On March 17 a strong, young Lofoten local named Stian Bruvoll and I took advantage of a rare day off work to poke around the fjords. We had a million ideas, as usual, but as Stian lived very close to one objective we both had been curious about, we decided to visit the north side of Krikktindan (620m), which lies south of Bjørnsand and the head of the Steinsfjorden.

The day started typically with nearly getting a vehicle stuck in snow, followed by a long walk along some ludicrously scenic coastline and a snowy plod up a valley that felt far more remote than it was. Our efforts were rewarded when, after soloing an easy gully, we reached a five-star pitch of steep water ice. Stian dispatched it in good style, and the rest of the route followed thin ice, interesting mixed climbing, and the usual frozen moss to a spectacular belay off a conveniently placed summit cairn. We descended to the southeast and hitchhiked back to the car, counting ourselves lucky that both the day and the few passersby happened to be going our way.

Atypically, the line was repeated the following week, in full Scottish conditions, by British mountain guide Richard Cross and partner. He described it as “wild.” We called it Vaffelvika (Waffle Bay in Norwegian, 300m, WI4+ M4).

– Chris Wright, USA