Long time no see

 Very long time no see. 

But that doesn´t mean nothing has happenend. I am nowadays a fully qualified mountain guide according to IFMGA. Soon to be a parent together with my ´sambo´ Sandra. And for the moment with a base in Åre and Bohuslän (but regualary changing during seassons) 

I am guiding mainly in the Alps and Scandinavia. I really enjoy the work and being out in the mountains still amazes me, both private and with gueasts! 
Most of the tours i run i do upon request through my company high-above, some jobs i do for partners. 

To start of a trip a person or a group aproaches me, sometimes already with a plan or idea, sometimes not. From there we start to shape it to make it into days to remember. Sounds tricky? Send me an email or give a call and see, i am sure i can give ideas ans suggestions that you haven´t thougt of. Maybe we even get of the beaten path ;).

For some tours and courses it´s easier to have fixed dates and places, for that i have created www.high-above.se/book-online (click here) Here you can find climbing courses (Svenska klätterförbundet), Avalanche courses (according to SVELAV), Daily guided tours depending on which area i operate and much more. Once again if you don´t find what you are looking for?                                                                    Get in touch! 

Get inspired and check out:

www.high-above.se click here

or

insta: isaacdvt_mountainguide click here

Summer of silence

At the moment of writing i´m sitting on the train from Abisko towards Stockholm. In Abisko i´ve attended an ice climbing course. It was my first visit to mountains since July. Everything with very mixed feelings.

About 5 months ago on a sunny warm day in Chamonix, the summer turned silent. A strange noise behind me after that the fall.

That day I lost my father.

I don´t know what to say or write. A hike on a calm day in the ´´aiguilles rouge mountains´´ on the famous ´´tour the Mont blanc´´ turned out into a loss that hard to describe. I did what I could but nothing helped. Since that day time lost its momentum . It´s indescribable how much I miss him.

I have tried to find answers, what happened, what went wrong? The thing is, I cannot find any. Is this called an accident? where something comes out of nowhere and you cannot do any about it? I guess so.

A magic moment.
Coming from two different directions we happened to meet exactly on the summit of Kebnekaise

Back on the horse:

After the accident time has stand still but slowly it is ticking and gaining momentum again. To go to the ice climbing course and stick to the plan to continue the mountainguide training for the moment is important for me, I have to try and would like to be able to get the love back for the moutains, we will see. 
I guess for many that read this piece of text it is just what is says, a text. For me it´s more than that. Writing this text on my blog means to take another step of the so many steps to give this event a place, but also to be able to open up the possibility to write on the blog again and be able to share my trips and adventures and continue to work on my profile as a becoming moutainguide. If it works, I don´t know? But I have to try, time will tell.

Lofoten Rocks!

The rock course was held end of May in Lofoten in the far north of Norway, also called the magic islands.The Lofoten island offer some world class climbing on perfect granite, natuarally protected with no bolts in sight.

It was pretty stressfull before the course week. Several exams on the university had to be done, fulltime work with rope acces and an exam to become a rock climbing instructor. Luckily everything went well and passing all exams i could fly to the north as an fully qualified rock instructor according to the Swedish UIAA rules.

The course consisted of 5 days and in those days the main aim was to learn and understand a good way to guide clients on multipitch rock routes. With good instructors and a great weather forecast we had a good week to expect. The first day we started of with a test of basic rescue scenario´s and discussed different ways of building anchors to learn new tricks and just to be sure that everyone has the same idea about a good anchor. The rest of the days we planned and climbed multipitch routes often in teams of three. It seems that it´s not so hard to climb and guide a party. I guess that everyone who has climbed multipitch routes knows the setting, the rope is a mess, the traverse badly protected because you found it easy and the belay in an uncomfortable place just because you tried to run out the pitch to the max, but you don´t really care because you just cleared the crux and your partner solves the mess for you. In guiding this is a big no go. When you climb with clients it´s al about planning and being several steps ahead. This not only to make it nice for your client but in the end also to make it safer and nicer for yourself. During the days we trained in how to manage the rope, putting in protection for yourself but also for your clients, making the rope run smoother and route finding. Al in al guiding is much more than being able to climb and put up a rope, there´s more to is and that´s trickier then you would think. In the 5 days we actually had one day were some rain was expected so we used that to learn the first steps in a guides technique called short roping. This technique is used in easier but exposed terrain, the rope and a lot of coaching is used to keep the whole party save. As you can guess this is a skill and a craft that is extremely important to learn and the introduction day we had was only a glimps of what to come on the rest of the courses. 

Henningsvear and it´s klatrekafeen as a base for the week.

Rescue scenario with a view

waiting for perfection

is this gonna work good for the client?

Tatu a short roping master?

Råna, an adventurous and amazing climb, 5c/6a in big boots

Lofoten scenery

Plesure climbing after the course, Frederik cruising

Cruising Presten, Vestpilaren

Lofoten, where the sun always shines !? (10 p.m.)

Skimo

Spending this winter season mostly in Stockholm every chance is taken to get away to the mountains and of course you want to be as effective as possible, so then Skimo or ski mountaineering is a perfect combination. Skimo is a sport where you climb up and ski down a mountains as fast as possible and at the same time negotiate the terrain encountered. Unfortunately there are no real mountains in Stockholm, but luckily there are a couple of ski hills where you can get some vertical meters.

On one of those hills a competition was arranged called ´´Hammarby 2h´´ (www.vertex.cx/2h/). A race were you have to go up and down as many times within 2 hours, considering that the there´s only about 90 vertical meters gained every lap it means a lot of transitions from climbing to downhill mode. Of course I couldn’t resist to participate. It turned out to be a nice race. I managed to go up and down 19 times, far less than the winner Patrik Nordin with 24 laps, but still ending up at a 7^th place. After the race I ran in to a guy called Magnus Jensen it turned out that we both had been thinking of participating in a race called ´´Keb-classic´´ the ultimate race for ski mountaineers in Sweden at the moment. Unfortunately none of us had a partner so plans started to grow to team up. Before making the decision we wanted to participate in the race ´´King of six pack´´ in the mountains of Jämtland to see how we worked as a team.

Warm up run on getryggen

Technique training and filming 

We found out that the days before and after the the sixpack race there was a Skimo training camp organized by no one less than Emelie Forsberg, one of  the best skyrunner and ski mountaineer in the world. We got the chance to participate and couldn´t say no to that.

We had four days of training including the day of the race. We stayed in the mountain hut ´´Storulvån´´ runned by the Swedish tourist association (STF). The first day was a day of easy uphill skiing getting the legs started. The second day, the day before the race we worked on skinning technique, taking in and of skins, putting skis on backpack etc. In the evening we packed our gear and got ready for the race the day after, of course we first enjoyed a nice 3 course dinner.

During the race

The day of the race it was Magnus, Gustav and me participating as a team together with 21 other teams. Because of the race being an easy going nothing official race, we were allowed to decide our own start time and our own route. It was a great day with fantastic weather. We managed to climb the 6 summits that were included in the six pack in 3 hours and 15 minutes at around 2000 vertical meters which gave us a 6^th place, and most important made it back to the lunch in the mountain hut.

´´Snodden´´ the team 

The last day we did some interval training before hitting the road all the way back to Stockholm. The weekend was a success so me and Magnus booked Keb-classic as soon as we could.

We raced in Keb-classic last weekend I´ll put a report of that as soon as possible until then have a look on www.kebclassic.se.

Alp visit

At this time of writing I am in Stockholm working. About 3 months ago I left Stockholm and drove south to the Alps for some skiing, climbing and the first course for the mountain guide course. Unfortunately this winter hasn´t reached any records yet when it comes to snowfall. Green Christmas celebrations had been reported from all over the Alps. With a quick stop in Chamonix to collect some gear I went to pick up Gustav Mellgren at the airport in Geneva. We had both done some research on for that moment the best ski locations. Andermatt was high up on the list, when Gustav on top of that by coincidence met his friend Klas Englund at the airport with the same destination in mind, the choice was made.  

Being the days just before new year´s finding accommodation was not the easiest, luckily at the famous ´´Swedish house´´ a.k.a. ´´Villa villakulla´´ (a group of seasoneers that rent a house and nowadays work and live fulltime in Andermatt) they were kind enough to let us stay for some nights, even though it already was very busy.

In Andermatt we actually found fairly good conditions. We varied lift skiing with some easier touring. Al the time we had to be quite cautious because of the tricky avalanche situation that is the main theme in the Alps this season…
The main discovery of this trip was the Gotthard tunnel to the Swiss kanton Tiscino. On the bad weather days this was the quick escape. With a ride of just under one hour from Andermatt you enter a complete different world; sunshine, warm temperatures, palm trees and one of the best bouldering i´ve ever done.

Klas Englund cruising in Andermatt

picking lines in Andermatt

Cogne with warm temps

After the trip to Andermatt I went to Cham for a couple of weeks trying to make something of the conditions. I filled the days with some skiing, working out, drytooling and some easier alpine climbing. Something that´s almost a must do is to start a ski or climb from the aiguille du midi-lift but for the first time on I don´t know how many trips to Cham I never made my way up there…strange idea.

Short visit to Verbier

Gustav Mellgren climbing rock instead of ice...

Sunshine skiing with my dad :)

Before it was time to go back Sweden, I went to Davos. Even I you would think that, I didn´t go there for the WEF. In Davos the ´´Schnee und lawinenforschung´´SLF is based. This is one of the world leading institutes on avalanche science (www.slf.ch). The Swedish mountain guide organization (SBO) had planned a week long avalanche course for us as part of the guide training.
The course started with a refresher of our skills and a visit to the ski patrol. Two full days where spent with Manuel Genswein, a real guru, and probably the mind behind your transceiver. By his lead we trained a lot on transceiver search methods and how to solve tricky multiple burials. If we got cold that was easily solved by practicing digging, jup even that you can optimize by digging in a V-shape or so called conveyor belt.
The other days we had some shorter lectures about snow physics and national avalanche forecasting but mainly we were out in the field together with Stephan Harvey, a mountain guide working for the SLF. We dug snow pits to examine the snowpack, trained on route finding in avalanche terrain and much more. It was very interesting given that there was a lot of avalanche activity. We even managed to trigger some small avalanches from a distance, a clear sign of instability.

Conveyor belt or V-shape digging

Stephan Harvey measuring density

Mikael Almlert checking out the avalanche we triggerd remotly 

Can you see the weak layer?

AIA Abisko ice Adventure

After months of work with nine to five routines a hot summer and weekly climbing at the local crags of Stockholm it was time to cool down in the north of Sweden, Abisko to be exact. My friend Anders Nyström had invited me to kick of the ice climbing season in this small town in the far north of Sweden. Anders was going there with some Luleå friends and they were happy to share and invited along everyone who was keen. We ended up with 22 people staying at Abisko Mountain lodge, more or less an ice festival.

Great view and weather

In Abisko me and Anders teamed up for the three days of climbing we had also Patrik Lindgren joining in on the first day. I have been climbing in Abisko before during the time I worked at the Abisko turiststation so I now the area. The first day we wanted something to warm up on, something easy to get familiar again. So of we went to Gömda Dalen(Hidden valley), Kaisepakte. One hours approach gave a 60 meter high and 100 meter or so wide wall covered in ice of fairly easy climbing. We picked the 4 most obvious lines. It all felt a bit shaky but very familiar. ´´Ice climbing is like riding a bike´´, as my friend Christian Edelstam opted a couple of years ago while making his way up a thin ice. I can only agree.

the walk in to gömda dalen

Patrik on the lead

The second day we decided to give the classic and in my opinion Abisko valleys best ice a go; det stora blå (the big blue). Anders took the first pitch and had to clean loads of double ice on the less steep parts, so now it is in shape for the season! I took the second pitch. It´s great climbing on this blue like ice. Just before topping out we made a abalakov for the descent. This makes that you just have to do one 60 abseil and you skip the top out on to grass an moss and basically nothing to abseil of from (i´ve heard rumors of and bolted anchor thou). Back at the car we had plenty of time left so we did some more climbing in the Abisko canyon and Kurvan. At the end of the day some good food was waiting at the tourist station and after that a sauna just at the lake of Torneträsk.

Stora blå!

The last day Lillpakte was on the menu. This is a miniature version of Kaisepakte (thereof the name). We climbed 3 obvious lines of great ice. With the arms reasonably tired the last stop was made at the ´´Artic Thai kitchen`` in Kiruna before boarding the flight back to rainy Stockholm.

Kaisepakte from Lillpakte

Not only ice, also great mixed climbing potential

Anders on the lead at lillpakte

Hopefully  next year there will be a AIA (Abisko Ice Adventure) again, join in!

Check out  http://kiwiclimber.se/iceclimbing/index.html a website by Rick McGregor for detailed description of the ice climbing in the valley.

Romsdalen workout and Summerski at Strynefestivalen

  After my visit to Romsdalen last winter I was eager to get back to this place. Luckily Oscar Almgren from Uteguiden wondered If I wanted to do some guiding at the Strynefestivalen a summer ski and extreme sport festival in Stryn. Ofcourse I couldn´t say no. 
But before heading there I took the opportunity to visit my friend Ted Ekberg with the hope to get on the big rock faces we had been staring at a couple of months earlier. 

first pitches of mongejura ´´sydpilaren´´

Ted was working the first day of my visit but trough his work at Platou Sports I Molde I had the opportunity to test a sea kayak. I took a lap around one of the islands outside Molde called the ´´Moldives´´. 

Me and Ted had been looking around to find a good long route that would suite us. We wanted something long, not to hard for bigger chances of success and for me one of the Romsdalen classics. We soon decided to go for the ultra-classic route ´´Sydpilaren´´ on the mountain Mongejura. This is a face of almost 1000 meters of rock. The route is about 24 pitches of which four are grade 6. Ted had already climbed this route two times before but in the early years of his climbing career so those missions had been very long and strenuous so he was keen on climbing it quicker this time. 

Ted following

classic must have pic from sydpilaren

  We started from teds place early morning. Our plan was to get to the parking lot at 8 and start climbing at 8.45 after that we expected the climb itself to take about 12 hours. We we´re like a Swiss, at exactly 8.45 am we set of on the first ´´pitches´´. The first part is more bushwhacking then climbing following ledges combined with easier climbing. After about 40 min. we arrived at pitch 6 the first crux pitches were coming up. Leading in blocks it was my turn to lead the 5 pitches ahead. These pitches we of great exposed climbing already quite high up the wall. Al the time is was reasonably protected and I got great use of the size 4 cam that we brought especially for these pitches. After my block Ted took over on grade 4/5 terrain so we decided to simulclimb this aswel. We managed to keep good speed and before I knew it is was my time to lead again. This time it was the last crux for the route on the 16^th rope length; A fantastic corner of high rock quality. After this lead we went into simul mode again cruising up to the 20^th pitch were Ted took over for the last part. The climbing was never hard on this bit but the terrain got a bit loose and so full focus was required to climb smoothly and safe. Al of a sudden the terrain eased of and I met the grinning face of Ted belaying me. We were on the top of the climb in what we think a nice time of 7 hours and 10 minutes on the route. After enjoying the lunch that we forgot to eat on the climb we made our way back to the car. On our way home to Molde we passed by a ´´crag´´ called Hornaksla, I joked to Ted that we might climb some more. Before we knew it we had climbed 5 more easy pitches…

Happy after almost 1000m climb

Start to get high up

Mongejura

Ted leading on ´´Gravhammer´´
Hornaksla

Ted showing his offwidth skills

The next day we returned to Hornaksla to climb the route ´Gravrammer´. A great 8 pitch route. In the beginning it´s a bit mossy but get´s better high up. Al the pitches are pretty sustained. The descent is easy, just follow the massive ramp down al the way to the road. This al makes for a great day out. 

 

                 

Easy way down from Hornaklsa
wirh trolltinderna in the
background

After this climbing adventure it was time to head south to Stryn and change the rock boots to ski boots. Stryne Sommerski is an Area that get´s crazy amounts of snow in winter. Once they at the end of spring have dug a way through the snow up the mountain this makes a great place for summerskiing. Stryne Sommerski is not a big area with only 2 ski lifts but makes some good access for ski touring on the glacier surrounding is. Fri Flyt a big Norwegian ski magazine had organized an adventure festival called ´Strynefestivalen´. My friend Oscar Almgren who runs the guiding company Uteguiden was organizing the guided skitours for the festival and asked me if I wanted to help out.
We were extremely lucky with the weather, Sunshine and high temperatures which is kind of unusual for this area this time of the year. Unfortunately this was of course worse for the snow conditions. I guided a skitour where the aim was to focus more on steep skiing. Unfortunately most steeper lines had turned in to waterfalls. On the Glacier towards the Mountain Nuken we were able to find steeper faces where we practiced jump turns, practiced rappelling and discussed techniques to tackle the steeps safely, this al combined with loads with high class slush cruising. The evenings spend on Folven camping offered good company, great atmosphere and partying. Check out http://www.strynefestivalen.no/ ans www..uteguiden.com

Where is the snow?

Top lift not running? Put the skins on!

Great mix of clothing!
everything from full winter gear to shorts and tops.