Friday, November 30, 2007

Back in Norway in the city of moustaches

I am now finally back in Norway, and even though I love New Zealand, I must say it is wonderfull to be back in Norway to! (I just love it everywhere it seems like :) Since I came back I have met family and friends. Been hanging at school, trying to study for my last exam (not with much luck...) , but my class have really cosy study area this year. I have been climbing a little bit, and got to try my new shoes, which are amazing! I have also proved to my friends that i haven't changed much but are just as messy and confused as I always have been :)


Waffels, "boller" and "gløgg" in my mums flat. Kristin, Karianne, Line and Katja

Cross country skiing with little sis (it's 3 pm! I kind of struggels with the darkness...)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

One week in paradise

A poem written on the wall off the toilet on Hangdog camp, Paynes Ford:

Hello climbers, welcome to Paynes!
Where it hardy ever rains,
Except when the masses arrives from the city,
Than the whether is generally shitty

So what routes should you climb?
I will tell you through this rhyme,
I’ll give you hints about what to do,
Through this words written on this loo.

The Rawhide roof is steep and long,
It’s many moves out to the lip,
And that is your first clip
If you fall you’ll hit the dirt
And, believe me, this will hurt.
Ed bouldering Rawhide roof (22)

If you want to climb Temples of stone,
Rest assured, you won’t be alone,
There is often a queue, so don’t be late
But the climb is worth the wait

Ingrid on Temples of Stone (18)

Tenuite Wall has Go with the Flow
Layback the stal is the way to go,
Just be careful not to slip,
As you’re doing the second clip
The routes on the wall are a lot of fun
But get there early before the sun

Responsible lounges and Convex Slope
Have dashed many climbers hope,
To do these routes, you have to crank,
But leave some gas in the tank
Else your fingers might go limp,
As you do the final crimp

One of the finest is Globe wall
An excellent place for a fall,
Make sure you have a good belay,
On Dave’s arête or Make my day,
The final move before the top,
Is the place you’re bound to drop

If you want to try your luck,
To see if you can Superconduct,
You will need to effortlessly flow,
Else the crux moves you will blow


Greg on a climb next to Superconductor

If these climbs are much to hard,
Then Little Lost Wall may be your card
The cliff is low and not so steep,
The holds are friendly; big and deep

1080’s a route you ought to try,
Climbing upside down like a fly
Keep on moving, do not stop,
And don’t get psyched out by the drop,
Soon you’ll arrive at the cave,
Take a rest; to the audience wave

Jake resting in the cave on 1080 and the letter G (23)


An excellent cliff is the Wall of Thugs;
Don’t expect to find many jugs
Adrift in a sea of slopes,
Your climbing will be franatic gropes,
You’ll be pumped out of your brain,
Before you finally reach the chain.

If you like climbing on rock that’s steep,
Then head to Pohara and Bo-Peep,
Despite appearances, the rock is sound
Better climbing can hardly be found.

Jake on Why not? (26) on Bo-Peep slab(!!!)


At the end of a long hard day,
No more climbing, you want to play,
To the swimming hole you ought to run,
To go for a swim or lie in the sun,
The perfect way,
To end the day,
Of excellent climbing,
In Golden Bay


Rescuing the dog Chewie on the slack line over one of the swimming holes
Todays gravity on Hangdog camp
Maching fake Mad rock tatoos :)

Group photo: Me, Ingrid (cool norwegian), Jake (annoying american 1), Ed (true kiwi), Greg (Annoying american 2), Kristin (cool norwegian)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

yea, and i forgot

Greg writes a lot on his blog and have posted pics if anyones interested http://alpinegreg.blogspot.com/

Every ending is a new beginning

I am now in Frankfurt on my way back to Norway. I was really sad to leave New Zealand and all my friends there, but I am really looking forward to see my friends and family in Norway! I have had a nice journey, except my normal messyness :) In Auckland they almost didn’t let me on the airplane because I had renewed my ticket twice, and in that process my name had ended up as Vaine, Ingaringdale, which confused the poor lady in the check in. On the plane from Auckland to Sydney I met a NZ ichocke refree on his way to Finland, lost my booking pass and luggage tickets, and discovered the wearing pink, yellow and orange toe socks with kiwis on and jandals is a great conversation starter. In Frankfurt I discovered that Qantas has lost my tent, used hour on that on got lost both on the air port and the city. And I finally got to see the Simpsons movie! I loved it! Spiderpig is great! And being in Frankfurt I take back everything I have ever said about German bread not being good!

I’ll give a short summation off my three weeks of holyday. More will come later, and so will photos! The trip started with me and Jake taking the plane to Nelson about 3 hours after our last exam. In Nelson we met Greg with a broken yellow van, spent the night getting drunk, buying firework, and managing to get Jake and Greg to be called annoying Americans (they are my favorite annoying Americans though :)

We then got the van fixed and went off to Paynes Ford, Golden Bay the next day where we met Ed, and spent a week. After Ingrid and Kristin came in the end off the week, we went back on the road and drove down to Charlston, where we climbed on the sea cliffs while 20 m high waves washed over us, and Suvi joined us. Wanaka near Queenstown was our next goal, thereafter Wye creek with beautiful climbing and perfect camping. And after Ed and Jake left us, the rest of us got a couple of days in Mt Cook area. Basically what we have done is climbing almost every day. As Lisa uses to say about me: “I don’t know anyone else who have traveled so much in NZ, and seen so little!” To my defence, I have seen a lot of nice rock :)

Quotes of the trip:
“Peer pressure always leads to good decitions”
“Friends don’t let friends climb naked alone
“Why not? The drawers are up!” (The boys ended up climbing a 26 called why not without knowing it was a 26 just because the drawers where up :)
“It’s gneiss, but don’t take schist for granite”
“Svigermorstopp!” (The one word in norwagian all the boys knew and loved to use)

Activies on the trip except climbing:
Eating
Sleeping
Swimming
Rescuing dogs
Drinking
Mooning
Knitting (Ed, Kristin, Suvi and Ingrid, all the boys got yarn and needles!)
Croucheing (Jake, Greg and me)
Extreme knitting and croucheing (Jake and Ed like to take their new hobby and combine it with their old!)
Card playing
Driving around in Greg yellow van and a rental car

Nick names of the trip:
Jake – Ost
Greg – Shaft, John Shaft (because that’s Gregs song!)
Kristin – Little blue penguin (so Greg could meet one)
Ed – DC (down climber, since he climbed down a 23 because there was a beehive there!)
Inga – Spiderpig (I think the reason was that i actually tought the name was funny:)
Ingrid – Macademia (she is a bit nuts, and also since she got so sad when we ate all the macademia chocolate and left her the paper :)