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:

View www.climbingextreme.com in a larger map

Few images from the trip below:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12345►

Picture above: Shot from the last year’s trip, we’re on our way to south peak.

Last year we climbed the south peak, now we’re planning for the north peak. Furthermore I think that I’ve spotted a nice and possibly unclimbed multi-pitch ice climbing route from the nearby mountain as well. I’m heading to Kebnekaise a bit earlier than the others, so I’ll have plenty of time to scout the area. Like last year, the good folks at Tribevine.com are also involved (see event invitation at facebook. In short it seems that I’m going to post plenty of ski touring and ice climbing images from the trip soon. Meanwhile you might want to check the report from the 2010 trip.

Location details:

View www.climbingextreme.com in a larger map

Location details:

View www.climbingextreme.com in a larger map

Few images from the Nuuksio (February 2011):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

It seems that this year our ice climbing tower project is finally in a good shape. I took my first few lines a few days ago. The accumulation of ice has been good. It seems that we might even, atleast in principle, get the tower to the shape required by national championships, at least from the ice perspective. As you can see from the images below, it has icicles, it has over hangs and lots of difficult ice. So, it’s a good practice. While it seems good, the project has suffered from several difficulties also this year. The pipes have frozen several times, we have lost the recharger couple of times and the tower has been about to freeze inside (i.e. no way to up, except by leading).

Update 20.1.2011: Added another gallery of images showing the tower at night. We’re climbing there with a few of my friends. And for those of you, who’re interested, the specifications:

Structure: Old construction crane
Height: ~24m (the tower) + ~8m (quarry) = ~32m

Few images from our tower (January 2011):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Few images from our tower at night (January 2011):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12►

Picture above: The Brown River fall by Mikko Risku.

Location details:

View www.climbingextreme.com in a larger map

Few images from the Korouoma (November 2009):

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12345►

Picture above: Yes it’s a windmill up there.

The tower itself is an old construction crane hull that we have upholstered with a cloth to prevent the water (and ice) entering inside the hull. As there’s no electricity nearby we have put together massive battery capacity (48 pieces of 110kg lead acid batteries) which are charged by a windmill. During the winter we pump the water from the nearby quarry to the top of the tower through sprinklers. It takes about two to three weeks of cold weather to freeze up into climbing condition. There’s about 30 meters of steep and pretty challenging ice. In fact Oulu, which probably is the flattest place in Finland, is the only place in the whole country where there’s enough challenging ice to hold national ice climbing championships. There’s been a couple of year’s gap between the championships (due some electricity problems, including a burned generator etc.) but now it seems likely that we’re able to arrange the championships during next season.

Few images of our tower:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12►

Picture above: Henrikafossen, it’s steep and it’s long.

We climbed in three different spots in the valley. First one was the famous Henrikafossen. Henrikafossen is probably the largest, both in terms of height and amount of ice. The difficulty seemed to be between WI4 and WI5. Route was roughly 5-6 pitches long, though due to weather and time constraints we didn’t go all the way up. We climbed roughly four pitches and according to friend of mine, who were climbing there next day and saw our abalakovs, we were one pitch away from the top. He also said that there was less ice than usual this year. First pitch at the Henrikafossen was pretty steep. After the first pitch there’s fairly short snow section and some easier ice, which gradually gets steeper and more difficult. When we climbed there it was formed of packs of small icicles. After this first snow section the profile of the fall stays pretty steep at least to the point we climbed to.

The good thing with Henrika is the fact that it offers plenty of choices. In case you’d like to climb something a bit difficult and steeper just choose the line accordingly. The falls both sides of Henrika offer even wider selection; On the right there’s a one which seems, and is said, to be pretty steep and difficult mixed climbing, on the left there’s a one that’s slightly shorter and perhaps easier but with similar profile than Henrika.

Picture above: It’s snowing and it’s getting dark, there’s still one pitch to go.

Next day we chose an easy route right across the valley. As we were able to climb the entire fall without belay it proved to be almost too easy. Well, I insisted on having a belay on one section first, but going down I got the ropes stuck and as a result I climbed the section without belay as well. It really wasn’t a big deal. I think that snow conditions might have affected to it somewhat, there might be conditions when there’s more visible ice and in it might get steeper depending on the conditions.

We spent the third day on a cluster of two pitch falls with easy approach on the north side of the valley. There were at least three to four different routes, from which we climbed two. Each of them was two pitches. All of the climbs were fairly straight forward, though the rain (water) affected to the climbing attitude a bit. It also turned the snow into a lot heavier stuff; slush. Jari actually got hit by a small slide of slush. Fortunately it wasn’t serious and did no real harm; it merely boosted the excitement. Anyways, after the day we were wet like sunken rats. It was a good time to head up to Branvoll, have some pizza and head home.

Location details:

View www.climbingextreme.com in a larger map

Few images from Spansdalen climbing trip:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

The most obvious of these falls is the 1) Brown River (WI4/WI5), which is visible from the camping place at the bottom of Korouoma. Brown River is the highest of the falls, having up to 50 meters of ice suitable for climbing. Going up (left) from the camping place, one encounters 2) Mammoth (WI3), 3) Charlie (WI3/WI4), 4) Way of the Wind (WI3+/WI4) and Northern Lights (WI3+). Going down (right) from the camping place, there’s 5) Monk cave (WI5+/WI6), which is pretty close, and then 6) Angel Fall (WI3) and 7) Wolf’s teeth (haven’t seen it), which both are much further down the Korouoma (about an hour of walk in winter conditions). Except for Monk Cave all of these falls are on the south side of the Koro River (i.e. opposite to side of the parking lot). In addition to these there are several such falls, that aren’t there every year and might not have names (at least I don’t know the names).

Picture above: Brown River, Korouoma, Finland

Out of these Brown River, Mammoth and Charlie are by far the most popular ones. There’s almost always a good trail leaving from camping place towards those. Well, to the Charlie the trail used to be less established couple of years ago, but it seems that Charlie has gained popularity quite a bit and in my opinion for a good reason. I too like Charlie, both because of its sights as well as varied climbing opportunities it offers. In case you would like to do it with the top rope, there’s a side trail going up to each of these. Whereas at Brown River and Charlie it might be somewhat difficult to spot the right trail, it’s easy at Mammoth, just climb up left side of the fall. At Brown River and Charlie the side trail leaves from the right side of the fall.

Generally speaking approach is fairly easy, it’s canyon after all. After a walk to the bottom of the canyon, you just need to continue the trail following the river till you’ll get under your favorite fall. Typically there’s a short steep descent to each fall from the trail. On the other hand getting up from the canyon after hard climbing day requires much more sweat.

Getting there

If you’re arriving outside Finland by plane, the two closest air fields are in Rovaniemi and Kuusamo (about 100km from Korouoma); another alternative is Oulu (about 250km from Korouoma). If you’re coming from southern Finland you have an option either drive the whole distance, or get yourself (and in case you wish, your car) to the train to Rovaniemi or Oulu.

Once nearby the only really viable option is car. In case you didn’t bring your own, there are several rental agencies, including all the large global names, available in Rovaniemi, Kuusamo and Oulu. There are some busses coming to Posio, which is about 30 kilometers away from Korouoma, as well. Some of the busses might even be driving the road from Rovaniemi to Posio and in such case you could get off at the Korouoma crossing (5-7 kilometers from the actual place). With heavy climbing gear it is quite a bit more comfortable to come by car than rely on those very few busses, especially because there’s no local public transportation available what so ever. Well, you can get a taxi, but that’s expensive.

If you’re arriving by car drive first to Posio, from Posio head towards Rovaniemi and after roughly 30 kilometers, you should see a sign pointing to Korouoma, turn left as pointed by the sign. Drive about 2 kilometers, and there’s another sign, turn right. Drive till you end up to the parking lot (see map for exact location). From the parking lot you need to walk, just take the path down (starts from the left side of road, just a bit further from the parking lot), and you’ll end up to the camping place, where you can see the brown river.

Accommodation

There are few government owned cottages for rent, some cottages where one can stay for free and a place for camping in the area. (As surprising for a foreigner it might in Finland we have a system, where in certain remote cottages anyone can stay for free.) If you’re ready stay a slightly further from the venue, there are several private cottages with in distance of 30 kilometers as well.  From all the alternatives Piippukota and nearby camping ground are the closest to the falls, basically just few hundred meters away from Brown River. You can find more information and book accommodation online for instance from Villi Pohjola web-service.

More information:

• Retkikartta.fi – accurate online topographic maps of all the natural reserves of Finland (+plenty of other places), including routes cottages and cabins
• Villi Pohjola – online reservation and information about cottage accommodations in Finland
• Posio – Posio municipality (sorry, no English here)

Location details:

View Larger Map

Few images from Korouoma below:

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]