Full Pakke established at Bodø in Norway by Joda Dolmans, Kristian Vindvik

I had been following the weather forecasts closely the past couple of weeks. With recent rainstorms and warm temperatures, I realised that we might get some very interesting conditions once the cold returned. The next few days were mostly spent indoors, focusing on schoolwork, and dreaming about lines that I had been looking at previously. Finally colder temps arrived, and immediately ice started to form everywhere. Shortly afterwards, I received a text from a friend and local climber Kristian Vindvik. He sent me a picture of a steep ice line that seemed to be in. One thing led to the other and a few days later we found ourselves packed and ready to give it a try. As far as we knew the ice line had only seen one or possibly two (?) previous ascents. However, while driving into the valley our attention was caught by another face with steep ice formations and our curiosity grew. We quickly decided to change our plans.

One feature that initially caught our eyes was a deep corner with massive hanging icicles. From a distance it was very hard to tell what was hiding inside and the exit looked very wild and overhanging. Uncertainty grew as we approached the line from below, would there even be ice in the back or cracks for protection? Up until we were right below the line we couldn’t tell if even the first meters were climbable. Looking up felt like staring into an open jaw, full of sharp teeth, daunting and beautiful at the same time. But there seemed to be a way and from here we could start visualising a line. Thin ice slabs gave access to the main corner system, which seemed to offer solid ice far in the back. The first half looked as if it would go, however the upper part remained a big question mark. Excitement and expectations grew enormously as we realised that we might have found something really good.

The first pitch went down smoothly and offered a variety of mixed trickery with kneebars, stemming techniques and thin ice. The climbing was never hard but involved some committing and sparsely protected sections. After almost a full 60m pitch we managed to find a semi-hanging-belay in the far back of the corner.

The next pitch looked even wilder, starting with a traverse on hanging curtains and thin spray-ice. Luckily, temperatures where perfect and the ice was solid and sticky. Traversing out of the darkness of the corner, cleaning away huge icicles and watching them fall free for a few seconds before shattering below me, was memorable to say the least. Finally, a few more committing moves over overhangs gave access to easier ice and showed a way to the top of the corner. Later, when Kristian joined me at the belay, we couldn’t stop smiling at how good the climbing had been up to that point.

The final two pitches offered easy ice followed by a few hundred meters of snowy ledges and grass-ramps to the summit. As darkness had come, we descended the backside of the mountain in headlamps, with one rappel followed by bum-sliding down a snowy couloir.

Full Pakke is Norwegian for full package, and was inspired by the name of the burger-menu that we ordered later that night. As well as a delicious dinner, we think the name fits the description of the route quite well. One of the best new winter routes that I’ve climbed.

In total the line is approximately 400m, of which the first 200m is technical climbing encountering difficulties up to M5, WI6, R. The route was climbed onsight, with no gear left behind.

by Joda Dolmans