Spanish thanks giving 7a+

Viktor climbing an awesome route in Alabalik Balkon 2.

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Gözleme

Classic Turkish meal in the making.

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Heroes go left

Sander Werelds climbing Finger food in sector Alabalik. The obvious way for him to go after having looked in the guide to find the name of the right-variation of the route - "Heroes go left".

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Turkey and back

After 2.5 months of working on my tan in sunny Turkey, it feels a bit sad to be back in Sweden knowing that all those hard hours of lying in the sun will probably be bleached away by the end of the summer. Partly since Swedish summer does not often provide much sun but also since I will be spending most of the time indoors, working as usual. Even though the stay in Turkey did not rob me on more than a couple of pennies since I was fortunate to be able to work at the campsite, it still is time to fill up the piggy bank.

Apart from working in the Jo.si.to kitchen and on my sun tan, I have also been climbing a lot. The total amount of routes I climbed equals to about three times as many as I had totally done in the past since I started climbing. From this I have learnt a lot and come to enjoy sportclimbing more than ever before. Being on a trip where weather did not keep me from climbing for a change, has sure been amazing. At times I was almost wishing for rain so that I could rest. At the same time, the few times when it was raining it was of course also cloudy. That made it possible to climb in the areas where it got too hot on the days when the skies where clear and I could not miss out on opportunities like that.

Towards the end I became more and more tired. The only reason that I actually made it to the crag the last days was the thought of not knowing when I would get a chance to try the awesome routes again. With a lot of will power compensating for my lack of energy, I also made it up a some routes during these days. A couple of them where routes I had been waiting for to dry up ever since I arrived.

Flame of fame 8a, Trebenna. Photo: Mikael Ylinen.

To sum it all up, I'm very happy with the stay and would like to thank Mike and Victor for letting me tag along on their trip. Also I want to thank the entire Jo.si.to-crew for their hospitality aswell as all the nice people that I've been fortunate to meet and hang out with during the time. I hope it won't be to long until I see your faces again!

Right now I'm in the midst of a weeks rest. Both my body and mind needs to recover before I can start trying all the routes I have not climbed here on the Swedish west coast. I'm intrigued to see how climbing on granite will feel after 3 months of moving on limestone.

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Worked up apetite

Every evening as the sun sets and dark comes over Geyik Bayiri, climbers are dropping in at Josito with an worked up apetite. While they have been out climbing, chef Raşit has been preparing delicious Turkish food for them to enjoy while thinking back at their day at the rocks.

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The Ry

Just before leaving Sweden, I somehow managed to persuade my friend Ry Morrison in to coming along on the Turkey-adventure. Having him around sure is great. Partly since he keeps reminding me of how awesome our lifes are, regardless of how the climbing goes...

The man and legend hitchhiking to Antalya...

 

Spotting some goat-action for the camera...

On his way back from morning-yoga for breakfast before hitting the rocks...

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Air and style

A to me unknown climber on what I believe is the first pitch of Air and style (6c+/7c+) in the Anatolia sector.

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What does the Turkey say

Since about a month back my life has been pretty sweet. I'm in Geyik bayiri, Turkey. Climbing of course, but also working in the kitchen at the Josito campsite in return for food and accomondation.

Just before Chritsmas I injured my finger and due to this I did not climb at all until the beginning of February. When starting again, I could at first only do very easy moves on jugs and when two friends told me about going to Turkey to ropeclimb, they caught my interest. I thought of it as an opportunity to try something new since ropeclimbing should be more gentle on the finger.

Every other day I'm off from work and those I spend desperately trying to learn how to get along with the limestone tufa's. So far I have not been very succesfull. It's almost like doing a new sport too me as I have not been doing much ropeclimbing before. At least not compared to how much I have bouldered. Also it's my first time climbing on limestone which sure takes some getting used to. At first I was super-frustrated and felt completely lost on whatever climb I got on. Then I realized that I had to change my approach towards it all. I lowered my ambitions, started looking at every climb as training and now I'm trying to do as many routes as I can, regardless of style or difficulty. It has made it all much more enjoyable and I'm slowly adapting to the climbingstyle.

Hugo, one of the local dogs chilling at the campsite.

I'm planning to stick around for a while longer, before returning to Sweden to spend my summer working as usual. I'm looking forward to keep working on my endurance and that hopefully summer in Sweden will allow for me to use it on the routes around where I live.

Two shots from nearby city, Antalya.

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3 from in between the showers

From what I hear, weather in Font has been great this winter. Unlike last year when I was there, dragging my bad karma to the forrest. However, despite the fact that I did far from as much climbing as I would have wanted to, I still have'nt used all the footage I gathered during that time. While sat thinking back of last winter, I came to think of these bits of unused footage and decided to try making the most of (some of) them. Hope you enjoy what I did!

Featured problems:
Vague Patatras 8A Rocher Saint-Germain
Les Conquistadores direct 7B+ Rocher Gréau
Vandale gauche 7A+ Rocher Cailleau

Climber in video:
Fredrik Sydstrand
Daniel Olausson

Edit:
Daniel Olausson

Camera:
Daniel Olausson

Music:
"Lalala" by Andreasbeats.com

Produced in association with:
Revolution
Fiveten
Tierra
Boulderkeskus
Lyofood

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Dynamo 7a

William Falkenström giving his last efforts working Dynamo 7a at the end of a long day at Rabiesväggen.

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Fighting Rabies

Tom Boholm climbing Rabies 7a in Fjällbo (The most urban Gothenburg ropeclimbing-crag, situated just outside the city center).

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For old time sake

Few climbers I've met are bursting with such passion and energy at the rocks, as Said. Just the fact that he climbs more than hundred routes 8a and above every year, I think speaks for itself. Last week, while paying a short visit in his old hometown, he spent an afternoon at Hyltebergen repeating his training-circuit from back in the day. A bunch of sevens and a couple of eights, in between sushi in the sun and dinner at his mom's place, is a pace one can only dream of keeping up with.

Said Belhaj repeating Forex 8a, for old time sake.

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