This Easter was spent mostly climbing on rock faces outdoors. I did my first outdoor climbing session with some coworkers the Tuesday before at a place called Telavåg where Pancho could join and run around in the grass while we were busy climbing. We brought a little grill and had dinner there after a few climbs. Before we knew it, we had been there for five hours!
Arna, Sara and Adam..Pancho on his way to greet Adam down from his climb.
A view from the top
Sunset over Telavåg.
That Saturday, Idar and I drove to Telavåg to climb with his cousin, Emil. Again, we spent the entire day climbing. After a bit of errands, getting our summer vacation booked, cuddling some lambs at our friend's farm, hanging out in hammocks with friends and another climbing trip on Turøy, by Wednesday we were restless to get out of town. So Idar called his grandma and let her know we would be driving down to visit for a few days. We packed quickly Thursday morning and drove a couple of hours south to Kvinnherad. Summer came early and was in full swing our whole week off!
When we were about half an hour from our destination, Idar suggested we stop to take a hike. Unaware to how long and steep this hike was, I thought it sounded like a good idea...turned out it was so warm and dry that we didn't have enough water and I felt quite dehydrated. After three hours we were finished, got to Grandma's for some dinner and settled in for the night.
Tom and Mr. Wiggles - two orphaned lambs who seemed to enjoy the attention.
Hiking out to Turøy for some climbing
Photo credit: Idar
Six people, 4 hammocks, and one dog.
Friday we took it very easy, just relaxing out on the deck in the sun. On Saturday we went for a multi-pitch climb in a valley called Uskedalen with Emil. Pancho had to wait in the car. I didn't take many pictures from that climb, but I did take a video. One climbing pitch is approximately half of a rope length (or 30 meters). The first pitch was quite easy. Someone with good hiking boots could probably carefully walk up without ropes. Once we did the first pitch, we gathered our ropes and prepared for the second pitch. The second pitch was another story - all about trusting your toes on the smallest piece of projecting rock, the hands were no help on that climb. Once we got through the second pitch and enjoyed the view, we knotted our two ropes together to repel down the wall. Sounds a lot scarier than it actually was. I felt like I was in full control.
Saturday night Idar, Pancho and I drove back up to Bergen. Sunday was a lazy day of unpacking, watching movies and finally our long run. Monday was another fantastic warm summer-like day in Bergen. One last push of outdoor activity before going back to work. We gathered some friends to do a little climbing close to down town. A solid six hours of climbing and I am exhausted!
This Easter was probably my favorite. I'm over snow. After all the nice weather, the thought of skiing was not even on my wavelength, and I was glad we spent so much time outside in the warm sun with some running, hiking and climbing.
On top of Malmangernuten (890m) near Rosendal
Ascending pitch two of two in Uskedalen
Happy climbers! (left: Idar, right: Emil)
Enjoying the summer weather at Helleneset (in Bergen)
After 11 years with this blog, I have made the decision to retire it. I want to take a stab at vlogging (video blogging) since I enjoy editing videos so much. This blog started as a way for me to have a diary of my time in New Zealand and I'm glad I had it to go back and remember what I accomplished as a wide-eyed 20 year old. My vlogs will be available on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6ZmcUcw8vZvPdfGIzNTbA Keep in touch 😊
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