Trollveggen, French Route, first free ascent. In a remarkably fast two-day ascent, August 7-8, Sindre and Ole Johan Saether made the first free ascent of the French Route on Troll Wall. Since it was first sieged from July 22 to August 10,1967, by Yves Boussard, Jérome Brunet, Patrick Cordier, Claude Deck, and Jean Frehel, there have been relatively few ascents of this direct line up the tallest part of the face left of the Rimmon Route. A topo from ca 2000 described the 1,200m route in ca 37 pitches up to Norwegian 6+ (5.10c) and A4. Sixteen of the pitches needed aid. The Norwegians made one attempt prior to their successful ascent and established a few variants while climbing the route at 8- or 5.12b. Sindre is considered to be ahead of his time in the context of Norwegian climbing. He prefers to climb hard in the mountains, with his father and close friends, but if he competed in national bouldering championships, he would certainly finish in the top three.

Lindsay Griffin, Mountain INFO, from information supplied by Marten Blixt, Norway