Joakim Andersson

After my four weeks of forced rest from climbing I finally got my season outdoor premiere at Ekoberget, Stockholm on Sunday.

Camilla moments before the first time on rock this outdoor season.

Unsure about how much I had lost during the rest period me and Camilla started easy by warming up on För forna klätterfantaster 5c which didn’t feel that hard climbing wise but the route was in the shadow and the rock was so cold my hands went numb. That made it quite hard to climb, but I got up in the end.

Camilla cruising Ekoturism 6c.

We continued with Ekoturism 6c. I tried to onsight that route about a year ago but failed. All I remembered though was that the first two-thirds of the route was quite easy, then a no-hands rest followed but a tricky finish.

This year it went much better. I got up to the rest, tried to recover my weak muscles the best I could before I with determination went into the crux and got through to the top without too much trouble.

I’m happy with this considering it is pretty much an onsight as didn’t remember any sequences or details from last year.

Next I tried to onsight the neighbor route Prima Ballerina, 6c+. I got through the tricky sections in the lower part and found a decent rest with two bolts left until the anchor. Only the crux left before my first 6c+ onsight! I tried my hardest, but unfortunately it took 4-5 tries with hanging on the rope between tries before I figured out the sequence that worked for me.

Camilla fighting her way up Wiwaxia 6c/6c+.

After lunch break with coffee we tried Wiwaxia 6c/6c+. What a misery! It took all I had to get the rope up. A bit of comfort that Camilla got stuck and agreed that the route is pretty damn hard. I did figure out and did all the sequences on toprope but with hangs in-between. Some of those moves are out-of-this-world hard!

Me enjoying the spring sun.

Great spring day to be out climbing! And really awesome to be climbing again after four weeks off.