Page 32 - 2020 AMA Summer

EXPEDITIONNEWS
The view from Ovredalen
Jon and Chris having fun
covered by snow as had the mountains around which gave plenty of options. Above our eight room chalet ‘mit (external) hot tub’, there was a large area of flatland before more mountains and more possi- bilities. These were soon on James ‘Flash’ Gordon’s list as well as it was on Chris’ and Duncan Francis’ too.
At the first opportunity a group of five, including Flash, myself and Andy Cox in one car, plus Chris Cookson and Phil Garnett in another departed before dawn to snow shoe into a valley high up above the plateaux where there was promise of fine mixed climbing. The route to the climb on Ovredalen took us along sleepy, snow covered tracks past many, even sleepier chalets before parking up at the end of the track... although this was the plan. Two hours before the sun came up, Chris Cookson did his best to sabotage the benefit of the early start by demonstrating his finely tuned mounted infantry driving skills carelessly steering his four-wheeled drive vehicle into the largest snow drift that he could find. Two and a half hours later,
Snow shoes prevail
the vehicle was free and able to move on thanks to the tenacity of some REME self recovery and the hard graft of Chris’ co-driver, Phil who received no thanks for his effort from a red faced infanteer.
Two hours before the sun came up, Chris Cookson did his best to sabotage the benefit of the early start
We continued on with snow shoes and more hard graft to a climb we’d spotted during the two hour tab. Flash, Andy and myself were the first to ascend a, somewhat sketchy mixed climb whose name is still unknown, followed by Chris and Phil who had since backed off another climb to our right that looked ‘in’. Due to the quantity of ice that forms in this part of the world, the locals are rarely able to name them because they’re not very consistent in their location. As such, if it’s there and it’s in, climb away!
The area was to be further investigated by Duncan’s group, including Stacey Cromey-Hawke and Matt Bye who were both undergoing a rigorous induction to winter climbing from Duncan who provided training and assessment for winter climbing foundation. Their exploits were deemed to be similar and had the added benefit of not featuring any infanteers on the route out. Both were subsequently awarded their qualification at the end of the exped.
Other teams had other experiences in the area. Jon Evans led multiple groups of climbers over the course of the week, as did Guy Davies and Chris Dowd, with supporting superstars Sally Webster, Luke Simms and Chris Grant. Each building upon experiences of former ice climbing trips, either in the UK or on last year’s exped.
Favourite locations included: Golsjuvet, Flagetfossen and Torsetfossen as well as another Flash-Topping adventure to Skogshorn that had so much potential,
32 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER