Climbing World's Most DANGEROUS Big Wall (Troll Wall, 1000m)

This is the tallest rock face in Europe, and could be one of the most dangerous as well, Troll Wall. The danger of the wall doesn't really come from the difficulty, steepness or height, but from the quality of the rock itself. It's loose. Not loose in a way that you might break a hand or foothold, but more terrifyingly loose, that the whole feature you're pulling on can peel away. It feels solid until something goes wrong, and then when it goes wrong, it can really go wrong. With the continuous freeze-thaw cycles between seasons, plus the rock's architecture and steepness, it's not surprising that the cliff is falling down. It's a standing pile of rubble that is glued together with moss, permafrost and hope. I was scared with that one, and I'm like 400 metres away from it. Feels like the whole mountain can fall down. There has been a long history on Troll Wall, of success, failures, rock falls and death from avalanche, dating back to the mid-1960s. In 1965, two teams, one British, one Norwegian, raced to make the first ascent of the wall, topping out just one day apart from each other. For both teams, this must have been one of the most significant feats of big wall climbing in the world at the time. 1981 brought the first free ascent of the wall by a joint Norwegian-British team. Their ascent was documented in The Vertical Mile, a film which excellently shows the dangers and the toil that go into free climbing a piece of rock like this. In 1998, a significant portion of the 1965 British route fell down. The rock fall was so large, it measured 2.5 on the Richter scale. There have been many further impressive first ascents, both in winter and summer, aid and free, but fast forward to more recent years and its local climber, Sindra Satha, who has really left a significant mark on the wall, being the first to free aid lines which were previously thought unfreeable. From researching what I could, reading stories from other climbers and watching the documentaries, I knew the wall wasn't to be taken lightly. No matter what standard of climber you are, it's impossible to outrun a house-sized block detaching itself from the wall and spraying itself on the approach scree. To climb it, patience would be key. Season 1, we bailed at the tourist car park as climbing conditions weren't quite right. Season 2, we made it to the base of the climb, only to again be thwarted by wet rock and rockfall from the back of the valley, which trundled down the approach slopes and had teams of climbers scrambling helplessly over the starting snow patch to safety. After a further spell of dry weather, peppered only by a short storm, we were back for attempt 2 of season 2. Although we planned to climb the wall in 24 hours, the time to start can never be rushed. 7.16, one rockfall down, off we go. Let's get out of there. So pitch one done and we're already digging out belays. It's a good job we brought two nookies actually because it's useful for leader and seconder for digging. Digging out belays. I feel like this could be a digging mission. The route we aimed to free climb was the Norwegian route. After hearing rockfall just before setting off, then a few more on the first pitches, we were pretty relieved to actually get on the wall. So the rockfall the other day was there and we were here somewhere. So yeah, it's a pretty sketchy place, these slabs, and we heard another rockfall today, so it's good to actually get up on the wall. From pitch one to seven, we heard about two to three small rockfalls per pitch. After hearing cracking and splitting from the back of the valley, we both looked over to see the wall self-dislodge a truck-sized piece of rock from the steepest part of the face. I was following on the crux pitch at the time and I must have heard a noise because when I looked back I saw a big chunk of rock just detach from the mountain and shatter on the slabs below. Even though we were 400 meters away, it still felt as if the whole wall was going to start crumbling around us. I had the irrational thought that the whole wall could just tip over and slide down into the valley. If we or anyone had been on those approach slabs when that happened, I feel certain it would have been game over. The approach slabs are steep, so even if something did hit you and you survived, I feel like the chances of you slipping, losing balance, and then tumbling down the slabs would actually be pretty high. It's not like we didn't know the troll wall is falling down, that's what it's known for, and we'd seen it and heard it for ourselves as well. But what we had previously seen was more like what we call steinsprang in Norwegian, like rock trundling in the side gullies that end up in the main gully, where everyone local knows that you walk up at night because the chances are bigger of rockfall when the sun is out. Nice one! So hungry. We have time for a few nuts. Yeah we do, yeah. I think we did quite a long pitch then. Did we? Yeah. That's good. Yeah. I feel like we could be on pitch nine. Oh, I hope so. Pitch nine, seven hours, and at least two rockfalls per pitch. It was quiet on this last one. Yeah, it was actually. And that's the only pitch that hasn't been quiet though. Every other pitch has been rockfalls, including the one which had the size of a small minibus out the back. That was a really big one. I was scared with that one, and I'm like 400 metres away from it. It feels like the whole mountains can fall down. Literally does. Maybe it will. Now I understand why the wall gets its reputation. Not just all talk, it's true what they say. It's falling down, and I'm going up before it falls down. I'm getting to the top before it falls down on me, and that's it. Let's do this. The higher we climbed, the more rockfall we heard. Our senses even became alert to other noises, thinking that it could be rockfall, when in fact it wasn't. Last one. There had been so much of it up to this point, it felt hard to rule any sounds out. This all sounded like a missile. Yeah. I think it came from higher up. Anything that makes a sound now, like a plane. I was like, I'm sure it's coming from over there. Oh, it's coming from over here. So much rockfall. It'd be interesting to know if anybody else, if other people, have experienced this much when they've been climbing. That's what I've been sat here thinking as well. Or if it's just, if that's normal, or if it's not normal at all. Oh, how are you feeling? Better now. Yeah? You seem to have cheered up a bit. We're doing alright. 12 pitches in, 9 hours down. So we need to just keep this pace to the top, and then we'll miss the rain, I think. Have we checked the weather again? No, but we should do probably. Maybe when we get to the... Oh, I don't want to. No, maybe when we get to the ridge. Because there isn't really anything we can do about it now anyways. No, apart from just go quicker. I can't go quicker. Just look at me. I think we're about halfway, so it's going to be another 12 hours to the top. At least, because it's just 12. How do you feel? Yeah, good. You seem very allergic. I am allergic. I'm like, my throat is burning. Where's the grass around there, you know? Oh, there's some there. There's loads of grass on Norwegian big walls there, isn't there? I mean, 5 and 6 is usually easy, but there's rooms that are desperate, but they're climbing, you know? Yeah, and you have to pull them quite loose blocks sometimes. I think there's a lot of chimneys coming up as well, which will be interesting with the backpack. We should eat something. Yeah, yeah, we should. Do you mind if I go back over and eat? Have you eaten anything? I haven't. All right, we'll just go over together then. It's nearly full. Yeah. We are halfway between pitch 18, and so we've still got another 11 pitches to go. Everybody's getting quite tired now. Well, I say everybody. We. Me and Mari. It was a bit loose in that, wasn't it? It's all loose. So we've got a little pitch here, then a loop pitch around the roof, and then another 6 minus, 5, and then we're into a different top out. That's the plan anyway. That's the plan. Let's see how Mari's feeling when she gets to this belay. I think the time is 20 past 10. 15 hours, and we've done 18 and a half pitches. So by my calculations, we should be about another 8 hours to the top. We should have us topping out at 6 tomorrow morning, but we will see. We'll see whether that's correct or not. Getting on for midnight soon. Is it? Yeah. Nice one. Hello. I want fish. Now? I think we should have it on the bivy ledge. Maybe we can warm us up a bit. Yeah, yeah. Bivy ledge, fish, bivy ledge, and then power to the top. Oh yeah. Do you think we'll manage in 24 hours? Don't know. It's going to be tight. It's going to be tight. Did you say this was short? Yeah, 30 meters, 6 minus through a roof. Oh, so I go through the roof? Yep. Ledge at the top? Not sure. That doesn't look like anything. That just looks like a pile of choss. It's blooming light over there. It looks like daytime through here on there. It's a shame. It's not. It's two o'clock in the morning. We have a prime belay. Belay. Four in a crack. And we're on a leaning ledge. And we're in a bivy bag. We're sharing a bivy bag. Thank you to my brother for giving us off now. I'm ill. I just got ill on this route. I must have already been getting ill. I thought it was hay fever at the beginning. But now I just feel ----. So we're living the good life now. We're just going to rest here for a bit. I'm going to sleep for two hours. I've got a sore throat. And I've got a runny nose. Corona. Maybe eat something? Yeah. We haven't eaten almost at all. We had some moldy bread. Not spreading it up here, am I? Oh, I look dead. Got a carabiner on my eye. Am I pleased so far? With the choss pile? Are you living your best life? I'm living it right now. It's my best life. I live my best life. Take a little break in our bivy bag. And push on. The upper bivy ledge actually offered a practical place to stop. Carrying on through the dark would have been possible, but the chances of climbing the wrong way seemed much higher. So it didn't seem that sensible. The ledge sloped a little, but with a bit of rope, sling and tension trickery, it was good enough for a couple of hours sleep before it came light again. Can you lean your head out? Nice. I know. Nice one. Well done. Thank you. Traverses. Always the same for the lead and second. I did have a quick look and it just looked like lead shuffling. Nice one. I feel so ill. We need to keep it cool. There's still a 30 meter lead shuffle to go. 27 hours and 20 minutes after starting, we stood on top. From my short time with the wall, there is no doubt in my mind that the Troll is a dangerous place and the skill set to climb it well and safely is much higher than any other wall I've climbed. Thinking about it now, it feels like a confirmation that it was the right choice of route when we are not locals and don't know the area well, because I would definitely want to have more experience and local knowledge before moving further to the right. I would never personally recommend anyone to go climbing there, but if you do, just make sure you take nothing for granted. And now we just have to walk very carefully down. What do you want to do today? Don't know, go climbing.