FBA!

Photo: Ola Olsson (not only a really strong climber but takes pretty good pics also ;)

New Low

Åkte direkt från Marocco och flygplatsen till Västervik för att ställa upp i andra deltävlingen i Svenska Bouldercupen. Har kommit fram till att jag hade alla möjliga ursäkter (sömnbrist, matbrist, boulderbrist, sjukdom mm mm) för att inte klättra bra men det hjälper liksom inte. Den dåliga känslan ligger kvar. Inne i mitt huvud känns det fortfarande hemskt, första tävlingen på två år som jag inte kommer till final. Stod i mitten av kvalet och kände det som att det var en hemsk feberdröm, jag svettades som om jag försökte springa maraton och kunde inte, repeterar KUNDE INTE ta i överhvudtaget. Argh, det var bara att försöka lösa enstaka moves för träningens skull och sen börja heja på Lill-Erik Grandelius som gjorde sin bästa tävling på länge!!! Fantastiskt imponerande, way to go!

Nu ett par dagar efter tävlingen har jag nästan blivit av med feberattacken som kom som ett resultat av tävlingen och börjar känna mig redo att träna igen. Puh...

En sak lärde jag mig betydelsen av i Marocco i alla fall:

A muerte!!!

Karlskrona, med tydliga småländska ingredienser på besök

Idag var Karlskronas bergsportsförening på besök ibland blocken. Karlskronas lokaler nyttjas inte allt för sällan av ett gäng smålänningar, boende i Emmaboda. Fyra femtedelar av detta gäng var med ibland blocken idag. Dessa fyra herrar bjöd på mycket skratt och ett häpnadsväckande mod uppblandat med en hel del slappstick. Då vi efter ett par timmar i gamla skogen begav oss upp på ängen där väggen med Bu, Bä och Mähä ligger. Att springa och hoppa upp till kanten blev en ganska populär aktivitet, men det var också här den lilla gruppen ifrån Emmaboda stötte på patrull och det bjöds på formidabel slappstick. Detta är ett klipp ifrån verkligheten, jag tycker nog att det talar för sig själv.

Look at all the lovely people.......

.................Where do they all come from?
The crowds were out today on the stones. I counted nine climbers working "Monolith" one after the other.We nearly needed one of those machines dispensing numbered tickets. Karlskrona KK had a club trip today.This bunch of yahoos seemed to be led by none other than Mr.Zigge himself together with Patrik (THE LINE) Lind. The day started quite humid and stick wasn't great but in the afternoon came a nice breeze which improved condtions a bit. It still felt like the season for hard ascents is drawing to a close.Ola Olsson brushed up and sent a lovely little line just left of "Lååångsamt, Lååångsamt" hard 7-ish. Not sure what he has name it but it goes at a pleasant 5 which is probably worth doing at least once ;)
Zigge amazed the crowds with his aerial antics, as he flew off the last move on "Monolith" , chosing to dyno instead of a dead-point (brave man!). Sorry no photos but Ola Olsson has not sent them to me yet . No waffles for him next week-end, thats for sure ;) I followed the "Local code" and did "Brick'ard" for the second time proving that yeaterday was not a fluke, Yipppeee!!!!
LOCAL CODE:
Rule 1-Locals must climb a problem twice before you can claim to have done it.
Rule 2- Locals should avoid tire-spinning while entering and exiting parking area
Rule 3-Locals should not participate in "fisting" each-other after a send.
They should instead congratulate the victorious by gentle face-licking
Rule 4- When necessary, ignore all rules except Rule 2
Rule 5- There is no "local code" (ya know, like they say in Fight Club .

What a load of waffle!

Another good day was had by many, on the stones in Kjuge today. The day started bright with blue skies and warm temps(too warm).I started with "Brick'ard"(7a+) as i got close last week but tiredness got the better of me. Today i returned with fresh skin and winning beta (thanks John!) only to send it on my second try of the day, woo hoo!!!!
As the sun continued to rise my energy to climb seemed to go down. I thought it was going to be one of those "lost" days when i just sit on my pad, listen to the birds, try and finds snakes and eat ice-cream and waffles at the "Cafe Kullastugan". I did sit and watch some squirrels for a while but then found a little motivation to climb again. Had a great time climbing on my own on "Bob", "Den långa färden"L , "Resenären" L .I then met up with a gang from Lund on "Rocka hula"6a+ as well as a friendly bunch of Danes at "Matador". I got some good beta from one of the "Great Danes" for "Sprickan sittstart"6b+ .Its a John Burgess creation and is a pretty fun addition to the classic stand-start. After that i had decided to go home again and cut the grass but met "the usual suspects" from Helsingborg as well as a friend (Per) from Sundsvall (?) just as they all finished off their waffles and coffee. From there we climbed a little at Bäverblocket and then down to "Ken titan"7a as Alex reckoned he had killer beta for me. This problem has been my Nemesis for a long time now and i'm glad to say that Alex had the beta i needed.Finally!!!!!!!!!! Congratulatins to Malin (Helsingborg) who has sent "Mr Magnet"6b . Good Job! ;) It's late now and i'm tired... Good night !

Apparently we're back !..... well, me anyway . Kalle is back (or so he says...;)) but is actually off to Vastervik on this beautiful april week-end when smhi predict fine bright weather to climb plastic. He will be in good company as i've heard that Oscar Renstam is going to the boulder-cup also. This means that any of you out there that is feeling strong and wanting to make a name. This is the week-end to do it as all the hard men are climbing inside this week-end.I'll be out for more bare-foot action and hopefully do "brickhard" as i was making good progress last week. I think i'll wear my shoes for that one though ;) Adnan from Helsingborg has done "Skam den som ger sig" (6b) -G6 A1 FBA(first bare-foot ascent). I wonder who will get the first Kjuge foot-flapper....... ;) It's only a matter of time.

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Jag fullföljer!!

Nu ar jag hemma igen efter en månads go repklättring i Marocko. Ledsen att det varit så tyst i bloggen men jag har inte haft möjlighet där nerifrån och det verkar inte som att de andra skribenterna har pallat dra det tunga lasset, vissa undantag gjorda... Nu drar jag upp till Västervik i alla fall och hoppas på en ball tavling och sen lite Kjuge på vägen hem.

Alla.... We're back!!!!

IN SMHI WE TRUST!

Our dear friends at SMHI has spun their "weather wheel" and the pointer has landed on the "Sunny and dry" section for tomorrow(sunday). We live in hope that this time they got it right. So today is the day to tidy your apartment, spend some quality time with the ones you love ,feed the dog and prepare you skin for the crimps of Kjuge tomorrow. Remember to say "No!" to the offer of "just one more tequila shot", put your pad in your Volvo and make the trip. Don't forget to bring your camera as well as your fighting face. Send your pics to me and get them published on the blog ;) You know you want to!

News Flash! -Mamma Mu sit-down

Yesterday was a good day for Oskar Rennstam Rubbmark who added the sittstart to "Mamma Mu" @ Hulta . Congrats and respect to him on getting the send. I'm sure more details will follow (grade, name, beta, approximate thickness of pad and if or not any trained squirrels were used ). Today, Ola (local) and i started by screwing..............up campus rungs at the wall in town. After which i had a very tasty burger at a famous swedish hamburger restaurant chain. The plan was to cruise on over to Norra strö on my own for an hour or so before the rain but, it arrived early. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.Fingers crossed ¤

New Stuff !

As a self-confessed "Gear-freak" I was very interested and curious during recent times in Kjuge when i spotted an Airpad in use on both "Fina Areten" (7a) as well as on "Monolith"(7a+). I unfortunately didn't get close enough to jump on it due to being very shy when talking to strangers ;) I am sure that " if " the publicity is accurate and this is a exciting, great, new, breakthrough piece of kit then sure, we will be seeing this product in action more and more often on our stones. The trend for pad-size at the moment is following the "Size-matters" way of thinking. The debate will certainly continue about pad thickness and sittstarts but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of pure stopping power when rocketing towards the ground, i don' think there are so many out there that would choose a thinner landing-zone on grounds of "ethics". An obvious draw-back to the Mondo type pad is the shear volume of car-space it takes to transport. Airpad option would i presume not take up so much space (????) when deflated. One of my concerns would be the durability of the fabric against small sharp stones on the ground. With the traditional pad construction a rip in the outer layer will not result in your entire pad deflating which is always a good thing when you whip off a highball after dead-pointing to a shit crimp that some "local" told you was so much bigger,better and more positive than it really was. Am looking forward to getting the chance to try one out but untill then i am still quite sceptical , It is not a cheap product but maybe if it is as good as they say it could be worth it.
I also got a blast on "En klok ko"(7a+) with the new La Sportiva Miura VS (velcro model) thanks to Kjell (?) from Stockholm. I have been using La sportiva shoes for fifteen years ,quite a few with the miura. The Miura were a success from the beginning and are still probably one of the most used models on the planet .I only got to use the "new" vs version for about thirty seconds . I know its not fair or accurate to judge a product after such a short time but i'll be "sticking "with the original lace-up a bit longer i think. Do you have one or both of these products? Which do you think should take the title "Best shoes for Kjuge"?
I know this is maybe quite a boring pointless post but it is raining and i dont have much of a life when the weather is bad ;) Sorry!

Let there be light!

Happy days are here again. The clocks have changed and it is now possible for a little after-work rock action in Kjuge or the surrounding areas . This may not greatly benefit those of you reading this in Malmö, Lund, London, Madrid or Los Angeles but for the five or six climbers in the K'stad area it is big news.