Erstellt am: 27. 8. 2013 - 16:02 Uhr

Bridging The Chasms

A trek across the crevasse-ridden Folgefonna glacier in Norway.

It seems you`re never far away from water in south-western Norway. As I left the Hardangerfjord and headed up a rough, serpentine road built by a hydroelectric company the water was cascading down the vertiginous lower slopes of the mountain in dozens of white chutes. It looked as if the granite landscape had been wrapped up in white string.

Water was also falling in alarming quantities from the sky and splashing off the road. I was setting off to trek across the Folgefonna glacier, famous for its crevasses, ice-tunnels and, alarmingly, the weather was looking fierce. Not for the first time on my adventures for FM4 Draußen felt a touch of trepidation.

“It`s all about attitude,” said glacier veteran, Åsmund Bakke, encouraging me to get out and taste the delights of the glacier. We were still sitting in the cosy warmth of his white wooden office at Jondal, a fjord-side village that acts as the gateway to the glacier, but Åsmund`s ruddy complexion and enthusiasm spoke of a man who likes to get out in all weather.

Marte Kopperud - Visitnorway.com

Which is a good thing: driven by the moist air of the Gulf Stream, the weather among the fjords of Norway is mercurial. “This very special glacier because it is so close to the coast,” explained Åsmund “The reason we have the glacier here is that we get a lot of snow in winter as the clouds come in off the North Sea and hit this first barrier of peaks.”

The dumps of winter snow ensure the Folgefonna`s survival despite the fact that the peaks it covers like a dollop of cream are only 1600m high. But in summer it brings mild temperatures and the squalls of rain that rapidly melt the glacier.

“It is like a man with a big salary who spends a lot,” says Åsmund.

Harsh Terrain

The consequence of this snowing and the thawing is a rapidly transforming glacier that remains unpredictable. Chasms open and close, ice tunnels are formed, and a sometimes fierce wind sends the clouds scurrying over the horizon. Views right over the Hardangerfjord to the North Sea are miraculously revealed and then hidden again.

For the well-prepared it is an ever-changing wild arena of adventure. This is the harsh terrain on which the successful polar explorer Roald Amundsen trained. For the ill-prepared it can be deadly. You want to take a guide here.

Marte Kopperud - Visitnorway.com

“That`s one of the most fascinating things about the glacier and that`s why I like it,” said Åsmund as he waved me goodbye. “The weather can be so extreme and you get so high above sea level the nature is the boss."

My other bosses during my inaugural ice-climbing session were two fresh-faced guides called Torgeir and Filip, who looked ludicrously cheerful as they roped me into a team of eight. “Yeah the weather is really interesting up here;” said Torgei. "We get great contrasts and it can throw anything at you. Yesterday it was really sunny and today we`ll probably get 50mm of rain. I enjoy the contrasts at Folgefonna.”

It was alright as long as I dind`t contemplate what I was missing. We should have seen as far as the green off-shore islands that dot the coast like the loose pieces of a jigsaw puzzle ready to be attached on to the mainland. Instead I had a face-full of cold rain and a 360-degree panorama of cloud.

The Haunted Ice

chris cummins

As we put on our crampons and helmets Filip told me a pointed story from the history of the glacier. Back in 1910, an arrogant Englishman, a lord, had ignored the safety advice of his local Norwegian guide and had disappeared in bad weather never to be seen again.

“Since then a figure in a black coat has haunted the ice-sheet,” said Filip cheerfully. I took the hint and pledged uncompromised obedience as we set off onto the blue ice following in leader Torgeir`s footprints as if he was Good King Wenceslas himself.

“The reason we have so many crevasses is because then glacier is moving over a big hill,” explained Filip. “It starts off very flat and then suddenly becomes very steep. When it is flat the glacier hardly moves but when it is steep it moves very fast. So the ice is much thicker in some places and much thinner in others and it will crack up in the areas in between.”

The whiff of danger only made the climb seem more enticing as we zigzagged our way arduously up into the whiteness. When the wind ripped a hole in the blanket of lower-lying clouds I could just make out the dark finger of the fjord pointing in from the ocean. Buttresses of dark granite flanked the lower slopes of the glacier. It was the sort of the epic landscape you associate with Norse legends.

Clumsy Climbing

We could have easily walked around the overhangs of ice but, as a glacier novice, I was here to learn the rudimentary skills of ice-climbing. Torgei would fix the rope with a sort of corkscrew tool and then held it tight for the next climber to thrust his axe into the wall and haul themselves up. When you were up, you had to pass the carabiner over the fixed point and help steady the rope for the next climber.

The climbing demanded balance and poise but unfortunately I lacked both and ended up leaning back, held only by the rope. A frisson of fear rushing through my body although I was less than a metre of the ground and totally secure. I`d need to practice before tackling any real ice walls.

We had to stretch or jump across the more narrow crevasses. I peered down but was unable see the bottom. A hike over the glacier can take 5 hours - hard but exhilarating work.

chris cummins

Back in Jondal, I warmed up at Åsmund`s place with a cup of coffee, proud that I`d braved the elements. My face was flushed and I was tingling with well-being.

“It`s good to get out,” said my host, who reckons that the locals have a particular affinity for the towering mountains that surround them: “You start as a small child walking out in the nature and as you grow up you want to explore more and more. You never get enough.”

But it is doubtful whether future generation will be able to enjoy the bounties of the glacier. The ice-sheet is severely threatened by global warming. The temperature rise on the well-studied ice-sheet is alarming said Åsmund. “We call it the hockey stick because the graph goes so suddenly and steeply up.”

Rising temperatures have brought more clouds to the region and that had meant more precipitation. So, paradoxically, until 1994 global warming meant the glacier was growing as the increase summer melt was outweighed by increased winter snow. But since then there has been a constant annual shrink.

“We know for sure that in 20, 30 or 40 years the temperatures will be so high that the precipitation will fall as rain, not snow even in winter time,” explained Åsmund. “And then these glaciers along the west coast of Norway will melt away very quickly.”

That would be a tragedy.