This week I’ve been instructor at the IML Winter Training. It really is a fantastic opportunity to be instructor at such training. You learn by being forced to update your skills, to listen to and see colleagues and also learn a lot from the participants. As always it is a lot to training that need to be done on a limited time – and ad the factor of weather and other circumstances that will effect the planning. However, the result was really good from my point of view. In-depth expertise in ropes and knots, how to use a ice axe in a efficient way. Improved and developed capability with avalanche transceiver and probe. Digging technique among leadership and safety planning etc. And also a miniexpedition in the Oviks mountain area, this with developed skill in digging a snow cave. Navigation and handle a group in winter condition.

I have also tested the Lundhags Makke pro hybrid jacket. Honest I am not a fan of hybrid solution, but this one was a really nice experience. Very well ventilated areas, and with layer at the place where you get wet. Windproof in a good way as well. So it will be a (NNNNN)

Compass is a vital equipment to bring, with a higher age and with poor eyesight, it can easily become a challenge to find it on the map. But Silvas Spike Jet Zoom, can be a solution. This is a compass with a larger magnifying glass. This might help us aldermen out…

This week suggestion of book will be ”Dead Mountain” of Donnie Eichar. This is not a new book, but very interesting. It is about the Dyatlov expedition. ”The untold true story of the Dyatlov pass incident” The author has been trough all the Russian document on his way to an explanation of the incident. I can recommend it if this tickles your curiosity….

Echo and Flow – Desert Reggae Ritual | Cinematic Sci-Fi Music Video

See ya soon…

We are still at the beginning of the year, and now it’s the time for planning the upcoming adventure year. And the most important thing is not the big adventures, it’s the once that will be done.

We have all been there. A slight feeling of anxiety mixed with anticipation, hesitation and slight stress. The first step is the hardest, but when you have overcome the first obstacle the feeling of  success and self confidence will be there. I was having a participant in one of my groups who never been at high altitude. two days before we was going for the adventure, his wife call me. She let me know that her husband who was coming on the tour was afraid of heights. Two days before! I got this message…But we started in a calm and measured pace. We built on the difficulties step by step, and he was soon up to 3600m. I asked him if he felt anything special? The answer was straight and honest -I feel like a alpinist. Courage in the mountains we imagine someone who is fearless, strong and confident, someone who just ”drives”. In reality, courage often looks like this: Hesitation. Coffee drunk a little too quickly. A backpack repacked three times. A voice that says, “What if I can’t do it?” Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is tying your boots anyway.

Most people who come to the mountains are not looking for achievement. They are not looking for altitude, statistics or any kind of record. They are looking for: – a break – a calm breath – proof that they still dare – a place where their thoughts can be quiet – a feeling of: “I can do more than I think.”

And often that journey begins long before the first step. It begins at home at the kitchen table. With doubt…

While thinking of your next journey – adventure, I can tell you I had a tremendous weekend in the Swedish archipelago, in Oxelösund. 

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So what will be your challenges? Maybe a growth mindset…

See ya soon…

This weekend I was in Bydalen, and reconnoitered for the guide training. It was cold and also a strong wind, so I had to adapt my trip accordingly. With a strong wind already when I got out of the car in the parking lot at Gräftåvallen, I realized that giving up on the bare mountain was unfortunately not an idea. I had to think again and so I went to Bydalen and Fjällhalsen instead…At Fjällhalsen it was a bit better and I got the opportunity to take a tour and check the training terrain and training site. So the work was done and I was happy…

This morning I woke up early, almost like an alpine start but still not. 0500 is early but not a real alpine start. The target of the day was to visit the National Park of Hamra, This mythical place rich in bears. This is a low-key park, but fantastic. I was complete own with the nature. The nature reminds about the pre-mountain forest but still not. open marshes but low-growing snow-laden pines, sometimes the forest was so dense like I thought it was a wall of some kind. In the area you might see bear, lynx and even wolves. If the mountains are the place where you measure yourself against the weather and the vastness, Hamra is the place where you measure yourself against patience, attention and silence. Here you can see my route: In this area at winter season you need to have good navigation skills. There are no winter mark of any kind so you need to read the map…

I have also done a review of the Raptor snowshoe, this is a snowshoe for short and simple tours. For that purpose they are perfect. Since it isn’t got any grooves, and no heel raiser I would not bring them to a steep mountain environment. But as it says perfect for easy adventures the perfect choice. (++++) Due to that it is specified for just easy tours…

Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare – Zion In Dub – YouTube

See ya soon