So the calendar says 20th of March and we going with fast step to spring. I spend the weekend at Funäsdalen with a lot of skiing and also snowshoeing. The spring winter is one nicest season of the year, and at the same time I got the feeling of that the spring is coming up with all of expectation of that season.

This weekend the tour went towards Svalåtjärns wind-shelter. With the sun in my back and just a small wind from the back me and my husky started the journey. With a crisp snow, it went quite easy and soon I got up the speed.  Just after 45 minutes we have reach the wind-shelter 6,2km ahead. Just a short brake and then back with the sun in the eyes and the wind from ahead, it was so nice. We both enjoy the mountain feeling at that time…

The evening I spend with a snowshoe tour towards Anåtjärn. With a fabulous evening sun going down over the Jämtland mountains.  The air went cold, directly in the sunset, but that evening I will bring with me…

Today I will also continue with digging a bit deeper due to the guide skills from the 5th of March. Today I will go a bit further with the skill of Social Intelligence. This ability or skill comes from listening. As a guide you often got short time to get to know a person. So this skill you need to work on all the time. A skilled guide can recognize if someone in the group miss a skill or knowledge, and catch it and got the compassion to help them out with such  situation. To become a motivator for development etc. But this means you must understand what you shall look after, the sign of that something is needed from your side. A good guide tune into the group/clients emotions and feelings. My learning is also that promote good spirit and good behavior, rather than pointing out wrong behavior. Become a better listener,  learn and work with trust to other first. It is significative that we trust people who have trust our selves first. So work with the ability and promote/show people that you trust them. Build a compassionate culture around your work and assignments…

And now we have come to the end of this weeks blog. A review of a pant. The Bergans Bekkely hybrid pant. This is a pant with two different softshell materials. One more breathable and one more waterproof. The last part over the butt and legends. It got zipper on the legs for ventilation. A soft lining at the waist.  Five pockets which is spacious. So so far it looks good, but I will test them a bit harder before grading them…

Deer Tick – Twenty Miles – YouTube

See ya soon…

12th of March and I am up early in the morning. The sun is raising, and I think it is a tremendous morning. I love the snow and especially the spring-winter. Clear and cold morning, and a warming sun during the day. I am an incurable winter romantic. And isn’t it funny that during winter holidays we fill the day with activities, and at the summer vacation we just laying in the sun and relax (almost mostly). Maybe It can be a part of my love to the winter season.

Today I am going to reflect over the word, (and the ability) of judgement. I’ve been talking a lot about it, but what really is a good judgement and what does it means?

A good judgement will be to how one deal with a lot of information. The source of the information can be; the mood, theoretical information, experience etc. The judgement will be our ability take in all of this and act from it. What will give us the opportunity of space is that we always will be in new situations. The presence have never been before, this meaning that the judgement must always be open for an ignorance. The current situation might be bigger compered to the knowledge we got. But keep in mind:

”A good judgment comes from experience – experience comes from bad judgment” 

So, what is good judgement then? Since it is very or impossible to measure it easy becomes to feel very diffuse. But if we ask ourselves how do I develop my professional judgement, it might help?

This week I have reviewed the  Helikon-Tex map case. I find it difficult to buy a real good map case, but now I found one. Since it is smart folded it is perfect. It also got a lot of small pockets for extra gear. And the cost: 23.61 Euro, it is really affordable…Put it in the leg pocket and your on your journey…(NNNNN)

Todays music will be one classic, with lot of good memories and also a new one to just enjoy…

Jon and Vangelis – I’ll Find My Way Home (with lyrics) – YouTube

300 Mornings – YouTube

See ya soon..

Review of a guide…

Today I think it’s time to review what skills a good guide (Mountain leader) shall or at least are expected to have.

Social intelligence, a skilled guide now how to tune into a new group of persons(clients) she or he quickly need to understand, learn a little bit of them and especially build a relationship that is not going to crumble. Being close but with a portion of integrity as well. A balance and a mix in a good way…

Adopting a flexible leadership style, This in the meaning of moving from an authoritarian to authority leadership style. Friendly and nice with a flow in the chit chat, but clear demanding when necessarily…

The ability to empowering others, this is a tricky skill to understand. The Customer/client must being able to do the challenge by themselves, but the guide shall do the effort. It’s like: “I will not give you a hand up for the summit, I will provide the shoulders for you to stand on for reaching the summit. I’m not the one to pull you”. It is you that muss succeed, but its my job to help you in any way. But I cant or will be doing it for you.

Trust, You need to be a trust-builder. Partly to trust within you as a guide, but also for the client to trust of them selves as well. The trust is the link between just faith and real confidence. A good example of this will be when a first time climber shall do her/his first rappel. When you as a guide just say; take a step back into the air and just let it go…

Risk management, You need to be risk aware. Bad weather, falling rocks, a good guide must learn how to have the “sense-switch” on the whole time. A three step thinking and not being afraid of not present risks…

Ability to see the big picture, The summit is not the target, it is the journey. It is at the journey you will learn. About mountaineering and maybe most important; about yourself. And a guide probably will do and have probably done a lot of “journeys”. And, as a guide always says, the mountain will be there tomorrow as well…

For complicate the whole picture you can look into this:

Here we have just spoken mostly of the ”soft skills” add the two other areas and now you can understand the complexibility of becoming a guide. This is why it is much harder to be a guide comparing to be a manager in the business…And all of the skills and among the other areas shall end up in vice judgement, that is the essence. Like when you boiling a sauce. The reduction will be the judgement in this case…

I also got a new snowshoe for testing. The Gridarmor Pasvik. This is a snowshoe with really good grip. The shoe does not have a front strap, and you will use two over-foot straps. Spontaneously I got three findings: 1. Looks like it got a really good grip. 2. The snowshoe is a bit heavy. 3. I not sure how much I can trust the buckle and strap solution for the heel.

See ya soon…

Dotan – Home – YouTube

A good day start with a good breakfast. Today was one of those days, blueberry protein porridge egg fresh pressed juice coffee and a shot. With a good start and a open mind the thought starts to wind out. I been writing about hidden trails and tourist stations and cabins. Today it is time for another one. I guess you never been there…but in a hidden part of Jämtland you can find this place. Not far from Undersåker and Vålådalen it is suited. In the deep of the Hållfjället.

The tourist station has been closed for a couple of years but now thanks to two families from Netherlands it open up this year. You have to take the car to Nordbottnen and ski/walk from there. But it is well worth a visit. The interior has been intact since the forties.

And the place of it is fabulous, so why don’t visit it during the winter?

Lundhags has produced a new series of backpacks. This time a more lighter variants. My feeling is that they have chosen a more ”European” alp model this time.

So this will be interesting to see…

When it comes to mittens it is always a jungle. But Cold Skills sells a real nice one. The Atla Polar Mitten. This one is used by the reindeer police in Norway.  A fully skin mitten with a isolation of thermal wadding and micro-fleece. The price of 90 Euro is quite ok…

When it is time for ”fika” it is necessary to have a warm seat. The Dalum of Sweden got a nice reindeer sit for the tour..

For just 399:- you got this nice reindeer seat…

Renskinn ”Ward litn” – Dalum Sweden

Loner Deer – Oh, Buddy [OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO] – YouTube

See ya soon…

Sunday evening and a bit tired. Just arrived home after a weekend in Funäsdalen. Started the Friday with a snowshoeing hike to Anåtjärn and after that a tour from Fjällnäs towards Rutfjället, up to 1040m. This was a real nice tour.

With a coffee at Fjällnäs hotell the day was rounded off perfectly. The Fjällnäs hote ll is really nice..

Saturday we started from Tänndalen towards the windshelter at Svalåtjärn.

The wind was about 15-17m/s so it was a tough one. When we came back to Andersborg the waffle tasted real good. After that coffee and some food to the husky we went back to Fjällnäs for another tour towards Hamra. So concluded we got a lot of meters with snowshoes. All happy and satisfied.

And now I also got the needle, now its for real. I have become a IML for sure…

And the North Face backpack Verto27, what was the result of the review? It is a very light sack, perfect for short day tours. It is very simple, but very functional. With a fold seat pad in the back part, it suit perfect even with hard and quite heavy weight. The clip for ice axe or poles was easy to use. So the I will grade this to a NNNN+. The reason for not NNNNN will be the price. It is a very stripped backpack, so from that perspective the price might be a little to high…

At the end I will close this weeks blog with some small but nice things to have with you. First the Firebiner. A combined holder (carabiner) and a lighter.

Firebiner (Specialty Versions) (outdoorelement.com)

A carabiner, Firestarter, blade, opener screwdriver etc. A nice tool…

And also the ”Gas-adapter..

Camping Gas Saver Plus Gas Converter Shifter Refill Flat Tank,golden | Fruugo SE

This gear you use for refilling from a gas bottle to another so you save all your gas.  So you can take two half full gas and get one full. Smart isn’t it?

The Partisan – Leonard Cohen – YouTube

See ya soon…

”Follow effective action with quiet reflection”

Its amazing what a little more of light can do for the feeling, and today it will be a topic of navel gazing. One of the most important thing to remember will be to do some self-reflection sometimes. This will help you to develop your skills and effectiveness. But how will I be doing it you might think, well here come some good advice. Think about what are your strength, what are your weakness, what skills do you got? What problems do you got at the moment? What have you achieved? What makes you happy? and what and how can you do for improve this areas? This will sort out the big picture.

If  you are ready for the next step you might be working with this thoughts; Am I using my time wisely? Am I taking anything for granted? Am I employing a healthy perspective? Am I living true to myself? Am I waking up in the morning ready to take on the next day? Am I thinking negative thoughts before I fall asleep? Am I putting enough effort into my relationships? Am I taking care of myself physically? Am I letting matters that are out of my control stress me out? Am I achieving the goals that I’ve set for myself?

And finally what will be your thought and answers to this:

-My favorite way to spend the day is…-The two moments I’ll never forget in my life are…-Make a list of people in your life who genuinely support you  and whom you genuinely can trust. Then make time to hang out with them. -Use ten words to describe yourself. -What’s surprised you the most about your life or life in general.

This week I will review The North Face Backpack Verto27. This is a specialized back pack for mountaineering. With a volume of 27L and a weight of just 465g it will be used for peak-attacks. Though it is minimalistic it still got straps for two ice-axes or poles. Light weight and with reflection details and straps for rope etc, it will be interesting to check. The price: ~90 Euro(999:-)

Noah Kahan – Hurt Somebody (Official Video) – YouTube

See ya soon..

The year has just begun and there are a lot of challenges that can be done. I will present a couple of challenges that might tickle your mind.

First we got a new challenge; The Ramisklassikern in Ramundberget. Here you got 12 month to complete 39K within 24 hours, alpine skiing 400 height meters in 24 hours and also mountain bike 15K and 400 height meters and end up with a run or hike with 11K. You have to do it within 12 month and then you got a medal and a diploma.

Ramisklassikern – sugen på en rejäl multisportutmaning?

You also got the Idre mountain marathon.  Here you got the option to chose from 12K up to 45K you chose your start group depending of your expected time.(fast, middle, modest)

Tävlingsinfo – Salming Idre Fjällmaraton Salming Idre Fjällmaraton (idrefjallmaraton.se)

You also got two interesting challenge in Älvdalen. First you got the Älvdalen backyard Ultra, here you run a 6,7K track with varied subtrade. You have one hour for each round, until you cant reach the goal. Then you are out…

Älvdalen Backyard Ultra | Sweden Runners Backyard Ultra (backyardultrasr.se)

Here you also got the UKA Pain. 170K, 100K, 50K and the 28K  This is a real challenge for the brave ones…

UKA PAIN | ÄLVDALEN

At Ljungdalen you also got the Helags Mountain marathon. 23K 1040m 580 height meters.

Banor – Helags Fjällmara (helagsfjallmara.se)

So now you got some good suggestion to motivate you for the workout:-). This month challenge for us will be 5min of the plank, can you fix it?

And at the end Lars Monsen and Aclima has done a nice series of wool underwear the Femunden. really nice underwear for the outdoor..

See ya soon…

It was in 1967, I was just 2,5 year. My mother was a leader in the Swedish Outdoor association, and decided to go skiing with me. The plan was a 2,5K track. After 1,2K she had to carry me at her back (with my  skis on). My upbringing was characterized by the outdoor activity such as skating skiing and grilling over a open fire. At this time the thermos got an inner glass construction. This with a result of that 50% of the times the warm chocolate was undrinkable due to a chocolate and glass mixture. So when the steel thermos was introduce to the market it was a blessing. At this time all boots was in leather, and one inherits from one’s older siblings. with the result of self-evident chafing wounds, when one also inherited already existing folds. So with todays boots with lining of Gore-Tex. There is no reason to complain😊. When I was thirteen years old I bought my own first backpack. Before that it was the old “pear” style backpack that was used from my side. The first real backpack I got was a Walk about. A brand that have copied the Camp trails ponderosa sack. But I sold it before it was one year, for the same amount as I bought it for and bought a Fjallraven Raven Gyro instead. My first tent was a Rec Helags special. An old fashion standard tent. In the beginning of two thousand I looked at it, and realized that it was over twenty years. It was no discussion about that. So I bought a new one. And todays tent will be like to compare a log cabin with a castle. During the late 70s and beginning of 80s it was brands such as Fjallraven, Haglofs and Bergans of Norway who filled the counters in the outdoor stores. In mid 90s the Everest and McKinley brands was available, and to a fear price level. Now also the Internet store of outdoor was started. In the beginning of the 2000 I did my first guide assignment. And in 2010 I held a presentation for a group in the Swedish Outdoor association. They listed with interest, but afterword’s one of the participant of the  audience asked me -do you got the tour guide certification? I answered -No I don’t have that. She looked at me with a disparaging look and a little questioning…Today I am instructor and also a assessor of International Mountain Leaders. So no harm done…I think I have caught up that missing part from that time:-)

But what I can see is that there are two big difference since I started with the outdoor activities. The first is time. Today everything must got with a high speed. You press in all the activities in small “window” of time and you hope you will manage you plan of adventure. And all this without planning for bad weather for example.

The second is that for most of the  practitioners it is more important that other can see and know what they are doing, rather than themselves will experienced. You must be the cool adventurer doing the most extreme thing and also all the same time…

But hey, stop now. If we lift the sight. Why was we (I) doing it from the beginning? Being in the outdoor was for relaxing enjoy the experience of loneliness etc. our own smallness in the big perspective. But if we pressed all in between everything, we got the feeling of that we always are at the wrong spot for the moment and I think we are more obtained of getting everyone else knowing what we are doing instead of letting it be our self-experience the feeling and the atmosphere?! We got disappointed when the nature don’t let the sun shine on us…But, it might be time for us to shine to the nature now instead, be a bit grateful for the magical experience in the great outdoors . Or what do you think?

ATRON – They Don’t Care About Us Now – YouTube

See ya soon…

Early morning, we have just left the tent. With seven mile look we got the sight out of the Brattås mire. The body is stiff and we are cold. But with a cup of coffee we start to get the bodies warm again, can you recognize the feeling:-) Even the smell of the coffee wakes us up. But is the coffee so good and healthy as the rumour says?  Well, lets start from the beginning. Today we got a much better research result on the are due to new tools in the topic. Today the researcher can use the genetic to clear thing out. So what have they found then? Well the health effects are clearly exaggerated. But the coffee keep us waken, that for sure. What they found was that we got 25 genes how bitter taste is experienced. And the research has also discovered a substance called adenosine. This substance is very central in the area here. This is a interesting substance that together with its receptors will be involve in numbers of biologicals processes, such as sleep, epileptic activity and motor skills and more. Ok, but what has the Adenosine for connection to the coffee then? Well, when we got tired, the adenosine tell the receptors to the body to rest or even sleep, simple we got sleepy. But when we drink coffee, the caffeine block the receptors and we keep lively. We dont get tired. But hold on now…how does the body react to this? Well, it start to produce more receptors, which lead to that we need to increase the coffee drinking to keep up the alertness…Ok but lets reverse to the 25 genes that how we experience the taste of bitterness. Depending of the set up of this genes we will like/love coffe more or less then others. So if you are one of those who stands in the que to the coffee machine a couple of times each day – you are a coffee lover. The coffee also was a important part of the industrialization of the society in the  beginning of the 1900. During the 1920 the company could see that employees that drank coffee stayed alert. Ok, but what about the findings of the health effect then? The effect of avoiding heart deceases, diabetes type 2  and heart failure? This can be derived to effect missing in science language. Today the researcher use genetic grounds with a solution named Mendelian randomization, this ensured that the selection criteria are much clearer. And the result – the risk of gallstones and kidney stones is clearly reduced with coffee drinking…So keep up the coffee drinking:-)

When it comes to alpine activities, they often get combined. Skiing and climbing/Via Ferrata.  Via Ferrata and hiking/climbing. And for that type of quite different type of adventures you will need a alpine harness. What does that mean, what will be important when you choose? The criteria I found important will be: It shall be comfortable, it shall have a low weight, it shall be easy to use, a simple construction so it not will be tangled, easy and fast to fit.

The first I will present will be the Black Diamond Bod. This is a real good harness. This is the only one with snap lock ar the leg slings. this means it will be very easy to put on, even with skies. With a simple construction, you cant fail to get it on right. Weight 394g. Price 40Euro

The second will be Grivel Easy harness. Multi-functional harness, easy to wear and adjust. Easy to wear single-point harness with wide adjustment range. Two buckles on the leg loops and one at the waist. Padding on the belt and leg loops, and two gear holders. This one does not got snap-lock at the leg slings. But it is very easy to use and it will not be tangled in the backpack. Weight 466g Price 43,86Euro

The third one will be the Simond Edge. This is a very light harness from the french brand Simond. It is in two coulure, for being easy to put on. It got four gear loops. The leg sling is not adjustable. It is a very comfortable harness. Weight: 290g.  price 48Euro

So what will my conclusion be here? The best and most functional and most adaptive harness will be the Black Diamond Bod. It is very comfortable and got adjustable leg slings with snap-lock which is very good while using skies or snowshoes. Second choice will be the Grivel Easy, due to the price and it is so easy to use and for adjustable leg slings…

Ghost – Mary On A Cross (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube

See ya soon…

When looking into social media, I think everyone wants to be unique. When you browsing around, you what everyone else is doing. And you are just working and not especially interesting. Do we/you must be unique? And what does that really mean? This will of course be a very personally value for every one of us. I’ve been blogging about charismatic leadership and I think it will slide in into this area. The reason for that is that good leasers as well can be role models for every one of us (Guide, leader or not). When a unique person takes his conscientious stand and demonstrates his strong conviction in his belief she/he will do it with trust. Next thin is that they often will use metaphors for clear out the “big picture”. The charismatic unique person will always be humble, they don’t need to grow depending on others. So you might ask -What step should I take to get there? My point here is the tricky part, because that is why you become charismatic or/and unique. Because you don’t need to ask that question. But I will for sure help you out here, so here come some advices.

It all starts with a believe in yourself. Believe that you can achieve things regardless of what people say. Act towards your way and be consistent in it. Take a step, take an action. Don’t just sit and visualize it. Act and don’t let fear stop you. Conquer the battles, have faith and have belief on your way to success. Stop taking advice from others Stop now. Nobody knows you better than you. You know about yourself everything. You know your power, strength, flaws, mistakes everything. You know which steps to take to achieve what you want. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Face danger and stand up against odds. Be your own hero. You already know what you want to become rest is all secondary. Don’t think to much, Think about the present. Don’t worry about the past and future. Think about what can you do today for the better tomorrow. Take steps for the growth. Deliberate your thoughts but when it’s time for action, stop thinking and go on. Don’t tell anybody your next step, When you talk to people about your dreams and goals it will be less likely to achieve those goals because people are there to attack you and change your mind. So it’s time to not say people about your goals until you succeed. If no one knows what you are up to, no one is going to stop you. The less you reveal about yourself to people the more power you will have and the more you will achieve. So, keep things to yourself and achieve the great height of success. Let you result make the noise…Always be curious, Life is a learning process. It’s not that you give an examination, get a degree and it’s finished. The whole life of yours is a learning process. Every step teaches you something. So, never stop learning. Learn about everything you dream of. Every day you have a chance to learn something new. So grab every opportunity to learn. Discover something new. Prove yourself. Set goals for the day and achieve it. Learn from the tiniest to huge things. So, learn from every aspect of your life.

When it comes to headlamp I got a question from Mattias if I prefer a lamp with batteries or one that can be rechargeable? I think I need to clear the whole are out, so now we open the box…

First of all you must define what you are going to use the headlamp for? If it in rough environment in a multisport competition or is it a reserve if you eventually can be late to the cabin during a hike in the autumn? The headlamps today can provide a long thin beam, or a shorter broad beam for basecamp life for example. So that’s the first choice you need to do. Then it is also the weight of the lamp. But normally all are quite light, and if it is a more heavy model it often got a options to place the battery pack in the backpack and the lamp it self just got a weight under 100g. There are three specific function you also shall look into while choosing headlamp. 1. Is it possible to angle the lamp down (for looking at the map) 2. Is it possible to switch to red light for night vision. 3. With a easy touch change the lamp beam strength. The best solution will be a lamp where you can use both ordinary battery as well as rechargeable ones. The rechargeable can be reloaded 300-500 times. A good rule will be to avoid to discharge the battery fully to many times. So many “smaller” discharge and reloads will be  better. If you don’t use it for a longer time you need to maintain reloaded it.

Felix Jaehn & Ray Dalton – Call It Love (Official Video) – YouTube

See ya soon…