Course Notes – Norway Ice Climbing

WHERE IS THE COURSE HELD?

We run the course either in Rjukan, Lillehammer, Oppdal or Hemsedal in Norway. These venues offer a wide range of ice climbing to suit all ability levels. 

WHAT ABOUT ACCOMMODATION?

We stay in self catering chalets with twin rooms. People can choose to self cater or eat out. 

TRANSPORT

We will share hire cars during the trip and share the costs. 

Kit List:

Please make sure that you bring everything that is on this list:

Waterproof Jacket – full weight breathable model preferred.
 Overtrousers – with 3/4 or full length side zips. 

Rucsac 30-40l capacity – a number of different sized drybags are useful
 

Winter Boots: We recommend B3 boots for climbing.
Socks
Wicking thermal top.
2 Warm fleeces or equivalent.
Mountain trousers.
Belay jacket – down is fine in Norway 
2 pairs of gloves that are warm yet flexible enough to tie ropes, clip Krabs etc

Beanie or woolly hat
Spare Mittens especially if you suffer from cold hands. 

Water Container approx 1l, or .75l flask. 


Headtorch + batteries 

Personal medications + blister kit 
Sun glasses
Blizzard Survival Jacket (Emergency kit) 

#Crampons (we recommend C3 rigid crampons for ice climbing)
#Ice Axe & Hammer (DMM Apex are my favourite) 
# Harness

# Helmet


Cancellation

Your booking is subject to our terms and conditions. As a small business unfortunately we cannot offer postponements and do stick to our cancellation policy if you need to cancel your course space. The BMC offer a very good insurance policy that will cover you for trip cancellation and personal injury.

Insurance: We do not include insurance within our course fees. For all overseas trips you will require a European Health card and specialist mountaineering insurance and we will require a copy of the policy. This must cover rescue and repatriation and we also recommend that it covers cancellation costs.

Our approved insurance contractors are: 

BMC: 0870 0104878 or The Foundry: 0114 2755806

BMC Article on Risk & Safety in climbing & mountaineering.

The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the representative body in the UK for hill walkers, climbers and mountaineers. It has produced a Participation Statement for anyone involved in walking, climbing or mountaineering to say that:

The BMC recognises that climbing and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions.

If you join one of our courses you acknowledge and accept these risks and so we thought a few facts and figures might be useful in explaining what you are accepting.

Injuries

Injuries are possible in climbing, hill walking and mountaineering, as in all sporting activities, as a result of over-training, inappropriate training regimes, or poor technique as well as those that might be sustained during a slip or fall, or if something or someone falls on a person.

Risk

Risks need to be put in context. There are currently about 5 million climbing wall user visits annually and it has bee estimated that between the 1960s and 2005 there were approximately 50 million climbing wall user visits in the UK alone. During that period there was only one fatality at a wall in England and Wales. There are 13 million young people in this country. Of the approximately 700 fatal accidents that occur every year, there is approximately one child death per year in organised adventurous activities in comparison with 457 land transportation accidents (National Statistics).

Risk is an integral part of the activity and can play a vital role in helping young people to acquire these extremely important life skills. Minimising the risk boils down to having the right level of skill and experience relative to the difficulty of the activity. Our courses will help you to understand and assess these risks for yourself. Accidents can happen due to circumstances over which the climber has no control, such as a rockfall, and in these events first aid training can make all the difference.


Accident rates

Because experienced climbers strive very hard to know their own limitations, the sport enjoys remarkably low accident rates. Incidents that make news headlines often involve individuals operating in environments for which they were ill-prepared, and this can give a somewhat skewed impression of the dangers involved in the sport. Many of the ‘climbers’ reported in the media as having been involved in accidents, died or got lost in mountainous areas are not dedicated climbers. Often they are tourists who have gone out walking or people who don’t have much experience in the mountains. Therefore some of the tragedies that hit the headlines may reflect poorly on dedicated mountaineers who are more likely to be better prepared and not as likely to require mountain rescue.

Even on a course there is a need for personal responsibility and self reliance in all mountaineering activities. We will have contingency plans in the event of an emergency and are first aid trained but you should also carry basic first aid equipment as detailed in your course notes. All of our courses aim to teach you to assess the risks for yourself, to make you an independent climber/mountaineer or hillwalker but there are some risks that we cannot completely remove.

If you feel uncomfortable at any time you should say so and don’t be afraid to ask why we are doing what we are doing. There is no pressure whatsoever for you to take part in any activity that you do not want to take part in.

The BMC has produced an introductory booklet for parents of young people who participate in climbing-related activities.