A cosy night in the van near Llandudno was needed to prevent this morning’s early start becoming an unpleasantly early one. I was up just before 5am to pick up the awaiting student team. John did the first drive of the day and by the time the sun was coming up, we were having breakfast at Manchester Airport.

We took off through a thick blanket of cloud and were soon above it. Looking down, it looked like a snowscape of Arctic wilderness and a brokenspectre followed us as we flew north.

A good omen for sure and a beautiful thing to witness.

The next stage of the logistics went well and it was a huge relief to pick up the hired minibus and find that all our bags fitted safely into the boot!

The drive from Oslo to Rjukan was incredible. Not only because the van had heated seats and a heated steering wheel, but because the countryside was held in the grip of a deep frost. No wind had blown the snow from the trees, and they hung heavy with the weight.

With snow on the road, it was a slow drive. We stopped briefly to pick up some food once we neared our accommodation but otherwise just kept going. Sunset was at 15:20 and gave a beautiful orange sunset, however, I was driving so have no photos of that!

The final hour in the dark became a little more nerve wracking as we got deeper into the mountains and the snow got deeper. Thankfully the winter tyres held their grip well.

We are staying in a resort town called Gausta, above Rjukan. The drive way had been cleared, but I had to wade knee deep in snow upto the front door to get a snow shovel. We then managed to dig a trench so we could all get to the house!

Inside, it was fabulously warm and positively luxurious for a climbing expedition, but no one was complaining about that! We’re now fed, packed and bedding down. In the morning we’ll get to see the terrain and hopefully find some ice falls to climb. It’s my third visit to this valley and it will be nice to see if I remember the view – I first came here with Clare in December 2003! Looking forward to being on the ice again tomorrow.