Cover on Dagens Nyheter

In late august I got news that Dagens Nyheter (DN) ran one of my photos from Kalymnos, Greece, on the cover. DN published my feature story about climbing and life on the small and beautiful island of Kalymnos. This was my first cover on a major news paper, very happy about this.

Kalymnos is an awesome place to go if you’re looking for a quite place combined with world class climbing. Go there.

Cover on Dagens Nyheter Kalymnosrep-1 Kalymnosrep-2

Kalymnos climbing

The little Greek island Kalymnos is the perfect destination if you’re looking for a climbing and family combination. If you stay in the small village of Massouri you will have many of the major crags within walking distance, as well as the beach and all the other facilities in the village. If you want the flexibility to choose from all the crags on the island you should rent a scooter.

Action photographer – a great how to guide

My friend and colleague Fredrik Schenholm recently released his first book, on a subject I’m sure will attract a lot of readers; how to survive as an action photographer. Especially in a small country like Sweden there are lucky few who can actually find a way to make a living out of shooting action sports. Fredrik is one of them, and one of the best in this genre.

Fredrik phoned me early this fall and asked if I wanted to be part of the content; as an climbing photographer expert. I was of course very honored, and contributed with a few of my climbing images as well as my thoughts about shooting climbing.

The book is a great piece of work, where Fredrik and co-author Anders Wingqvist thoroughly takes the reader through Fredrik’s work flow, mixed with interesting and funny anekdotes and short stories.

A great tool for those who want to get into the business, or just want to improve as an action photographer. The book is full of very useful hands-on tips and tricks, as well as pure inspiration.

More info at Calazo Förlag.

Guide book cover

Local guide book author Tomasz Ratajczak just released his third edition of the climbing guide book over the Gothenburg area. I talked to Tomasz a few days ago, and I was very happy to hear that for the second consecutive time one of my photos from Utby, a crag near downtown Gothenburg, is on the cover. This edition contains info about an impressive 1662 routes on 46 crags, with good topos and descriptions. Tomasz decided to go all-in with color photos (the second edition, released in 2006, only had the cover in color) in the new edition, which adds to the quality feel.

More info about the book and how to order it can be found here: http://www.gbg-guiden.info/site/order.php

The second edition had more of a green summer-ish touch on the cover:

…and the Oscar goes to…

Sandsjöbacka, a nature reserve park about a 30 minute drive south from Gothenburg, is probably one of the best bouldering sites winter time. Around a dozen of problems in the 7-grade spectrum, many of the also being fast drying. One particular problems is recommended to do when the cold weather holds a grip on Sweden is Oscarsgalan (swedish for Oscar Academy Award). It’s a tall wall on very solid rock that sits along the side of a small swamp, and when the swamp freezes it’s a lot easier to access the rock.

Published in Rock & Ice

A photo I took a while back in Bohuslän was recently published in the Ascent issue of Rock & Ice. This is Erik Heyman on the Crassostrea Gigas 8b at Sjöhäller, a very sustained and hard route only allowing two pieces of gear as protection before reaching the anchor. Erik climbed the route with a crashpad underneath since the first protection about halfway up the 15 meter route.

Erik Heyman on a Bohuslän testpiece, Crassostrea Gigas 8b.

The crag sits right by the fjord Åbyfjorden on the Swedish westcoast, and if you’re lucky you can find Japanese oysters in the shallow waters of the fjord. Crassostrea Gigas is the latin name for Japanese oysters, hence the name of the route.

– I ate several raw oysters each time I came to Sjöhäller to work on the route, says Erik.

Published in climbing book

Last week I got the news that the swedish book about climbing, Stora boken om klättring, was printed and released to the stores. I got a few copies from the author Nils-Ragnar “Bobo” Gustavsson, and was happy to see a couple of my photos on a few spreads. Maybe I will post a few of my photos here in the near future.

The book is a solid piece of work with plenty of good instructions and illustrations about climbing technique, safety and everything else you need to know as a climber. Very good work indeed, and worth buying if you want to learn more about all this!

A sneak preview of a few of my photos in the book:

A photo from Tonsai beach, Thailand.

Full page with pro climber Said Belhaj climbing in Spain.

Climbing in Bohuslän

Erik Heyman, one the hardest trad climbers in Sweden, wanted some photos of his recent contribution to the trad climbing in Sweden: the FA of a route at Häller in Bohuslän called Doktor Snuggles. Erik started working the route during the fall of 2010, but a very cold and snowy winter forced him to leave it for few month. After a few sessions on the route early this year, he finally sent the route. He thinks it’s a solid 8b.

Mr Heyman, contemplating the last attempt.

7b climbing to a good rest...

...where the last pro is placed...

...before the 12 move intensive power endurance crux.

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The last hard move before easier ground. If you miss this, you get about 20 meters air milage.

Happy new climbing

Winter climbing in Sweden can be frustrating cold, but on the very first day of the year we got a window of sunshine. The winter here in Sweden is keeping its grip on us, forcing us to work on our plastic project most of the climbing days. But when there’s a window of sunshine we fight the cold. What is better than start 2011 with a bouldering session with some good friends in a stunning environment out on the island of Öckero, just outside of downtown Gothenburg. After only 30 minutes on the island I dipped both my feet in almost knee deep freezing water… The rest of the day was spent in climbing shoes.

Cold? YES.

We find what we think is yet an unclimbed problem just right of Gullik’s Surf’n Turf. Carl-Johan Svensson trying it: