Sabotaged by the Snow!

Back to square one again today after such a positive (3 days of consecutive climbing). It started snowing last night and basically at 14.43 (Norge time) it still is. The boys were reluctant to move out of the cabin but hanging about was making us stare crazy...so a walk around town in the snow was the order of the day. We also thought we would try and find the start of Sykehusfossen route which is located up on the hillside above the hospital.

Most decorated Soldier in Norway (statue)

The brains behind the development of the Norsk Hydro and of Rjukan - Sam Eyde

Apart from the cafe stop the most exciting thing today was chatting to a guy working on a film of the true story of Rjukan during the war (WWII) when the Germans were developing the heavy water to make atomic bombs. He was a New Zealander who was developing an E-Book and helping with the research about some of the characters during that time. Some people will find this hard to believe that The Hero's of Telemark film with Kirk Douglas which depicted the Americans as the Heros wasn't quite true. In fact the actual hero's were the local resistance who became known as the Saboteurs and lived up on the high plateau for almost a year, surviving at times by eating Reindeer Moss. The film is due out around Christmas this year...definitely a must see.

Back in the hut the boys are eating their way through the provisions ...Not me of course ;-).

When you spend too long in the hut in Norway without being able to climb this is what happens!

Edward Dalton

John Beard

Conditions: Not much climbed today I believe but maybe worth mentioning yesterday that we spotted a few teams on Tjonnstadberg Area (the multi-pitch venue easily viewed from the town). Its also probably worth mentioning that in the four days we have been here we have not seen anyone on the classic multi-pitch route Fabrikkfossen. Temperatures today in town around zero degrees. The skiers will be happy!