Lofoten – The Facts and Logistics

After a few blogs which included our adventures while we were in Lofoten – climbing, ice-cream and beer – I thought I’d add one more about the Lofoten facts and logistics to help any future Lofoten adventurers.

There is of course plenty of information on the web, but this addition might help the climbers out there.

Guidebook
Well of course, it has to be the Rockfax Lofoten Rock by Chris Craggs and Thorbjørn Enevold. You can read the details, history etc. on their web site. This guide is pretty good – for pre-adventure reading. The photo topos really excite the imagination. However, there are a couple of down sides:

• The size of the guide isn’t really suitable for multi-pitch routes. Photocopy the routes, or rip the pages out. 😈
• The use of the Top 50 routes, makes the top 50 routes very popular! Don’t forget there are plenty of other starred routes to have a go at.

Getting There
There’s lots of choice – planes, ferries, driving – depending on how much time you have, and how much money you have. My priority was to get as much climbing time in a week off work as possible. And if you are clever it doesn’t have to be too expensive…
We flew from Manchester to Oslo; then Oslo to Bodø with SAS; and then Bodø to Svolvær with Widerøe. There’s a 20kg limit with SAS and 15kg with Widerøe. Flying out from Manchester on Friday night, having a stop-over in Oslo and continuing on to Bodø on Saturday morning was cheaper than doing the whole trip on Saturday. We stopped in Thon Hotel Gardermoen. I booked a family room which just about fits four adults (if you’re not too big), which included a very good breakfast (and for the sneaky like Pete, a lunch too ). The transfer bus to and from the hotel was NOK 60 each, each way. A taxi costs NOK 250 each way. This was all still cheaper than flying out of Manchester on Saturday. We flew back on Sunday.

Car Hire
I searched and searched on the web for something cheap to no avail. Most web sites seemed to indicate car hire pick up and drop off wasn’t possible at the weekends in Svolvær, but eventually I got one from eBookers with Europcar. This was £406 for a week!!!! 😮
While we were there we found Lofoten Rentacar which seems to be cheaper with a small car being NOK 400 a day.

Where to Stay
We took the hint from the Rockfax guide and stayed at the NNKS. This is in a fantastic location within walking distance of many of the Top 50 climbs. It’s a great place to meet other climbers, and of course it’s right next to the bar and above the gear shop. What more could a climber want….? …. sleep! 🙁 Friday night and Saturday night are serious party nights, starting at about midnight and getting quiet sometime after 3.30am. It’s probably easier to join in than try to sleep through it.
On the whole, I’m still glad we stayed there – with the benefits of meeting new people.

We met Chris Bonington out there, he was staying in Kalle, which looked like another excellent spot.

And of course, there is always free camping, in beautiful settings. But having a roof over your head when it rains seems like a much better idea to me.

And talking of rain…
We had one full day of rain and one which had a few wet hours. The rock dries very quickly though, so people were out climbing fairly soon after the rain stopped. Remembering that with 24 hour daylight, anytime is climbing time! 😀

Costs
Everyone worries about the cost of food in Norway. Here are some example grocery prices from the supermarket in Henningsvær:

• Corn Flakes NOK 22.90
• Loaf of bread NOK 23.90
• Milk (1 ltr) NOK 13.90
• Frozen Pizza NOK 34.90
• Can Lager 26.00

Beer in the pub was NOK 60 something for a pint! 😮

What to climb….?
Well that’s up to you. My favourite was Lundeklubben. 😛

Series - Lofoten

1. Lofoten Islands
2. Bare Blabaer
3. An enforced day off…!
4. A Day on Gandalf…!
5. Lofoten – and to finish, Vestpillaren
6. Lofoten – The Facts and Logistics