Barrels & Tickmarks

Hatchling

2011-06-11T19:43:00.002+03:00

Today we spent the day around Hatchling (8a) and Sky (8b+), and even if Andy didn't climb Sky yet, he managed to do Hatchling. Had a go on it myself, super nice problem and the first moves are easy, but God does it get hard after the third move.

Andy toping out Hatchling

After he had climbed it, we moved towards Sky, spent a small amount of time on Fin, managed to Flash it, and then took a wrong turn (Thanks to Björn) and got a bit lost before we finally found Sky. While Andy and Kuutti were trying out the moves, I climbed Girlfriends Problem, which is a nice easy problem for those who don't have a winning chance on Sky.

After a couple of hours, we started to head back, stopping at Shadows of Ourselves (7c), Andy flashed it, and Kuutti climbed it on his third try, and I found another nice problem for myself to project.

Now, we have the barbecue on again and trying to figure out, which sector we should go to tomorrow, will it be Roadside and Rhino, or Fields of Joy and No Late Benders.

Andy flashes his first 8a+

2011-06-07T19:51:00.008+03:00

We have been in Rocklands for a week now, and even if my ticklist isn't anything special, except I've been doing a wicked barbecue every night, and I reckon that is where Andy is getting all his power from.

Today we headed towards Sassies, a sector that has quite an interesting approach. Note to others, you will scratch the shit out of your cars, well me and Andy have a rental so we don't really care, except I think you could hear me swearing as far as Clanwilliam today on the approach.

added note: Just to clarify things up, as somebody doesn't know how to read between lines, of course we care about the rental car as the damage will come out of our wallets.

We arrived to the crag quite late, and started of with some roof climbing, me flashing the easiest 7a in the world, felt more like a 6a+, Andy warmed up with a nice 7b+ next to it, got some nice beta and spend the rest of my day on it. I got a flapper on my big toe from the other day, and it is giving me some trouble when I have to but weight on my left foot.

Andy continued to try out Pinotage 7c+, and climbed it on his third go. I went back in to my cave, and it didn't take long when he came back smiling, he had just flashed his first 8a+ (Shosholoza) and quickly flashed Paula Abdul 7c+ after that.

We left the crag before it started to get dark, so we could get our barbecue going again. Now it's time to drink a couple of beers, relax and gather strength for tomorrow. We haven't decided where we are heading, but on the way back to our cottage we had a quick talk about heading towards the sector where Sky 8b+ is located, so maybe there will be more news in the near future.

ps: I'm really sorry about my grammar, but been here and spending time on a computer is a crime.

Africa Updates 1...

2011-06-03T20:29:00.004+03:00

Had a pretty nice day yesterday, managed to send Dirty Lies (7a+) quite quickly, today had a go on Question of Balance (7b), it felt quite good but didn't manage to do it on my first session, also had a go on Rhino (7b+) which is such a nice problem and waiting to get on it again.

Trying out Rhino. Photo. Jarmo Annunen

Tomorrow some of us are having a rest day, Andy was kind enough and has agreed to be my porter and carry some pads for me up the Plateau so I can have a go on Minki again.

The young gun needs a rest day after sending some hard boulders in the past days. Yesterday he sent Late Benders (8a), he did it on his second go, also saw some nice flashing on Macho King (7c+) and Berserker (7c+), and he finished his day by topping out Solar Power (8a). Today he climbed Madiba (8b+) in 15 minutes and he said that it felt like a solid (8a+).

Andy sending Madiba, Photo. Jarmo Annunen

Met Ethan Pringle today, also trying Madiba, and he fell just before the top.

Rocklands 2011

2011-06-02T09:30:00.020+03:00

Driving out of Cape Town airport was an exciting experience, some local people had warn us on the plane about the dangerous one can encounter on the roads here in South Africa. But in the end we managed to drive out to Rocklands without any problems what so ever. It wasn’t even that hard to drive a stick using your left hand even if it has been a long time since I’ve did it and I've come to the conclusion that after being in traffic in Mumbai nothing really scares me that much anymore.

About 40 kilometers before Clanwilliam we started to see some boulders along the road, and it was hard for me to watch the road as we glazed on the rock with Andy.

When we finally got to our destination here at De Pakhuys it didn’t take us long to drive to the nearby crag. In this case the nearest one was the Plateau. I started the trip with some easy stuff and had a go on Minky (7b), which is a really nice problem and in the nearby days I will go back and send it, was way too tired from the trip to send it, yeah I know it’s an excuse but for me it’s a good one.

Andy started his trip quite well and did Black Velvet (8a) on his third go, if he would have used his beta straight away, I reckon he would have flashed it. One of his goals on this trip was to flash a 8a problem and even if he didn’t flash Black Velvet it only took two days to fulfill one of his goals, as on the second day he flashed Barracuda (8a). I got the ascent on video, there isn’t any video magic on this one, as I’m not going to ask him to climb a problem twice on this trip, I will rather watch him send as much stuff as possible.

So we spend the second day at the 8-day rain sector, and I think we went around about half of the stuff. I have to say as a sandstone virgin that I absolutely love it. My own climbing wasn’t that good on the second day, got some pain in my back and almost called quits for the day, but just had to try Vlad the Impeller (7c), it’s a really nice problem with really nice crimps, and I will be returning to it as I only have two moves left to do.

Next to Vlad was Paul Robinsons The Big Short (8a), originally graded 8b+, which Andy quickly repeated in about five tries. It is amazing to see him climb and I have a feeling that he will be sending some really hard stuff at the end of the trip.

Tomorrow we will be heading out to check out the sector called Fields of Joy, our host Thys who owns the cottage is arranging our permits to the other sectors and until we get them we will be spending our time on sectors he owns. I count him as one of the luckiest men I’ve ever met, he lives in one of the most amazing places I have ever visited, surrounded by quality bouldering and stunning scenery.

For me South Africa brings back memories from my time spent in Australia. With the chilly winter evening and even chillier morning as the house doesn’t have any heating and the cold air sneaks in during the nights. But I am enjoying it, unfortunately some of my fellow travellers feel the cold more than I do, and have been getting cold during the nights. Another thing that reminds me of my old home has been the night sky here in Africa, the stars are so bright and seeing the Milky Way for the first time in four years has made me smile.

I will be trying to update my blog as often as I can, but my main goal on this trip is to boulder a lot, so don’t be expecting amazing video clips, photography or well written blog posts as I will be hugging as many problems my skin can take.

Life is a Bitch

2011-05-19T12:24:00.003+03:00

Last summer I was the bitch who stayed behind when everybody else left Finland and went around Europe to some of the best locations for some bouldering. I remember getting messages from my mates who were in Magic Woods saying that they were having an awesome time. Some of them were there for two weeks; some were there for a month or so.

And again I know a fistful of people who are heading towards that magical forest that is situated in Switzerland, but am I staying behind and spending my summer indoors. Not this time, am I going to Swizz, nope, but am I going somewhere to destroy my skin? Hell yeah and it isn’t just any spot, it’s around 10 500 km’s away from Helsinki. So what are my plans?

In ten days I will be getting on a plane here in Helsinki, and the route is the following: Helsinki-Vantaa / Frankfurt / Abu Dhabi / Johannesburg / Cape Town.

After that, Anthony and me will be racing towards our future home for the next six weeks: a cabin in the middle of Rocklands, spending every inch of our skin grabbing some red sandstone.

So this post is dedicated to all the little bitches out there, stay positive you might not be going anywhere this year, but maybe the summer of 2012 will be your time to shine.

Indonesia photos.

2011-04-05T18:36:00.004+03:00

I won't write about Bali yet, I got my notes all done, but I want to write about it when I got more than ten minutes of free time. But here's some photos from the trip. Hope you like them...

Yudi coming out from the water.

The coast of eastern Bali.

Self-portrait

Surfing at Kuta Lombok

Leena just before we headed towards Gili Islands (Lombok)

Local kids trying to climb the greased pole to get some prizes. (Gili Air)

Rush hour on the local highway (Lombok)

A local fishermen village, got lost and found ourselves on a beach full of boats.

Sunset at Kuta Lombok.

Sessions

2011-04-03T16:23:00.004+03:00

It’s fun to get in to a groove and be with you boys that you can just feed off energy and, whether it’s climbing plastic in the gym, whether it’s bouldering, whether it’s sport climbing, you know it’s the session that’s about to go down were everybody are dropped off and ready to drop in…

That is what climbing means to me, it’s not about climbing hard grades. Even if grades do motivate us, make us smile or more often make us frustrated. The main thing is to have fun, push each other to your personal limit, and then more. It’s about those whoops and hollers when you succeed in one single move, or topping out your projects or spotting your friend who is so close succeeding his dreams by just climbing one single boulder problem that has a name that doesn’t make any sense.

It’s about waiting for upcoming trips, bets that have been done (waiting to see if Kuutti can succeed with his bet done between him and Nalle when we get to Rocklands this summer), and of course checking out topos (Scott Noy actually published one for Rocklands not so long ago, check it out if you want a paperback topo instead of all the printed A4’s) of the area, and making a ticklist of which problems to try out.

For all of the reasons stated above I train. First of all the text that will follow this sentence isn’t trying to be an official article about training, as I don’t know anything about systematic training or about the human anatomy, so if you disagree with me you are welcome to write a comment, but please leave the 8a.nu kind of trolling to that particular site. But if you do write a comment, I will answer each one of them and I promise I will not blame Björn Pohl or UKC for my wrongly written so called “article”.

I don’t really know why I am trying to write a training blog entry, when I don’t believe I’m in really good shape, but then there are people who come to the gym and ask me what do I do when I train during the winter months, or the usual: “what do you eat, because I never really see you training but you flash my projects”.

First of all I don’t usually flash anything, or sometimes I do but very rarely. Secondly I train quite a bit, it just doesn’t look like training, I don’t have that particular expression on my face that says: if I don’t do my certain circuit of ten 6c’s tonight, I’m not allowed to have that sauna beer either.

My idea of training at the moment is climbing a 20-degree overhanging wall with small holds, the routes are not color graded, the moves are not that dynamic, or do I really care that much if I don’t succeed with the problems, as long as I can feel my muscles doing some work, as long as I can get a harder move done over some time and as long as I have a smile on my face or just laughing it out with a friend when we both cant do a single move...

Why am I mainly climbing overhanging walls with smaller holds at the moment? Well my trip to Rocklands is closing in, and in the next 60 days I have to become a better climber; I have to improve my foot technique, I have to get stronger fingers, I have to absolutely get ripped when it comes to my core strength and getting a bit lighter never harmed a climber either (my GF is going to get the shits with me for trying to lose a couple of kg’s after that sentence).

So don’t expect to get me out and about in town for the next two months. Rather expect to see me in the bouldering gyms, pools, running along Viikki, getting excited about the trip and updating this blog with something else than “articles & entries” about training.

Intro...

2011-04-01T15:49:00.001+03:00

If there is one thing we can all relate to it’s our dreams and the hope that one day they will become the reality.

My blog started as “the Art of Travel”, but when I suddenly came back from China I thought it would be good to change the name and call it “Everyday is a Saturday”, as I was having a great time skiing that winter, and my bouldering habit was being kept alive by destroying my skin in the gym around five times a week.

During the season that still keeps going here in Finland I have had around +40 days on my skis, I did some surfing for the first time in over four years on my quick trip to Bali, and also trained quite a bit during the winter months with those awfully plastic holds we all love.

But now I have come to the conclusion that I want to change the name again, or I don’t know if I want to change it, it’s more that my mind has evolved from the thought that everyday is a Saturday to a lot of dreams I have had considering my life and the hope that hangs around them that one day my life will be what I have wanted for a long time.

A lot has changed since my last update in January. I’ve been to the other side of the globe, spent two weeks in a paradise. I have also moved apartments here in Helsinki cutting my expenses in half, making my trip to work much longer but at the same time my distance to the library has been cut down to under a kilometre. Why do I bring up the library? Since I have finished university in 2008, I have tried to read at least one book in two weeks, I have tried to find new areas that inspire me, and now that I live next to a building full of books I am quite confident that I will read more and more.

I’m going to try to make some time up between training, working, and my social life to study some new interesting subjects, I’m also going to try to get out with my camera more often, it has been hidden away for too long, and finally I’m going to try to figure out which of my dreams should I try to pursue and how…

Upcoming trips...

2011-01-12T11:07:00.002+02:00

I’ll start this one with a small apology, I haven’t updated for two weeks.

Why? Well I’ve had other things in my mind, like my upcoming trip to Norway or Sweden; yeah we are still trying to figure out where to go. The avalanche risk in Norway is quite high at the moment, and personally I don’t want to drive up there to ski only 10% that we would want to ski, or take some stupid risk and get ourselves killed. The area in Sweden we are thinking about has got a lot of snow in the past week, and looks like a good option as well.

Secondly I can’t really write about climbing either, as I fucked up my shoulder again. I managed to hurt it at the start of the ski season, and now I managed to pop it when climbing. So it’s going to be a bit of a rest for me, and another reason to take my upcoming ski trip a bit more lightly then I was thinking.

Which brings me to the third thing. Another reason and the main one I don’t want to hurt myself any further is that I am flying over to Bali in February to meet up with Leena, and hopefully surf a bit. We will see how it goes, as its been a long time since I stood on a board, but I’m not really worried about the surfing part as long as I am having fun, and I get to share the time over there with Leena.

Time to head out again and fill this lovely little book with some new stamps and visas.

So I think the next two weeks will be quiet here again, and when I get back from Norway I will give you the Low Down what happened there.

Christmas Wishes...

2010-12-20T22:47:00.004+02:00

The snow just keeps on coming down, inch by inch here in Finland. But at the same time snow reports from Norway are starting to look really bad. The latest one I checked out a week ago from Hemsedal promised around 10 inches at the top, and at the same time we got 28 inches in freaking Helsinki.

The season has started quite good considering myself. I’m building up my confidence by destroying myself by the kickers at Talma a local resort that rises up to a huge 181 feet. Yeah, it’s not a skier’s paradise but it’s something different and I enjoy every aspect of skiing. Doesn’t matter if it’s kickers, rails, riding switch down a small hill, but in the end nothing beats those tiny particles of frozen water that we call pow hitting your face as you launch down a mountain.

Tiny drops at Hallainvuori, both photos by Matti Salminen

Lately we have been scouting around Helsinki, looking for some short fun “urban” lines. Last Saturday we hit a spot called Hallainvuori, nothing that special, a couple of turns here and there, and some tiny drops and a lot of rocks.

Sunday morning went by at Talma, I managed to bruise both my ankles by overshooting the landing twice in a row. Continued to Salmisaari to do some shitty looking sport climbing and ended my evening just thinking about a bunch of stuff considering tricks, snow, future trips and the upcoming weeks.

.Doing the snow dance to improve Norway's conditions.

So it’s three more workdays and then it’s time to hit my old hometown for Christmas. Only going to spend a couple of days there, and then head of to Himos with Vellu for some fun in the snow.

So does yours truly have any Christmas wished? Yeah I do, all I want for Christmas this year is a lot of snow around Norway.

Urgent Likes needed!

2010-12-08T21:55:00.002+02:00

Ok, a friend of mine is in the final of a competition were she can win a season ticket to Chamonix. So if people could just click on the link ---> LINK and like the page. I think she would be quite happy about it, and I don't have to deal with her wining this winter :D

Btw. Landed my first 360 with my skis today. So psyched....

Ski ski ski...

2010-12-07T15:34:00.004+02:00

First I’ll apologize to all the climbers who read this blog, as winter has finally hit Finland and I reckon there will be more updates about snow related stuff then climbing. Of course if something amazing in my training happens I will give you an update, but I don’t think my level will jump to 8a anytime soon.

Last Saturday we spent the day at Messilä, yeah I know it not Chamonix neither is it Lyngen or Narvik, but still it’s a place we you can go down and just ski. I had a talk with a couple of friends the other week and they kind of gave me shit about me being so psyched about these tiny little hills, as they were going to Chamonix etc… But I have a different kind of view about these places, and I think it’s easy to compare it to climbing.

Messilä afterski

We all love to climb outside, I don’t think there’s anything better, okay skiing is better, but anyway even if we still love climbing outside, a lot of us climb indoors as well. Why? Because we want to train for the outdoor season, and bring all that new power and technique on the boulders. The same thing with skiing, if you can land a jump from a kicker well it’s so much easier to have the courage and skills to land a drop in the backcountry. All those days spent in a park or a crapy slope is still training for something bigger, yeah you can’t really learn how to ski deep pow on these slopes but it definitely helps a lot.

I’ve been out five days this season, and I feel this will be the best season of my life out at the backcountry and also in the park. I’ve finally found a ski that suites me, it’s a bit shorter then recommended for somebody with my height, but at the same time it’s a bit wider what I usually have used. I’ve also bought a pair of park skis that I’ll take out the next time, hopefully tomorrow.

By the way, people who actually read this, could you drop a comment at the end, as I am a bit interested who read this, and also if there is something you want me to write about don’t hesitate to suggest it. Peace out.

Season started...

2010-11-23T15:49:00.003+02:00

About a year ago I was sitting on my ass in a hotel room in China watching Poor Boyz Productions: Everyday is a Saturday and just dreaming about snow. I also ended up starting my season in late December after I returned from China for some personal reasons.

Since then a lot has happened, my blog name changed from The Art of Travel to Everyday is a Saturday. I also made a deal when I returned to work at Boulderkeskus for a year, and after that head off to do some work in my on field of studies. That plan also changed when Jarmo asked me to start running his company, so my year has been extended for at least three years, and my late start in the ski season has been replaced to an early start which was yesterday.

My new Line's on the left and my old K2's on the right.

Finland had a really hot summer this year, which made climbing hard, we had a really good but short fall season for bouldering, and now we had an early start with the ski season after a bit of snowfall.

So yesterday we headed out to a tiny ski centre called Serena, our intention was just to hike the tiny thing as they open around 4 pm but unfortunately the gates were closed, they were making new snow and building up some jumps so it was off limits. So we ended up hiking up an even smaller one near my work called Malminkartanon Jätemäki. This certain piece of dirt takes under five minutes to hike up and around 20 seconds to come down with one turn on each run down. But still the season was opened, the new skis got their first turns in, and my BD Factor ski boots felt as good as my new skis.

No it's not me attending After Ski yesterday, it's from our Cave's "Christmas Party".

Now it’s time to get some ski days down before our trip to Norway in January. My hopes are high for at least 20 days of jibbing, jumping and just having fun with my mates. The weather service here in Finland has promised quite a few days of snow in the near future so the season looks quite promising at the moment and hopefully we will get a lot of that white gold on the ground this season.

At the end I also want to say that the past year since I came back from China has been one of the best ones in my life, the following photos are just some random snapshots from the La Sportiva Climbing Party we hosted a few weeks ago.

Winter

2010-11-22T00:47:00.002+02:00

Winter is finally hitting this year, o/ just had to get that out of me. Starting my ski season tomorrow, so stand by for some crazy thoughts about snow and loving life...

Kappas, skiEXPO....Merellä

2010-11-08T18:44:00.005+02:00

(Note to mum and dad, please don’t read and if you do I don’t want to talk about it).

Photo: Matti Salminen

How would I put this one? The skiEXPO weekend was crazy, funny as shit and I’m having a hard time thinking that my everyday life might be really boring after all the shit that went down.Friday was quite normal, a couple of beers, a couple of bottles of wine, a couple of killer ski moves, smiles, laughter, new people, old people, thinking that I was super intelligent as I was drinking water at the end of the night, just because I wasn’t getting served beer anymore.

Saturday morning was bad, it was hard to move, it was hard to eat, and it was hard to even think about another day going around town. Started the day with an English brekkie, headed out and in to the EXPO, pretty much walked past everything and the first good stop were done at the bar. After that it was all up hill…

Photo: Matti Salminen

After that the story doesn’t continue at all anymore, why? Well it would be impossible to translate the evening in to English, and of course even Finnish people would not understand the following shit that went on:

*Kappas, orava, merellä.
*En paljo lähtis liputtaa, jos mutsi on naimisissa saatanan kanssa.
*Oliko hyvät ravit vermossa.
*Liukkarit naamaan, dildo kädessä ja sit mä menin uimaan.
*Palavat intialaiset lastenateria.
*Ratapaita päälle, kymppi pokelle, nopee yläfemma dj:lle, tuoppi käteen, nainen kainaloon ja himaan…

So at the end I just want to thank everybody. Especially Vellu and Lauri for hosting the after party, and everybody who were there. Thanks and peace out, let’s do it again soon…

Gear Sluting and some ski hype...

2010-11-01T21:57:00.004+02:00

Just got back from a mate's house where we watched Matchstick Productions newest movie This is way I see it. Have to say that last year I was a bit disappointed with Matchsticks movie, but seriously this year they have claimed it again. ¨

Definitely the best one this year that I have seen so far. Well Deeper was okay, Poor Boyz was sweet and well Level 1, well the part that somebody rides deep pow in a XXXXXL T-shirt and his jacket open isn't as cool as one might think. But anyways, just watching the best ripping on pow, rails, kickers, and stomping the shit out of everything just brings my mental side one step closer to winter. I'm stocked, new skis, new boots, back-armor and new camera gear.

Yep, you read right, I bought a new lens and a flash today. Also before you go all mental about: why do you need this and that let me just clarify a couple of things. First of all I got third place in a photo comp so I think that's a good reason to be a gear slut and buy new stuff, but yeah seriously I've worked so hard and I think I deserve some new toys.

It's building up slowly but I'm quite satisfied with it...

Another four days of work left and then it's time to hit SkiEXPO here in Helsinki, yeah the EXPO is a great way to spend the day, and bringing out our inner gear sluts, but the best thing about it is seeing all my friends who share the same passion for snow. And as usual, Ingrid Backstrom ruled with her part.

So I'm ending this post on the song that was playing in her part.

End of October update...

2010-10-27T19:56:00.003+03:00

So about a month ago, I took part in a photography competition, the topic was bouldering, and everybody were allowed to send three photographs. I didn't really think I would ever actually get anywhere so you can imagine my surprise when I checked the results and my name was printed after where it said 3rd place.

3rd place

So what did I win? I think I'm getting a Organic Climbing Beanie in the post sometime soon. Somebody said to me after I told about the prize that it's not that good. Well I'm psyched, as the people who know me know I freaking love beanies of all sorts, and it's not really about the prizes it's just really nice to see people liked my photo.

So what else has been happening, it has been quite a long time since I actually wrote something here. Well it's been quite busy at work, and the weather hasn't been that good anymore. Quite a bit of rain, and the temps are getting a bit coldish, and it's getting harder and harder to warm up so I have had quite a few training sessions indoors instead. I've also started to train my slack line skills a bit, and it's been really fun to do something else then bouldering all the time.

Not that the 3rd place in the comp wasn't enough, I also got a package from Black Diamond today. A brand new pair of Factors got a new home and I'm one happy young man or at least for the next few days until I turn 28. But who cares the sooner the month changes the quicker I get my new skis, get to hang around some old mates at the skiexpo and then it's time for the La Sportiva Climbing Party. Hopefully by the time all that is over we have got some snow around Finland and I can start the ski season.

About the upcoming ski season, well my plan is to ride as much as possible. Don't really care if it's the tiny hills of Southern Finland, getting smashed on some small jumps and dodgy rails, but as long as I can get some days down before our trip to Hemsedal in Norway I'll be super happy. Hopefully this year will be different then the others and we will actually get some decent pow on our trip.

1up!!!

2010-10-08T00:39:00.004+03:00

The friction just continues to be good here in Finland, but at the same time the weather forecast did promise some snow for next week. So I'm getting afraid that the bouldering season will end quite soon, bullshit, I'll shovel that white shit of the rock for a while before I give up.

Anyways, went to Myllis today, I myself kind of lacked the energy to give the problems a 100%. Didn't remember to eat my brekkie this morning and forgot to have lunch at work, and yeah those are excuses for a shitty performance from me. Luckily there were others who climbed well, Anssi Venho repeated Unusual Suspect 8a, Anton Johansson who had climbed the same problem a few days earlier went and repeated 1up 8b.

He pretty much just rappelled down once to chalk up some holds, and checked that it's dry and then gave it go. It looked like he was riding a bike, well judge it yourself. Also sorry for the quality of the video, but didn't have my real camera on me so I took it on my iPhone.

Let's hope Anton and the others will climb as good in the Nordic Championship as they have climbed outdoors this season.

Stay Positive!!!

2010-09-29T12:51:00.003+03:00

Yesterday there was a huge amount of people at one of the crags near Helsinki; I don’t think I’ve really seen that many people cranking up on the same sector before. The amount of pads was quite funny at the end, especially when some actually managed to fall on the ground when there are 20 crash pads lying around.

I’ve been to Myllis a couple of times before, but the problem for me and the routes there is a simple one: there’s too many of them and I don’t know how to make up my mind which to climb.

The place is actually one of the first ones somebody ever took me bouldering when I started and I remember trying out Pot Smoker for the first time. Since then I have usually tried it once on each trip, and then started on something else.

Yesterday my agenda was to work on the moves on Usual Suspect, but as the weather was so good (coldish), I wanted to warm up with something that has big holds, so again it was time to jump on Pot Smoker. After trying out the crux move a couple of times and getting my fingers warm I decided to give it a try from the start.

In a few words: it took me around seven seconds to walk up. The grade for Pot Smoker isn’t more then font 7a but it felt good to just walk up it. A lot of other 7a’s have felt easy in the past weeks as well.

So I think my training during summer months has paid off, or it might just be the part that lately I’ve had the most positive attitude towards bouldering. I don’t care if my fingers hurt because my skin is fucked up, I don’t care if a move is hard, I’ll try my best over and over again, if the problem won’t go maybe it will go the next time if not well then it will go next year. I’ve got over the pressure that I have to climb hard; I’ll rather just climb and keep smiling …

Trying out Pot Smoker Direct 7b. Didn't send it, but it felt good, so maybe next time. Photo by Alvi Pakarinen

ps:Now it's time to grow some skin back and make 50 problems for the comp held on Saturday at Boulderkeskus Konala, so don't miss out.

Lappnor with a bunch of Moose Flies

2010-09-21T12:30:00.007+03:00

Hey dude, what time do you get off work?

Actually I’m working from home today, so what’s up?
Well I’m picking you up in an hour so get ready, were going climbing…

The other day Jarmo informed me that I’ve been working a bit too much and I should have a day off. So yesterday after having a short conversation with Anssi, we headed off to Lappnor. On the way there we got a shower or two, but our hopes were high, as it looked quite clear where we were heading.
I’ve never been to Lappnor before and some people have said that the sectors granite is quite sharp, but I have to say otherwise. I enjoyed the rock in Lappnor and the problems seemed quite good as well.
But our luck wasn’t as good, after 20 minutes there we got a shower over us, and a lot of the problems got wet, our pads got a bit soaked and for the rest of the session I think we were drying our shoes more then actually climbing. But it didn’t really matter that much, we spend our timing going around the place and Anssi was showing me the rest of the problems and sharing beta so when I would go there the next time I would know what I was up against.

Later on, after it had stopped raining we moved to a problem called Turo’s Hevi Gee (7b). Anssi had tried it once before but he didn’t really know the beta for it. So after drying out the holds and chalking it up, we started to work out the moves. The start is simple and with a few tries both of us had managed to do it but we didn’t had figured out how to do the crux section. This certain problem has a super good crack, but for some reason you don’t really want to deadpoint in to it. But with a simple toe-hook the move became static and after figuring out the next two moves the problem was solved and it was time to try it from the start.

It was starting to get dark by that point, so it was time the lights were brought out. My skin and energy levels were pretty much used by this time. I guess this is the part when one can say that five days of climbing in a row is a bit too much. Anssi was saying that he didn’t mind if the problem didn’t go tonight, as it would be a good excuse to come back, but he decided to give it one more go.

After a couple of motivating shouts and “if you fall now, you’re going to die” he got to the wet top. I myself didn’t top out any problems yesterday, but just getting out from the office was enough for me. Hopefully the weather here in Finland will improve a bit so the whole fall season won’t be about climbing inside the gyms and whinging about the shit weather.

Great Success

2010-09-11T20:21:00.004+03:00

My boss and a good friend of mine just climbed his first 8a (Diablo, Niemisel) sports route. I'm pretty psyched about this piece of news, as he has been stressing about it for a long time, and also made a promise that if he won't climb it he will quit climbing all together...

So congrats Jarmo, your the man!!!

5.10 Demo at Boulderkeskus Konala

2010-08-31T15:55:00.003+03:00

On the 15th of September, a van that has a 5.10 logo will arrive here at Boulderkeskus Konala. The day will be spent my doing some sport climbing with the three fellows who are coming. I have forgotten the names of the other two, but the one I do remember who is coming is Erik Massih from Sweden.

I've met him a couple of times, once bouldering in Åland and then this Summer at the Outdoor Show in Germany. I'm happy to climb with him again, as he is a really nice dude, and hopefully we have some time for a couple of beers in the evening as well. But on top of the climbing that day, they will hold a 5.10 shoe demo here at Konala.

"The plan is to do shoe demos and a slide-show on big wall free climbing in Greenland and Yosemite. We’ll have quite a bunch of models to try and the new models to show. We’re looking at possibilities to have some special deals on shoes as well." - Erik.

So people, please make some room in your calender and join us on the 15th of September. I don't have a timetable for the evening, but I will add it as soon as possible.

In other news, or actually you cant really say it's news: I got my ass kicked so bad this morning by a certain 8a sport route. I think I need to seriously just climb a lot of easier stuff and get some experience with clipping and longer routes before I can even climb upper seven's. But the ugly truth is that I just suck so BAD when it comes to climbing at the moment. Hopefully the training that will take place this winter will somehow magically make me a bit better so the trip to Rocklands next Summer will not be a fiasco.

Rocklands booking!

2010-08-17T12:39:00.012+03:00

Life is good, psyched about my job, psyched about my life, and more then nothing, and yes I will write psyched once more is that I'm PSYCHED about Rocklands...

Had a quick talk with Nalle on Friday, and he said that I should make reservations for the cottage quickly, so we would get the best one. So now that it's done, I don't think I could be happier, or actually I can: when we actually depart Finland next year and go there.

Nalle after sending Livin' Large (FA) 8C © Chuck Fryberger

So the plan is to arrive to Cape Town on the 29th of May and head back to Finland on the 12th of July... What happens between those dates is quite predictable... Bouldering, hanging around with good people, bouldering, a couple of beers and once again more bouldering.

Rocklands, SA... © Nalle Hukkataival

Relaxation...

2010-08-09T16:58:00.005+03:00

Lately I've been reporting about Andy's ascents, so the next blog post will not be about him, but more about what have I been up to. Let's just say life is good. The summer has been great, even if the friction considering bouldering has been super bad, but then the weather has been super good. For me it has been a reminder about my uni years in Australia, and those years I spent there were some of the best years of my life, and so has this summer been like that as well.

Even if I have worked most of the summer, I've had the opportunity to learn new things, travel overseas for business, and train really hard. On top of that I've got more responsibility at work, and I'm loving it. Also, those who know me, know that I've got a slight fear of horses. Why? Well who wouldn't be afraid of a 400 kg animal that can stomp the shit out of you. But anyways, last week I went to a stable, and bribed this pony with a handful of carrots, and made friends with it. So soon I'm going to win my fear and jump on the massive thing and hopefully not get killed by it.

Looks pretty friendly but will see what happens.

This weekend I managed to relax really well, spend most of Saturday hanging around the center of Helsinki and checking out some amazing flatland drivers. I've never really shoot a sport like this, and it was really challenging for a couple of reasons. First of all didn't have the permission to go closer to the riders, secondly I didn't have a clue about the tricks, and thirdly well the truth I don't count myself as a great photographer.

Ike from Japan showing his style...

and here the talent from Thailand named Toon shows his skills...

The event went well, and the rides showed their best stuff to the public of Helsinki. Flat landing BMX is one of those sports that I will never learn without getting seriously hurt, but then at the same time I would love to learn even the basics of this sport. But it was also really nice just to hang around, drink a couple of beers with Upi, meet new people and then cook a massive meal for the evening.

The past weekend was a easy going one. Unlike usual I didn't work, train, try to climb hard or read. It was about resting, relaxing and enjoying life. It was also about seeing my brother for the first time in months. He had a gig at Alppipuisto during the afternoon, unlike other times the band played their whole set with electric guitars, and also filled one space with a new song. I captured it on video, but I'm not going to publish it, or I might but I'll ask for his permission first when I get a hold of him. But for me the weekend was full of smiles and I think I wasn't the only one.

Andy climbs Bah, Bah Black Sheep 8c+

2010-08-05T13:47:00.005+03:00

Anthony Gullsten has climbed Bah, Bah Black Sheep (8c+) in Céüse. You can also find a short flick where some Finns including Andy climb in Switzerland over here. He also managed to climb Dures Limites (8c).
source: Jani Lehtola & Andy himself

ps: I'll post something considering my life later this week. Let's just say everything is well, and I'm all smiles...also I just started testing the new La Sportiva shoe called Python, and seriously I'm in love...

Andy climbs his first 8c sport route in Ceuse

2010-07-27T20:13:00.004+03:00

Just got a message from Andy. He informed that he just climbed his first 8c in Céüse, France, the route is called La Cronique De La Haine Ordinaire, and he gave it two tries this time. He did try it last year, how many times I don't know.

It's great to see that even if he has only bouldered lately, he can still climb hard on the sharp end. He has also been working on a route called Bah bah black sheep 8c+, so far he has climbed it in two pieces but still hasn't linked it.

Andy also took part in Tour de Bloc, (not sure if I got the name right) a bouldering comp in France, he was second after the qualification, but didn't take part in the finals, instead he took part in his cousins wedding that day. So congrats Andy for the 8c and congrats to your cousin for getting married... o/

A weekend off from proper work...

2010-07-26T08:21:00.005+03:00

So I went to Outdoor Show in Germany last week. What can I say the trip changed a lot of things in my life. First of all it was really cool to see all the new products for next year. Secondly it was great to shake hands with people like Fred Nicole, Ben Moon and many other people who I have always wanted to meet. What can I say about the Outdoor show, well I consumed a great deal of beer, made some great deals, but mostly I just enjoyed the company of great people and made a couple of new friends.

Jarmo meeting with Fred Nicole, he was pretty happy about this.

So what have we planned for the upcoming season? Arc'teryx will definitely arrive to our shop, will start easy with the harnesses. I have to say that I've been using them for around a year now and I've been really pleased with them. They are super light, comfortable and as I am a bit of a gear slut well they look super good. But on top of the quality of the product I really like the people who bring it to Scandinavia. I met Erik during May Day in Åland, at the time I didn't know he worked with a company called Sasquatch that brings the brand to Scandinavia. They also bring 5.10 here so we had a talk about their products as well, and it looks that we will be taking more of their shoes in to our shop as well. With 5.10 we also set up a testing day here in Finland. So around September a 5.10 van will stop by here at Boulderkeskus Konala and our climbers will have the chance to borrow some of their shoes and test them out. I really hope the weather during that certain weekend is good so we can head outdoors as well and show the 5.10 people a bit of the climbing in Finland.

La Sportiva's new shoe: Python, getting some in the next week or two to test them out.

Some of the other products we will be taking in are Moon Climbing, we have sold it since we started and I'm happy to say that the new Cypher Pant for next year looks really good, and I cant wait to get some to test them out. E9 had some really cool looking clothes, but unfortunately the E9 that was at the Outdoor Show was only for Germany and Norway, but don't fear we have a way to get them straight from Italy, so this Fall you can find them at our shop as well.

Hadn't seen Jarmo for a long time as he has been on a vacation, his puberty has finally kicked in...

But enough about the Outdoor Show, and a bit more about how did that weekend effect my life...

Well I have to say, I am more motivated then ever to work my ass off, I really want to bring Arc'teryx and 5.10 out from the bushes here in Finland, so I think my Fall will be based on marketing these brands here in Finland, what will this do to my free time. Well I don't think I will have it, between work, training and my French course I won't have any of it. Yes you read right, I'm taking up French. Why? Well I want to learn a new language, I have always wanted to learn it as one day in my life I will move to the French part of Canada and without it I will be doomed. About the climbing aspect in my life, at the moment it is really strong. I am motivated to train more then ever, project a lot of different problems and routes, hopefully send some of them, and just destroy my skin with the help of boulders, and if it's raining a lot well then the Moon School room here at Konala will destroy it. But the main thing is that this fall, winter and spring well I just have to get in to really good shape, save up and then then during the Summer of 2011 I will pack my bag, grab my crashpad and whatever shoes I'm using at the time and head of to Rocklands, South Africa for my holiday.

But now it's time to do my morning workout, and then head of to Konala and plan some stuff with Jarmo. I want thank everybody I met in Germany, specially Erik Massih, the Sasquatch and 5.10 team, and my boss for giving me more responsibility with my job.

ps: Yeah, I know I didn't really say how the trip changed my life, but let's just say you might notice soon enough.

Quickie

2010-07-20T16:45:00.005+03:00

Just a quick one:

Anton Johansson did Riverbed 8b in Magic Woods last week. I first reported that it was his first 8b boulder but ---> (Actually got a mistake in my news, this was Anton's second 8b boulder, the first one was called Hulk 8b at Rollarit, Finland. This particular problem doesn't exist anymore as they blew it up to make a road). Source: Santeri Turkulainen

I spent the weekend in Germany were I met a lot of different climbing manufactures and their great crews. I'll post a report about it as soon as I get time. Hopefully before the week ends, but I can tell you that there is some great stuff coming out, and Boulderkeskus were I work will be taking new stuff in to our shop soon...

Ass kicking...

2010-07-13T13:56:00.004+03:00

Another super hot weekend went by here in Finland, and another trip to Olhava has been done.

What can I say, I got beaten up really bad by the route I was trying. If you look up from the ground you can kind of see where the crux is, but when you get on it, do the crux and get to the end, well I would say the last two meters of the route is the crux. It felt so hard that I don't think I will return on it this year; I've never been good with climbing slabs and the ending of Martin Nugent's "Piru on irti (8a)" is one of those slabs I can't climb even if my life would depend on it, or at least not right now. Like a lot of routes, this one just needs work. So hopefully at the end of this year, I can go on a quick trip to Font, get some slab skills and return to Olhava next Summer.

And it actually worked

Getting ready for the crux on Piru on Irti, or what I thought was the crux.

So got my ass kicked by an 8a route, will I get on another one now? Fuck yeah, as soon as I get back from Germany and get Jarmo around to be my belay bitch (Jarmo, I promise to be yours as well) I will get on a certain route near Helsinki.

I also met a certain Finn at Olhava who I think is trying to become the new Speedoman, for those who don't know about the Speedoman, check out his blog (in Finnish). So Saku watch out, either you got a competitor or maybe your fan base is just getting bigger.

The new Speedoman

But now it's time to do some work, as I am only working three days this week and then flying to Germany to meet up with the climbing world. Yeah I know it's a business trip, but seriously just getting out of Finland for five days, well I see it as an holiday.

I'll get back to you when I return early next week.

ps: One of my articles I wrote about Nepal saw some daylight during the weekend via Internet, check it out here.

A 8b FA from Andy...

2010-07-09T20:10:00.006+03:00

Anthony Gullsten has been on fire again. The young man climbed Deep Throat really quickly the other day and has also made a new 8b FA in the Darkness Cave, the problem got the name Dark Sakai which is the direct version of "In search of time lost". (There will hopefully be some video footage of it soon).

The repeat on Deep Throat 8b was quick. "it took a bit over an hour, didn't have any beta and the weather was quite hot as well". Tomorrow he will try out Never Ending Story 1+2 again, hopefully his skin can take it. "My skin is totally fucked, it's been pink for a week now and it's just ripped"

Apparently the Finnish crew at Magic Woods will soon disembark to Ceuse, France. So hopefully I will get some sport climbing news in the near future.

I wish he could transfer some of his strength and technique back to Finland, so I could succeed tomorrow and climb my first 8a at Olhava, Finland. The weather looks "really" promising, temps are going to be around 26 degrees Celsius so I think I need all the power I can get, and even more skin.

A weekend off...

2010-07-05T16:57:00.008+03:00

I've been enjoying the warm weather at work lately. So when Sanna called me last week and asked me if i want to join them on a weekend trip to Olhava, well I didn't say no.

Roomie number One

For a lot of Finnish climbers Olhava is the place to be, but for me it getting scared before getting there. Why? Well the routes are long, so my boulderish "endurance" wouldn't help me at all. Secondly, Olhava is mostly trad climbing, I don't even do that much sport climbing so I didn't have a clue about trad climbing. Well after the trip I still don't have a clue about it.

Niko onsighting Suuri leikkaus

But the place is great, and the weather was even better. Considering climbing the weather was way too hot, but for me who hasn't enjoyed the sun lately, well I was happy to take naps on my hammock and work on my tan.

I climbed a lot with a top rope there, yeah I admit it, but I can also admit that I'm too chicken shit to lead a trad route. So my weekend was consisted of friendly arguing with the trad climbers as they paid me out for bouldering, swimming, eating, and projecting pretty much the only sport route at Olhava (Piru on Irti, 7c+/8a).

Roomie number Two

Will I go back? For sure, the crew was great, the weather was amazing, the scenery was beautiful, the project seems nice, and I got to sleep in the girls tent, so why not go back???

ps: Anthony Gullsten did Riverbed at Magic Woods 8b the other day...

Anthony ticks another 8b

2010-06-19T14:54:00.004+03:00

Just got a text from our road warrior Anthony Gullsten saying that he just repeated One Summer in Paradise 8b in Magic Woods. Congrats... Let's hope the weather holds so the youngster gets to climb more hard stuff...

Apparently it didn't require that much work but he also said that he is quite tired at the moment, Andy has also been trying Never ending story 1+2, where he managed to fall of right at the end the other day.

Road tripping...

2010-06-16T20:33:00.004+03:00

Just got word from Andy who at the moment is in Magic Woods, Switzerland. The weather there has been really bad, it's been raining a lot, so it's been hard to find problems that are dry. So far the youngster has climbed a couple of 8a+ problems, such as Pura Vida and Massiva Attack, both of the problems went down on his first sessions.

I hope the weather will improve soon in Switzerland so we can see the full potential of Anthony. I don't have any photos for you guys as I'm sitting at work here in Helsinki and just dreaming about a road trip to somewhere of the many locations I want to visit, but one has to do work to pay of his new camera equipment...

I'll keep you posted on his progress as soon as I hear more from him...

Core...

2010-06-14T15:14:00.003+03:00

Got a shipment from Chuck Fryberger today that I’ve been waiting for. 30 copies of his latest climbing flick Core. So for those who wish to purchase the movie, run to Boulderkeskus Konala and get your own before they are sold out. If you own a Blu-Ray player you will get an extra hour on the Blu-Ray with Fred Nicole been interview by Chuck.

Considering my own life, well I’ve been working a lot. At the moment Jarmo is on a long holiday so my life is like having an own company but without having one. I haven’t had the chance to climb outside so I try to train inside as much as possible, but I have to admit I lack some motivation to climb plastic as all of my friends are enjoying the season outdoors.

Well life is full of options and my option was to buy a new camera and now I’m paying it off, plus I think it’s quite nice for Jarmo have a long holiday as he worked his ass off when building the new cave. But there are some positive sides climbing indoors at the moment as well, I have never been so fit in my life. Somehow I’ve managed to come a lot stronger this spring, my technique has improved heaps, and hopefully when I get some time of this fall I can push my limit a letter grade harder.

But now it’s time for a cup of coffee and a bit of Chucks newest flick….

The Cove

2010-06-10T19:45:00.002+03:00

I've been watching quite a few documentaries lately, but this one really hit me hard. It doesn't come as a surprise that whales and dolphins are being slaughtered all around the world. But what I saw in this documentary is really disgusting. 23 000 dolphins are killed each year in Taiji, Japan.

Even if you wouldn't be interested in the issue at all, just watch the trailer and then decide if you want to see the whole thing. Another good documentary I just watched is called Food Inc. The mistake by watching it was that I think I'm off meat forever...

Overload from work...

2010-06-02T16:10:00.004+03:00

No I don’t have a writer’s block again, but I lack the time to do stuff I could write about. I don’t really have any thing special to report about, as I have spent all my time working.

Jarmo left about three weeks ago, and running the Cave has been super fun, I actually enjoy the pressure that comes with the paper work, what I don’t enjoy is that some asshole broke in and stole our 27” iMac, and on top of that he stole the bloody backup disc as well…

So on top of work stuff, I’ve been skating a lot lately, as I had a tiny finger injury on my middle finger. It’s getting better but I will wait until it heals perfectly before a good bouldering session. But I might head out to do some sport climbing this weekend if the weather holds.

Back in the day, when I still lived in Australia.

In some ways it’s really annoying that all my friends are either already on a climbing trip through Europe or they are just about to leave, but then it’s my own choice to work for the whole summer, and my new camera is totally worth it. I do have a smallish holiday in July, or it’s actually a work trip to Germany to meet up with climbing product manufacturers and see what is coming out for the next season. Even if it is work trip, it’s really nice to get on a plane and just get that feel of a trip.

This one is really old, but it's been great to skate again, it's just taking me some time to get the hang of it again, and hopefully I don't break any bones this summer.

Don’t really have any new photos to post but I’ll give you something old and dodgy to stare at…

Another three 8a's or harder from Anthony...

2010-05-19T21:19:00.007+03:00

I was just about to leave work when Andy popped in. He had just returned from a session. He seemed pretty happy, and stated that he had a good day of climbing. He managed to do Eskimo (8a+), Koopa (8a) and did the first ascent at the same location which he named Hattivatti (8a) it is located between the problems named Pot Smoker and Endless Hangover.

I'm not going to say the name of the location as like many other places if they get a big crowd seem to get problems with access issues... The line which is now called Hattivatti has been a project for quite some time if I remember right, so congrats.

Here's another clip of the youngster climbing in Kasviken, Åland. The problem is called Mongooli (7c+) that Andy flashed quite easily. Sorry about the colours, I was just trying stuff out on Final Cut. All the videos I have in vimeo will be re-done sometime during this summer and hopefully after getting more material I'll be able to edit a small short bouldering flick.

ps: more about Andy's day in his blog

One Love 7c

2010-05-19T01:04:00.001+03:00

A short clip of Anthony Gullsten climbing One Love 7c at Sipoo, Finland. Sorry about the small shakes, shot by hand, and the reason there is no sound, well for some reason every time I put it in the clip became dodgy.

New week...

2010-05-17T16:26:00.002+03:00

Monday mornings are always great. Woke up quite early this morning as it was so hot in my apartment. I think I did a personal record last night as I hit the sack before midnight. I was super exhausted, my weekend went by filming Andy climbing One Love at Sipoo, hitting the skatepark with him and Kuutti on Saturday afternoon and then continued to Sampa's birthday party. Had a great time, spent the evening drinking beer, talking to new people and then just skating with Jarkko and some others.

Bouldering wise my weekend was quite a waste, on our trip to the Globalist rock, I didn't climb at all if you don't count my scarish top out on the Globalist rock just to film Andy holding on to some crimps. Also on Sunday my trip to E75 was a waste, as my energy had been spent skating and drinking beer the night before, and my allergy during this time of the year is quite bad. The Finnish nature really likes to fuck around with me, and it feels that this year it is pushing its limits to give me red eyes and a stuffy nose.

But even if I didn't climb that much this weekend it was nice to have it off from work and just chill out, enjoy the weather and take some photos.

I'll try to edit Andy's ascent soon, I just have a couple of projects I have to do first. Mostly the 8a'ish problem called "Cleaning the office at work". So anybody is welcome to project it with me.

Peace out people and have a good week...

Filming

2010-05-14T23:54:00.004+03:00

I actually have a weekend off, so I'm going to be spending it hugging some boulders. Heading off to the Globalist rock tomorrow with Andy. I don't know if I'll manage to climb anything myself as the temps are pretty high right now and the friction is absolutely shit. But the main reason for my trip there is to film Andy climbing.

Been talking to the youngster about a two to three minute little video part that he could send to his sponsors or hopefully use to get new ones as well. For me this is a opportunity just to enjoy filming, editing and helping a friend forward with his climbing career.

But now it's time to hit the sack, it feels great to have a weekend off from work. Even if I love my job, it's nice to head out and enjoy the weather and climb outdoors with my friends.

Me cranking on Hammas 7a+ in Åland, photo courtesy of Teemu Ullgrén

Back from Åland

2010-05-05T14:52:00.010+03:00

Friday

After been sick for four days we departed to Åland, I have to say I didn’t have the best feeling when we were on the ferry. Half way through the trip to the island, it started pissing done rain, and as we were driving to the cabins the weather didn’t look good; it was misty and rainy. So basically we knew everything would be quite wet the next day. I hit the sack quite quickly after we arrived, I was still feeling sick and thought I need all the rest I could get.

Woke up quite early in the morning, the sky looked quite clear, but the ground was wet as shit. After a quick breakfast we departed to Kasviken, definitely my favorite sector on the island. Everything was soaking wet; Dodo was wet, the slab looked like a small river, and I didn’t even want to go and check out Game Over. So what to do? Jumped back in to the car, drove to Soltuna, and hiked up to Grottan.

Koji aka the beast aka the German soldier

There isn’t really anything I wanted to climb there, I though I could give Steel Pulse a try, but that ended up being soaked as well.So I just climbed easy stuff, chilled out, and after a while we went and dried Super Martikainen. I tried the first moves, and knew after two tries that this is one of those problems I will not climb for a long time. Andy came by at that point, and in three tries he walked Super Martikainen and Super Martikainen ss.

At that point we decided to dry Normipäivä for him. After chalking the problem, wiping water of holds so it wouldn’t drip so much, he was ready to try it out. He pretty much did all the moves except one in a matter of 30-minutes. There was still the problem that even if the holds were dry, the foot holds were wet, and it would be so hard to dry it out.

Andy working on Normipäivä

I left and went back to a problem called Hammas, this one really isn’t one of my favorite ones. It has a couple of hooks that I just can’t stick. After a few tries I decided to rip out my iPod out, listen to a certain song that always gives a good feeling, Heidi was laughing next to me; saying that that wouldn’t help me. I just smiled and went to the starting holds. I didn’t top out but I did manage to fall of the top jug, I was just super pumped after trying it about 20 times in 15 minutes.

I decided that it was time to call quits, and just head back to the cabin and rest. I can’t say that my excuse for a shit climbing day was the part that I’ve been sick lately, but in a way I think it has effected me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better one and Kasviken is dry.

Saturday
The weather improved during the night, and when I woke up I was met by a strong wind and quite clear skies. My hopes were up for Kasviken to be dry, and after the short drive there, I was welcomed by dryish rock.

The first couple of tries on Frespel went up to the point were I had fell so many times last year, but after a small warm up and around six tries I topped it out. Topping out this certain problem really made me smile, I have never spent so many days on a certain boulder as on this one, and finally this one was conquered.

Killing it at Frespel

I walked back to the block where Dodo is located and filmed young Andy’s quick ascent of Dodo, after this I just chilled out and climbed Mundo Gania on my first try, I have done the problem last year, but back then it felt super hard, and now it just felt like a 6a+ problem.

I followed Andy to Mongooli a nice 7c+ roof problem. We met up with some Swedes who gave Andy the beta, and in a matter of seconds the youngster flashed it.

I went back to the block where Free Spel is and started to think about the moves for Game Over, didn’t really try it out, but I’ll will definitely give it a go tomorrow if the weather is good enough.

Kuutti checking out a line

I ended the day watching Andy and Kuutti try out Hello Africa, even if I promised Kuutti a bun for each move he didn’t manage to do it, have to say he was close. So I think he will join me tomorrow at Kasviken, Andy is going to have a rest day, as his skin is destroyed from trying out Normipäivä the other day.

Now it’s time to rest, jump in the sauna and maybe join Erik later on to see a new Swedish climbing movie his mate just finished making. All together, today was a super fun, got myself smiling again and even got those whoops and hollers up in the air…

Sunday
Anssi had been talking about a problem called Pop the Glock, which was supposed to be really nice. So this morning I made my way to Kasviken again, and met up with him on the block. He had been working on it the year before and had fell pretty much from the last moves.

The problem has around 13 moves, so it’s quite long for a boulder, even if the holds are massive, you still get quite pumped as the problem is on a low roof.

I quickly went through trying to moves, and then started to work on the link up. After a while I gave it a good burn, but fell from the third last move, which is actually pretty much the biggest jug on the route. I was so disappointed, and just tried it way too much and with too little rest after that: I was going about that I would have a 30 minute rest or a 60 minute rest, but always ended up resting for around five to ten minutes and then giving it another go, and soon all my energy was gone, and I got a nice flapper on my left pinkie.

So I called it quits for the day, and just hanged around the sector. Henrika did an awesome job later on the day, by climbing a high ball I tried last year called Vittu Saatana Perkele. Last year I was always too afraid to try to top it out, and always going on about that I cant reach the better holds, but then Henrika is around 20 cm shorter then I am, so I don’t have any excuse in the world for this one, I’m just too chicken shit to try the top out.

Henrika

I think I will have a rest day tomorrow, maybe walk to Grottan and film Andy as he tries Normipäivä again, and hopefully sends it.
By the way, ended up losing 13 buns to Kuutti as he did climb Hello Africa today, he and Andy also flashed Pop the Glock. But now that I’ve had a good dinner, been in the sauna, drank two beers, stretched for an hour again, I think it’s finally time for me to hit the sack and just try to rest…

Monday
My rest day was spent by using everything I got on Hammas again. Fell from the top jug way too many times, and at one point I fell between the pads and hit my ankle, no worries a bit of ice and it was fine. Soon after that I tried it again, I was way too tired, and my climbing pretty much looked like Shrek had started boulering, I was just trying to do it by power and no technique. I ended up swinging and falling on the cliff right next to the pad. Have to say it hurt a lot. I ended my day there.

Between my tries with Hammas I went up to Normipäivä to see Andy and Kuutti. Andy had done all the moves and was ready to give it a good burn. He ended up falling from the top crux because of the swing. After that Kuutti started working on it, after working on the first moves he went up and tried the upper crux...

Andy just before he fell of from the swing on Normipäivä

He got the top jug, hold the swing and that is the point when he found himself on his back on the pads and in his hand he was holding the jug... Normipäivä isn't the same anymore, the crux hold is off and the problem just got a bit different and harder. I could say Kuutti was feeling really bad about what had just happened and Andy I think was a bit sad as he had come so close with the problem.

The youngster started to work on a new beta and I think he found a way to do it, but his skin was too wrecked at that point again, well maybe next time...

Andy working on some new beta for Normipäivä after the hold broke

Tuesday
We had around three hours of time to climb on Tuesday before our ferry departed towards Turku. Went up to Kasviken and started to warm up. I think the fifth day of climbing without a single rest day is way too much for me, I gave Pop the Glock a good seven tries but couldn't get past the last under clings. Well maybe next year...

All together the trip was a good one, and even if I were a bit sick I still got to climb quite a lot. Now it's time to rest for a couple of days, and tomorrow I'm heading off to be a belay bitch to a mate and on a route that I don't really have the permission to name...

ps: I got Andy doing Dodo ss 8a+ and Mongooli 7c+ on video, but I still have to edit them so it will take some time...

Åland...

2010-04-28T21:47:00.006+03:00

What’s the last thing anyone wants before a climbing trip? A fever or flu, or a cough? Well I got all of them.

Last Sunday I took a customer to a bouldering spot here in Helsinki. It was his first time out, so he was quite psyched, I didn’t really climb anything that night, as I was feeling a bit off. I also got a phone call from my work mate that night. He told me he was quite sick and couldn’t come to work on Monday. Well, no biggie I thought, I’ll just do double shifts the next couple of days.

Woke up Monday morning and felt like shit, all my muscles were hurting, my throat was absolutely fucked, and after checking my temp, well it was around 38.7 Centigrade. So what to do? Call my boss and say well sorry but the gym isn’t going to be open for the next couple of days, or just bite the bullet and do the doubles sick. Well I’m a stubborn one, plus I have never called in sick, so I just went to work. Got to say that it wasn’t the best of days, neither was the next. Luckily got some pills from the pharmacy yesterday, and now I’m actually feeling a bit better.

Only got tomorrows morning shift left, and then I can start my six-day holiday. Hitting Åland with everything I got, and hopefully tick off some problems I have in mind. The photos are from last years trip, and these are some of the problems I’m going to finish this time…

Trying Free Spel, 7b, photo by Koji Moriwaki

Getting super scared on Vittu, Saatana, Perkele 6c. I'll try to tick this one off, if my nerves can take it. Photo by Markku Laine

ps: I'll try to update the blog during the trip, depending if i get Internet access, and I think after the trip I'll have some news about new ticks from Andy and Anna as well. Kind of going to follow these two around on the island.

Another 8b by Andy

2010-04-26T09:52:00.005+03:00

Anthony Gullsten has done the third repeat of Nalle's Feel Good Inc. at Sipoo, Finland. It seems that pretty soon Andy is running out of hard problems to do here... Congrats...

Nalle making the first ascent back in 2008. Clip from Marko Siivinen

First Finnish female 8a boulder ascent by Anna Laitinen

2010-04-24T14:48:00.011+03:00

Earlier this week I was talking to a certain girl who was quite excited when she got back from Sipoo, an area near Helsinki. She had done all the moves to a problem called Idefix ss 8a, she had also linked all the moves that day, and ended up falling three times from the top jug...

Since then we have had a bit of rain, hail and snow here in Helsinki, but as I talked with her yesterday, she was psyched to try it again as soon as the weather would improve.

Photo courtesy of Boulderkeskus. Taken by Heikki Toivanen

At the moment I'm sitting at work, looking outside and been jealous towards the people who have the opportunity to climb outside as the weather is cool, and I bet the friction is superb as well. Also around 10 minutes ago, I got a message from Anna Laitinen that just contained one word. DONE...and so Idefix ss had been conquered...

Anna is the first Finnish female to climb a boulder problem of this grade...I can't say how happy I am about this piece of news. Congrats Anna, and the beer is on me as I promised the other day...

Andy climbs Hypergravity 8b

2010-04-16T01:03:00.006+03:00

And again Andy is making quick ascents of some of the hardest problems here in Finland. Today he climbed Hypergravity (8b) which you can see climbed by Nalle in Frybergers newest movie Core.

Nalle climbing Hypergravity in 2004, photo courtesy of Heikki Toivanen

Don't have any footage of it, and it's way too late to ask Heikki or Chuck's permission to use their stuff. But anyways congrats Andy. Cant wait to see what you can do in Åland in a couple of weeks, I'll be following you with my camera for that five days.

Prime time...

2010-04-14T18:14:00.009+03:00

Like others such as Nalle and Andy have already informed, it's prime time bouldering season here in Finland. The weather has been great and the friction in my opinion is superb.

Lately I've been training really hard, especially when it comes to core strength and climbing overhangs. The only problem I've had considering this is my free time. Luckily I do work at a bouldering gym, so at least I don't have to waste my time traveling between the gym and work. So around four to five times a week, I've been staying after work and just cranked hard.

Training, somewhere in the mist of all those holds is Nalle's simulator for the SISU project, and seriously it's fucking ridiculous...

Last Saturday I finally got to start my outdoor season properly, I went to a sector near my work, with one of my mates. We only climbed some easy stuff as it was his first time bouldering outdoors. But it was great to feel that solid rock after a solid eight month pause. On Monday I was going to head out to one of the sport climbing facilities to train lead climbing with my mate, who has just started leading. But as the weather was great I grabbed my quickdraws, rope and topo as I was heading out, I suggested to my mate that we should skip the indoor session and head outdoors. It was also my first time sport climbing outdoors here in Finland, climbed some easy stuff and tried to get my mental side in sport climbing figured out.

But back to the stuff which I live for, this morning before work, I headed out again. There's a really cool problem near my work called 4+, graded 7c. I didn't have my hopes up with it, but after working on it for an hour, I was only lacking the top-out moves. So I think I will be returning to it as soon as my skin can take it. Pretty much all the holds are really sharp, and you really have to pull hard on them to manage to stay on the wall.

Projecting 4+

So... Spring is finally hitting Finland this year, my level of motivation is super high, thanks to a good winter of training, seeing Core and talking to Nalle about his new project. So now it's just the matter of sessions with mates, filling the areas with whoops and hollers, crying about rest days because of skin loss and cranking hard.

ps: Congrats to Sami Haapakoski who yesterday repated 7 veljestä (8b) at Nurmijärvi...

Anthony Gullsten repeats 7 veljestä

2010-04-09T18:04:00.012+03:00

I met Anthony about a year and a half ago when I started climbing. I remember the sixteen year old as one of the guys who helped me a lot when I started out, always giving me beta, and just pushing me up to my limits. He was always bouldering at Pasila, always doing these crazy looking moves but most of all he enjoyed every second of it. Anthony at the premier of Chuck Fryberger's newest flick Core

So time has passed since then, and what has happened. Looking at his sends back then he was doing a lot of 7b problems and a couple of 7c's. Last Summer he spent a couple of months going around Europe, and during that time something happened, well he did grow that 15 cm but what else. Well he sent around seven 8a's, five 8a+'s and when winter arrived here in Finland he was still making third ascents on some really hard problems here in Finland.

Anthony working on Hattori Hanzo 7c/+ photo by Marko Siivinen

A couple of weeks ago I went to Nurmijärvi with him to check out this problem called 7 veljestä (8b), it was opened by Nalle Hukkataival, and the only repeat was by Tomi Nytorp. Unfortunately that time the block was wet, it was dripping really bad and we had to back off.

Yesterday Anthony popped in when I was working, as I asked if he came to train, he informed me that 7 veljestä should be dry and he was going to go and send it. I asked him to send me a message if he would be able to do it, and about three hours later it came. This was Anthony's first 8b boulder problem that he sent, but quoting his words, he thought it felt more like a 8a+ as he could do it in one session. Maybe it is an 8a+ or maybe this super talented 18-year-old is just getting stronger by the minute. If you ask my opinion I would put my money on the getting stronger part.

But anyways my hopes are high for this youngster, and I think we will be seeing some great ascents from him this year...

edit: You can check out Andy's blog that just opened here.

Core world premiere, Helsinki, Finland

2010-04-05T00:23:00.008+03:00

Core was showed last night here in Helsinki, Finland. I don't know about others opinions, but mine is good. I liked how it showed the climbers on the rock but also off the rock. I don't think I've ever wanted to climb so hard after seeing Nalle climb Living Large. For me that was the highlight of the movie, just to see somebody climb this arete that doesn't really have any holds on it is something that made me tick and wanted me to start training straight away. Because if I will ever climb anything near as cool as Living Large, well then one of my life goals would be achieved.

Ready, Steady, GO!!! Nalle plugging the audio in.

But I'm going to keep this one short, so I can get a good night sleep and head out early in the morning to start my outdoor season here in Finland. For those who still have to wait for a while to see Core, well it's totally worth it. A big hand to all the climbers, helpers who took part of making the movie, and a massive hand to Chuck for producing a great film again.

Core Tour Boulderkeskus Konala, Helsinki, Finland 03.04.2010

2010-03-18T16:25:00.008+02:00

CORE goes to the heart of climbing. Join an international cast of the sport's most dedicated athletes as they stick it when it matters most. Shot in 35mm Ultra High Definition, get ready to see every detail of some of the nastiest pieces of rock ever climbed.

CORE exposes the contrast in landscape and lifestyle that defines the sport. A close examination of each character offers perspective beyond just their achievements on the stone.

Be there, in the moment, as a 5.14 traditional route gets its first ascent. See the actual first ascent footage from Livin Large, Nalle Hukkataival's monster 8C. See first ascent footage from Fred Nicole's hardest-ever project in Switzerland. These are the moments and the athletes that define our sport, captured in Cinema-quality 4K Ultra High Definition. Ticket's to the show can be ordered in advance via our website and more info about the flick can be found on Chuck's website.

Visual Poetry

2010-03-16T17:19:00.002+02:00

Now that I have moved to my own apartment and Konala is finally open I actually have time for myself.

So my weeks are spent by bouldering, riding my new MTB, and reading books. I've always been a big reader or at least the past 10 years or so. Right now I'm reading/studying a book by Chris Orwig. The title of the book is "Visual Poetry".

So far it's been good, I like the way he explains the context of the book, Chris takes an artistic approach rather then a technical one. This works for me as I find it more interesting and readable this way.

It's a funny feeling to start studying gain. My plan for this spring is to re-read all of my journalism readers and books from my uni years, a lot of photography guides and of course to write as much as I can. My plan also includes a lot of photography and hopefully start a project considering bouldering and filming.

After finishing uni in 2008 it was really nice not to open any books for a while, but then somehow my mind has gone in to a come when not trying to learn anything new. So now it's time to keep my brain occupied, and to learn new stuff.

Konala Open & Cup

2010-03-09T12:16:00.009+02:00

I’ll just continue pretty much where the last post ended. It was around 10 pm on Friday when I got back to Konala, the mattress was almost done, and there were a handful of people working on it and the rest were working on the 50 problems for Saturday’s competition.

I decided that I had done my fair share of the mattress, and started to think about a couple of problems I had in mind. Earlier in the day, I had washed a couple of crimpy holds from Moon Climbing. I myself think that from all the different holds from all the different manufacturers I have tried, Moon makes the best ones or maybe it’s just because I really like crimpy holds.

But anyways the hold night went by doing routes, finishing the mattress, and just all the little stuff that we noticed that was missing. At the end I pretty much passed out around 7.15 am. I didn’t have the opportunity to sleep in, as the first customers came in around 9 am. So my day started with a massive cup of coffee, energy drinks and red eyes.

It was awesome so see people’s reactions considering the place. I won’t go in to details about the place anymore, you can just look at the photos and make up your own opinions.

At 10 am the first Konala Open kicked off, with over a hundred people competing. At the end we had finished 46 problems, it was harder to make routes to the place compared to Pasila. Reasons for this was that 95% of the holds were unknown to us, and the wall profiles were totally different as well, but I think at the end people enjoyed the event

Between counting peoples points and being at the cash register I managed to top out 24 problems, and placed 16^th. I think there would have been a couple of routes I still could have topped out, but my fingertips were burning, and I looked like a zombie who had drank a bottle of vodka. So I was quite pleased with my results, of course I knew a lot of the betas but then I didn’t take the comp seriously, I just wanted to climb, have fun with my mates and mingle with the others.

During Konala Open another event also took place, around 1 pm the Finnish Cup took place, the participants of this event had two hours of time to climb their qualification problems, it ended up that one of the problems I had made became the only problem that left unclimbed. Anthony and Kuutti got to the bonus hold, but the rest was a bit too hard. I think if they had had more time and skin they would have climbed it.

At the end Antton Johansson won the Open with a top out of 38 problems, a good second man was Kimmo Heinonen who managed to do 37 problems, I have to say that was a great effort from him, as I remember him leaving really early to be somewhere else. The third place went to Otto Lahti. In the women’s Open the winner was Marjut Vierimaa with 18 top outs, Annis Tiira was second with 16 problems solved and Niini Vartia took the third place. I have to say I am really proud of Niini as she has only climbed for around six months, nicely done by topping out 15 routes.

Between the qualification and the finals of the Cup, Jarmo was giving out the prizes for the Open. After the best climbers of the event had got their fair share of prizes he started the lottery for the rest. I think after he had shared a few crash pads and DVD’s he thought the lottery system was a bit too slow, and just started to chuck clothes, climbing shoes, and DVD’s in to the crowd. So I think everybody got his or her fair share of the prizes.

It was time for a quick break, tuning some of the lights and then kick-start the finals for the Finish Cup. I missed half of the men’s final and vice-versa considering the woman’s final as I was taking photos at the same time. I think I managed to take a couple of good ones, but I also have to give a big hand to Heikki for this who played the part of adjusting my flash where I wanted it to be.

At the end Anthony was the strongest one of the bunch by climbing all the final routes, Kuutti came second and the third place went to Ilari. In the women’s final, Roosa took the win, followed by Anna and the taker of the third place was Matilda.

I have to say that I don’t remember that much of the rest of the night, it was consisted by Rudolf rapping, Toni playing records, and me sleeping on the mattress, and no people I wasn’t drunk. I had around five to six beers that night; I was just tired as a result of opening the place.

As I am writing this I am still super tired even if I slept more than 24 hours in the past two nights. I think it will just take some time to repair the stress my system took in the past week.

I want to thank everybody who helped, the competitors, the crowd, Rudolf, and Toni. But the biggest hand goes to Jarmo for giving us the opportunity to climb in the nicest cave I have ever been in, the hours you put in to the place will not go unnoticed.

Konala Open's full results can be found here.Yours truly, photo by Jarmo Annunen

Yours truly, photo by Jarmo Annunen

ETA 4 hours.

2010-03-05T19:39:00.005+02:00

At the moent I'm sitting at Boulderkeskus Pasila, waiting for my work shift to finish so I can pretty much run to Boulderkeskus Konala to finish it off. I don't know what the situation is at the moment but when I left around 3 pm today the mattress wasn't ready, some of the walls were not finished and Tomi was working on the counter.

So I hope when I get there around 10 pm all of those things I just listed would be finished, so we could start making new problems. We need around 50 of them for tomorrows competition. There is already eight problems, but 42 more isn't a easy task or well it is if you want to make shitty ones. So hopefully there are more then three of us doing them.

In the past week I've been working loads, haven't slept enough and I'm a total wreck at the moment. So sorry if there's around million typos in this post. I have to say that Jarmo, the owner of Boulderkeskus is a machine, i'm pretty sure his shortest workday in the past months has been around 15 hours, but then when you see what him and his crew has created, well it's going to leave a lot of climbers breathless tomorrow morning.

For those who don't know about this new bouldering cave that we have been working on. Well there is over 1000 square meters of wall, the wall profiles are amazing and seriously I'm not even been biased towards the company I'm working at.

Women's locker room

I'll take some photos later tonight, but I won't post them before tomorrow as we have kept the colours as a suprise. Also everyone are welcome to the comp that will kick of tomorrow morning around 10 am.

Men's locker room

Now I'm just going to continue planning some problems in my mind, which are going be quite crimpy, static and hopefully really nice. I myself am getting super psyched about tomorrow, and even if I am making some of the competition problems, I will be "competing". I'm not going to be counting points, I just want to climb there, try some of the other problems, and have loads of fun with all my mates.

So until tomorrow morning when I can post the photos, I salute you and recommend one of this weeks best songs that has kept me going...

Girlfriend by Phoenix

Konala Open

2010-03-02T18:25:00.002+02:00

Core & Boulderkeskus Konala

2010-03-01T10:36:00.008+02:00

First of all, I want to apologize the of lack of new postings in the last month. There's a couple of reasons: Been busy with work, nothing has really happened, and I've just been lazy.

So no postings during February, but now that it's the start of March I will try to be more active. I also think the following March will be a good one, yesterday I moved in to my new apartment, it's small but I rather like it. When I get settled in properly I'll give you a couple of photos of my new home. My other home is almost finished as well, Boulderkeskus Konala is opening its doors this week, the new climbing walls lost their virginity yesterday as yours truly got the opportunity to be the first one to leave his marks on them (the reason the photo is in black & white is because we don't want people to know the colours of the walls yet).

This week will be pretty hectic as there is still much to do at Konala, but I think we will pull through, and the grand opening will be an awesome event. It will also definitely be a good opportunity to take some photos and write a post about the comp/after party.

Another matter that raises the spirit here in slushy Finland is the release of Chuck Fryberger's newest movie trailer.

From Chuck's website: "CORE goes to the heart of climbing. Join an international cast of the sport's most dedicated athletes as they stick it when it matters most. Shot in 35mm Ultra High Definition, get ready to see every detail of some of the nastiest pieces of rock ever climbed.

CORE exposes the contrast in landscape and lifestyle that defines the sport. A close examination of each character offers perspective beyond just their achievements on
the stone.

Be there, in the moment, as a 5.14 traditional route gets its first ascent. See the actual first ascent footage from Livin Large, Nalle Hukkataival's monster 8C. See first ascent footage from Fred Nicole's hardest-ever project in Switzerland. These are the moments and the athletes that define our sport, captured in Cinema-quality 4K Ultra High Definition."

190 hours of work

2010-01-27T23:41:00.005+02:00

In the past three weeks I've worked 190 hours, climbed around 40 hours, fucked up my wrist, healed it u, got mentally and physically stronger and had around four hot meals.

Yeah I've been super busy. Why? Well it all started when I got back from Norway and had to pull Pasila Open together, another reason why I have been working so much is that I wanted to give Jarmo the chance to work at Konala where he is building the coolest bouldering cave in Finland, well Europe or actually maybe on this planet of ours.

Then as I don't spend enough time at my workplace, I've actually gone there a couple of hours before we open or stayed after work to train. I'm in a shitty shape, or at least that's my opinion and I need to get stronger for the upcoming bouldering season. I got high expectations of myself, and even bigger goals.

A couple of days ago I managed to crack my right wrist and I gave myself a really big scare. When I started climbing a year and a half ago, I managed to do the same thing, and I had to have a month of. Luckily this ain't the case this time, a doctor checked it out today and said I could climb, but I have to be careful with it.

But about work again, I'm sorry if I hadn't had the time for my friends, but it's been super hectic, and it ain't stopping. Yeah I won't have as much work next month, but I'm going to train double compared to this one, I'm trying to save all my money so you won't be seeing me out and about. Got too many things to buy and too many trips planned, or would I say a TRIP...

For all you people full of whoops and hollers, I give you Cat Empire and if that won't make you jump and smile, well then you're a lost cause.

Nalle sends a 8c+ sport route in Oliana, Spain

2010-01-25T11:43:00.009+02:00

According to Björn Pohl's blog, Nalle Hukkataival has sent a 8c+ sport route in Oliana. He managed to do the second ascent of Markus Bock's Duele la realidad.

It will be exciting to see what else this amazing boulderer will be sending in the near future considering sport routes.

Nalle on Globalist 8b+, photo by Heikki Toivanen

Christmas came late this year.

2010-01-21T22:41:00.002+02:00

On the 27th of December seven friends set on a journey from Finland towards Norway. The plan was to catch the ferry from Turku to Stockholm, sleep during the day and drive through the night. The ferry ride was spent drinking champagne at breakfast, watching ski movies, getting that whole two hours of sleep, and just getting excited. We did drive through the night and, at this point, I want to thank Matti and Mikko for their amazing effort of doing most of the driving (Olette stnan kovia luita).

We arrived at Rjukan around 6 am the next morning. The ski centre was still closed and the lifts wouldn’t operate until 10 am - the temperature was around minus 25 degrees Celsius. So, to wait for the lifts to open or to hike up and get the season started? It was an easy decision and, after a 25 minute hike, it was great to get those first turns in.

A month before this trip I was in China and didn’t think I would get any snow during the upcoming season. But then everything changed and I came back to Finland, got my old job back, got some tax money back, bought new skis and got invited to Norway by Matti (thanks mate, it really helped at the time).

So there I was. First turns in - the new skis felt great. The first days of the season in any sport can be difficult, but for some reason it didn’t feel like it this time. The day was spent just searching some pow, which was hiked, skied and enjoyed. And at the end of the day I was psyched. It was great to have a couple of beers after the day, plan the next one and then hit the sack.

We started off early the next morning by attaching our skins to our skis, driving as close to Gaustatoppen as possible, and then started our way up the ridge. Before this trip I’d never used skins; it was weird skiing up hill without sliding down backwards. The snow pack didn’t look good when going up; it had been really windy and the snow was super backed and, at that point, I knew it wouldn’t be that good of a run when coming down. But still, the weather was clear, the mood was right and, for me, going up a mountain always gives me a great feeling. The view from the top wasn’t as impressive as when going around Annapurna in Nepal, but still, it was great.

We had a quick lunch at the top and, as others started to plan a run down a couloir, I myself who had frozen toes, decided to head down before they would get worse. The snow had a hard surface and mid-way down I noticed that I was going down with only one ski attached. It’s a stupid feeling when you know that you just have to fall down, stumble a bit, get up and hike up to get your other ski.

At the end of the run I found a small part that actually had some pow and, with a smile on my face, I enjoyed every second of it. As I arrived to the parking lot I heard the guys talking on the radio about dropping in. From a distance I saw small dots going down the couloir, and 15 minutes later a bunch of smiling friends arrived to the car.

Gaustatoppen wasn’t as good as I had expected, but I guess if there had been more soft snow, the run would have been amazing.

“The pictures from the trip can be found in an earlier post.”

In the next few days we got a couple of nice runs through a powderish forest. I myself was scared shitless when coming down from Bossnuten; I came across something what I thought to be a wolf, but ended up being a huge playful husky and it’s Norwegian owner.

At the start of the year 2010 we packed our cars again, and started to move towards Røldal. I had heard a lot of great things about this place; the annual freeski competition is held here, and we were all pretty stocked about that fact. But as we started to search for some good spots, reality hit us - the snow situation was pretty bad, and the first day was spent by only doing one shitty run and then hurting my hip in the evening trying to do a drunken back flip.

The next day was spent at the cabin with Vellu, who had really sore feet. The others had gone back to the local ski centre and checked out a couloir that we had seen during the day before.

Luckily Vellu’s feet were better the next day and I was willing to cope with the pain coming from my hip. We drove to the centre only to find out it was closed - bloody Norwegians. What the hell, did it during the first day so why not do it now - it was time to hike up a slope again. As we got to the bottom of the couloir, my hip was in agony.

I decided to stay at the bottom and hopefully get some decent frames with my camera; so far I hadn’t taken any photos of anybody coming down; just ones of us going up.

There was a medium size drop, and the boys were going to jump it on the way down, so I traversed closer to it and started to take snapshots to see what would be the best spot. In the end I only got one decent photo of Ari jumping it. But then again, one photo is enough for me.

The next day started by driving back toward Rjukan. Our friend, the Husky owner, had talked about a nice run close to Bossnyten, but at the end we couldn’t figure out what he had been talking about, and found ourselves back at that small forest and my last run of the trip ended up being the best one. It consisted of powder, quick turns between trees, jumping over fallen trees with whoops and hollers.

All together, even if there wasn’t as much snow one could hope for (is there ever enough) the trip was a success. Made some new friends, got some good runs, heard the worst jokes and the funniest stories - like the one where Ari claimed he saw Jesus somewhere in the mountains – and, of course the talks about upcoming trips and seasons full of fresh pow.

Canada or New Zealand

2010-01-19T23:27:00.003+02:00

It’s been two months since I came back from China. I haven’t really done anything special, except I’ve been working a lot, went to Norway for a quick visit, and planned too many trips.

Canada

At the moment I’m basically homeless, or not really. I’ve been staying at my sister’s apartment but now I seriously need a place to stay. I just need to be able to boulder more, and I like doing it late at night, but I don’t want to be rude and disturb my sister by coming home late. So people if anybody wants to start a small climbing community and rent a place let me know, or if you are in need of a housemate tell me.

New Zealand

But what are these so-called plans for the future? Well I would really like to re-locate myself somewhere were I can see mountains, be creative, meet nice people, and hopefully make my living out of something I love.

Hence the idea of moving to New Zealand or Canada. Why? Well why not, nothing keeping me anywhere really. I have a job for the next year in Helsinki, but that is the only thing that is stopping me right now, or well of course the money issue, but my plan is to live cheap, work hard, and save every penny I earn.

Comments people, which country should I choose????

Jarkko Linkosuonio launches his blog...

2010-01-15T16:15:00.004+02:00

Jarkko Linkosuoni o has finally launched his blog, the first set of text is from his climbing trip around Europe that took place last year. Check it out.

Also, I actually had a bit of time to check out the upcoming Cave this morning. It looks fantastic. I knew that it will be a big one, but when you walk in the place, well it's just something else. The place is huge, and the wall profiles look great.

Pasila Open

2010-01-09T02:03:00.005+02:00

Just a quick update. For the past two days, I've taken all the holds of the walls in Boulderkeskus with the help of some friends. Hell of a job, washed them, and then we did 5o cool routes for the competition that starts in about eight hours. So people who like great bouldering and a great atmosphere come and join me for the day. whoop whoop....

Live results

Norway 2010

2010-01-03T17:18:00.008+02:00

Text will follow. I'm too tired to write, and hopefully in the next few days I will actually get a decent photo taken.

Nalle Hukkataival & Countdown

2009-12-27T00:35:00.006+02:00

Last week it was Jarkko who brought out a movie, and this week it was Nalle's turn. The 27-minute movie is a good package of nice problems in Ticino, Switzerland and Maltatal, Austria.

Could Be Worse from Boulderkeskus on Vimeo.

More info at Nalle's blog.

Then to the other news, I have a wake up call in two hours, as I am going to Norway, I really should be in bed trying to get some rest before our epic journey to find some waist deep, chest deep powder. But I can't sleep, the second I close my eyes I just start thinking about the delights of winter and soft snow...

I will try to update when I'm on the road, I'm just not sure if I have access to the Internet. Take care people, and have a nice New Year...

ps: I just heard that the place we are going in Norway got a good 40cm of fresh pow today...

Everyday is a Saturday

2009-12-22T10:35:00.005+02:00

17.12.2009, Satkar, Helsinki, Finland
I've decided to change the name of my blog. The old (present) name doesn't give it credit at the moment as I am not travelling that much at the moment. The new name "Everyday is a Saturday" is how I see my life at the moment, I'm trying to live my life on full speed, and enjoy every second of it. It doesn't matter if I am at work, or reading, hanging around with my friends or like now sitting in a Nepalese restaurant having dinner alone on a Friday night. I'm claiming a full happy exciting life.

19.12.2009, Cave, Helsinki, Finland
My first post under the new name is quite relevant to the subject this time. Tonight here in Helsinki we are screening a short film made by a friend of mine "Jarkko Linkosuonio". He spent his summer and fall bouldering around Europe. It's been great to see a good boulderer evolving in to a world-class climber. During the past months he has climbed several boulders grading from 8a to 8a+, and to top off his fall full of Saturdays he managed to top out a Magic Wood classic "Riverbed" graded 8b.

Switzerland movie teaser from Jarkko Linkosuonio on Vimeo.

His ascents were brought to the attention of Ben Moon, who soon agreed to sponsor this amazing young gun. It's always great to see young people succeeding in life, especially when they have trained so hard. My hopes lay high when considering Jarkko's climbing career. The full lenght movie can be downloaded from the following link: Switzerland Movie

New Life

2009-12-08T20:53:00.007+02:00

As many of you know my trip has ended, and many also now the reason. But enough of that. What happened happened. It's time to concentrate on new things, new aspects in life and try to make the most of it.

I've lately been getting really stocked about snow, and for that reason I've spent some money on skis, planning some powder filled holidays, and using too much time watching ski movies. I've also been trying to get better so I can start climbing again, and when that happens I will climb so much, so hard, and be in the best shape of my life.

I want to thank a couple of people who have helped me in the past weeks, a big thanks to Roosa for picking me up from the airport. A massive hand to Jarmo for giving me work, you're the fucking man, thanks to Jarkko for the drunken company at the Christmas party, and to Emilia for making me laugh and smile again. To my parents for supporting my decisions, and to my big sister for letting me stay at her apartment.

The next picture wasn't taken by me, neither am I in it. I wish I was, but that's how I feel right now. I feel like everything has a meaning, and that life goes on and, in the end, next year will be the best year of my life.

I'm claiming it!!!

ps: I'm going to be that guy in that picture in about three weeks, I'm going to Norway...

Writers block

2009-11-18T15:15:00.005+02:00

People who write a lot will now what I mean by the topic. I've had one now for about four weeks.

I've spent my weekdays by sneaking in and out of a five star hotel where I'm staying for free. It's a ridiculous place, they bought some chairs that cost 1.8 million Euros, and telling the truth the chairs don't even look that good. But even if the hotel has five stars the area around it looks like shit, and there's nothing to do around here. I think the hotel has totally numbed me. I can't read, write, and getting a photographic idea is impossible.
During the weekend I have travelled to Guangzhou to actually do something, eat something else then cup noodles, and just trying to enjoy myself. There are some things that I am really missing in my life since I started to travel, the biggest one is gripping a rock so hard that my fingers hurt, and now that the snow season is starting around the Northern Hemisphere I would love to go and get my share of powder.At the moment I'm in Hong Kong doing a visa run, there is plenty of climbing here, but as usual my luck will deny me the pleasures in life. Why so? Well it's pissing down rain at the moment.

So I've spent my days walking around from camera shop to another, checking prices and shit are the prices good hear. I ended up buying to Pocket Wizard transmitters and a Sigma flash. I want to warn others who go to Hong Kong and want to buy camera gear. There is a lot of fake stuff floating around. I found it good to avoid the shops that have flashing tax-free signs and a bunch of people next to them trying you to get inside.It's also been really weird to see so many tourist around, and almost everybody speaks really good English, you only have to take a 25-minute train ride to Shenzhen and nobody speaks it.

For somebody who hasn't travelled around Asia some parts of Hong Kong can be really annoying, as there are a lot of touts on the streets. I found that there are a lot of Indian people grabbing you, trying to sell you watches, get you a "cheaper" hotel etc... But then compared to actual India and Nepal it's quite easy to walk around.
I'm sorry of the lack of photos, but it has been raining a lot and I haven't had that much interest in taking photos lately. I'll try to carry my camera with me more, and I promise I will update this blog more often.

Seeking...

2009-10-28T15:02:00.007+02:00

First I want to apologize of the lack of postings lately. I just haven’t had the motivation to do it, nor do I have that much to talk about. So far I’ve been in China around two weeks now. I’ve met some great people, and hanged around a five star hotel that is boring as hell. Samanta is working here, and this place is in the middle of fuc###ng nowhere.

I have tried to find some work lately, had an interview last weekend, got the job, but ended up refusing it as the contract was so shit. Hopefully I will get something soon, as I wish I had something else to do then just watch the newest ski movies for the season and dream about powder.

I’ve been thinking about heading off to Japan during January to see Bob, and Masa, hopefully teach English and get some snow underneath some skis as well. For all those snow lovers, check out Poor Boyz: Everyday is a Saturday, and try not to lose it.

Guangzhou from Kody's balcony

I find China really different compared to Nepal. Everything kind of works here, I find it more peaceful with the traffic, there isn’t any hash dealers, but there are a lot of people trying to sell you watchi, watchies and bagi, bagies. (Watches and Bags). It has also been really cool to eat something different, and not always curries and naan bread. The variety of food here is great, you can pretty much get anything, the only problem is a lot of the menu’s are in Chinese. Luckily sometimes we have Kody with us, and we get to eat from the good, cheap street restaurants.

So far I haven’t seen any dragons or Kung Fu masters, so my guest continues to find one of them. I would also like to find something to do like climbing; I know there would be a lot of it in China, but none around this area.

So my plan right now is to find work at Guangzhou, think about Japan, dream about snow, and hopefully take some photos for you dear readers.

ps: As Facebook doesn't really work here, if you want to contact me do it by MSN: sakari.mcgregor@gmail.com or via my Chinese number: +8613265008504, and Sanna from Elämysmatkat, could you add me got a couple of questions for you about Japan.

Fairwell Nepal

2009-10-14T10:37:00.003+03:00

It's time to say farewell to Nepal, for at least a couple of years, I really want to come back to this amazing country. Maybe next time actually climb a proper mountain. Now it's time to pack my bags, and head of to the country filled with dragons and Kung Fu masters.

And we complain about heavy shopping bags
Monkey temple seen from my hotel roomView from the room.

Kumari's Place 1980....

2009-10-11T18:14:00.004+03:00

The tiny little restaurant located just at the start of Freak St. is the melting pot of this area. It's the gathering place for locals, and travellers who keep coming back to KTM. I've met some of the most interesting people when having a beer in this joint.
Like today when having breakfast with Crazy-Jimi. An interesting character who is known all around KTM. His had his nickname since 1969 when Jimi Hendrix was playing his guitar at Durbar Square, and the young boy who was only ten years old decided to have a little dance. At the end Hendrix gave his headband to him, and Crazy-Jimi's legend was born.
I only have three more days here in Nepal, and then I'm off to China. My plan is to relax, have a couple of beers with Jay who's arriving from Pokhara today. Spend some time with my camera. I really want to improve my skills in photography. I envy people like Jean-Francois as his photo's are brilliant, and I consider him as one of the best photographers I've had the pleasure to meet. That's been the best part of the trip so far, meeting people. Everybody has been so nice, learned so much about different cultures and customs. Since my last update I've been sick again, had some sort of stomach bug, and for that reason I've been popping Ciprofloxacin Ratiopharm for the last few days.
Also it was a good choice mooving to Freak St. from Thamel for the last week. It's so much quieter here, but even still it's hard to sleep here. During the nights one can here the stray dogs fighting, and in the morning the never ending hassle of people buying stuff on Durbar Sq. wakes one up. But it's a good wake up call, to get out, have a Chai at Mama's and then head of for some breakkie at Kumari's....

Back from Pokhara

2009-10-07T09:33:00.005+03:00

The bus ride back to KTM was crazy as usual. Luckily didn't take as long when I went the other way.

Still I managed to see three accidents. It really makes you think, what if the bus I am on is the next one to drive off the road in to the emptyness of a 100m fall. How would my love ones take it?
Luckily that didn't happen and here I am sitting in my hotel room overlooking Durbar Sq.

I escaped busy Thamel and made myself at home at Freak St.In the past few days I've spent time with friends from Finland. It's crazy to meet four people quite randomly here in Nepal.

Also met an Irish guy today who is going around the world on his bicycle. Check him out at Acoustic Motorbike.com

Had a beer with him, and was also sharing the table with a Dutch guy who had spent two years in a Thai prison. When I asked him if it was as bad I had imagined? He answered that after spending almost a year in a Columbian prison, Thailand was quite easy.

I decided to leave when he started talking about smoking Yaa Baa, a Thai name for Methamphetamine.

I've got eight days on my hands before going to China so I think I will just chill and read. KTM is full of fantastic bookshops, and so far on this trip I've read the following:

The Great Railway Bazaar - Paul Theroux
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Into Thin Air - Jon Krauker
The Ascent of Rum Doodle - W.E Bowman
Papillon - Henri Charriére
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy - Manjushree Thapa
Annapurna - Maurice Herzog
The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen

Annapurna Sanctuary & Basecamp

2009-10-01T16:49:00.018+03:00

Day 1: Nayapul 1070m - Tikhedhungga 1520m

After a bad night and only getting around three hours of solid sleep my alarm went off. I felt like smashing it in to the wall. Shit three hours of sleep and now I was supposed to start my ten day trek.

The day started with a two hour drive to Nayapul. After getting the right stamps in to my permit. Me and Kiran started our walk towards Tikhedhungga. My original plan didn't include a porter. But the hotel manager got me a good deal at the end.

The first day was easy, just passing through some rice fields, and climbing from 1070m to 1520m. The weather wasn't that good, humid, hot and rainy.

I spent the evening reading A Thousend Splendid Suns. I only took one book with me, and by the time I went to bed I had already finished it. At the moment the rain is hammering the roof, and I think it will easily put me in to the world of dreaming and rest.

Walking through the rice fields.

Day 2: Tikhedhungga 1520m - Ghorepani 2860 m

The second day started with some heavy rain, by the time we started ascending steep steps the rain had stopped and the valley was filled with a heavy mist. The second day was harder then the first, after a good two hour fight we arrived at Ulleri for some tea and my first sight of Annapurna South. The visibily was so bad after Ulleri, and at some point you could't see more then seven meters ahead.

After a solid five hours of walking we arrived at Ghorepani. Hungry and exhausted it was good to get some Dal Bhat in to our systems. I headed of to have a "hot" shower, and then went in to the dining room to have a rest.

The weather here has been quite bad for two days. I met Jay and Daniella who were having a rest day and hoping the weather would clear out so they would see the view from Poon Hill the following morning.

I spent the evening playing some chess with Jay, and after a while the hotel owner wanted to show his skills in the game. Jay got slaughtered by him, and after two games he said he was the Nepalese champion in the game.

I headed of to bed quite early, as the wake up call was around 5am the next morning.

Misty forrestNepali guide'sRandom little boy

Day 3: Ghorepani 2860m - Tadapani 2630m

Woke up at 5am, my legs were so tired and in way I was hoping that the weather would be shit, so I wouln't have to walk up Poon Hill for the sunrise.

But I'm really happy that I did. The sunrise was amazing, you could see Annapurna South, and a bunch of other massive peaks. Stayed there for a while, took some photos of the mountains, fellow travellers.

By 6am we headed back to the hotel for some breakkie.

I also understan why they call this part of Nepal apple pie country, It was so good, and gave me the energy boost that I needed for the day. We started to make our way to the Deurali pass, avoidin leeches and then having a break at 3100m. Listened to some Eddie Vedder, took in the mountains and prayer flags.

From there we started the painful descent. My right knee was killing me and I was happy to stop for some tea at Ban Thanti. The sun came out after our break and it was nice to get warm, after having two days of rain.

Had a great veg curry and some chapati for lunch before descending 600m of steps. I thought the day was over, when Kiran told me that now it was time to go up again. After some slippery steps we arrived at Tadapani.

Now I'm having a cup of tea, listening to D. Marley and looking at the Annapurna Massif.

PS: I remember running up stairs back in the day when I used to practice TKD. At the time I really hated it, and I can't believe that now I'm doing this volunteerily for days at end. I seriously think I've lost it.

PoonhillDaniella Jay posing for his Korean student'sGiving a pose myselfPrayer flags

View from Tadapani

Day 4: Tadapani 2630m - Chhomrong 2170m

Waking up to a view of Annapurna South never gets old.

After a quick bite we started going down towards the river. It took us a good two hours. The weather was great, and I have the funniest tan line at the moment.

We stopped for some lunch after three hours in a tiny little village. Had two leeches sucking on my blood, gave them a dosage of salt and they were gone. After lunch it was time to hike up for two hours. I don't think I've ever seen so much Marihuana in my life. The whole hill was full of it.

After a while we arrived at Chhomrong. The weather was getting bad and we seeked cover on one of the guest houses. At the moment I can hear the thunder rocking the mountains.

I have come to the conclusion that some people should not travel to countries that have different customs. I've been seeing this Russion group and they never wear shirts, in a country like Nepal that is not proper behaviour, and then you have the group of Israeli travellers who complain about everything. But I met some really cool Chinese people today, talked hours with them about photographing, and had a bit of a night session with them, until it started to rain, and we had to retreat back in to the hotel.

Monkey timeStart of ChhomrongView from the hotel

Day 5: Chhomrong 2170m - Himalaya 2900m

As usual I got up around 6.45am to have a quick breakfast, and soon after that we were on our way. The first village to be passed was Sinuwa and after descending a lot of stairs it was time to climb up for some hot tea. By the time we passed Sinuwa the sun was burning our faces. It took us an hour and a half from Sinuwa to Bamboo where we had our lunch, and a small rest and soon we were on our way to Dovan. We had decided to stay there, but decided to get up to Himalaya to gain some more altitude.

It's nice here at 2900m. The air is cooler then in the valley. The hotel is packed and I have to share a room with an American and a Australian fellow.

Himalaya hotel during the night

Day 6: Himalaya 2900m - Annapurna BC 4130m

One can hear the rattle in the distance that the numerous avalanches are producing. Just three days earlier two Korean climbers died on the mountain. They had got lost in a whiteout, and had gotten sick from the altitude.

We came up from 2900m in to 4130m today, and one can truly feel the altitude.When I arrived at BC just after 12pm I had the symptoms for AMS. A local guide gave me some garlic to chew on, and it helped a little bit. I've been trying to drink a lot of tea to get as much fluids in my system. But I am still not feeling that good.

My flu has also gotten worse in the past days. So I am a bit worried with my condition.

We planned to leave early tomorrow morning. Do a long day and hopefully get to Bamboo.

I really hope for the clouds to vaporise so we could see the mountains. There are a lot of boulders all around the base camp. I found a couple that could be climbed without a crashpad. Got some confused looks from the local porters as I was working on some new problems for two to three hours. It was great fun to climb after a month break, and managed to open two problems. One 6c+ and one around 7a.

At the moment I'm sitting in the dining room. Dim lights, gas heaters, 30 people crammed in to a tiny room. That's Annapurna BC for you.

People are trying to warm up, playing cards, and waiting for their high altitude dinners. The ones who arrived late today are put in to tents, or if they are lucky they will be sleeping in the dining room.

The feeling here is great, everybody are from a different part of the world, with different backgrounds and goals in their lives. There's a family from New Zealand who I've been playing cards with. A German girl who is kind of been adopted by the New Zealanders, the Chinese couple who are mad as they didn't get a room. The Spannish boys who are getting drunk on the local rakhsi, and then all the Nepalese porters & guides who are playing goats & tigers.

M.B.CVolleyball at A.B.CA.B.C during the night

Day 7: Annapurna BC 4130m - Chhomrong 2170m

Woke up during the night, somebody shooting nails from a nail gun in to my head, or that's what I though. My AMS was getting worse, I tried keeping my eyes closed so the pain wouldn't be so bad, but it didn't work. On top of that my cold was getting worse. So I had nails getting drilled in to my head, and I was shivering from the cold.

I got up at 5.30am, and went outside. The whole camp was in a cloud, I walked out to the ridge with my camera. Listened to some tunes to get my mind off the pain and took some photos.

After shivering in the cold, I headed towards the dining room to have a quick breakfast, and by 7am we were already heading towards M.B.C.

After two hours I had descended 900m, and I was starting to feel a bit better. When we passed Himalaya we saw a chopper going toward the base camp. I later learned that some American tourist had to been choppered out as he had started vomiting because of the altitude.

We spent the day going down, as we reached Bamboo it was 11.30am, we decided to continue to Sinuwa.

The stairs after Bamboo almost killed me, and as we reached Sinuwa I was so tired, my knees were in agony. But for some reason I wanted to torture myself and make it to Chhomrong for the night.

Two hours later we got to the hotel, and I was a total wreck. My headache from the altitude was gone, but instead I had a boiling hot fever.

So here I am lying in bed. Today's score was 14km, 8.30 hours of walking, a lot of tea & soup. My sinuses are fucked. I think I have to get my legs amputated, and I can't believe it will still take two semi-easy days or one massive day to get out of here and back to Pokhara.

Cloudy morning at A.B.CBasecampBack at ChhomrongTrying to survive a burning fever

Day 8: Chhomrong 2170m - Nayapul 1070m

Are original plan was to have a easy day. Four hours of walking and then finish off the trek the next morning. But as my condition is getting worse I just gave this day everything I had. We managed to get to the end, but my fever had gotten worse. So I spent the last day counting & watching my steps. It's hard to concentrate when the temperature is around 33 Centigrade and my own tempeture around 38.4 Centigrade. By the end of the day I had almost stepped on a snake, lost my balance on one of the bridges, and almost passed out in the car when we drove out of the Annapurna area. Now I'm sitting in a cafe in Pokhara, checking my mail, arranging my ticket to China and soon I will head off to bed.

Just before the end some monkey's joined me

Epilogue

Sitting here in a Internet cafe in Pokhara and looking back to that eight days gives a great feeling. I wouldn't change anything. Yeah we had some bad weather, yeah I got really sick. But that's what makes the experience more interesting. One cant always get perfect weather here at the Himalayas. Now it's time to recharge myself, head of to KTM, and soon go to China to meet up with Samanta. <3

Pokhara, Nepal

2009-09-22T09:24:00.002+03:00

The last few days have been hell for me. I've been practicing how to empty my stomach oraly. It hasn't been fun, and it has taken all the energy out of me, and is affecting my mental side as well. It started a few days ago in KTM, and I though I had won the battle, but yesterday the bacteria that is ruling my stomach at the moment thought it would be funny as hell to attack when I was on the bus.

The bus from KTM to Pokhara took a splendid 11 hours, and during that time I had my head out of the window several times. I just hope that I'll be better in a few days so I can start trekking up the mountain. Been sick ain't never really nice but been sick alone in a hotel room is hell. In the past days I haven't really eaten, and I'm afraid to do it since I cant keep it in.

Not counting the throwing up, the bus ride was an adventure. Saw two crashes: a UN truck had gone through a bus quite nicely and a truck full of Mountain Dew was on it's side as we passed it. It's quite scarry when the driver is doing 70km an hour, overtaking another bus, and only 40cm of the road there's a 100 metre drop.

Don't have any photos to upload yet, haven't had the time or the will to do it lately. But I'll try to take some later on the day.

Finally got my luggage.

2009-09-18T10:53:00.003+03:00

Yesterday I got a call from Jet Airways saying that my luggage will arrive to KTM. Twice did I ask about the luggage getting delivered to my hotel, and twice did they reply that it will. Never came, so this morning jumped on a cab and went to the airport to collect it. Took me a while to find it from a mountain of other bags.

As I got back to the hotel, I was happy to see nothing was missing. The second thing was that it was finally time to get some fresh clothes on me and get my face shaved. Of course I could have bought new stuff here as it is really cheap, but couldn't be bothered as I am trying to minimize my amount of luggage.

The only thing I've bought so far is Bagh Chal. The Nepalese version of chess, were you either try to eat some goats or lock down some tigers. I got my ass kicked four times when playing it with the shop owner, and had to leave when he started to make bets of the outcome for the next game.

I'm in KTM for another three days and then I'm off to Pokhara to start trekking towards Annapurna basecamp.

Temples

2009-09-17T08:45:00.008+03:00

The sun is going down, the birds are singing the neighbourhood in to a peaceful sleep. You can here occasional Royal Enfields driving by but mostly it’s the birds.

A few kites dominate the red sky as local boys fly them from the rooftops. The hotel garden workers have just finished their project with their new pond, and seem quite happy about the outcome.

I have fallen in love with Nepal, and it’s only been three days. I love how simple it is, I love how people are smiling all the time, and I love how the country affects me. The only thing that is missing to make this perfect is Samanta.

I passed the day by walking to the monkey temple with Matt. I met him during breakfast on one of the rooftop cafes in Thamel. The temple was quite empty, only a few local people praying and a good bunch of monkeys just relaxing in the shade. We had a plan to visit the National Museum, but unfortunately it was closed, and we ended up walking back to our hotels.

The rest of the afternoon I spent reading the rest of Life of Pi on the rooftop garden, chatting to some fellow travellers, and then head out to meet up with Matt in a café. We ended up eating in a tiny Tibetan restaurant. As we walked in, there were a couple of confused looking locals. Maybe the restaurant doesn’t get that many travellers in it. The food was again amazing and really cheap. Had some dried Yak meet, momos and vegetable pokaras, and flushed the meal down with a local beer.

After that we went for a couple of drinks at the Reggae bar. As we were walking up the stairs, I heard a familiar song my Stephen Marley, but for my amazement it wasn’t coming from a record but the house band. It was quite funny to hear a Nepalese person to have a full on Jamaican accent. But the music was great, the atmosphere was cool, and the drinks quite cheap.

After a while, I decided to get back to the hotel, as I was checking out in the morning to find a new place to stay as Ganesh was fully booked.

Old Tashi Delek Rest

2009-09-15T18:39:00.004+03:00

It doesn't take much to get out of the busy streets of Thamel. One just has to get in to a side street, and walk in to a small Tibetan cafe. The feel you get when you walk in to a place that is tiny, full of smiling people and the aromas that fill up the room are just fantastic.

On the menu tonight is half fried vegetable Momo's and a Tibetan soup (Tingmo) topped by steamed bread. Followed by some black tea.

I just have to say that the Momo's in this place are the best one's I've ever had and the soup was amazing. The bill was around 345 rupees, and that would be around 2.6 euros.

I'll add the photos once my laptop is charged...

Luggage lost, loving Kathmandu

2009-09-15T12:35:00.004+03:00

10.9.2009 Heathrow Airport

Just got off the flight from Helsinki. At least a dozen people had been prepared for the three-hour flight with facemasks.

Are people that freaked out of the H1N1 virus? It's bringing chaos in to the airports, everybody are on their toes if somebody sneezes or coughs.

Viruses come and go all the time, they vanish or mutate to stronger ones, and I wish that would be the story with Heathrow airport as well. Heathrow airport is definitely not a virus. Endless lines, hassle, crowded, and the security checks are a joke. It was like this five years ago, three years ago, and again now. I don't think Heathrow will ever evolve to a working airport such as Singapore airport or Sydney airport in Australia.

Enough ranting? Yeah I guess so. I know people write travel journals, and just write about all the good stuff. On this one I'm going to try to write about everything. But for the next four hours I will be listening to endless security announcements of how they will blow your bags if you leave them somewhere, and announcements for certain passengers who are just about to miss their flight. But mainly

I'm going to dig in to my book, and just watch people as they are travelling home, to work or for an adventure themselves.

14.9 Hotel Ganesh Himal, Thamel.

Have I've ever been feared to lose my life? Yes!

First time when that occurred to me was in the surf in Australia a couple of years ago. But the second time was just a few days ago in Mumbai, India.

I spent a few days in that polluted, corrupted and God forsaken city. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but yes it was that bad.

Maybe it was because of my luggage was lost (still is) maybe it's because somebody tried to grab my camera out of my hand or maybe Mumbai was just too much for me. But when somebody would ask my opinion about Mumbai, well I'm just really happy to be out of there.

My original plan was to catch a train to Gorakphur and then go to Nepal by bus. But after spending four days waiting for my bag and fucking up my timetable I decided to fly to Kathmandu, and now I'm sitting on a roof top looking over Thamel and enjoying every second of it.

15.9 Thamel

Alleyways, shops, vendors, rickshaws and a good group of thousands of smiling people. That is what Thamel is all about.

I spent the day just walking around, trying to get to know the neighborhood better. After five hours I came to the conclusion that it's a maze that I can't conquer. So I just walked around until I saw a familiar looking "roundabout" and then navigated myself to the hotel.

Also found out that Nepalese people are very hard to photograph, the second you point your camera at them, they stop what they were doing and start posing. Basically I've just walked past, and secretly photographing them and hoping to have success with a couple of frames.

If you don't want to see a photo of a dead dog, please stop scrolling down now...

Adventure

2009-09-10T12:07:00.006+03:00

Ad-ven-ture n
1: the encountering of danger
2: a daring, hazardous undertaking
3: an unsual, stirring experience. Four hours until I leave Finland. At the moment I'm saying goodbyes to my closest friends. Scanning some documents, and in about 40 minutes it's time to jump on a bus, head of to the airport and just relax. Hopefully my bags will arrive on time to Mumbai, for some reason I don't trust Heathrow airport with luggage. In any other occasion I wouldn't really care, but I only have 13 hours in Mumbai until I board a train sit down for a 1800 km trip.

I'm ending this entry here, as I don't really have anything else to say except that I'm happy to leave, I'm really happy to start travelling again, but most of all I'm ectatic to see Samanta soon.