Finnish climber Juho Knuuttila has established a new route on the northeast face of Lappviktinden Peak (1,338m) in Norway. He has called the route Lappblad 600m (6).
One week ago, after Knuuttila had guided on Sydpillaren in Nordland, the weather still looked excellent. So Knuuttila headed to Skjomen, a small fiord in Narvik municipality. He arrived without any plans.
Juho Knuuttila’s new route on the northeast face of Lappviktinden Peak in northern Norway. Photo: Juho Knuuttila
He found a spot for his tent under 1,338m Lappviktinden Peak and became entranced by the rock faces. One line in particular caught his attention, but he didn’t have a topo with him. So instead, Knuuttila asked a friend to send him some pictures from it.
“Indeed, the razor’s edge of the 1,338m summit didn’t seem to have a route on it yet,” Knuuttila posted on social media.
During the climb. Photo: Juho Knuuttila
The climb
The next morning at 10:30 am, he started on the wall. He free soloed the first 100m, then switched to rope soloing.
“The first two pitches are probably the same as in Cafe Solo but then my line went left,” he recalled. “Climbing was mostly grade five but also six-pitches here and there. I lost count of pitches but I probably did 15.”
His fast progress on the wall halted when the line began to follow the edge. Soon he was laybacking and pinching that razor’s edge while the exposure grew. Finally, he pulled over an overhang straight to the summit at 7 pm.
“It started drizzling 10 minutes later. The views were amazing, and the solitude is something I have been looking for,” Knuuttila said.
After the climb, he hiked back to his car in two hours.
