you.

Picture above: A view from the sun valley ski touring trip.

Our final day was again dedicated for ski touring. We did a trip through famous “Sun Valley”, which truly is one. It wasn’t just the fact that this was our only sunny day, but also the direction and location of the valley. It opens to south and is a bit higher up and while mid winter sun isn’t very frequent guest that high up north, we actually had several hours of sun set type of sun shine. In short the location was spot on, furthermore the snow was great as was the skiing. Sun Valley route is easily accessible from the road and one can also ski almost all the way down back to road too. Recommended.

Location details:

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Few images from the trip below:

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