Parts of the Tatatataa collective joined us to Åland over Easter. Martin filmed and and edited in his usual manner.
Aurinko paistaa
Olli struggling to hang on to the slopers on Lähetyssaarnaaja.
Eevi on a pretty nice arete.
Mainland Finland probably isn’t famous for it’s climbing but for sure there are a couple of gems. Two of them are Falkberget and the sandstone!!?? bouldering area E75 close to Lahti. A couple of weekends ago I was invited show some slides (pics) and got the opportunity to climb at these two locations. Nice rock, cool routes, great friends and beautiful spring weather. I was probably most pleased with flashing the crack Charlatan at Falkberget.
Easter was spent at the more popular destination in the Åland archipelago. More about that later.
Motion picture
Our friend Martin filmed and edited this little snippet.
Erik å Erik klättrar Moonwalker på Bistaberget i Nyköping.
Talking the Talk and Walking the Moonwalk
Has slab climbing become fasionable? Well, at least this particular route seems to be the talk of the town.
Scott Mooneys first ascent two weeks ago of Moonwalker at Bistaberget near Nyköping, about an hour and a half from Stockholm got a couple of us buzzing. Not that it’s a stunning line, don’t get me wrong, it’s not by any means bad but it was more the style that intrigued me, a bouldery and slabby face climb at Scandinavian 9- (8a) with miniscule holds, delicate feet and funky sequences, a style not that common on routes of that difficulty. Last weekend a couple of us went down to see what the whole shebang was all about and try the route. We played around on it for a bit and even though I technically was rather close I felt like I was miles away. Erik Lundqvist showed us who was master of his domain by redpointing it fairly easily while Martin and I looked and felt fat, week and uncoordinated.
Martin "Goldie locks" Lejdebrant playing on Moonwalker.
This Saturday young and talented Simon Andersson, who couldn’t join us last weekend, was eager to tag along to get even with this sneaky little devil. Weather looked pretty grim when we left Stockholm in a drizzle but the forecast had predicted better conditions at Bista. It proved to be half right, just slightly better; one of the few routes that were reasonably dry was our plat du jour which was good enough for us. Most everything else was dripping so we warmed up with a shot of coffee and a cigarette before we set to work. Again the crux felt ridiculously hard but after a few goes and some fine tuning of the moves the holds suddenly felt resonable and not too far a part and the send was a fact. Simon followed my example and fired it as well, his first route of that grade IAD. F**king Brilliant! Feeling rather satisfied with our feat, we cooled down with some more coffee and some smokes before heading off to nearby Simonsberget where we scrambled around for a while before calling it quits.
On the wrong side of vertical.
The weekend was spent on the positive side of vertical as both Saturday, Sunday as well as Monday were spent slab climbing. Saturday was dedicated to Scott Mooneys newly established route Moonwalker at Bistaberget, a rather short route with a bouldery slabby crux. Pretty difficult. I failed, Martin failed while young, gifted and slack Erik Lundquist also failed but eventually sent in qood style. Super cool and I guess I’ve gotta go down there again quite soon.
The next two days I spent in Västerås to visit my parents and visit some customers and I took the opportunity to boulder at my beloved Gryta boulders, just a couple of minutes walk from my parents house. During my highschool days I spent a lot of time bouldering there and it’s as close to a home climbing area it can get for me. I had my eye on a slab that’s been on my mind for ages, one of the area’s last great problems (not so great maybe, but one of the last obvious lines at least), first as an impossible wall, and later as a possible project. Together with local boys Jonas Franzén, Johan Ernlund and Tommy Torsne we figured out the basics of the moves quite quickly but it took tons of tries spread out over two sessions before I actually sent. Through out the process I think I fell on every possible position and move. Eventually, when my tips where shredded and taped up, it finally went down. Nordväggen direkt, The Direct North face
Johan had a good day as well and sent Nitty Gritty later on. Wicked!
Inspiration
Bjørn Eivind Årtun på Dracula. Ph: Colin Haley
För nån vecka sen damp “Tidskrift for Norsk Alpinklattring 11″ ned i brevinkastet och precis som av förra årets utgåva blev jag mycket imponerad. 80 sidor fullspäckade med bilder och text om klättring och klättrare. Återigen har redaktionen bestående av Mårten Blixt, Geir Arne Bore, Bjarte Bø och Audun Bratrud gjort ett gediget arbete med att blanda förstahandsbeskrivningar av nyturer i norska fjell, inspirerande intervjuer med ett par av vår tids mest spännande profiler, återblickar till svunna tiders äventyr med filosofiska betraktelser och fiktion. Några exempel är Andreas Klarströms berättelse om sin förstabestigning solo av Mardalsmysteriet i Eikesdalen, Hilde Bjørgaas om Hanna Melins och hennes bestigning av Hoka Hey på Kjerag, Bores intervju med en av skandinaviens mest imponerande alpinister, Bjørn Eivind Årtun, Colin Haleys referat från hans och nämnde Årtuns Piolet d’or-nominerade nytur på Mount Foraker i Alaska, Dracula samt Hans Jörg Auers beskrivning av deras lite ifrågasatta nyturslink-up på Blaamann Nordvegg. Bland mycket annat. Jag ska självklart inte glömma Bjartes unika intervju med Sindre Sæter. I övrigt, fina bilder, tjockt och lyxigt papper, sober lay out och inte minst det där som får en att bara vilja komma sig ut bland berg och stenar och klättra.
Spring in Stockholm
Stefan Wulf sticking the final dyno on Mr Magister to make the first send of the year and by doing so earning himself a beer. Photo: Erik Lindvall
Travelling back from Chalten was maybe not a nightmare, but definately not pleasant. nearly 60 hours of travel via El Calafate, Ushuaia, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and London before landing at Arlanda where Sofia, Audun and Hilde where waiting to suprise me. I once again was reminded of the fact that I really don’t like travelling, more hate it, but I certainly love visiting new places. It’s a quite big difference.
Anyhow, it’s great to be back home in Stockholm with my family as well as friends. Climbing wise it feels like I got the timing just perfect. The winter season was just diminishing as I left for Argentina and now as I get back spring season is accellerating. Saturday was the first day on rock for me after coming home last week. Splitter winter weather made climbing on the south facing Dödskalleberget rather pleasant and it attracted quite a crowd. These first days of early spring on Dödskalleberget have sort of become an institution for the Stockholm climbing scene and even though I’ve climbed these routes countless times it’s so nice to feel the sun gradually heating up the rock after it’s winter hibernation. It’s good to be back home.
Topping out Holidays in Eden, one of my favorite routes around town. Photo: Erik Lindvall
Patagonia: Random Pics from the Chocolateria
La Choco
One of my favorite places to hang out at in El Chalten is the Chocalateria josh Aike. Great coffee, awesome chocolate, sick brownies, rustique atmosphere and loads of climbing mags.
Josh Aike Chocolateria
Paradise
David vs the choclateria.
Andreas Bergström dreaming.
Anabel making some of the best chocolate out there.
Magnus and Thomas.
David
Patagonia: An inspired Moment
Thanks to Seba at Aylen Aike for making our stay so pleasant. Thomas posing for the wall of fame.
After a wet departing party for some gringos and a long night that ended up at the lokal Tango place in El Chalten, Thomas Meling and I got inspired to make use of the last little window of good weather. We started our hike up to Paso Guillamet after an early dinner and made it up to the bivi well past midnight. After a few houres sleep in the pass followed by a shot of coffee and some Clif bars we started scrambling up the Brenner route in head lights and summited at 8.30 am. We rapped the Amy couloir and were back by 10 just as the wind picked up, just as the forcast had predicted. A mellow lunch at the pass before we raced down the talus and made it back to the Rio Electrico bridge in 2.40 h. Way better than submitting to being hung over and watching movies at the hostel.
Scrambling in magic morning light. Fhoto: Thomas Meling
Piergiorgio and Pollone massif.
North ridge of Aguja Guillamet.
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