norway

We were given many missions, but the bottom line: SURVIVE.

They took our phones, our watches, our cameras, and most significantly, they took our food. Leaving us with one time piece and one camera to document the trip, we set out on a 2 day, 10 step journey of hell.

The dreaded envelopes and missions.

Mission One:

“Make your way to Bergstøylen and Fjølestadstølyen. You have 5 hours to set up camp, find water, and prepare for a fire. Remember, you are a class, one person fails, YOU ALL FAIL.” 

They can tangle our tents, BUT THEY CAN’T STOP THE LOVE.

You can take our food BUT WE MAKE DO.

Mission Two:

“Build a fire.”

You can eat in front of us BUT WE WON’T GET JEAL– okay no, I can’t even pretend on this one.

The wood may be soaked, BUT THE FIRE MUST GO ON.

Reward: A Banana to split between the 12 of us.

Mission Three:

“Build the fire up to 2.5 meter high flames. Then, keep the fire alive for three hours.” 

Mission Four:

“Wake up Janie and Jan at 4:00am.”

The catch: no access to an alarm. 1.5 hour shifts, here we go.

Mission Five:

“You have until 7:00am to hike up to Haugsvarden. Once on top, we will take a group picture. Remember, you are only as strong as the weakest link.”

We may be up at 4:00am BUT WE ARE READY.

Mission Six:

“You have two hours to hike down to a place called Dimma. Remember, even if you are hungry do not let these feelings get to you!”

They may make us wait for 1.5 hours for the next task, BUT THEY CAN’T KEEP US FROM HAVING FUN.

Mission Seven:

“Put someone into a full body splint. Two people must then carry the “injured” for 10 minutes without help from others.”

Mission Eight:

“Make your way down to Føleide. You have two hours to complete this journey.”

Mission Nine:

“You have now met up with the other class. Work together to collect 400 kroner. You must stay together as a group and have two hours to complete this task.”

You can make us wait for the next clue, BUT WE HAVE NO PROBLEM LOOKING HOMELESS.

Mission Ten (A riddle that translates to english as nonsense,) but basically: 

“The hell is over, and you get to eat pizza now.” 

You can make people jump into freezing water to get the 10th mission BUT THEY WON’T (totally) FREEZE.

You can feed us pizza BUT WE WILL NEVER FORGET THE HELL THAT CAME BEFORE.

Through the hunger and frozen toes we survived the seemingly never-ending envelopes of death. Go AK1.

The best class!

*If you find yourself confused due to the combination of sarcasm and brutal honesty of this post, go back through the photos and count the number of miserable faces. That should clear things up for you.

Climbing in Turkey– I’m bruised, scraped, and sore… but tan!

I have returned to Norway from a two week climbing adventure in Geyikbayiri Turkey– bringing with me sore arms, tons of bruises, and a nice new tan.

Landing in Antalya

Ask any one of us what we thought of the trip and you’ll receive the same answer: “It was great.” Great weather, great friends, great camp, and most importantly: GREAT CLIMBING. We stayed in Jo.Si.To Climbing Camp which is just a walk away nearly 500 climbing routes of all different difficulties. The camp was full of climbing passion and positive energy– I felt privileged to stay just a tent’s distance away from great climbers from all around the world.

I learned a lot about climbing on this trip– something new from Martin, Lars Martin, or Erland each day. I also learned from experience, or should I say “trial and error.” This “trial and error” way of learning had a bigger, well, impression on me. The first thing I learned: Turkey is full of prickly plants and rough rocks. After doing a full assessment, I’ve counted two scraped forearms, two banged-up knees, three scratched knuckles, and countless pricks in my fingers. Luckily, my snake-bite count is zero.

Safety First! Our focus on belaying and securing other climbers was just as prominent as our focus on climbing itself. In fact, sometimes belaying proved to be just as tiring as climbing.

The climbing varied depending on where we spent the day, but one thing is for sure: it was a lot different than climbing in Norway. The rock formations are beautiful and unique. There is some geographical reason for this, I just don’t know it– Stratton, fill in the blanks here. Anyway, the biggest difference is that the rocks in Turkey are dry and warm.  With the sun almost always at our backs, we tanned, and for some, burned.

Since Norwegians can never soak up enough sun, (and I don’t blame them,) we spent our resting day at Olympus, a historical ruins site by the beach. If walking past the ruins in order to get to the beach counts as learning some history, we all had a history lesson that day.

My answer to the question “Whatcha doing?” is almost always “Just hangin’.” In Turkey, we redefined “Just hangin’.”

We made lots of good meals for dinner, and they almost always consisted of chicken and rice. Some of the more adventurous cooking groups, (or just the clueless ones,) opted for the chicken-hearts. They were special looking. There was a lot of bread eaten, naturally. “A lot” might even be an understatement. Regardless, when it came to food we had to be careful and keep it away from the camp dogs. That was sometimes a struggle.

When we were not climbing, belaying, or hangin’, we just had a good time.

Overall, this trip receives 4.8 Grace Faces from me. And for you normal people out there that don’t know what that means– This trip was nearly perfect.

If you haven’t seen enough, check out other people’s photos here!