Story 12/21: Northern lights above frozen water fall
| Tale group: | 1st 21 stories |
| Class: | Stories by continents |
| Themes: | Adventure, exploration, nature, water sports, ice fall climbing |
| Books: | Starlight & storm (1956), car maps, fotos, 1990’s climbing magazines, boot, ice screws, crampons |
| Continent: | Europe |
| Location: | Greven & Grevinnan, Stora Sjöfallet National Park, Sweden |
| Time: | March, 1995 |
Story 12/21: Northern lights above frozen water fall
Ice climbing in Sweden
March, 1995
Tik, tik. Final swings of ice axes and moving my grip from the helve to the top of the tool, while I smack the crampoons step by step towards the top. I can see three shadows in the darkness waiting for my arrival. Snow crunches below their feet, when they are jumping to resist the cold.
“Oh, you saw it fit to arrive? Enjoyed the scenery?”
“Heh. For the last 20 minutes I have not been looking back, just been hammering the ice and collecting the ice screws to get to the top. Oh, hi, I’m Toni.”
“Andreas och Jonas. We climbed the Greven after the other two Finns. They went down already.”
“How was Grevinnan?”
“Lower part was a stroll, but the start of the steep section was streaming with water for about ten meters. Got soaked!”
“That explains your speed on the last section.”
“Yeah! Need to get warm!”
“How about getting down, then?”
“Sure! Do you know the path? Or what did you have in mind?”
“It is bit long way and it is dark already.”
“So, how about Abalakov thread?”
“Bless ya. Say WHAT?”
“Well, basically making two matching holes with ice screws, so that we can thread a cord through and put the belay on that.”
“There will be an added belay with a single ice screw slinged together with the Abalakov for the first three. The last one then takes the extra sling and the ice screw and abseils with the pre-tested cord.”
“Fab. And being on the feather side of us, I guess more than once it will be me with the last ticket down…”
“Oh, you still compute.”
“Well then. Do we agree?”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s hit it. It is not getting any warmer!”
I am hanging on the second belay, couple of hundred meters above the bottom of the snowy valley. Two Swedes are securely rope-length below and they are already preparing the next Abalakov. As my partner is abseiling, for a moment it feels, I have the fjeld to myself.
I rub my hands and keep raising my weary shoulders to boost the circulation. I cannot really jump, as the ice ledge I am standing is about 15 cm “wide” and I am attached to the ice fall from my harness. Then I stop. There is strange, silent crackling in the air.
At first, I think it is the ice-wall popping as the night is getting colder. But the sound seems to come from above. I raise my head to the night sky.
“Ooh. Guys. Look up! Northers lights! Can you hear them?”
“Wow! Yeah – weird rustle. Like a silenced fire of spruce…”
“Wild! Never saw them before!”
“Not a bad place for the first sight – eh!”
Epilogue: Getting soaked climbing about ten meters in a constant stream of icy water and wearing only quilted pants without any protection against water – or having stayed in the University town to watch TV after hard studies for the next week exams… Life is about choosing. I am really happy, that I had – and still have those friends, who also chose to get up and challenge ourselves.
Nature keeps surprising, if you give it a chance and explore. It is not necessary to travel to World class Natural reserves. Just paying closer attention to the features and little creatures of any urban park, small forest or water area may be eye opening and most rewarding.
Disclaimer: Story is true, but the names have been changed. At the date of our arrival our team of two climbed the more demanding Grevinnan “The Countess”, right (WI4). Next day we were able to start in the morning and topped Greven “The Count”, left ((WI3).
Some background data:
Natural resources:
GHG, Greenhouse Gases, human related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Greenhouse_gas_emissions_from_human_activities
Net zero emissions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_zero_emissions
National parks:
Stora Sjöfallet National Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stora_Sjöfallet_National_Park
Natural parks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_park
Ice climbing in Stora Sjöfallet: https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/stora_sjofallet-11716/#overview
Mining:
Mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining
Kiruna mine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiruna_mine
Moving the town: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiruna_mine#Moving_the_town
Production of steel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelmaking
Questions – see links above, books, Internet or digital media for answers:
1.Living on the edge. In the above story the Finn coming last to the top is at his first longer than two pitches (1 pitch = 50 m, a rope length) ice route. The route is so demanding (WI4), that two more experienced climbers decide not to climb it. So, by the time of lengthy abseil (ascending with ropes) his energy levels are close to zero. Situation with our usage of the resources of our planet is worse.
Only three out of nine planetary boundaries are on sustainable level. At 2/3 of the measured earth-system processes humanity is constantly exceeding the renewing capacity of nature. See “About Planetary Boundaries” under “Useful links” at the right sidebar. To return to safe levels, dramatic drop of use of natural resources is needed. In brief, we need to consume less.
As industry and energy usage are largest GHG producing human activities, changing them to produce less GHG (Greenhouse Gases) is essential. Fastest and most effective way is, if the industry would produce less and instead of tossing away broken products, we would fix them. What would that mean in terms of lost and converted work places? How would it impact global trade and transport?
2. National parks. The ice falls of Greven and Grevinnan are in the natural park of Stora Sjöfallet (literally “large lake falls”). It covers large parts of Nordic fjelds, hilly arctic lake area.
Out of the nine planetary boundaries at least three can be directly combined to the Stora Sjöfallet Natural Park:
1. freshwater use: fjeld collects lot of snow and ice and rain, distributing it to lower lands
2. land system change: human activities at nature parks are limited
3. erosion of biosphere integrity: plants and animals within nature reserves are usually protected
Can you think of other benefits of nature parks? Consider:
– recreation: studies show calming nature of nature and parks to human well-being
– spread of forestry, agriculture, mining and industry
– meaning of larger areas without constant human presence and influence
3. Mining. There are open and underground mines. The largest underground iron mine is at town of Kiruna, about 100 km from the Stora Sjöfallet Natural Park. On the road roughly 250 km. There is so much iron ore at Kiruna, that they have decided to move the whole town, to be able to extract more iron.
As there is lot of iron in the bedrock of Northern Sweden and Finland, there is mining and production of steel from that iron ore. Traditional process of steelmaking includes coal and year 2019 7% of total CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions of the country of Finland became from one single steel producing plant at Raahe. Also, on international level production of concrete and steel have vast ecological impacts.
Best option in restoring the planetary boundaries is consuming less. Secondary is to produce, what is produced so, that it lasts long and can be easily maintained and repaired. The term “Green steel” refers to steelmaking, where coal is replaced by hydrogen. Direct CO2-release is lower, but it requires about three times more energy. Building new energy sources require mining for their raw materials, so at the end of the day metal recycling is considerably more sustainable than any production of new steel.
Mining is done to extract from Earth materials we cannot grow or manufacture. Look around you. What objects probably have required some mining to be produced? Consider:
– The room you are is. Are the walls of concrete or plasterboard (gypsum board)?
– The device you are reading this from?
– The cables that provide the electricity and tubes for water and plumbing?
– The furniture. Is there any metal or plastic?
See “TIPS”, below or search the Internet or your favourite Apps, if in doubt.
4. Discuss. Your view: What thoughts did rise in your mind having read the story, browsing through the background material and answering to the three questions above? Can you see links between the three topics handled in questions above? Discuss with your pair.
TIPS:
Mining and extraction of minerals:
Metal ores are mined for construction, electronics, transport, machines, etc. Construction and infrastructure require extraction of all kinds of rock and sandy material. Fossils (oil, gas, coal) are widely removed from Earth for combustible energy to heat houses, run processes and for transport.
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