It took the time we’d got up, had breakfast and left the house, before any light appeared on the horizon this morning.

With the sun only putting in an appearance from 09:15 to 15:20 we were keen to make the best use of daylight hours.

We drove downhill into the misty Rjukan Valley in search of frozen waterfalls to climb.

Our first attempt didn’t go too well as the place that we had earmarked as a good introduction area, but not visited before hadn’t formed properly, so we returned to the van and moved up to a more reliable area.

This time, although the ice wasn’t as thick as my previous visits, there was enough to go at. John set off up some hollow sounds sections of the Ozzimosis Area, and rigged some top ropes, while I introduced the group to some technique skills at the base.

We had a go at placing some ice screws in the big bosses of ice at the base, but trees at the top provided some better looking anchors today.

All in all a good introduction to ice climbing with everyone getting plenty of climbs and keeping warm at the same time (even if that did involve me wearing four jackets!).

We needed our headtorches to climb back out of the gorge to where we’d left the van. Back at base the evening has been spent cooking, eating and planning tomorrow’s destination. We at as a big team, around the large dining table. Great conversation, after dinner chats and laugher.