The weekend

We were blessed with blue skies last weekend and we tried to make the most of it. Saturday had us chasing sun as it was a bit on the chilly as we grappled the problems at Utsikten on Tjörn. On Sunday we warmed our bodies by removing moss and brushing holds at we stumbled upon yet another sweet area on Tjörn. So much rock.


Here are a couple pics

Klas on a sweet problem at Utsikten

Lina bears down on Blown Away

Per-Ola tries A River Runs Through It

Time on my Hands

With shorter days keeping me inside I've got a bit more time to kill in front of a computer. I'm once again making an effort to go through some older footage and throwing together little videos. Assuming the tilt of the earth doesn't change in the immediate future I should be adding videos to the blog on a fairly regular basis for the next month or so.

This video is from last winter and has a couple FA's. The Perfect In-between is a 3-star problem in Värnamo that I wish I had better footage of. So it goes. All the other problems are on a boulder nearish to Ronneby. The best lines on that boulder still have yet to be done.

Some Swedish Bouldering from Kearney Journey from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.

Thank God for the Islands

As stated early, this time of year can be rough for a New Mexico boy like me. That's not to say there is no climbing at all here in Sweden but as the days get shorter the windows of opportunity get fewer. Fortunately for me there are the islands just outside Gothenburg. With a couple hundred fast drying problems and a micro-climate that is generally more favorable that the mainland, the islands provide a fix when everywhere else is sopping wet. It helps keeps the suicidal tendencies at bay.

Occasionally I need to be reminded of how great the islands are and Sunday's ill conceived trip to Orust did just that as I spent half my time drying rocks so I could climb on them.

Here are a couple pics

Island life

The Helmet

Anders on I am the Walrus

Geir on Hälsö

Per-Ola in Boxvik after 40 minutes of drying

Buddha Rhubarb Butter in Boxvik

A Turn for the Worse

Every year around this time I try to convince myself I should start training. This shift from my general anti-training stance is of course due to the onset of oppressive Swedish weather. Unable to climb outside on a consistent basis I begin to wonder how many trip to the gym it will take to actually learn to like plastic. My attempts in previous years turned into simply hanging out with friends and whining about the weather, occasionally making it past warming up before throwing in the towel. We'll see how things go this year. I should just put together a campus workout and dangle from a hangboard so I don't become super weak. However, I'll probably resort back to obsessively checking the weather and waiting for my annual escape to the States (Dec 9th -Jan 26th).

Swedish winters suck but there are small windows here and there. Between the driving rain and lengthening darkness I have managed to make it out here and there the last couple weeks. Hopefully we'll have a few more good days, just enough to stave off depression.

Here are some pics.

It gets dark pretty early so night sessions allow the working stiffs to climb during the weekdays, if it's dry.

Pontus on a new problem I put up in Årekärr

Johan in Branta Trappan

Pics of Organic Pads

I've uploaded a slideshow of most of the Organic pads available here in Sweden. The pictures appear on the right side of the blog and all the pads have different colors and designs to suit your unique style.

The slideshow pictures are of the regular pads but I do have a few of the big ones available as well along with some other gear. For the time being the prices for the Organic gear is as follows

regular pad 2200kr
big pad 3900kr
chalk buket 250kr
chalk bag (with belt) 200kr

folks that are interested should shoot me an email at kearneyjourney@gmail.com.

I also have limited numbers of other Organic gear from tote bags to t-shirts.

Jänkarproblemet

Here is a video of Lars doing Jänkarproblemet on Öckerö. There are surprisingly many ways to do this problem but Lars is the only one I've seen use this beta.

Jänkarproblemet from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.

Two Roofs

I made a little film of a couple FA's in Bohuslan.

Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie was miraculously sent in the summer with sub-par temps. Sometimes you just get lucky I guess. It is still waiting for a second ascent.

As for Radar, if you follow the blog you know that my dumb beta lead to a punctured finger and a bruised ego. Per-Ola got the FA and I had to go back a week later and sent first try with the good beta. That problem has now seen several ascents and will be one of the more popular problems in an area that should eventually hold quite a few problems.

Here is the video. If you want to watch it in HD I think you have to go to Vimeo.
Hope you enjoy.

Two Roof in Bohuslan, Sweden from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.