Here we go again

with crappy home videos. The music is good though.

Few words about the climbing in Dalarna: Only two hours drive from Uppsala, lots of blocks everywhere and the rock is gooood, real crimps without spikes in them. Loves! We only visited two areas and the second day was a shortie before it started to pour from the sky but definitely going back there and hopefully soon.

Dalarskoj from Pad Lady on Vimeo.

Hooray!

Autumn is almost here!



Söndaxmysklättring from Pad Lady on Vimeo.

Long time no hear..

Musicaaa...

Great live band from Sweden.


Goat - "Run To Your Mama" from Anthony Ciannamea / Effixx on Vimeo.

Fireworks and slow dancing in the space, my luv for the 80's is eternal.



For a non-listener of black metal this sounds like Sigur Rós gone black and heavy. Easy approach to screaming and one of this years best albums.

Tropical Sweden

Bouldering with mosquitoes and horse-flies is so much fun, but rather them than anything poisonous, there is supposed to be one viper species like in Finland, but I haven't seen any in Sweden. Swedish summer offers wild raspberries and blueberries beside the boulders and there is still light until ten in the evening. Usually there is a lake in the hood so you can have a nice after climb swim. Sounds good on paper, however I still prefer couple of minus degrees instead of plus 25 and snow instead of horse-flies, good thing is that autumn will be here before we even realize it - happyhappyjoyjoy!  

 Purple stains

 After climb swim

A short clip of Elli climbing some version of General in Högbo. We did not have all the info with us so we just climbed this version, super nice line anyway on excellent rock.

Summer evening bouldering in tropical conditions from Pad Lady on Vimeo.

Holiday shots

 Sweating and beating out the office dust is a crucial part of a successful holiday.

Second stop in Straumen. A very nice boulder place which I have visited four times in the past but always ended up just window shopping in the rain. This time I actually got to climb something.

Waiting for the ferry to Lofoten in Skutvik and thinking if it is possible to be tired of this view.

My first classic rack pic. 

My first jamming tapes. I never thought I would were these. It feels so awkward and uncomfortable to jam but in the end I started to get the hang of it and could actually enjoy it. 

Continuing with my firsts... Stand.

My hostess checking out my second stand :) on the classic Bare Blåbaer. I did not have that much experience in leading trad before arriving, two times three years ago and once this summer on a 7 m wall so I was very excited about the possibility to hop into a longer route during my first day.  

Almost finished. When repelling down, the thing that I have been the most scared off happened, I dropped my atc. Luckily there was a small ledge where it stopped so I was able to climb down and get it. I had forgotten or was unsure how to do the simple italian hitch knot which saves you in situations like these. Now I know it and have tattooed it in my mind. We got home at 3 am and it was still daylight outside. It was the best climbing day but also the toughest, it took me several days to recover completely, mainly my calves were the problem and were aching for ages.   

Back home in Henningsvaer.

Cloudberries beside Presten boulders. This time I bouldered only once and that was because of bad conditions to do traditional plus we wanted to just get outside and have fun. Experiencing a tiny bit what the huge pillars have to offer I am afraid to say this, but I would never ever go to this place to do just bouldering anymore. 

 Rainy days offer walking tours in a beautiful landscape.

On the way back home I had a little city vacation in Umeå and I must say I was positively surprised how nice and lively this northern Swedish city was. Mosjön boulders

Let the party begin!

Did a 36 h roadtrip to Västervik hoping that the spring would be slightly longer there than in Uppsala. Not quite, there is still a lot of snow but to give an update for those who are interested: björnblocket was ok, röda väggen was topoutable although a bit wet and scary, gröna väggen was quite wet except for Tremor that was ok for topping out - not for us though since we were totally crushed when we finally arrived. I am not quite dancing up the rocks yet but it feels good and it is so great to be able to climb outside again! And what is even greater is to be able to climb with motivating and positive people, Miss Elli did her first 7b+ (Nomad) and it was so fun to be able to share that happy moment. She used a mono beta for the middle finger and my pulley almost snapped just from watching her do it. Fun times! A little clip below

Festervik from Pad Lady on Vimeo.

Reuniting

With real rock after a years break was pretty good. I felt like Poopy Doo who went totally bananas when  she hopped out of the car and realized we were at one of the home boulders that she ran like a whippet back and forth accompanied with continuous barking for 15 min. Pure joy for all of us.

Källberga

Winter mist

A week later we went to Åkers where all the top outs were covered in snow and ice except vault assault and co. Spring is coming with full speed and climbing feels better and better each week.

Miss Elli rocking:

Vault Assault, Åkers from Pad Lady on Vimeo.

Music to get into that spring mood: