Uskedalen rock climbing

The granite walls of Uskedalen tower up to thousand meters above the green valley floor and expand continuously for around 3km. Climbing in Uskedalen is probably the closest Norway has to climbing in Yosemite, however Uskedalen still remains quite a hidden pearl. These impressive walls of granite provide good quality big wall trad routes, between 100m and 860m long.

The granite of Uskedalen has thick grain crystals, providing supreme friction on solid rock, and is a paradise for corners, chimneys, and crack climbing on trad gear. There is almost no fixed protection, except for a bolt or two on an exposed pitch, along with some abseil points. Cams and wires fit well into the many cracks that are found amongst the routes. However, it is common to follow pitches where cracks disappear leading to slabby sections. Often you need to climb several moves on slab to reach a new crack system to place more gear.

What rock climbing guidebooks are available for Uskedalen?  There is a selective guidebook called Uskedalen Rock Climbing Guidebook that describes 78 multi-pitch routes between 100m and 400m long. The routes covered are mainly between 5’s and 6’s in the Norwegian grading system that equates to between F5’s and F6a+. Each route is described across 2 pages on 1 sheet of paper.

Uskedalen climbing season. The climbing season in Uskedalen is generally from late May to September. June and July are the prime months for climbing in Uskedalen, as at this time of the year it hardy gets dark, and the weather tends to be stable.

Equipment required. Twin 60m ropes plus a full trad rack of cam and wires are required. It’s also worth carrying an extra set of wires and some 7mm cord.

Close to Uskedalen is Eikedalen, which also offers shorter multi-pitch trad climbing up to around 200m long. Some of these routes are covered in the Uskedalen Rock Climbing Guidebook.

Around Bergen there are over 100 crags offering both sport climbing and trad rock climbing on granite and gneiss rock.

The Setesdal valley is located southwest of Oslo, and is one of Norway’s most accessible climbing areas from the rest of Europe offering many excellent slab routes on huge granite domes.

Close to Setesdal, is Hægefjell that offers both bouldering and long multi-pitch climbing up to 500m long on excellent granite rock. There are over 180 boulder problems across a wide range of grades from Fb 3 to Fb 8a, and over 50 long multi-pitch routes.