The Swedish summer was long and warm and made the climbing condition terrible. After a 2 week long trip to Ceuse I quickly realized I had to give up my dreams on Swedish granite. Instead I decided to get insanely strong for whatever outdoor project that might come up in the future. I turned into a gym rat. I got obsessed with how much weight I could add on my pull-ups and how far I could pull between the campus rungs. When autumn came I barely took notice, the summer had been feeling endless. I had created a new comfort zone and that was the climbing gym.
By the end of this summer I got a message from Andreas Andersson who is currently developing a new topo for the areas around Stockholm. He gave me the offer of trying his freshly bolted project on a crag called Bjurviksberget. I felt extremely honored. But the fact that it was a slab made me terrified, how could I apply my summer-training on such a route? Could I even stand on my feet..?
Andreas made me realise climbing isn't all about big biceps...
I headed out anyway and I finally got to breathe some fresh air again. I guess Andreas pulled me out of my indoor comfort zone and bad habits, and made me realise climbing isn't all about big biceps.
At first I got scared by the climb and its angle since I usually climb steeper routes, but challenges like this is what I like about climbing. On my second attempt I sent it, even though I had to eliminate one of the wet key holds. I had done my first FA and it was a slab. It's hard for me to give any indication about the grade since the climb was far from the style I usually climb, but I can estimate it to be somewhere about 7c...ish. But in this case i simply couldn't care less. I had challenged my comfort zone and it was thrilling.
I want to say thanks to Andreas for this experience. Now I'm gonna try find some time for the granite in its prime conditions.
