Wild New Norway Mixed Climb is Bold and Committing
It's one of the biggest and most committing lines to be established in the country this winter
Photo by: Juho Knuuttila
Entropi is the newest massive winter route to be added to Norway, which has some of the world’s biggest waterfall ice and mixed climbs.
Juho Knuuttila and Eivind Jacobsen made the first ascent of the 1,000-metre-tall route on March 3 and graded it WI5+ M6 N5R, with N5 equating to 5.9. Finnish climber Knuuttila said it’s one of the most beautiful winter routes that he’s seen in the region. The first 350 metre follow steep approach slopes, which is followed by 400 metres of tricky climbing, and it finishes with 250 metre of snow/ice/rime slopes.
When it comes to the crux of the route, Knuuttila told Gripped that it was continually bold climbing. “There was a lot of mental exhaustion due to not-so-good protection on the difficult pitches. Bold and committing are cliches but hard to describe that in any other way. Maybe for some Rockies master that would have been a easy jog but not for us.”
Knuuttila is known to the Canadian alpine scene thanks to his trip to Nepal with Alberta-based Tim Banfield and Quentin Roberts in 2019. The three climbers received the John Lauchlan Award for an attempt on Tengkangpoche.
“I just moved to Narvik, Norway, in mid-October,” he said, “so this has been my first full season up here. There’s so much more to do, but nothing that I’m going to share.” Knuuttila said that he’s never visited Canada but that it’s on his list.
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