Tomi Nytorp has returned from a month long climbing trip to France. Among multi-pitch climbs in Verdon and La Jonte, he visited a small sports cliff at Vallee du Giffre, where he managed to on-sight 'Gare au Grand Gourou' (8a+). This was the first on-sight of this level to Tomi and probably to a Finnish climber in general. Congratulations!
The end of the summer has been slow but some ascents to mention: Pasi Penttinen has made probably the first repeat of 'Kivifetissi' (8a+) at Haukkavuori and Martin Nugent repeated 'Nummisuutari' (8a/+?) at Nummi. On yesterday Esko Hautanen repeated 'Pavarotti' (8a) at Jynkkä, Kuopio. On the boulder side, Aki Nurminen has repeated 'Unusual Suspect' (8a) at Myllis, Espoo.
Nummi ascents by Andy
21.08.2010
Andy Gullsten has yesterday made a rapid 3rd go ascent to 'Sulttaani' (8a+) at Nummi. About a week ago he repeated 'Sheriffi' (8a), another Nummi testpiece.
'Transgressor' by Perttu
18.08.2010
A free translation of Perttu's description about his recent hard ascent:
"On the first of August I climbed a major project of mine at Sauvo. 'Transgressor' is not an actual crack line, but it follows a clear rock formation on the steep main face of Kattilamäki until to the top at 25 meters height. It starts aggressively from a large pedestal. From here on the moves are manageable, but especially on the lower section they have to be freezed for placing solid gear. Although the placements get easier on the upper part, the moves do not.
It may tell something about the nature of 'Transgressor' that one belayer refused to belay me when he saw the line. Another belayer refused to continue belaying after two lead falls. Fortunately I have brave belayers! Making a clean ascent consumed so much of my resources that finally at the top I had 'feelings of nine'. One of the most beloved of my trad ascents."
- Perttu Ollila -
Finnish grade 9 corresponds roughly to about 8a French grade. Big congrats to Perttu!
Roped action
12.08.2010
Andy Gullsten has updated his scorecard with several hard ascents at Céüse. These include redpoint of 'Dures Limites' (8c), flash ascents to 'Encore' and 'Le Poinconneur des Lilas' (both 8a+) and several 8a's.
Saku Korosuo has climbed 'Eventyrblanding' (8a) at Flatanger, Norway. Nice story and photos at Saku's blog.
'Bah Bah Black Sheep' (8c+) by Andy
05.08.2010
From the trusty blog of Sakari McGregor: "Andy Gullsten has climbed 'Bah Bah Black Sheep' (8c+) in Céüse".
The line situates at sector Biographie, and it was established by Dave Graham on 2002. This was probably the second 8c+ ascent by a Finn after Nalles success with 'Duele la realidad' at Oliana last January. Congratulations!!
Mestari Globulus
01.08.2010
"On Saturday, I managed to free one of the projects of Mustavuori at Mäntyharju. 'Mestari Globulus' situates on the cliff's main overhang, runs over a beautiful and very steep crack system ending to the left side of the mid height ledge. With 8 meters continuous overhang on 20 meters length, the line may actually be the steepest sports climb in Finland. Action can be described as intensive and technical with rather poor chalking opportunities. Super nice line in my opinion!
About the grade then... Considering the amount of effort, have to say that this route may be the hardest I've climbed so far. As I feel that it really is at least 2 grades harder than couple of the steepest 8a routes in Finland, I dare to propose 8b. Repeats will be the key to settle the real level.
The process of getting convinced about do-ability, figuring out the moves and sequences, and finally succeeding with the ascent has been a pleasure and a nice learning opportunity. Thanks also to my belay b*tch Johannes Puranen who btw made a full-trad ascent to 'Komiat Pärjää Aina' recently at Mustavuori!"
- Rami Haakana -
Matilda climbed 'Habahuba'
30.07.2010
Matilda Nordman has repeated 'Habahuba', a hard 7c+ at Piruntädinkallio, Sauvo. The route was opened by Jouni Nordman on July 2009.
Bouldertehdas opens in Turku
29.07.2010
A brand new indoor bouldering facility will open in Turku hopefully at the end of August. According to their web pages there will be about 500 sqm floor area with 400 sqm of walls. Bouldertehdas is found by a local brilliant climber Olli-Petteri Manni, so we can expect well thought wall profiles. Nice!! You can follow the progression of the building project from the blog of Bouldertehdas.
La Chronique de la Haine Ordinaire
27.07.2010
Andy Gullsten has today climbed his first 8c sports route, 'La Chronique de la Haine Ordinaire' at sector Biographie, Céüse. The ascent required two goes, although Andy has tried the route last year. Source and details: Sakke's blog.
Also from the same source: Anton Johansson has about two weeks ago climbed 'Riverbed' (8b) at Magic Wood, Switzerland.
'Finska Skriket' fa by Saku
23.07.2010
Saku Korosuo has just opened a new hard line at Rösåsberget, northern Sweden. 'Finska Skriket' is an intensive sports climb on the steepest part of the cliff's and Saku suggests solid 8a for the grade. Congratulations!! Story, details (in Finnish) and nice photos at Saku's blog.
'Dark Sakai' (8b) fa by Andy
09.07.2010
Anthony Gullsten has opened a new hard boulder line at Magic Wood, Switzerland. 'Dark Sakai' is a direct version of 'In search of time lost' and situates at the Darkness cave. The suggested grade is 8b. In addition Andy made a quick, bit over an hour ascent to 'Deep Throat' (8b). Source and details at Sakari's blog.
Midsummer bouldering
06.07.2010
During his return trip from Norway, Nalle Hukkataival has repeated two hard lines 'Lada Miestä Kuljettaa assis' (8a+) at Louhua and 'Paddington' (8a+) at Jyväskylä. For the latter however, he suggests a downgrade to 8a. Story, photos and detailed ticklist at Nalle's blog.
On his Swiss trip Anthony Gullsten has climbed two more 8b's, 'Steppenwolf' and 'Riverbed'. Source: Andy's scorecard and the blog of Sakari McCregor.
Sami Romppainen has also had a productive midsummer. During the past weeks he has repeated at least two classics: 'Mahjongg' at Nunnanlahti (Juuka) and 'Marvin' at Keljonkangas, Jyväskylä area. Both these are rated 8a. Details and videos about the ascents at the pages of Työväenkiipeilijät.
Jani Lehtola has added a very nice video about his early June FA of 'Edge of Darkness' (8b) to his blog
'Smeagol' repeated
30.06.2010
Yesterday another testpiece at Tampere area,'Smeagol' (8a+), got it's first repeat by Ville Koskela. The line situates at Mäyrävuori (Kangasala) and was opened by Tomi Nytorp on 2004. With only about 8 meters height and very bouldery nature, Ville thinks it's hard to estimate the grade. Anyway the crux section is about 7c boulder and the ascent required 9 tries from Ville. "About one grade stiffer than 'Missä ote?'. A compromise grade 8a :)". Congratulations!
'Missä ote?' repeated by Ville
28.06.2010
Late, but inspiring news from early June: Ville Koskela has repeated 'Missä ote?', a stiff, slightly overhanging line at Viitapohja, Tampere area. The line was opened already 11 years ago by Sami Salonen and has remained unrepeated until Ville's effort. The original grade suggestion was 7c but 7c+/8a is probably more on the right range. A video about the ascent is available at Vimeo.
According to his scorecard at 8a.nu, Nalle Hukkataival has flashed 'Fokus' (Harbak) and 'Talib' (Vingsand), both 8a+. He also opened 'Rough Gem' (8b) at Lofoten. This was his other route of this grade after the FA of 'Diamanten' reported earlier.
Early summer ascents
19.06.2010
Matilda Nordman has been tripping in Lake Como area, Italy, where she has climbed 'Bulldog' (7c+), 'Sgoing' (7c) and 'Turbolenta' (7c), the last one on-sight! Jari Pöllänen has climbed 'Diabolic Feelings' (8a+) at Niemisel and Valtteri Ritamäki's 'Buu Klubben' (8a) at Siuntio. On May Esko Hautanen repeated 'Matador' (8a) at Falkberget. Nice work!
Update: Pasi Sjöman has also repeated 'Matador' on 20th June.
Andy's Magic Wood ticks
19.06.2010
According to Sakari McGregor's excellent blog Andy Gullsten has this far climbed several hard boulder lines in Magic Wood, Switzerland. These include 'One Summer in Paradise' (8b), 'Pura Vida' (8a+) and 'Massive Attack' (8a+). More ascents in Andy's scorecard.
Hattivatti repeated
10.06.2010
Aki Nurminen has yesterday repeated 'Hattivatti' (8a) at Myllis, a creation of Andy Gullsten few weeks back. Aki has had a good year as he has previously repeated several other 8a's such as 'Koopa', 'Hottentotti' and 'Zion train'.
Edge of Darkness
07.06.2010
Jani Lehtola has yesterday climbed one of the hardest projects at Louhua boulder. 'Edge of Darkness' weights in at around 8b.
The line seemed to be a serious challenge for Jani who is no stranger for hard lines and determined projecting. As the bad slopers and hooks are making the line very weather dependent, Jani was forced to shift to night sessions. Hence the name 'Edge of Darkness'. In total some 25 sessions plus some slimming was required before the mission was completed. Well done!
Rocinante by Sami
05.06.2010
After winning his category in the youth Finnish championships on April, Sami Koponen has been having nice rising trend on real rock. Today he repeated 'Rocinante' (7c+) at Vuorivaara. Nice! We'll probably hear about this 15 years old chap from Joensuu later on...
Diamanten
31.05.2010
The blog of Björn Pohl tells that Nalle Hukkataival has managed to send the Diamanten project at Vingsand, Trondheim area. The grade is estimated to be at 8b/8b+ range. In a case that this rumour is truthful, the line would be the hardest boulder in Norway. Check the Björn's blog for further information.
Perttu Ollila has spent some quality time at Costa Blanca on May. His target was to climb all the big adventurous lines at the back areas of Echo Valley and also to climb some hard limestone route with no fixed gear. This target culminated to the proud ascent of 'Mad Dog' (8a, E8 6c)!
Koopa by Ilari
23.05.2010
Ilari Kelloniemi has repeated 'Koopa' (8a), a strenuous dyno problem at Myllis, Espoo. Ilari has been having a strong spring as in addition to this and several other hard repeats, he has opened 'Nokipolvi sit-start' (8a+) at Valkeavuori, Turku. More details at Ilari's scorecard.
More Myllis action by Andy
21.05.2010
Yesterday the route crusher Andy Gullsten got again loose at Myllis and the results were more than decent... First he opened a new right starting variation to the 'Usual Suspect'. The new line is called 'Unusual Suspect' and the grade suggestion is 8a (foto). After this he repeated 'Super Mario' (8a+). Not bad!!
Andy crushes at Myllis
20.05.2010
Despite of hot weather, Andy Gullsten had QUITE a good day at Myllyjärvi yesterday.
First he opened a new line which starts from the starting holds of 'Pot smoker' and heads to up right topping out 'Endless hangover'. The creation was named 'Hattivatti' and Andy suggests 8a for the grade. Next he repeated 'Eskimo' (8a+), a 30 moves traverse that ends with 7c+ boulder 'Usual suspect ss' on his first try this season. Next in a row was 'Koopa' (8a) which he climbed on fifth try. 8a, 8a and 8a+ on a same session... whoa. Check the details at Andy's blog!
Andy had also a good First of May trip to Åland. He repeated lines such as 'Dodo sitstart' (8a+), 'Mongooli' (7c+/8a? flash), 'Hello Africa' (7c+) and was progressing well with 'Normipäivä' (8b) before a hold broke off at the top. The line may now be 8b+. Two weeks back he repeated 'Hottentotti ss' (8a+) also at Myllis.
Climbing limitations at Hyvinkää area
20.05.2010
SKIL informs that there will be climbing limitations at Hyvinkää area on June, due to Jukolan viesti, the biggest annual orienteering event in Finland. Climbing will be prohibited at Jaanankallio and Piilolampi on 18th to 20th June. A map of the competition area can be found here and the homepage of the event from here.
Matilda shakes the tree
03.05.2010
According to her scorecard, Matilda Nordman has climbed 'Shake My Tree' (7c+) at Nummi past weekend!
Tiedote: '7 veljestä' Nurmijärvellä
02.05.2010
'7 veljestä' reitti Nurmijärvellä on ollut viimeaikoina erittäin suosittu projektoinnin kohde. Rapean kivilaadun ja lisääntyneen trafiikin seurauksena reitiltä on irtoamassa useita otteita ja reitti on nopeasti muuttumassa kiipeilykelvottomaksi.
Maanantaina 3.5. tullaan muutaman avainotteen kiinnipysymistä varmistamaan liimauksella. On erittäin toivottavaa että liiman annetaan rauhassa kuivua, eikä reittiä työstettäisi maanantain eikä tiistain aikana!
Briefly in English: loose holds on route '7 veljestä' at Nurmijärvi are going to be glued on Monday 3rd May. In order to ensure proper gluing it's advised not to work this route on Monday and Tuesday!
New hard line at Hurissalo
29.04.2010
Työväenkiipeilijät reports that Mika Hinkkanen has opened a longstanding project at the main area of Hurissalo, Puumala. 'Klonkku' (8a) starts from 'Sisun Suklaa', continues to left and tops out 'Kolokukko'. Good work and congrats!!!
Update: Check the story about the ascent at Mika's blog (in Finnish).
'Feel Good Inc' (8b) repeat
26.04.2010
Andy Gullsten continues his more than an average bouldering season. Yesterday he repeated Nalle's 'Feel Good Inc' (8b) at Sipoo. Last Tuesday, on his 8th climbing day in row btw, he made a quick repeat to 'Spider Pig' (8a) and on the same day he added a nice linkup of 'Gammamamma' (7b) and 'Whacking day' (7b+) at the Globalist stone. 'Season of Rain' weights in at around 7c+. Let's hope the weather in Åland will be favourable around first of May. If so, we might see some impressive stuff from Andy!
Nalle Hukkataival has been active with an without a rope. Last week at Siuntio he made a fast second go ascent to 'Buu Klubben' (8a, sports) and flashed 'Totoro' (8a, boulder).
Anna sent 'Idefix ss' (8a)
24.04.2010
Anna Laitinen made today real Finnish climbing history by sending 'Idefix ss' (8a) at Sipoo! This is the first boulder line of this grade sent by a Finnish woman. She was about to send this powerful and technical route earlier this week, as she fell several times from the top jug. Big congratulations!
Bit from here and there, on the photos: Anna competing at Koivukylä and Sauli Kiema on 'Idefix ss'
'7 Veljestä' encore
19.04.2010
Jani Lehtola from Oulu did another ascent to '7 Veljestä' on Saturday. Jani, who has ticked several lines of this difficulty, also feels that the grade is around 8a+ with the latest beta. This was the third repeat on this spring after Andy Gullsten and Sami Haapakoski.
Finnish championships in difficulty were competed today at Kiipeilykeskus, Tapanila. Podium results of adult male and female categories below. Detailed results of all categories available in pdf -format. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Kaisa Rajala for delivering the results.
MEN
1. Manni Olli-Petteri
2. Gullsten Anthony
3. Huhtikorpi Kuutti
WOMEN
1. Nordman Matilda
2. Lipsanen Eerika
3. Laitinen Anna
'Hypergravity' by Andy
16.04.2010
The unstoppable Andy Gullsten keeps on ticking the hardest boulder lines. Yesterday he climbed 'Hypergravity' (8b) at Sipoo. This line was opened by Nalle Hukkataival on 2004 and it has seen only one repeat by Tomi Nytorp (2005). Andy describes the line as his 'first 8b'. Photo: Nalle on Hypergravity.
Turku and Nurmijärvi action
15.04.2010
As the prime bouldering season proceeds, new hard ascents pop up at accelerating pace. Yesterday the Nurmijärvi test piece '7 Veljestä' (8b) saw it's third repeat by Sami Haapakoski.
Last weekend Andy Gullsten, who repeated this line about week back, struck Turku hard time. He climbed 'Matahari' (8a) at Luolavuori in one session and added a new right starting sitstart variation 'Gipsy grooves' (8a). Nice story and photos on Andy's blog.
'7 Veljestä' by Andy
09.04.2010
As many have already red from the forum, Anthony Gullsten has yesterday repeated '7 Veljestä' (8b) at Nurmijärvi boulder.
Bouldering Finnish Championships
20.03.2010
Results from the finals of today's Bouldering Finnish Championships at Tampere:
Detailed results available at the pages of Tampereen kiipeilykeskus. Congratulations to the winners and finalists!
Angelniemi action, part II
16.03.2010
Delayed spring seems not to slow down Andy Gullsten, who seems to be in flames. Today, in a snowfall, he managed to repeat 'Listerie' (8a+) at Angelniemi. This was 3rd ascent to the line after Tomi Nytorp and Nalle Hukkataival. Congrats!
Spring Euphoria
15.03.2010
Ilari Kelloniemi, Kuutti Huhtikorpi and Anthony Gullsten had a promising start for their outdoor season yesterday. Conditions were freezy but the triplet managed to repeat 'Euphoria' (8a), a Markku Tawast testpiece at Angelniemi near Salo. The line saw its first ascent already on 1999 and Tomi Nytorp bagged the 1st rep on 2006 (see the news 3.5.2006). Nice!!!
Finnish cup results - Konala
11.03.2010
Late results from the last weekend's Finnish cup competition at Konala, Helsinki:
MEN
1. Anthony Gullsten T4
2. Kuutti Huhtikorpi T2/B2
3. Ilari Kelloniemi T1/B3
4. Markus Fogelholm B3
5. Joonas Selänniemi B2
6. Matti Kivinen B2
6. Jouni Rantanen *
WOMEN
1. Roosa Huhtikorpi T2/B2
2. Anna Laitinen T2/B1
3. Matilda Nordman T1
4. Katariina Haime -
5. Mina Jokivirta -
*) placed 6th in the qualifications, did not participate the finals
Results from the open competition can be found at the pages of Boulderkeskus.
Identifacation y Placas
08.03.2010
Another 8c level ascent by Nalle at Oliana. According to his scorecard
the ascent was not easy: "Had to try very very hard. I felt like I was gonna black out clipping the anchor." Nice!!!
'Full Equipe' (8c) by Nalle
26.02.2010
Nalle Hukkataival has yesterday bagged 'Full Equipe' (8c) at Oliana, Spain. Nalle suspects that this may be the first ascent since hold broke at crux. During his extended trip to Spain, he has also done two 8b's: 'Photo-shot' at Margalef and 'Minichulo' at Oliana. Source 8a.nu scorecard.
Results from Lappicup 2010, Rovaniemi
17.02.2010
Corrected results:
MEN
1. Olli-Petteri Manni
2. Henri Haime
3. Jani Lehtola
WOMEN
1. Matilda Nordman
2. Teresa Harjula
3. Mira Nummi
The Climbing magazine has granded their 2009 Golden Piton award to Nalle Hukkataival in bouldering category. More details here.
'Duele la realidad' (8c+) sport route by Nalle!
25.01.2010
Björn Pohl reports that Nalle Hukkataival has made a first repeat of Marcus Bock's 'Duele la realidad', an 8c+ sport route at Oliana, Spain. Nalle has been solely dedicated to bouldering but the bad weather around Europe has made him to try something different. The fact that this is the first route of this grade level climbed by a Finn makes this ascent even more remarkable. Extremely nice!!!
At the moment Nalle is working the adjacent hard project bolted by Chris Sharma.
Nalle Hukkataival has managed to send his super hard project near Ticino, Switzerland. According to his blog the route is 20 moves long with intense climbing and wild crux moves. Hence the name 'Ninja Skills'. The grade suggestion is 8b+.
Asemaboulder results
14.12.2009
Andy Gullsten and Matilda Nordman were the superior winners in the latest Asemaboulder comp. Detailed results at the pages of Klondyke wall.
News from Switzerland and Austria
07.12.2009
Nalle Hukkataival tells in his blog about the latest hard ascents. Among trying hard projects, he has climbed 'Conquistador', (8a+) and 'Confessions of a Crap Artist low' (8a+) at Chironico. At Maltatal Austria he climbed 'The Power of Goodbye' (8b), 'Wrestling with an Alligator' (8b) and flashed 'Marmelade auf der Shulter' (8a).
Another roadtripper Kuutti Huhtikorpi is also in good form as he climbed couple of weeks back a classic 'Deep Throat' (8b) at Magic wood (source MTK).
Finnish domination at the Bouldering NC
23.11.2009
Nordic Championships 2009 in bouldering were competed at Nykøbing, Falster, Denmark. Congratulations to Anna Laitinen and Tomi Nytorp, who brought both the gold medals to Finland! Other finnish positions, female: Roosa Huhtikorpi 5th, male: Jarkko Linkosuonio 6th, Joonas Sailaranta 7th, Sauli Kiema 13th.
Detailed results available in PDF-format. Thanks to Mina Jokivirta.
Matilda 7th in the European Youth Series
23.11.2009
Matilda Nordman climbed her way to the finals and placed 7th in her age category at the European Youth Series, Kranj. Her final position in the whole cup is 12th. Big congratulations! Detailed results at the pages of IFSC.
Jarkko on 'The Riverbed'
13.11.2009
According to his scorecard, Jarkko Linkosuonio has yesterday climbed 'The Riverbed' (8b) at Magic Wood, Switzerland. Congrats!
Adrian and Olli in Yosemite
25.10.2009
Adrian Pollard and Olli Koiso-Kanttila returned last weekend from their excursion to Yosemite. Their main achievent was maybe a rapid 16h 48min ascent to 'The Nose' on 9th October. Adrian describes their preparation and the ascent as follows:
"We started climbing on 4:45, well before the morning twilight and did the route in three blocks. Olli led the first 11 pitches, I did the next 15 and Olli the last 5. During the ascent we passed 2 portaledges and 4 other pairs.
Before this ascent we had climbed 12 different multi-pitches and started to think if 'The Nose' would be doable in less than 24 hours. The route was familiar to me beforehand and we had trained speed by climbing several routes in blocks with second jumaring. These routes included 'South Face' at Washington Column (15 pitches), Chouinard/Herbert at Sentinel Rock (15 p) and 'West Face' at El Capitan (20 p). All these were done in less than 10 hours and maybe this encouraged us to try 'The Nose'. We had also trained free climbing by doing 'Rostrum', 'Moratorium', 'Steck Salathé', etc. For our own surprise we managed to do 'Rostrum' (5.11c) on-sight."
Our man in Sweden
12.10.2009
Saku Korosuo has been effectively exploiting the good friction during past weeks. A week ago he dispatched 'Diablo' (8a) in Niemisel and yesterday 'Milestone' (8a) at Midskogs, Stora väggen. Nice indeed!
Update: Details, photos and videos at Saku's blog.
'Los 40 Ladrones' by Jarkko
04.10.2009
Jarkko Linkosuonio has shifted to a new grade level by redpointing 'Los 40 Ladrones' (8b+) at Ali Baba cave, Rodellar. The route is graded 8b+/8c at the topo. Big congratulations!
'Fyysikko' repeated
02.10.2009
'Fyysikko' (8b), a Tomi Nytorp testpiece from 2005 got today it's first repeat by Marko Kauko. Congratulations! Photo at 27crags news.
'City No' by Roosa
18.09.2009
Roosa Huhtikorpi climbed yesterday 'City No' (8a) at Ali Baba cave, Rodellar. In the 8a.nu scorecard she comments that it's hard to say about the grade. Anyway, this might be the first time a Finnish female climber manages to climb a route graded this hard abroad. Congratulations!
Jarkko Linkosuonio has also been in good form. About a week back he climbed 'Manus' (8b) at Rodellar, also in the Ali Baba cave. Earlier on July, he did 'L'ami de Tout de Monde' (8b) and 'Sueurs Froides' (8a+) at Céüse. His hardest onsight was 'La Femme Noire' (7c+). On the same trip Kuutti Huhtikorpi climbed 'Violent Illusion' (8b), 'Radote joli pépère' (8b) and 'Sueurs Froides' (8a+), which he did second go. The flash attempt was interrupted by knee dislocation. Ouch! Kuutti also onsighted 'Le Magicien' (7c+).
Nummi project climbed by Martin
16.09.2009
One of the very last projects at Nummi was freed on Tueday by Martin Nugent. The line situates between 'Sulttaani' and 'Abacab' and shares the last bolt and the anchor with the latter. The climbing can be described as steep and technical with reachy moves. The route got name 'Fors Fortuna' and according to Martin the grade is 'stiff' 8a+. Good work!
Repeats from August include Mika Hinkkanen's ascent to 'Wild Side' (8a) at Haukkavuori and Antti Mankinen's repeat of 'Buu-klubben' (8a) at Siuntio.
European Youth Cup - Munich
15.09.2009
Finnish placings at the European Youth Cup past weekend: Matilda Nordman 15th of 38 competitors (Youth A), Anthony Gullsten 16th of 38 (Juniors) and Elias Silvola 34th of 41 (Youth B). Detailed results.
Results from Nordic Championships
07.09.2009
The lead NC2009 was competed in Kviberg, Sweden. Tomi Nytorp took bronze and Anton Johansson placed seventh. No Finnish competitors in the female category. Congratulations to Tomi!
MEN
1. Magnus Midtbø, Norge
2. Magnus Högström, Sverige
3. Tomi Nytorp, Finland
4. Geir Söderin, Sverige
5. Tomas Tobiasson, Norge
6. Erik Carlsson, Sverige
7. Anton Johansson, Finland
8. Said Belhaij, Sverige
9. Tarjei Hamre, Norge
10. Sören Andersen, Danmark
WOMEN
1. Malin Holmberg, Sverige
2. Hanna Midtbø, Norge
3. Matilda Söderlund, Sverige
4. Lisen Sparre, Sverige
5. Cecilia Horak, Sverige
6. Anine Eriksen, Norge
7. Maria Sandbu, Norge
Summer 2009 repeats in Finland
07.09.2009
This summer has offered some nice climbing weathers in Finland and here's an all-but-complete summary of some harder end repeats from June to August. There must be many more climbs worth to report, but here are the ones we've heard of.
Starting from the hardest, Olli-Petteri Manni made the first repeat to Martin Nugent's 'Kära Dagbok' (8b) at Siuntio and Jani Lunnas to Tomi Nytorp's 'Texas Ranger' (8a+) at Ruhankallio, Tervakoski. OPM and Jani estimate the grades being at 8b and 8a+ respectively. On June, Finland's Dave Graham Sauli Kiema climbed 'Estrella' (8b) at Nummi and on August he onsighted 'Tohtori Gaussin Käyrä' (7c) at Mustavuori, Mäntyharju. 'Buu-klubben' (8a) has been repeated at least by Anssi Venho, Olli-Petteri Manni, Rami Haakana and Marko Wallin. OPM and Anssi also repeated 'Vacuum' (8a) at Klöverberget before the climbing ban. Couple of weeks back Jani Lunnas flashed 'Veri vetää itään'
at Haukkavuori and Rami Haakana 'Hybridi' at Kerimäki. Both these lines are at 7c/7c+ range.
Matildas August climbs
26.08.2009
Matilda Nordman (16) has sent good number of hard lines during August. The most remarkable is the second female ascent to 'Buu-klubben' (8a) at Siuntio. She has also dispatched testpieces such as 'Alibi' (7c) and 'Tornado' (7b+) at Nummi, 'Ekoterrori' (7c) at Meisala and 'Perusmättö' (7b+) at Piruntädin kallio, Sauvo. Nice!!
Living Large
07.08.2009
Nalle Hukkataival has opened his hardest to date boulder line 'Living Large' (8c) at Rocklands, South Africa. This scary highball arete took him 12 sessions to complete. Check the details at following blogs:
The new sports center, Salmisaaren liikkuntakeskus, will open on March 2010. The center will have facilities for various sports, but also a large indoor climbing complex with up to 1500 sqm of wall.
The wall complex will consist of a single 29-30 meters high textured wall plus a competition and training walls in two floors. The steepest wall is 16 meters high, overhanging 11 meters, and will thereby offer best training profiles ever seen in capital area!
The people behind the project are Peter Hammer, Joonas Sailaranta and Henrik Suihkonen, all experienced climbers. At the moment Henkka is wrestling with the next wall project, also to be realized in the capital area.
More 'Habahuba' at Sauvo
22.07.2009
Jouni Nordman has opened a new hard route at Piruntädinkallio, Sauvo. 'Habahuba' situates at the left end of the cliff and offers nice steepish hold climbing. The grade suggestion is around 7c+/8a and the line was repeated last Thursday by Jouni Rantanen.
Another addition to the cliff is a new warm-up line 'Pirun helppo' (~6c) at the right end of the cliff.
Hard sends at Céüse by Andy
20.07.2009
Anthony Gullsten has been doing some great lines at Céüse, France. The top three sends are 'L'ami de tout le monde' (8b), 'Violente illusion' (8b) and a flash ascent to 'Sueurs froides' (8a+)!
Hopeinen Omena by Pasi
08.07.2009
Kiipeilijat.net reports that Pasi Penttinen has last Sunday managed to free the longstanding left side project at Vuorivaara. 'Hopeinen Omena' is the name and grade suggestion is 8a. Video available here.
Earlier this summer, Pasi's hard creation from 2007, 'Tarantella' (8a) at Notko cliff, was repeated by Ville Komu.
7c by Matilda Nordman
07.07.2009
Matilda Nordman has made a third go ascent to 'Detta är livet' (7c) in Granitgrottan, Bohuslän area, Sweden.
Matilda is 16 years old and started climbing on 2005. She has done several 7b's before this ascent. The promising talent from Turku has also done well in competitions with second place in youth Scandinavian championships to mention.
CLIMBING BANNED AT KLÖVERBERGET!
03.07.2009
The landowner of Klöverberget has today banned climbing at the cliff for the time being. The access situation turned sensitive in mid June (see the news 15.6.2009: 'Klöverberget access issue') when a group of Russian climbers were acting noisy at the cliff. Today a group of Russian and/or Latvian climbers (country identified from their cars' register plates) walked over the field to the cliff. This is absolutely forbidden during the growing season. For not to making the situation worse, do not go to the cliff!
In order to not to lose any more of our valuable climbing cliffs, PLEASE do respect the locals and the rules of good manners. This concerns both Finns and foreigners.
Suomeksi: Klöverbergetin maanomistaja on ottanut yhteyttä kallion yhdyshenkilöön ja kieltänyt toistaiseksi kiipeilyn kalliolla. Klöverbergetin access tilanne kärjistyi kesäkuussa, jolloin ryhmä venäläisiä kiipeilijöitä käyttäytyi meluisasti. Tänään ryhmä venäläisiä ja/tai latvialaisia kiipeilijöitä käveli kalliolle suoraan pellon yli mikä on kiellettyä erityisesti kasvukautena. Jotta tilanne ei entisestään huonontuisi, on kalliolle menemistä vältettävä.
Tilanteen muuttumisesta tiedotetaan tällä palstalla/foorumilla/Skil:n sivuilla.
Anthony and Jarkko in Switzerland
01.07.2009
Anthony Gullsten and Jarkko Linkosuonio have done some serious bouldering in Switzerland during last couple of weeks. Anthony's tick list consists of five 8a+'s and six 8a's. The hardest lines include 'Unendliche Geschichte 1', 'The left hand of darkness' and 'Jack's broken heart', all 8a+. Jarkko, who is recovering from a serious overtraining, has also climbed three 8a+'s and three 8a's. These include 'The left hand of darkness' and 'The bizarre ride', both 8a+. For more details, surf to 8a.nu Finnish ranking.
Update 2.7. Roosa and Kuutti Huhtikorpi has also been on a road trip to Magic Wood, Switzerland. Along with several lines in 7b/7b+ scale, Roosa has done four 7c's including 'Man of a cow', 'Jack the chipper', 'Foo fighter' and 'Supernova'. Kuutti has done 3 8a+'s: 'Sofasurfer', 'Jack's broken heart' and 'Unendliche Geschichte 2' and six 8a's: 'Muttertag', 'Nothing changes', 'Unendliche Geschichte 2', 'Astronautenfieber', 'The right hand of darkness' and 'Octopussy'. He also flashed 'Man of a cow' (7c).
Matti repeats 'Kellarijengi'
19.06.2009
Last Wednesday a fresh father Matti Joensuu managed to send a rarely repeated boulder line 'Kellarijengi' (hard 8a) at Pirunpesä, Turku area.
Jade (V15) by Nalle
17.06.2009
Nalle Hukkataival has two days back climbed 'Jade' (V15, roughly 8c) in RMNP, US. More details at
Nalle's blog.
Klöververget access issue
15.06.2009
The landowner of Klöverberget (Siuntio) has complained about noise at the cliff last Saturday. In order not to lose access to this fantastic cliff, it's very important to respect all the rules of good manners and act politely.
Suomeksi: Klöverbergetin maanomistaja on valittanut metelistä viime lauantaina. Jotta mahdollisilta access ongelmilta vältyttäisiin, on kalliolla tärkeää noudattaa hyviä tapoja. Pelisäännöistä ja access -asioista lisää SKIL:n access sivulta.
Climbing world cup, Vail
07.06.2009
Nalle Hukkataival made it to the semifinals in the IFSC climbing world cup (bouldering) at Vail, USA. However, his 9th position after the qualification dropped to 16th in the final list. The winner was Thomas Baumann (GER), second Daniel Woods (USA) and third Kilian Fischhuber (AUT).
Nissan Outdoor Games
05.06.2009
Finnish team 'Golgoht' has this year won the Nissan Outdoor Games at Interlaken, Switzerland. The team members are specialized in differrent outdoor activities and the climber in the 2009 team was Tatu Autio. Details and video material
here.
Youth Cup Imst
27.05.2009
Selected results from the European Youth Series difficulty at Imst, Austria: Anthony Gullsten 15th (male juniors) and Matilda Nordman 16th (female youth A). Total amount of participants 40 and 32 respectively. Congrats!
Ehdoton kiipeilykielto Klassikkoainesta-sektorilla joka päivä klo 18 jälkeen ja enintään kaksi köysistöä kerrallaan kyseiselle sektorille!
Reventeenvuoren järven päädyn vakituinen asukas on ollut yhteydessä allekirjoittaneisiin ja valittanut jatkuvasta metelistä Klassikkoainesta-sektorilla tänä keväänä, erityisesti viimeisen kahden viikon aikana. Asukas on käynyt huomauttamasta asiasta paikalla olleille kiipeilijöille, mutta sillä ei ole ollut minkäänlaista vaikutusta, vaan päinvastoin meteli on vain lisääntynyt. Asukas on uhannut ryhtyä toimenpiteisiin, mikäli metelöinti ei lopu. Tilanne on hyvin huolestuttava.
On kaikkien meidän kiipeilijöiden yhteinen etu, että asukas ei häiriinny kiipeilytoiminnasta. Meillä on vielä toistaiseksi hyvä vuorovaikutus hänen kanssaan mutta yksikin metelöivä kiipeilijä voi muuttaa tilanteen konfliktiksi. Kallion kehittämiseen ja reittien tekemiseen on käytetty satoja hyvin raskaita talkootyötunteja ja merkittävästi taloudellista tukea Suomen Kiipeilyliitolta. Olisi valtava menetys suomalaiselle kiipeilylle, jos kallio jouduttaisiin sulkemaan kiipeilyltä vain sen vuoksi, ettei siellä osata käyttäytyä.
Näin ollen noudata ja katso, että muutkin kiipeilijät noudattavat seuraavia sääntöjä:
- järven päädyssä koko Klassikkoainesta-sektorilla ei saa kiivetä klo 18 jälkeen (ma-su)
- sektorilla saa olla yhtä aikaa enintään kaksi köysistöä = neljä henkilöä
- sektorilla ehdoton hiljaisuus. Vältä keskustelua, sillä järven päädyn akustisista ominaisuuksista johtuen kallio heijastaa kaikki äänet vettä pitkin suoraan asukkaan saunan kuistille ja pihaan
- sovi siis köysistösi toiminta kuten pitkillä reiteillä, ilman huutelua
- keskity kiipeilyyn muilla sektoreilla, joilla on valtaosa kallion noin 70 reitistä
- mikäli huomaat metelöintiä, puutu asiaan välittömästi
- mikäli asukas huomauttaa asiasta, ole kohtelias, pahoittele häiriötä ja siirry välittömästi muualle
- parkkeeraa vain kiipeilyparkkiin tai eteenpäin tietä mäen laella oleville levikkeille. Älä tuki traktorin pääsyä pellolle, äläkä aiheuta haittaa liikenteelle pysäköimällä mutkaan mäen alle tien varteen.
- pidä koirat kytkettyinä
- uusien reittien tekeminen on luvanvaraista, ole yhteydessä allekirjoittaneisiin ennen minkäänlaisiin töihin ryhtymistä. Klassikkoainesta-sektori on toistaiseksi jäädytetty uusilta reiteiltä.
Reventeenvuoren kallio on liian hyvä menetettäväksi. Voit omalla toiminnallasi vaikuttaa siihen, että se säilyy käytössämme.
There has been too much noise at the sector Klassikkoainesta at Reventeenvuori. The inhabitant from the other side of the bay has contacted us and is about to take further actions if climbers go on being noisy. Therefore the following rules imply from here on:
- No climbing at the lakeside or at the sector Klassikkoainesta after 6 PM (Mon-Sun)
- Maximum two parties may climb simultaneously at the sector Klassikkoainesta = 4 persons
- Absolute silence at the sector due to the prevailing acoustic characteristics
- Agree upon any actions taken by your party before leaving the ground and use gestures instead of shouting out off belays etc.
- Concentrate climbing at other sectors that have the majority of the cliff’s almost 70 routes
- If you notice anyone being noisy, do not hesitate to interfere immediately
- If the inhabitant comes over to ask you to leave or to be quieter, be polite, regret the disturbance and immediately move to other sectors
- Park only at the parking space or further along the road up the hill. Do not block tractors’ entrance to the cultivated field
- Keep your dog attached
- Making of new routes only upon permit. Contact us before taking any actions. No new routes at the sector Klassikkoainesta are for the time being allowed to be made.
'Revenne' by Perttu
18.05.2009
Everyone who has visited at
Reventeenvuori, Iitti, knows the huge and steep crack at the left end of the cliff. Yesterday this line got it's first ascent by who else than the trad-master of South-West, Perttu Ollila. Perttu named the route 'Revenne' and the grade suggestion is around 8-. The route was protected by numerous amount of big camalots. Nice work!
Anna sent 'Buu-klubben' (8a)
17.05.2009
Yesterday Anna Laitinen made a first female repeat to 'Buu-klubben' (8a) at Siuntio. This was Anna's first route of this grade and tells about fair talent as she started climbing only at 2007! Anna is now 19 years old and has backround in gymnastics.
The initial version of 'Buu-klubben' was considered 8a/8a+. After a key hold broke leaving a better hold, the grade has settled somewhere around 8a. The line was recently climbed also by Sampo Kiesiläinen.
After winning his age category in Youth Nordic Championships, Anthony Gullsten has been ticking hard on the real rock too. Two days back he did quick work with 'El Toro' (8a+) at Klöverberget. Yesterday at Mustavuori he climbed 'Tohtori Gaussin Käyrä' (7c) and on-sighted 'Karelia Express' (7b+) with solid style. Season has just started so there might be more to come...
Nalle climbs 'Banshousha' (8c)
26.04.2009
During his combined competition and bouldering trip to Japan, Nalle Hukkataival has made the first repeat of 'Banshousha' (8c) at Ogawayama, Japan. This line has remained unrepeated since 2000 when it was first climbed by Tokio Muroi. The line too one day to complete and Nalle thinks the more proper grade would be around 8b. Nice! Whole story and a nice video at
Nalle's blog.
Ville climbs Mahjongg
20.04.2009
Kiipeilijat.net reports that 'Mahjongg' (8a) at Nunnalahti was repeated by Ville Komu on last Thursday. This beautyful arete was first climbed by Pasi Penttinen and has been repeated at least by Henri Pöyry and Ila Tuunainen.
SM boulder results
16.03.2009
Final results from the bouldering Finnish Championships:
MEN
1. Nalle Hukkataival
2. Kuutti Huhtikorpi
3. Anthony Gullsten
4. Matti Joensuu
5. Rasse Ruokonen
6. Joonas Sailaranta
top 4 3 2 1 1 0
bonus 4 3 3 4 1 2
WOMEN
1. Roosa Huhtikorpi
2. Anna Laitila
3. Matilda Nordman
4. Ansku Sihvonen
5. Minna Ruokonen
6. Veera Kainiemi
top 4 3 3 3 2 2
bonus 4 3 3 4 3 3
Detailed results to come. The competition was arranged by Skey ry at Boulderkeskus, Helsinki. [rh]
Results page updated
24.02.2009
Results from the last three competitions have finally been added to the Results page. Kuutti Huhtikorpi dominated the years two first competitions with Jarkko Linkosuonio as a runner up. On the female category Roosa has been unbeatable.
Enclosed couple of photos from the LappiCup 09 event on 14th February. Thanks to Tapio Alhonsuo! [rh]
Nalle in Hueco
19.02.2009
Nalle Hukkataival has dispatched some hard lines at Hueco Tanks, US. Two days back he climbed 'Full Throttle' (V13), 'Algerita' (V13) and flashed 'Le Pelerin' (V12). A week earlier he did 'Alma Blanca' (V13), 'Darkroom' (V12) and flashed 'Diaphanous Sea' (V12). There is probably more to come. For more details surf to Nalle's new blog.
Chuck Fryberger's new bouldering film 'Pure' is getting finished right now. According to the trailer we can expect lot's of inspiring climbing by bouldering celebrities from all over the world. For us Finns the interesting thing is that the principal climber comes from Finland! Nalle Hukkataival ticks some of the hardest boulder lines in the world, including 'The Island' (8c) at Fontainebleau. Mr Lasse was also spotted on the trailer.
The European premiere will be arranged at Boulderkeskus on 7th March. Before that, check out the trailer! [rh]
Asemaboulder
15.12.2008
A new neat point calculation system was applied at Koivukylä during the weekend's contest. The winner was Jarkko Linkosuonio followed by Sami Haapakoski and Anthony Gullsten. Kuutti Huhtikorpi who collected clarly the biggest pile of points during the qualification, was placed fourth. In female category the order was Roosa Huhtikorpi, Mina Jokivirta and Kati Laurell and in the Sunday climbers Madis Tänav, Esa Makkonen and Elias Silvola. Congratulations.
At the moment, results available at the forum only.
About the new point calculation: As usual, the final points per climber are detetermined by summing up points per routes. However, the route specific points are calculated by dividing 2 times the total amount of participants by number of repeats per this specific route. This automatically favours the less repeated routes in the total points. Sounds clever and seems to work fine! [rh]
JNC results
08.12.2008
Top placements in the yesterday's youth NC lead competition:
GIRLS
Kids B (97- )
1. Ida Keckman SWE
2. Isabell Envall SWE
3. Liv Gyllenborg DEN
Kids A (95-96)
1. Katrin Amann SWE
2. Sara Engqvist SWE
3. Katariina Haime FIN
Youth B (93-94)
1. Tina Hafsaas NOR
2. Matilda Nordman FIN
3. Amanda Herskind DEN
Youth A (91-92)
1. Matilda Söderlund SWE
2. Maria Sandbu Davies NOR
3. Anine Eriksen NOR
Juniors (89-90)
1. Hannah Midtbo NOR
2. Anna Laitinen FIN
3. Matilda Ljungberg SWE
BOYS
Kids B (97- )
1. Max Sjöberg SWE
2. Philip Samuelsson Forsdik SWE
3. Hannes Puman SWE
Kids A (95-96)
1. Schwerin Rasmus SWE
2. Oscar Krumlinge SWE
3. Thomas Holm Blaabjerg DEN
Youth B (93-94)
1. Benjamin Linné Ryn SWE
2. Tarjei Hamre NOR
3. Kjartan Jónsson ISL
Youth A (91-92)
1. Anthony Gullsten FIN
2. Viktor Wiksell SWE
3. Emil Jespersen DEN
Juniors (89-90)
1. Eirik Birkelund Olsen NOR
2. Jarkko Linkosuonio FIN
3. Erik Grandelius SWE
Nalle Hukkataival took the anticipated first position at the bouldering Nordic Championships. The competition was climbed yesterday and the venue was Lillehammer, Norway. Also Kuutti Huhtikorpi showed strong performance and was placed third after Magnus Midtbø from Norway. In Female category no Finns made it to the finals. The podium was shared by Angelica Lind (SWE), Hannah Midtbø (NOR) and Matilda Söderlund (SWE). Detailed results should be available at bouldercomps.com in the near future. [rh]
Kyberpunk from North
09.11.2008
Tapio Alhonsuo has today climbed his infamous mixed project at Käärmerakka, Rovaniemi area. This line, seen in the film Playground, got named 'Kyberpunk'. Tapio's grade suggestion is M10-, meaning that the route is easily the hardest of a kind in Finland.
"It was about the time as I've worked the route for about twenty days now" says Tapio. Freezing nights has allowed just enough ice to form to make the top out possible. "I climbed the route with heelhooks, next I got to try it without!". That would be an effort... Congratulations to Tapio! [rh]
The winner in today's event at Boulderkeskus (Helsinki, Pasila) was superbly but maybe less surprisingly Nalle Hukkataival. The next five in order were Kuutti Huhtikorpi, Matti Joensuu, Anthony Gullsten, Sami Haapakoski and Jarkko Linkosuonio. Roosa Huhtikorpi collected biggest bucket of points in the female category, followed by Minna Ruokonen, Ansku Sihvonen, Mina Jokivirta and Anna Laitinen, all with good margin to the rest. The podium in the A-category (Herrasmiehet) was shared by Jani Mäkinen, Juha Hinkkanen and Tommi Lahtinen and in the Sunday climbers Eetu Koivisto, Koji Moriwaki and Jarmo Romppanen. Congrats to all!
During his recent trip to Rodellar, Jarkko Linkosuonio has climbed 'Le Branlot' (8a/8a+) and 'Familia Manson' (8a+). On the last day of the two week trip he fell from the last move of 'Manus' (8b). [rh]
Late fall cranks by Sami
31.10.2008
Sami Haapakoski has climbed a sit start version to Anton Johansson's nameless problem at Merikaarto, Vaasa. The line situates right from 'Senegal Fast Food' and the grade suggestion is 8a or harder. Sami has also been eveding rainy weather at Fontainebleau where he sent lines such as 'Fata Morgana' (8a) and 'Mongolito' (7c+). [rh]
'The Island' (8c) by Nalle
30.10.2008
Nalle Hukkataival has yesterday made the first repeat to Dave Graham's 'The Island' in Fontainebleau. This boulder line with reachy moves has proposed grade of 8c, which Nalle thinks is at the right range. Congrats! [rh]
Full 'Syyshämärä' by Marko
19.10.2008
Mikkelin Työväenkiipeilijät reports that Marko Kauko from Säynätsalo has last Wednesday sent one of the hardest projects in Finland. The line in question is sit-start to classic 'Syyshämärä' (7b). The grade suggestion is 8b. Nice!! [rh]
European Championships
19.10.2008
European Championships were competed in Paris during the past week. Nalle Hukkataival and Tomi Nytorp participated in the bouldering discipline and their positions after the qualification were 23rd and 31st respectively. Only 21 continued to the semi's which Nalle barely missed. The winner was Jérôme Meyer (FRA), second Kilian Fischhuber (AUT) and third Cédric Lachat (SUI). No Finnish participants in women. Detailed results at
the pages of IFSC. [rh]
Eerika climbs 'Matador' (8a)
13.10.2008
Eerika Pawli has today made the first female ascent to 'Matador' (8a) at Falkberget, Kirkkonummi!
Eerika is no stranger to hard routes as she has climbed 'Vacuum' (8a) already at 2001. Today as a mother of two children it requires lot more to get enough into climbing in order to maintain the high level. Eerika has followed her passion and clearly managed to couple the training and motherhood. Big congratulations! [rh]
'Buu-Klubben' flashed
01.10.2008
Tomi Nytorp has managed to flash super steep 'Buu-Klubben' (8a) at Siuntio last Friday. This was the first flash to this route. Whoa!
'Buu-Klubben' has also been climbed by youngsters Jarkko Linkosuonio and Anthony Gullsten. No more youngster Rami Haakana has made the first repeat to Tatu Autio's 'Veri Vetää Itään' at Haukkavuori, Rautjärvi. [rh]
'New Base Line' by Nalle
19.09.2008
Another hard ascent by Nalle. This time 'New Base Line' (8b+/8c) at Magic Wood, Switzerland. Details at Nallehukkataival.com[rh]
New lines by Martin and Tatu
15.09.2008
On last Friday Martin Nugent managed to climb his longstanding project at Siuntio area. This steep and super physical line has no name yet. Martin says that it's way harder than any of the lines he has established, so we can quess that the grade is at 8b/8b+ range. Tatu Autio has also sent his long standing project at Haukkavuori, Rautjärvi. According to Tatu 'Veri Vetää Itään' felt harder than his spring child 'Autio-Suihkonen' (7c+/8a?). Congratulations to Martin and Tatu! [rh]
Update: Martin's new line is called 'Kära Dagbok'
September climbs and more
15.09.2008
Pasi Penttinen has exploited good friction and climbed 'Pavarotti' at Jynkkä cliff, Kuopio. This sustained line was originally graded 7c+ but an upgrade to 8a has been suggested due to breaking of a critical hold. The line has been established by Jani Lunnas and was first repeated by Paavo Ikonen few months back. More ascents: Anton Johansson has repeated 'Buu-klubben' (8a/+) at Siuntio, Rami Haakana and Antti Liukkonen 'Autio-Suihkonen' (7c+/8a?) at Mustavuori, Mäntyharju. At the same cliff Kuutti Huhtikorpi managed to on-sight 'Tohtori Gaussin Käyrä' (7c) and 'Karelia Express' (7b+). More Mustavuori action at Mikkelin Työväenkiipeilijat.
Then to a feast that would deserve own page as such, an inconceivable accomplishment by a veteran rock climber Tuomas Kaario. Last Friday he swam over the English Channel without a wet suit. 'Tomppa' has been active climber for 15 years and been exploring climbs from our own Finnish cliffs to Yosemite. For example his on-sight years back to 'Äksön Crack' (7) at Havukallio would be decent effort for most of us! [rh]
No Man´s Land sitstart
15.09.2008
Jani Lehtola has managed to climb a sit-start version to his 'No Man´s Land' at Pyhäntä. He suggests grade 8a+. A
video footage at YouTube. Jani also repeated Nambla (8a) at Rovaniemi. Other hard boulder ascents to mention are Jarmo Annunen's and Sami Saxell's repeats of 'Zion-Train' (8a) at Nurmijärvi. [rh]
Nalle 3rd at Sint Roc Boulder Contest
07.09.2008
Arco Rockmaster competition had also this year some blue and white colours. Nalle Hukkataival took part on Sint Roc Boulder Contest arranged along with the main competition. He finished third after Austrians Kilian Fischhuber and David Lama. Congratulations!
The actual Rock Masters this year are Patxi Usobiaga (ESP) and only 15 years old Johanna Ernst (AUS). More details at the pages of Arco Rockmaster. [rh]
Late August ascents
01.09.2008
About a week ago Kuutti Huhtikorpi did a quick second ascent to 'Autio-Suihkonen' (8a) at Mustavuori, Mäntyharju. See the news about first ascent on 25th May -08. Marko Wallin and Rami Haakana have repeated 'Nummisuutari' (8a) at Nummi cliff. This line was established by Tomi Nytorp on August -06. [rh]
Men at work
13.08.2008
Youngster from Kerava, Jarkko Linkosuonio, had a productive roadtrip to Southern Europe. In Ceüse he did quick work with two classics 'Carte Blanche' and 'Bourinator' and climbed two other 8a's 'Argo' and 'City No' in Rodellar. Also worth mentioning are onsights to 'Vagabond d'Occident' (7c) at Ceüse and 'Meme Pas Mal' (7c) at Orpierre. Not bad!
Despite of rainy weathers in Finland, Lasse Lind has managed to proceed with his Nummi challenge by an ascent to 'Sulttaani' (8a+). Next in line is super crimpy 'Adlon' (8a). [rh]
Rocklands news
06.08.2008
Nalle Hukkataival has returned from 6 week bouldering trip to Rocklands, South-Africa. In addition to the reported 'Amandla', his ticklist is - to put it mildly - impressive! Check the story and details at www.nallehukkataival.com.
In short Nalle has listed 30 routes of which 26 are 8a or hader with lots of flash ascents. One of the highlights seems to have been 'Sky' (8b+). 'Solar Power' (8a+) and 'Hole in One' (7c+) were first ascents. Nice! [rh]
Nalle climbs 'Amandla' (8c)
27.07.2008
Nalle Hukkataival is on a bouldering trip to Rocklands, South-Africa. According to Momentumvmv.com , Nalle sent 'Amandla' (8c) and flashed 'The Amphitheater' (8a+). The former is probably hardest ever boulder ascent by a Finn and the line among the hardest in the world. Source: Mikkelin Työväen Kiipeilijät. [rh]
Selibaatti repeated
18.07.2008
Picked up from the forum of Kruxi: On Tuesday Jouni Rantanen repeated 'Selibaatti' (8a) at Härmälänrotko, Naantali. This line was established by Olli-Petteri Manni on summer 2006. [rh]
Kivifetissi
15.07.2008
Jani Lunnas has climbed his longstanding project at Haukkavuori, Rautjärvi. The line is about 15 meters high decently overhanging arete with very sustained and technical climbing all the way. Kivifetissi (8a+) required some good commitment from Jani, as for the long distance, he has been able to give only one or two calls per summer to conquer this remotely located project. Excellent work, congratulations! [rh]
Lasse does Estrella
15.07.2008
'Estrella' (8b) is the latest addition to Lasse Lind's spectacular ticklist. This repeat from last Saturday was probably the third ever to this Nummi testpiece. Cool!! Only couple of more to go for Lasse at Nummi...
Then a bunch of other recent hard ascents: Olli-Petteri Manni has done quick work with 'Baba Baba Gur Gur' (8a+) at Haukkamäki, Salo area. Young Anthony Gullsten climbed 'Vacuum' (8a) at Klöverberget. Anthony just returned from a climbing trip to Spain, where he redpointed at least two 8a's and flashed a 7c. Sauli Kiema has climbed 'Buu Klubben' (8a/+) at Siuntio and Henri Pöyry 'Diablo' (8a) with three tries at Niemisel, Sweden. [rh]
Hard repeats by Lasse and co
10.07.2008
Lasse Lind has been swiftly repeating hard sport climbs around Southern Finland. His continuously groving ticklist from last month include Tesis (8b), El Toro (8a+), Buu Klubben (8a/+) and Sheriffi (8a) and there is more coming for sure... Sheriffi has also got repeats by two young power plants Anssi Venho and Sauli Kiema. Good work! [rh]
Paavo beats Diablo
08.07.2008
Jani Lehtola tips us that the former Oulu habitant Paavo Ikonen has finally graduated from the rope academy of Oulu Cave with his redpoint to 'Diablo' (8a) at Niemisel. The ascent took place on last Friday. This was probably fifth Finnish repeat to this route of which four are by climbers from Oulu. Congratulations! [rh]
Franzefoss Brukk by Ansku
27.06.2008
Anna-Liisa 'Ansku' Sihvonen has climbed 'Franzefoss Brukk' (7c) at Lökenhavna, Oslo area. The ascent took five tries during two days without rehearsal on top-rope. What makes this achievement so special is that Ansku's wrist was operated last fall and she was told by the doctors that the wrist would not allow her to climb any more. Fortunately the prognosis was wrong... Good work and nice example for younger girls! [rh]
Mongooli by Sami Saxell
25.06.2008
Sami Saxell has repeated 'Mongooli' (8a) at Åland. This super steep boulderline situates at Kasviken and was established by Tomi Nytorp on May -06. Good work! [rh]
Trad Master
21.06.2008
Below, Perttu Ollila tells about his early June creation at Pärkänvuori, Uusikaupunki. There is also an interesting glimpse of history of this diverse cliff:
'The geo-history of Pärkänvuori has had some tremendous rock falls. An old legend tells that a young couple from Lokalahti was on their way to Vehmaa church to get their wedding banns. Their horse wagon followed the route nearby the northeastern wall of Pärkänvuori. Suddenly an immense rock tumbled down from the top of the cliff. The couple never got married – their crashed skeletons remain under that rock, “Morsiuskivi”. Next to Morsiuskivi is even a more impressive rock. It has fallen out of the main wall, thus creating a huge open cave that the locals used to call “Veskellar”.
In 1998 Mikko Söderlund aid climbed the endless crack of Veskellar, naming his route prophetically “Trad Master”. Last Summer Mikko gave me the idea that I should sink my fingers into this mythical dream climb. This summer I did. On the 2nd of June I red pointed the first free ascent of Trad Master, topping out exhausted, my calves exploding, my skin whipped, but with surprising “easiness”. I refuse to undress the aura of Trad Master by giving it a number which I would sandbag anyway. I also like to step out of the rather mundane grade game. On a purely aesthetic level the free ascent of Trad Master is my southwestern magnum opus – it is unlikely to find another line that is visually so killer cool and has such an amount of uncanny crack climbing. For sure it is the best and hardest dihedral in Finland.'[rh]
Nalle at Colorado
21.06.2008
Late news but certainly worth publishing: Check out
nallehukkataival.com for the whopping ticklist of Nalle during his bouldering trip to RMNP and Mount Evans at Colorado. Highlights: a flash to 'No More Greener Grasses' (8a+) and quick ascent to 'Ode to Modern Man' (8b+). Discussion at the following Blog. [rh]
New climbing at Sauvo
04.06.2008
Stirring news from South-West Finland. A new cliff is under development at Sauvo, about 25km from Turku. Last week Jouni Rantanen managed to open two routes, 'Pihkatappi' (7b/+) and 'Rajanumero' (8a). Jouni describes the latest testpiece as follows: "Rajanumero suits well to my climbing style. On the crux section it's a feast of balance moves on smallish holds, although it also requires good basic level of strength. At the start of the route there is a beautiful engraving, an old boundary number, hence the name (rajanumero = boundary number).
The first two routes 'Jäätelötyttö' (7a) and 'Perusmättö' (7b+) were established last summer and according to Jouni, there is still lots of potential for new routes. "The cliff offers many different profiles and at best the height is about 25 meters. Lines with quickdraws are still projects, so please, leave those untouched for now. Topo will be sketched during this summer".
Sounds nice! Looking forward for more info... [rh]
Feel good inc.
04.06.2008
The last hard project at the 'Spider Pig' -stone Sipoo was climbed by Nalle Hukkataival few days back. Details and photos of 'Feel good inc.' at
nallehukkataival.com. [rh]
Bulls and fighters
28.05.2008
Southern Finland news: yesterday Lasse Lind did an ascent to 'El Toro' (8a+) at Klöverberget and on Monday Sampo Kiesiläinen climbed 'Matador' (8a) at Falkberget. Routes were opened by Henrik Suihkonen and Martin Nugent respectively. Including the wondrous on-sight ascent by Tomi Nytorp, Sampo's ascent was about 15th in total, making Matador probably the most popular route of this grade in Finland. First female ascent to be seen... [rh]
Autio-Suihkonen
25.05.2008
Last Wednesday Tatu Autio dispatched one of the hard end projects of Mustavuori at Mäntyharju. The route starts with decently overhanging section and tapers to a crux, a strenuous lock-off well above the fourth bolt. Grade suggestion is at 7c+ - 8a range. The route was a shared project of Tatu and Henrik Suihkonen, hence the name 'Autio-Suihkonen'. Nice!!
Some other nice ascents we've heard from May include Olli-Petteri Manni's on-sight to a technical arete 'Dragon' (7b) at Haukkakallio, Ruotsinpyhtää and Karri Westman's repeat of 'Chuck Norris' (7c+/8a) at Tervakoski. [rh]
Jani Lehtola strikes again
13.05.2008
Last weekend Jani Lehtola managed to send another hard project at Oulu region. 'No Man's Land' situates at Pyhäntä, about 100km from Oulu city. The line needed some persistent projecting. During the last season Jani visited the line about 20 times and managed to send the line on third visit this spring. The grade suggestion is 8a. Big congratulations!
Non-edited video footage available of the ascent in YouTube. [rh]
Nalle at Kjugekull
07.05.2008
Kjuge blog reports some nice ascents by Nalle Hukkataival during his May day trip. The most impressive of these was a flash to 'Huggsexa' (8a). Another hard dispatches included 'Alla Vill Till Himmelen...' sitstart (8a+) and 'Lithium' low start (8a) plus numerous amount of flashes at the hard end. [rh]
UPDATE! The essential ticklist sent by Nalle himself:
Lithium low start 8A
Matador ss 7C+ FLASH
Ferdinand ss, 7C+
Forza 7C, 2. Go
Casperssens arete 7B, FLASH
Laijfstajl 8A, FLASH
Huggsexa 8A, FLASH
Alla vill till himmelen ss, 8A+ Great!
Mamma Mu 7C+
'Normipäivä' repeated by Bosma
02.05.2008
Yesterday on May Day Peter Bosma repeated the Nalle Hukkataival's steep testpiece 'Normipäivä' (8b) at Geta caves, Åland. According to the spectators the ascent looked smooth and effortless. Peter confirmed the grade.
Yesterday Jussi Pöyhönen managed to send one of the last projects and probably the most inspiring line at Louhos, Kuusankoski. 'Matchbox' offers technical and sustained vertical climbing on the middle of the left side wall at the entry of the quarry. The route is marked as a project at sector 5 on the topo. Jussi suggests 7b/7b+ for a grade. Congratulations! [rh]
Important access information concerning the following areas:
Ispoinen (Turku)
Koivusaari (Helsinki)
Ahvenanmaa / Åland (see below)
Olhava
Lohja
Briefly in English about Åland. It is absolutely forbidden to use the private roads. Park at Soltuna Cafe and walk. Wild camping is not allowed in Åland. Avoid excessive use of chalk. Landowners have contacted Finnish Climbing Association already this year.
Louhua spring action
10.04.2008
Last Friday Jani Lehtola opened the hardest route to date at Oulu area. The line situates at Louhua boulder and has been a project for 3 years. It adds a sit start to Paavo Ikonen's highball 'Lada Miestä Kuljettaa'. The name is (yes, you quessed it!) 'Lada Miestä Kuljettaa assis' and grade around 8a+.
On Sunday Jani managed to link a 40 move traverse at the same boulder and the outcome is 'Short Circuit' (7c+/8a). With these additions Louhua boulder has become a spot that offers exceptional amount of climbing in one single stone. [rh]
New 8a at Sipoo
09.04.2008
Who else than our regular news celebrity Nalle Hukkataival has opened a new hard boulder line at Sipoo. This beautyful highball is called 'Spider pig' and has a grade suggestion around 8a. For more info and a video of the ascent, surf to www.nallehukkataival.com. [rh]
Nalle's Ticino Rampage
01.04.2008
Surf to Nallehukkataival.com to see what's Nalle's been up to in the Swiss. Big numbers, even bigger fun!
Nalle's latest Confessions
16.03.2008
Yesterday Nalle Hukkataival made probably the first repeat to 'Confessions' (8b+) at Cresciano, Switzerland. Nice! [rh]
Winter ascent of 'Ultima Thule'
11.03.2008
A Finnish crew - Adrian Pollard, Saku Korosuo and Sampsa Jyrkynen - made the first ever winter ascent of 'Ultima Thule' at Blåmannen, Northern Norway. Photos and details at Pitoni.fi and Patagonia.fi[rh]
Results from LappiCup, Rovaniemi
01.03.2008
The year's first LappiCup competition was organized at Rovaniemi last weekend. The results have been added to the
Results page. Here's a short report of the competition from Tapio Alhonsuo (in Finnish):
"Tällä kertaahan kyseessä oli pelkkä boulderikisa, ja Jesse Tamski ja allekirjoittanut olivat pistäneet pystyyn parisenkymmentä boulderia, joissa riitti väännettävää koko lauantaille. Miehissä Risto Saarisen ja Osmo Aspin välillä ei saatu selvyyttä vielä superfinaalissakaan, joten voitto meni Ristolle karsintojen perusteella.
RVK:n edustaja Jussi Muittari väänsi ittensä kolmanneksi. Naisissa Teresa Harjula voitti Maija Soikkelin flässin tuomalla lisäpisteellä, joten kohtuu tiukkaa vääntöä oli sielläkin. Illanpäälle suurin osa porukasta lähti moottorikelkoilla parinkymmenen kilometrin päähän salaiseen B-finaalipaikkaan, jossa kilpailut jatkuivat sunnuntaille. Ensi vuodelle on luvassa lisää kattopinta-alaa köysifinaaliin!"[rh]
Asemaboulder 08 results
04.02.2008
Enni Bertling and Anton Johansson collected the biggest heap of points in this year's Asemaboulder event. Congratulations!
Complete results at the Results page. Point sheet also available for those who like to re-calculate (in .doc format). [rh]
WOMEN finals
1. Bertling Enni
2. Laurell Kati
3. Ruokonen Minna
4. Laitinen Anna
5. Laitila Tanja
6. Shorikova Julia
MEN finals
1. Johansson Anton
2. Huhtikorpi Kuutti
3. Joensuu Matti
4. Fogelholm Markus
5. Lind Lasse
6. Kiesiläinen Sampo
SUNDAY CLIMBERS first 6
1. Niemi Jaakko
2. Dubrovin Nikita
3. Ruokonen Toni
4. Honkapää Valtteri
5. Gullsten Anthony
6. Saarinen Teemu
Alternative Christmas
07.01.2008
Tomi Nytorp and Mina Jokivirta spent an alternative Christmas doing some hard climbing at Southern Europe.
At Cresciano Tomi dispatched 'Frank's Wild Years' (8a+) within half hour and 'Great Shark Hunt' (8b) at Chironico with four or five tries. From Swiss boulders they moved to Southern France for rock climbing. At Cimaï Tomi did couple of limestone classics including 'Sortiléges' (8b) and Samizdat (8a). "Both routes are excellent, especially Sorti!" says Tomi. [rh]
Scandinavian Bouldering Championships
10.12.2007
Stefan Pettersson and Markku Tawast had created a set of quality routes on freshly painted plywood walls of the good old "Grani", the venue for the 2007 Scandinavian Bouldering Championships past weekend.
Due to some unfortunate co-incidence the competition invitation had not found it's way to Denmark in time and participation from other countries was also quite poor. Most of the 31 competitors were therefore Finns but this did not put the damper. The level of climbing was probably as high as it could get. However, the organizers decided to drop off the semifinals from the two day's event.
In the female category the winner was Therese Johansen from Norway, second Anja Hodann from Sweden and third Roosa Huhtikorpi. The winner in male category was Nalle Hukkataival, although with very narrow margin to Tomi Nytorp. They both flashed 5 final routes. As they both had also climbed all the qualification routes, the order was determined according to the amount of attempts in the qualifications. Tomas Tobiassen from Norway was third with 2 top-outs in the finals. It was especially nice to see the ever motivated Martin Nugent to climb his way into the finals!
Detailed results available at the result page. Thanks to Mari Malinen for the results. [rh]
Youngsters at Fontainebleau
06.12.2007
During their recent visit to Fontainebleau, Kuutti Huhtikorpi and Lasse Lind managed to dispatch some harder classics including 'Mongolito', 'Sale Gosse assis' (both 8a) and 'La Balance' (7c+). In addition, Kuutti managed to send 'Marilyn Monroe' (8a/8a+?) in Switzerland. Nice work!
Kuutti is also taking part in the coming Scandinavian Bouldering Championships at Kauniainen. Best luck to Kuutti and all other Finns! [rh]
Lappicup 07 results, Oulu
18.11.2007
The Lappicup event at Oulu got nice participation as 30 male and 9 female competitors arrived at Oulu cave past Saturday. Tomi Nytorp and Anton Johansson had built 17 competition routes which were the same for both categories.
Top three in female category were Mina Jokivirta, Teresa Harjula and Kati Laurell. Sami Haapakoski was unbeatable in male category. Risto Saarinen was second and the third position was shared by Jarmo Annunen and Paavo Ikonen. Congratulations!
Photos from the competition here. Detailed results at the Results page. [rh]
Finnish cup comp report, Tampere
29.10.2007
One of the rare climbing competitions during this year, a Finnish cup difficulty comp was arranged at Tampere past weekend. The results will be added to the results page in the near future and there should also be a video available in SportTube during coming weeks. Congratulations to the winners Roosa Huhtikorpi and Olli-Petteri Manni. Leena Marjamäki has written a report of the event (in Finnish).
"Miesten kisassa tasaisuutta riitti. Karsinnoissa Mikko Tiitola, Tapio Mustakoski ja Adrian Pollard putosivat samalta otteelta päätyen jaetulle viidennelle sijalle. Mikko Mäkelä eteni näitä kolmea pidemmälle reitillä, mutta ei epäonnekseen koskenut ohimennessään pisteotteisiin ennen putoamistaan. Ville Koskela toppasi reitin, mutta käytti vahingossa reitin ulkopuolista muotoa jalalle kahteen otteeseen, joten hänen pisteensä laskettiin puhtaan suorituksen mukaan. Finaaliin pääsi siis kuuden kisaajan sijasta kahdeksan.
Finaalissa Matti Joensuu ja Olli Manni rimpuilivat molemmat itsensä lähes toppiin, täsmälleen samalla tavalla otetta hipaisten, joten mestaruus piti ratkaista superfinaalissa. Reitin toppiote oli kattolevyn päädyssä, josta sitä oli vaikea nähdä. Superfinaalissa Olli Manni kävi jälleen roikkumassa katossa samassa muotopallossa ja kurotteli milloin milläkin raajalla toppiotetta kuitenkaan siihen pääsemättä. Hän saikin jalalla koskettamalla pisteiksiin top miinus. Onneksi superfinaalissa miesten välille saatiin eroa, koska Matti Joensuu putosi reilusti Ollia alempana.
Naisten sarjassa oli mukana yksi kilpailun ulkopuolinen osallistuja (alle 15-vuotias), mutta se ei näyttänyt menoa haittaavan. Tytöt jättivät taakseen monta toppahoususarjalaista miestä ja kiipesivätkin paljon kauniimmin. Naisten kisassa oli myös kaksi yli muiden, Janina Käyhkö ja Roosa Huhtikorpi taistelivat viimeiseen asti ykköspaikasta Janinan jäädessä vain yhden otteen päähän topista finaalissa Roosan topatessa reitin. Karsintareitin loppu oli kaikille sarjoille sama, pitkä viistodyno negatiivisella seinällä, ja reitin toppaaminen vaikuttikin olevan enemmän uskalluksesta kiinni. Roosa ja Janina saivat molemmat kosketuksen toppiotteesta karsinnoissa.
Toppahoususarjassa nuoruus näytti olevan valttia. Ensimmäisen sijan vienyt Jarkko Linkosuonio toppasi karsintareitin helpon tuntuisesti ja ylti finaalissakin reilusti muita pidemmälle. Myös kolmannen sijan saavuttanut Felix Damski oli kilpailun nuorimpia osallistujia.
Kisat menivät kaikin puolin oikein mukavasti, kiitokset kuuluvat ennen kaikkea järjestelyissä auttaneille talkoolaisille, kisoihin palkintoja lahjoittaneille sponsoreille, lämppäriboulderin tuoneelle Petri Laukamolle ja tietysti kaikille osallistujille. Erityismaininnan ansaitsee reitit taikonut Anton Johansson, joka onnistui tehtävässään erinomaisesti kisaseinän rajoituksista huolimatta. Kiitos myös SKIL:n Mari Maliselle kilpailujen järjestelyissä auttamisesta ja tuomaroinnista.
Näin järjestäjänä harmittaa, että en aiemmin pystynyt tiedottamaan miesten sarjaan osallistuville, että heidän ei tarvitse saapua paikalle samaan aikaan muiden kanssa. Olin toivonut, että eri sarjojen karsintoja olisi voinut aloittaa samanaikaisesti ajan säästämiseksi, mutta seinän pienuudesta johtuen oli parempi, että teemme yhden pidemmän reitin, jota sitten muokataan sarjojen välissä. Odottelua tuli siis heille turhankin paljon.
Toivotaan, että näemme tällä kaudella vielä monta Suomi-cupin osakilpailua. Jos joku harkitsee kisojen järjestämistä ja kaipaa vinkkejä valmistautumiseen, autan mielelläni parhaan kokemukseni mukaan."[rh]
Living the Dream
27.10.2007
"This thursday I finally managed to climb a project in Åland known as the Sphinx. I’ve tried this line on my five trips to the island during over four years of time...". Read the whole story and see the photos at www.nallehukkataival.com
In short, the new route is called 'Living the Dream' and the grade suggestion is 8b+ making it the hardest boulder line in Finland... Once again, congratulations to Nalle! [rh]
Nose in a day
27.10.2007
Lauri Hämäläinen and Sampsa Jyrkynen had a seemingly productive visit to Yosemite, climbing many of the valley classics. Last week they blasted the famous 'Nose' of El Capitan in just 20 hours! Surf to Patagonia.fi and Pitoni.fi for pics and stories from the entire trip.
It was of course no other than Nalle Hukkataival who finally managed to repeat Tomi Nytorp's 'Eskimo' in Espoo. Five years ago Slouppi wrote that Eskimo is "the hardest traverse ever seen in Finland. This line has around 37 moves starting with '72 markkaa' (7b+) crux move, linking a traverse around 20 moves long and finally topping out at 'Usual Suspect' (7c+). Tomi suggests grade 8a+ which is probably not over estimated..."
Sami's Last Statement
12.10.2007
More of Sami's undertakings: despite the name, this is certainly not the last statement, but a name for another hard line by Sami Haapakoski.
This line situates at the backmost stones of Sundom main area (Vaasa), in the overhang of the large stone left from 'Hitchmo'. The route was opened last week and with Sami's bicep sequence the grade is around 8a. [rh]
Maisteri vs X-Men
08.10.2007
Oulu's gift to Vaasa, Sami Haapakoski, dispatched today one of the hard projects in the area. This steep line situates at sector Mikroautorata and everyone who's been hanging around there certainly knows the thing. Name of the route is 'Maisteri vs X-Men' (...there must be a story behind this) and the grade is at 8a/8a+ range. Big congratulations! [rh]
Nordic Championships in Sogndal
07.10.2007
This year the Nordic Championships were arranged past weekend at Sogndal, southern Norway. The podium was shared by the other Scandinavian countries as there was absolutely no Finnish participation. Everyone felt like being in bad shape after the outdoor season, or maybe there was other poor excuses?!?
The winner in male category was last year's nr one, Magnus Midtbo (NOR) and second Magnus Högström (SWE). Winner in female category came also from the Midtbo family as Hannah Midtbo (NOR) took gold before Maling Holmberg (SWE). Last year's winner Linn Karin Stendahl (NOR) did not participate because of a finger injury. Detailed results: www.klatring.no. [rh]
Early fall ascents
06.10.2007
Some Southern-Finland testpieces have got more repeats on early fall. Joonas Sailaranta has climbed 'Buu-clubben' (8a/+) at Siuntio and 'Chuck Norris' (7c+/8a) at Tervakoski, Janakkala. 'Chuck Norris' was also repeated by Anssi Venho. Lasse Lind has recently repeated 'Vacuum' (8a) at Klöverberget. [rh]
Kikka and Keventäjät ss
06.10.2007
Mikkelin Työväen Kiipeilijät reports that about month ago Kirsi 'Kikka' Hiironen has done 'Keventäjät' sit start (7c) at Jyväskylä area. This is certainly among the hardest female ascents in Finland. Congratulations!
Other hard bouldering ascents to mention are at least first repeat to 'Mahjongg' (8a) by Ila Tuunainen also from Jyväskylä. Henri Pöyry made the second repeat last weekend. This extremely beautyful arete was first climbed by Pasi Penttinen and it situates at Nunnalahti area, Juuka. [rh]
IFSC World Championships
24.09.2007
Tomi Nytorp and Nalle Hukkataival took part in IFSC World Championships in Aviles, Northern Spain. They competed only in the bouldering discipline. Nalle climbed his way to semifinals and his end position was 19th. Tomi's position was 55th. The winner was a young Russian, Dmitry Sharafudtinov and in female category Anna Stöhr (AUT). Winners in the actual lead competition were Ramon Julian Puigblanque (ESP) and Angela Eiter (AUT). [rh]
Kustavi hardcore - Das Ding
17.09.2007
Perttu Ollila, father of many South-West testpieces has shifted the level of difficulty at Kustavi area into new heights. His latest route, 'Das Ding', situates at Kuulivuori and by hearing Perttu's description, you could imagine that this line is a real man-eater (and would probably eat women too):
"On 7th September I sent my 'project of the summer' at Kuulivuori, Kustavi. Name of this steep route with mixed protection is 'Das Ding'. The line has a pre-tiring start with three bolts, but in my opinion the true essence of the route starts from where the bolts end and finger(tip) crack starts. I sent 'Das Ding' on my 10th lead try and by putting all the protection on the go. At the end of the project I had one black jammed finger, one dented alien, but also piece of mind for the coming winter. I like more of poetry than grades. Still, the number that fits best for 'Das Ding' could be 9." (PO) - Congratulations! [rh]
King's Cross
16.09.2007
On 11th September Haukkakallio at Ruotsinpyhtää got it's new -hardest to date- route by Rami Haakana. The line situates on the slightly overhanging section of Muuri- sector. It goes up through a bare crack system and offers intensive climbing all the way by it's 13 meters height. The route is naturally protected and the gear was placed on the go. The grade suggestion is 8+. At the moment Haukkakallio offers 62 routes and 15 projects. [rh]
Northern boulder testpieces
13.09.2007
Risto Saarinen has opened two hard boulder lines at Hiidenkirnut, Rovaniemi. 'Nambla' was climbed already on spring and 'Midi assis' three weeks back. These are harder than the earlier routes of Risto and the grades for both most probably at 8a range. Jani Lehtola has opened 'Always Broken' at Pyhäntä. Grade suggestion for this fingery and physical line is also 8a. Nice work! [rh]
Nalle at Arco Rockmasters
09.09.2007
Sint Rock Bouldering contest was arranged also this year during the Arco Rock Master competition. Winner of the last year Nalle Hukkataival placed second after Gareth Parry from Great Britain. Third was young Italian Gabriele Moroni. Detailed story to come in the pages of Arco Rockmaster. Congratulations! [rh]
Joonas Sailaranta climbed well at the open Malmöboulder competition last weekend. He finished second after Henrik Sennelöv from Sweden. In the female category Eevi Jaakkola finished third after Jenny Förander (SWE) and Kina Nilsson (SWE). For photos and detailed results with positions of the other Finnish team members, surf to the pages of Malmöboulder. [rh]
Some sends on July-August
21.08.2007
Henri Pöyry's ticklist of harder routes keeps getting longer. His past month's sends include at least 'Buu-clubben' (8a, probably 8a+) at Siuntio and 'Chuck Norris' (8a) at Tervakoski. Couple of weeks back Valtteri Rintamäki climbed 'Vacuum' (8a) at Klöverberget and on mid July Rami Haakana repeated 'Kultakanta' (8a/+) at Haukkavuori. This great route is now accompanied by another hard line as the diagonal groove left from 'Kultakanta' was climbed by Martin on July. The new route 'Kultakuume' shares the anchor of 'Kultakanta'. Grade is around 7c+. [rh]
Texas Ranger hits Tervakoski
03.08.2007
Tomi Nytorp has climbed the last and hardest project of Tervakoski cliff at Janakkala. He figured out the sequences a week ago and did the first ascent today after memorizing moves. As the other hard line 'Chuck Norris' on the right, this line also overhangs slightly but gets much more sustained at the upper part. The new route is called 'Texas Ranger' and Tomi's suggestion for the grade is around 8a+..8b. Tomi also climbed the next line to the left 'Escape Artist' (7b+) onsight. [rh]
Roosa did 'Le privilège du serpent'
25.07.2007
Roosa and Kuutti Huhtikorpi did some hard climbing during their one month trip to Céüse, France. One of Roosa's highlights was a redpoint to classic 'Le privilège du serpent' (7c+) at sector Cascade. This was probably the first Finnish female ascent of this grade outside Finland. Kuutti had some real bad luck as he accidentally tore his finger on a tunafish can while experimenting French cuisine. He had to rest big part of the trip with a stitched finger, but before this managed to onsight two other classics: 'Mirage' (7c+) at Cascade and 'Tout n'est pas si facile' (7c+) at sector Biographie. [rh]
The Nose by Saku and Adrian
05.07.2007
Late news from the end of June. Saku Korosuo and Adrian Pollard climbed 31 pitch Yosemite classic, The Nose (5.9 C2), between 24th and 28th June. The line was freed by Lynn Hill 1993 (free grade 5.13c) and has seen only one free ascent since that by Tommy Caldwell. Earlier Finnish ascents: Martin Nugent - Henrik Suihkonen 1996 and Lasse Nuutinen - Joonas Sailaranta 2006. Congratulations to Saku and Adrian. For more info surf to www.pitoni.fi and www.openworld.fi. [rh]
More midsummer ascents
05.07.2007
Henri Pöyry has been repeating some hard routes. Earlier June he made probably the first repeat to 'Nummisuutari' (8a) at Nummi cliff. The line got first ascent by Tomi Nytorp on August 2006. Last Saturday Heko climbed intensive 'Tesis' at Klöverberget. This line has at least two possible crux sequences depending on height of the climber. Heko did the 'long man' 8a+ version. Martin Nugent's original version is graded 8b. On Tuesday Rami Haakana made the first repeat to 'Chuck Norris' (8a) at Tervakoski. See the news on 26.6. about the first ascent by Teemu Ojala. [rh]
Nalle 2nd in Nissan Outdoor Games
04.07.2007
Nissan Outdoor Games were organised in Interlaken (Switzerland) during the last weekend. Nalle Hukkataival took part in the bouldering contest and placed 2nd after Gareth Parry. Nalle topped two of the final problems as Gareth managed three. The other three finalists (Remo Sommer, Nicolas Badia, Kevin Hemund) topped only one problem each. Full results here (excel-file). Congratulations to Nalle! [rh]
Tarantella by Pasi
26.06.2007
Last Sunday Pasi Penttinen climbed the longstanding project at Notko cliff near Joensuu. The new route is called 'Tarantella' and the grade is around 8a. The line has been a project since 2001. Congratulations!
Source: Karelian Kiipeilijät[rh]
Teemu kicked the shit out of Chuck Norris
26.06.2007
Teemu Ojala has just climbed one of his nice projects. 'Chuck Norris' was bolted on fall 2005 and situates at Tervakoski area, Janakkala. The route starts with a steep 45 degree boulder and continues to a pumpy and technical slightly overhanging face. Overall length is about 15 meters and the grade is at 8a range. Way to go! [rh]
Hard ticks by Pasi
17.06.2007
Pasi Penttinen from Joensuu made last Wednesday probably the first repeat to 'Kultakanta' (8a/+) at Haukkavuori, Eastern Finland. This line was established 2006 by Martin Nugent. Few weeks earlier Pasi also repeated 'Wild Side' (8a) at the same cliff. 'Wild Side' was established by Jani Lunnas 2005 and got first repeat week after by Rami Haakana. [rh]
Nalle 3rd in Grindelwald
10.06.2007
Nalle Hukkataival did well at the bouldering world cup competition in Grindelwald (Switzerland) past weekend. After qualification round his position was 13th but good climbing in the semifinals lifted him up to 2nd position. In the finals the winner was Kilian Fischhuber (AUT) and second Akito Matsushima (JPN). Nalle's gap to second position was narrow - only one try to bonus hold in the finals. For detailed results, surf to the pages of IFSC. [rh]
New routes at Luhti
08.06.2007
Tomi Nytorp and Mina Jokivirta have added three new bolted routes to Haukkastenkallio, also known as Luhti cliff at Askola. The first of these is on the right end, next to the rightmost line 'Verhomestari'. This line had couple of bolts for several years, but is now fully equipped and known as 'Ristiriipunta' (7b). Next route to left is called 'Manteli' (6c) and was established by Mina. Third new route situates on the left end of the cliff and is called 'Iltatyttö' (7c+). The more exact location is on the steep face, just left from the old project.
Btw. couple of weeks back Mina showed her good shape at Klöverberget by climbing 'Vitamin M' (7c). [rh]
'Jedi Mindtricks' by Sami
03.06.2007
On Friday, 1st June did Sami Haapakoski first repetition of the latest Niemisel testpiece 'Jedi Mindtricks'. The line has been an open project for years until Martin Franssons first ascent about week back. Martin suggests grade 8b+. Sami however was 'brave and humble' and suggests 8b for the route. Sami was very near to climb this project two years back. It's remarkable that Sami has climbed outside with a rope only three times in a year.
News of the first ascent at the pages of
Borrbult.nu. [rh]
Jere repeats Arthur Dent
16.04.2007
Tomi Nytorp's 'Arthur Dent' (7c+/8a) at Havukallio was repeated probably by the first time a couple of weeks ago by Jere Ylönen. The bolted line was a project for a very long time until Tomi dispatched the line about 3 years ago. Congrats to Jere and thanks to Markku Vahter for the news!
Normipäivä for Nalle
14.04.2007
Nalle Hukkataival has been caught up in his favourite hobby - tuning desperate projects to a new steel-hard boulder lines. His latest creation situates in Djupviken (Ahvenanmaa, Åland) and used to be a project for the last 12 years. This futuristic line overhangs more than 45 degrees and has decent amount of moves. The name of the line is 'Normipäivä' (A norm day) and the grade is around 8b. Other ascent to mention, Nalle did also second repeat of Tomi Nytorp's 'Mongooli' (8a) at Kasviken.
Bouldering world cup competition was held in Erlangen (Germany) past weekend. Nalle Hukkataival did again nice nice job in the hard company! After the qualification round his position was 3rd which turned 1st after the semifinals. In the finals he placed 4th after Mykhaylo Shalagin (UKR), Kilian Fischhuber (AUT) and Jonas Baumann (GER). Total amount of climbers was 52. [rh]
Nalle 2nd in Bouldering EC
18.03.2007
Nalle Hukkataival took silver in the Bouldering European Championships at Birmingham today! The winner was young Austrian David Lama with a narrow margin. Lama needed 8 tries for topping 4 final routes whereas Nalle needed 10. Thomas Mrázek (Cze) was third with 2 top outs. Tomi Nytorp placed 38th. See full results. Congratulations to Nalle! [rh]
Marko on Big Dragon
15.03.2007
Yesterday Jyväskylä's definitive bouldering fanatic, Marko Kauko, made a repeat of Dave Graham's 'Big Dragon' in Fontainlebleau. Kippis Marko!
(He's the 3rd Finn to score this big numbers in The Forest.)
Skiing holiday á la Nalle
05.03.2007
When you just want to climb a lot and not to work on any specific problems, this is what usually happens to all of us...not. Here is Nalle's ticklist from the last couple of weeks. Nice start for the season, I'd say!!!
Switzerland:
Jack’s wild years 8a+, Extreme ironing 8a+, La pelle 8a, La proue 8b,
The great shark hunt 8b, Serre moi fort! 8a/+, Teamwork 8a (flash), Buggalagga 8b,
Miss Swiss 8a+, Le vent nous porterá 8a, Komilator 8a (2nd try), Schule des lebens 8b (15 min), No mystery 8a+ ("flash", 1st move is the same as in "Schule des lebens"), The arete with the pocket 8a
Fontainebleau:
Neverland 8a, Partage 8a+, Les beaux quartiers 8a, Vitae beata 8a, Fata morgana 8a, La sale gosse assis 8a
Go, repeat.
Results from Graniboulder 2007
05.02.2007
Graniboulder 2007 results from the past weekend have been added to the results page. Qualification consisted of 49 routes. After such a heavy effort none of the male finalists were able to top out any routes in the finals. The final positions were determined by the amount of tries needed for bonus hold on the first finals route. The winner was Anssi Venho with two tries. Tero Järvinen and Jarkko Linkosuonio were 2nd and 3rd and they both needed 3 tries.
In female category the winner was Mina Jokivirta who flashed 5 and took bonus hold from the 6th finals route. Last year's winner Roosa Huhtikorpi was second and Kati Laurell third. Congratulations to finalists!
Asemaboulder 2006 results have been added to the results page. The superior winner in Hardmen was Nalle Hukkataival. This year's Hadrwoman was Roosa Huhtikorpi and in Toppahousut (A-category) winner was Jarkko Linkosuonio. Congratulations! More pics to come. See also the nice gallery by Jarmo Annunen and the corresponding thread in the Forum. [rh]
Junior NC at Sogndal, Norway
03.12.2006
Youngsters from scandinavian countries were competing for the Nordic Championships at Sogndal, Norway. The Finnish team was also present. Results from youngest to oldes category: Youth B male: Felix Damski 3rd, Henri Haime 6th, Anthony Gullsten 7th and Tuukka Kaipainen 9th. Winner was Emil Jespersen from Denmark. Youth A female: Roosa Huhtikorpi 2nd. Winner Hannah Midtbo (NOR). Youth A male: Jarkko Linkosuonio 5th. Winner Kristoffer Thorbjörsson (NOR). Junior male: Markus Fogelholm 5th. Winner Magnus Midtbo (NOR). No Finnish participants in Youth B and Junior female categories. Detailed results at the pages of Norges Klatreforbund. Congrats to all! The fabulous wall at Sognhallen was built by Tjelmeland Friksjon. [rh]
Report from NC 2006
15.10.2006
Nordic Championships in difficulty were arranged at Joensuu past weekend. The new wall of Joensuu Areena offered perfect playfield for 20 male and 7 female climbers from all the Nordic countries. Routesetter Aljosa Grom had done excellent job with the competition routes. All the way steep and high profile made it possible to design sustained and versatile routes that made the lactic acid insidiously build up into the climbers forearms.
Qualification and semifinal rounds were competed on Saturday. In male category Tomi Nytorp was the only Finn among the six who topped the qualification route. On the semifinals, most of the Finnish climbers, including Tomi, got stuck on the big form at the upper overhang and fell from it within two points span. A kneebar would have been the right solution btw. Only Olli-Petteri Manni made past it and to the finals.
OPM showed fine climbing also at the Sunday's finals where he climbed nicely to the fourth position. The winner was the last year's dominating champion Magnus Midtbo (NOR), second Magnus Högström (SWE) and third Sindre Saether (NOR). No-one topped the finals route.
Norwegian climbers dominated also in the female category. Linn-Karin Stendal and Hannah Midtbo were the only climbers to top out both qualification and semifinals routes. Linn-Karin was souvereing in the finals and barely missed the top hold. Hannah Midtbo was second and Stine Ostergaard from Denmark third. Despite of nice efforts, Finnish climbers had to share the last three positions.
The competition showed that the wall at Joensuu Areena is undoubtedly the best wall in Finland for events like this. Thanks to the arrangement team for great job and congratulations to the winners. Photos to come. [rh]
Nalle Hukkataival continues to be in "decent" shape as he placed third after Lamiche (1st) and Dulac (2nd) in Navalosa near Madrid during the Petzl Roc Trip. The competition itself was a big Kinkkuboulder-like outdoor bouldering event with the Petzl pros and other strong people. According to Nalle the climbing was great and the place was great. Third place is good, but, we need more... just kidding. Way to go!
Another repeat to 'El Toro'
19.09.2006
'El Toro' (8a+) at Klöverberget got yesterday another repeat by Martin Nugent. At the moment the cliff is dry except routes under the big roof. [rh]
Mongooli repeated
18.09.2006
One of the Kasviken testpieces, 'Mongooli' (8a/8a+), got repeated by Sami Haapakoski about a week ago. The Oulu climbers find out a new easier hook sequence after the hardest second move. Their idea about the grade is therefore more like 8a than 8a+. This boulder was established by Tomi Nytorp last spring (see the news 28th May).
Also other Ahvenanmaa/Åland classics like 'Supermartikainen' got new repeats by Jani Lehtola and Sami. [rh]
Nalle won at Arco!
03.09.2006
Yes. Nalle was the only climber to top out all the four problems at Sint Roc bouldering competition at Arco! Check out the detailed results: www.digitalrock.de/2006/06_arco/. Big congratulations! [rh]
Martin's August crop
29.08.2006
Martin Nugent has also been productive with hard lines during August. Past weekend he managed to climb a longstanding project at Haukkamäki, Salo area. Route is called 'Baba Baba Gur Gur' and it situates on an overhang at the cliff's left end. Martin suggests grade 8a+. Worth mentioning are also 'Kultakanta' (8a) at Eastern-Finland and 'Gyllene Tider' (7c+) at Siuntio area. Nice! [rh]
Youth World Champs at Imst
28.08.2006
Some results from the difficulty Youth World Championships at Imst, Austria.
Roosa Huhtikorpi was 42nd of 63 in Youth A series. Winner in this category was Charlotte Durif (FRA). Heini Merikallio was 39th of 47 in Juniors. Winner was Katharina Saurwein (AUT). In male Juniors, Kuutti Huhtikorpi climbed to 36th position of 57 competitors in total. Nr 1 in this category was Sean McColl (CAN). [rh]
What Goes Up...
25.08.2006
...must definitely come down. But this is also the name of the latest route in Klöverberget. And not just any route. Yesterday Nalle Hukkataival managed to climb the steep project right from 'Vacuum'.
Here's Nalles own description: "Day before yesterday I checked the moves and climbed the line day after. The route is relatively short with 3 moves crux: a hard lock off from a bad pinch to a one finger crimp, and couple of hard moves after that. For not making things too easy, the one finger hold was a bit wet during the ascent. It's hard to say about the grade but it must be something like 8b. Maybe. Outrageously nice line anyway! And the name is 'What goes up...'" [rh]
Liljendal project climbed by Nalle
21.08.2006
Nalle Hukkataival is getting back to form after military service. Last Thursday he added a hard new boulder route to the new sector of Liljendal. The line is called 'Ohi On' and the grade is around 8a/8a+. In the topo this is the line number 12.
According to Nalle the new line has a sit-start, about 4 long moves with the last one being crux: a dyno to the top from 5 mm deep crimp on an overhanging end section. The actual crux is to hold the hard pendulum. The rock quality is quite rough and it's maybe too easy to get fingers torn from the top hold.
At the first weekend of September Nalle will head to Italy as he got invited to the Arco Rock Master competition. Last year he was third in this acknowledged event so let's wish successfull preparation to Nalle! [rh]
Hard lines by OPM
14.08.2006
South-West Finland has got couple of hard new lines by Olli-Petteri Manni.
At Angelniemi, Olli has climbed a new vertical and super technical line 'Onni' (8a). His first Angelniemi test-piece 'Baletti' (also 8a) was established 2005. Another nice addition 'Selibaatti' (8a) situates at Härmälänrotko, Naantali. This line runs through the steeper outer side of the 'gorge'. Both new routes are waiting for the first repeats.
Making of new routes is hard work and everyone (except maybe Johan Luhr) needs rest days. Olli has also put his rest days to good use and climbed for example 'Sheriffi' (8a) at Nummi. [rh]
More Nummi action by Tomi and Mina
05.08.2006
Today Tomi Nytorp and Mina Jokivirta had a good day in Nummi cliff. For a start Mina climbed 'Alibi' (7c) making probably third female ascent to this classic. After that Tomi did quick job with another Nummi project left from his recent testpiece 'Syncro' (8c). This line was bolted few years back and starts with 'Shake My Tree' but takes right from the mid height. The variation got name 'Nummisuutari'. Grade is probably around 8a. [rh]
First Finnish 8c by Tomi Nytorp!
31.07.2006
Tomi Nytorp made today real Finnish climbing history by opening the first route graded 8c in Finland! Here's Tomi's own description of the ascent:
"I've been visiting Nummi cliff several times (during 4 days to be exact) to work the line between 'Estrella' and 'Shake My Tree'. Today I finally found myself clipping the anchor more pumped than ever. I named the route 'Syncro'. The difficulty must be around 8c but as you know, it's hard to give an exact grade. Anyway this is clearly the hardest route I've ever climbed. Some facts about the line: Around 40 moves, one poor rest 10 moves before anchor. Barely no chalking during the first 30 moves. Six clips with three hard ones. A real stamina test and extraordinary nice line!"
Big congratulations to Tomi! This was only a matter of time... [rh]
Decibel by Jani
24.07.2006
Last friday Jani Lehtola from Oulu did a repeat to 'Decibel' (8a) at Niemisel, Sweden. The cliff is in very good condition at the moment. [rh]
New cliff at Ruotsinpyhtää
20.07.2006
Släbi ry continues development of climbing cliffs at Eastern-Uusimaa. Topo of Huuhkajavuori was published on last September and now it is time for the first sector of Haukkakallio. You'll find the topo from the pages of Släbi.
This first sector called 'Kultajuova' situates at the Northern end of Haukkakallio and offers 8 routes with grades between 5+ and 7. The other sectors are under development. No need to mention that it's important to behave with respect to nature. Do not leave any litter behind you.
The cliff situates at Ruotsinpyhtää and you will also find detailed driving instructions from the pages of Släbi. [rh]
Update: The line nr 1 is called 'Infart' (5c).
Another repeat to 'I Feel Good'
03.07.2006
Last friday Jari Pöllänen did another Finnish repeat to the Niemisel classic 'I Feel Good' (8a+). At the moment, the Niemisel cliff near Luleå at Sweden is in good condition. Routes are dry and the amount of mosquitoes tolerable. This time of year the most convenient time to climb is at the midnight sun. [rh]
Bouldering world cup at Hall, Austria
28.06.2006
Tomi Nytorp took part in Bouldering world cup at Hall, Austria last weekend. Tomi's final position was 36th of 59 competitors in total. Podium was shared by David Lama (AUT), Jérôme Meyer (FRA) and Kilian Fischhuber (AUT). [rh]
Rovaniemi's hardest by Jani
14.06.2006
Last weekend two of the hardest boulder routes at Rovaniemi area, 'Linnuntie' (7c+/8a) and 'Pimp My Ride extension' (7c+) got repeated by Jani Lehtola. These lines have been established by local powerplant Risto Saarinen and been waiting the first repeats for some time. During this season Jani has also added fingery lines up to 7c+ at his home district Oulu. [rh]
Nalle ropes up
11.06.2006
As the temperatures are going up many of the boulderers switch to training for the real thing and tie up. They say that sport and trad climbing are very good training for bouldering. Last Friday Nalle Hukkataival managed to (sport)climb 'Vacuum' (8a) at Klöverberget. A day earlier he got the 2nd ascent of Tomi Nytorp's recent boulderproblem 'Toukotyö' (7c+) at Sipoo. Nice to hear from Nalle who is serving probably his final weeks of military service!
Senorita repeated by Sami
06.06.2006
An old Vaasa testpiece 'Senorita' (8a) got repeated on last Saturday by Sami Haapakoski. This line situates at sector Pet Cemetary and was established by Anton Johansson on fall 2001. Good work! [rh]
Hard repeats by Kuutti
30.05.2006
Kuutti Huhtikorpi has also had a good start for his outdoor season. Earlier May he dispatched two 8a's in Southern Finland including 'Vacuum' at Klöverberget and another un-named line at the area. Last thursday it was time for 'Adlon' (8a) at Nummi.
What comes to bouldering, at Jyväskylä area Kuutti repeated 'Forte Risoluto' (7c+) and 'Booty' (7c). At Liljendal he did quick job with lines such as 'Underking' (7b+) and 'Basically Done' (7c). [rh]
Tomi's boulderful May
28.05.2006
As the weather on May has offered some good friction, Tomi Nytorp has been productive on the cliffs and stones of South-West Finland. He has put up quite an impressive bunch of new hard routes!
Turku area:
'Voima' 7c+, Mynämäki
'5.14' 8a+, Mynämäki
'Bob Marley' 8a+, Pirunpesä
'Sans les mains' 8a, Hirvensalo
'?' 7c+, Kärsämäki (lower start to an old route, name unknown)
Ahvenanmaa:
'Hammaspeikko' 8a, Geta
(left from 'Hammas', s.s. under the roof)
'Mongooli' 8a/+, Kasviken
(the roof behind 'Dodo' boulder)
'Ålandsbanken' 8a+/b, Geta
(s.s. project right from 'Hihipingviini')
At Sipoo Tomi has repeated 'Hattori Hanzo' (8a) and added a new line 'Toukotyö' (7c+) which shares same end with 'Hanzo' but has direct (sit) start. More about Turku sessions in the next Kiipeilylehti. [rh]
Bouldering world cup at Rovereto
15.05.2006
Nalle Hukkataival took part in Bouldering world cup competition at Rovereto, Italy past weekend. Nalle's final position was 47th of the 58 competitors in total. Winner was Gérome Pouvreau (FRA), second Jérome Meyer (FRA) and third Thomás Mrázek (CZE). Detailed result at the pages of Planet Mountain.
2006 has not been very successful competition year to Nalle as his on-going military service has prevented proper training. Few more months to go and the situation should ease up! [rh]
Second ascent to Euphoria
03.05.2006
Today Tomi Nytorp managed to do long waited second ascent to 'Euphoria' at Angelniemi! 'Euphoria' is probably the first 8a graded boulder in Finland and was established way back at nineties (-99) by visionary route setter Markku Tawast. The line is considered to be very height dependent but once again Tomi showed that long moves can be compensated with power, technique and attitude. The grade felt hardish 8a for him. [rh]
Anabólica on-sight by Tomi
23.04.2006
Tomi Nytorp and Mina Jokivirta spent couple of weeks on a climbing trip to Spain. They visited spots such as Siurana, Rodellar, Riglos and Montserrat. Tomi was in a good shape as usual, and managed to do some hard on-sights at Siurana! These include 'Anabólica' (8a), one of the steep classics at sector Campi Qui Pugui, and 'La Crema' (also 8a) near sector L'Olla. [rh]
Results from Finnish Championships
22.04.2006
Finnish Championships in difficulty were competed at Joensuu Areena today. Despite the new wall, participation was not huge: only 4 competitors in male and 5 in female category. The own boy of Joensuu, Pasi Penttinen took the championship in the male category. Second was Kuutti Huhtikorpi followed by Henrik Suihkonen and Henri Pesonen. The order in female category was Roosa Huhtikorpi, Eerika Pawli, Mina Jokivirta, Ansa Hirvonen and Pia Sjöroos. Congrats to Pasi and Roosa!
Last Saturday Tapio Alhonsuo managed to climb 'Suentassu' (M9+) at Sotkamo. This mixed line was first climbed by Antti Mankinen about two years back. Tapio thinks that the route must be one of the finest of a kind in Finland. Especially nice feature is the upper part after the most overhanging section. According to Tapio, this is where the hard climbing really starts and he was very psyched to do the route after five falls from the upper icicle last weekend. Good work! [rh]
Results from Bouldering Masters 2006
02.04.2006
Traditional Bouldering Masters event gathered about 80 climbers to the walls of Kiipeilykeskus yesterday. 4 hours and 55 routes guaranteed a good training day for every participant. As last year, the biggest pile of points was collected by Kuutti Huhtikorpi, who climbed all but two routes. Runner-up was Markku Makkonen, even if he had to give up bit too early after ripping his finger to a screw tip. Regular top contender Toni Ruokonen was third. Winner in female category was Eevi Jaakkola with really strong performance. Margin to the last year winner Roosa Huhtikorpi was however only 3 points. Heini Merikallio was third.
Detailed results have been added to the results page. Many thanks to the organizing team and route setters for the most joyful event! [rh]
Nico ticks 'Jernmangel'
24.03.2006
Most of us would not be able to give personal best if there's over 250 meters of intensive ice climbing done yesterday. This does not apply to Nico Backström, who after Vettisfossen cascade (see the previous news) did a quick ascent to 'Jernmangel' (M10+). The line is among the very hardest in Norway and was repeated by Antti Mankinen about a month back. Whoa! [rh]
Antti and Nico on high ice
24.03.2006
On Wednesday Antti Mankinen and Nico Backström climbed 'Vettisfossen', the highest cascade in Norway and Scandinavia with mind puzzling height of 275 meters. The line was first time climbed by Henry Barber and Rob Taylor at 1978 with Nico's and Antti's ascent being the seventh ever. Sixth ascent was made last Saturday by a Norvegian team (see Steepstone) and the route has been climbed twice this year.
Antti's description of the ascent: "The cascade was the most difficult and dangerous I've ever climbed with Nico. Climbing was technical with of passings of ice roofs and moving from iciles to another. All this with quite bad protection. In addition there was a heavy water flow inside the pillar which could time to time be seen through the relatively thin ice. Falling and booming ice junks inside the pillar brought some extra exitement." Nice!!
Pictures about 'Vettisfossen' can be found from the pages of Isklatring.no. Choose 'Vettisfossen' and click picture to move to the next pictures. [rh]
Results from NC Bouldering
19.03.2006
Nordic Championships in bouldering were competed at Stockholm this weekend. The winner was Swedish Peter Bosma followed by Nalle Hukkataival and Adam Rosenbaum (Swe). Other Finnish finalists were Kuutti Huhtikorpi and Markku Makkonen. First three in female category were Johanna Tiensuu-Stålnacke, Kerstin Johansson and Malin Perk, all from Sweden. Eevi Jaakkola was the only Finn in the finals. More details about the placings when available.
Update 20.3. Other Finnish placings, male category: Markku Makkonen 9th, Kuutti Huhtikorpi 11th, Sampo Kiesiläinen 16th, Anssi Venho 17th and Matti Joensuu 18th. 32 competitors in total. Female category: Eevi Jaakkola 5th, Eija Joensuu 16th. 17 competitors in total. Eija injured her elbow on the third qualification route and was unable to continue. We wish quick recovery to Eija! [rh]
Finnish ascents at Hemsedal
16.03.2006
We've lately heard about some strong performance by Antti Mankinen at the finest ice and mixed spots of Norway. During his last weekend visit to Hemsedal, Antti was accompanied by Nico Backström and Marko Saukko who also seems to be in a good shape! Both guys did 'Ca Bitch a Mort', an M9 route established by French Stebhane Huson (2004). Style was bareback i.e. without heelhooks.
Andy describes this route as follows: "You start with an easy 6m ice section from where you move to rock. After 7 meters of severely overhanging rock section you move in to an ice curtain and continue up. Upper part is basic ice climbing. Total length is 25+ meters. The line is one of the best mixed routes I've ever climbed. Three stars." [rh]
Andy repeats 'Jernmangel'
27.02.2006
Antti 'Andy' Mankinen has again hit his ice axes into hard stuff. This time he made the first repetition to a line called 'Jernmangel' ('Raudanpuutos' in Finnish) at Golsjuvet near Hemsedal. The first ascensionist Kristen Reagan has not given an accurate grade but general opinion suggests something around M10+. The route can thereby be considered as the hardest mixed line in Norway.
Andy repeated the route on Saturday 25th and he describes it as follows: "The line is about 25 meters long. It and starts with a steep rock section with small and technical holds. Next you move into a hanging icicle and climb along it up into thicker ice. The grade must be quite hard as gentlemen Will Gadd (Can) and Hari Berger (Aut) has been trying the route".
It's also remarkable that the route was climbed 'bareback' i.e. without the heelhooks in the boots. Congrats to Andy!!! [rh]
Kuutti's Thailand ticklist
17.02.2006
Some late news from the early January.
Kuutti and Roosa Huhtikopri spent their winter vacation at Thailand and did some remarkable ascents at Railay. Including the on-sight to 'Gaeng som Plaa' 7c+, Kuutti managed to climb 'Just Call Me Helmet' 8a, 'Elephant' 8a, 'Art & Sport' 8a(+), 'Cream of Tom Yam Kai' 8a(+), 'Tantrum' 8a+ and 'Jai Dum' 8b. All these 2nd go exept 'Just Call Me Helmet' 3rd go. Roosa did 'Apri Fool's' 7b on-sight.
Kuutti says that it's a bit hard for him to comment the grading between Thailand and Finland as he has tried only few hard routes. However, he feels that 'Vacuum' in Klöverberget felt harder than some of the 8a(+) routes in Thailand.
"Qualification routes were at good level this year - no-one climbed all of them but everyone managed to climb something. Amount of female competitors was also record breaking 8.
All eight qualification routes were divided into zones, so there was an easier and harder version. Intermediate points were also available from the marked holds. This system proved to be good for this kind of a small cave. Qualification routes were built by Tapio Alhonsuo and three hour climbing time seemed to be just fine. Routes were tough enough so that there wasn't too much rush on the wall at the end. Paavo Ikonen fought his way to the finals by achieving equal score with Jani Lehtola at the very end of the qualification. In both categories (male & female) seven climbers instead of six got into the finals due to equal scores.
Final was climbed in red-point (after work) style. Climbers had 10 minutes time to test the route and finalists were allowed to see each other practicing. Winner of the qualification got some benefit as the order was reversed. During the actual competition, the climbers were of course waiting their turn on isolation.
As last year, routes in the finals were built by Sampo Kiesiläinen. Both routes ran all the way through the final roof and this roof section was the same for male and female categories. A special rule was applied at the roof: when both hands were on the roof, the climber was allowed to use holds from both routes for feet. Joonas Sailaranta made a mistake here as he used a foothold from the female route when he had only one hand on the roof. As he clearly got some advantage of this, the jury was forced to interrupt his performance into that point. It seemed that Joonas might have had power to continue maybe to the top. This performance was however enough for the second position. All other men fell from different heights. In female category, Roosa and Eevi both climbed half way the final roof. Roosa won the competition with her better perfomance in the qualification and took the LappiCup trophy third time in a row. Girls from south do have some lead compared to the northern girls who had a tough competition between each other all the way during the event. Same score after the qualification and on the finals they fell from the same holds with plus or minus differences.
Prizes were arranged by the main sponsor TOP30. Medalists got trophies made of hold resin, a shirt and a back-bag. Three fingerboards were disposed of by lottery among those who did not make it to the finals. They do need some more practice anyway:-) Couple of shirts and hold brushes were also given away by lottery."
"The B-finals" consisted of some sauna, playing and watching climbing video. More of this at the pages of "Rollon Kiikku ja Juoma".
Free translation from the original text of Aki Hämäläinen. Results here. [rh]
Graniboulder 2006
05.02.2006
Long time has passed, since the last bouldering competition took place in the capital area. Maybe this was one reason for the nice participation in the Graniboulder 2006 contest last weekend. The event was the first Finnish Cup competition this winter and around 90 competitors all over the country had arrived to the old training cave of Kauniainen. The place has seen a total renaissance and is one of the best training locations in the capital area today.
The qualification round offered some 45 routes on new plywood profiles including couple of concrete classics from the old days of Grani. The routes were built by the local climbing club with some help of Tomi Nytorp's and Anton Johansson's tiny hands. Four hours qualification time was absolutely necessary and maybe some impudence was needed to keep up the pace as many routes were totally congested.
The qualification brought up familiar names to the top of the result list. The finals were carried out according to the normal routine, i.e. 6 routes with controlled climbing and resting times. Remarkably many of the final routes had a dynamic last move. In the female category the winner was - who else than Roosa Huhtikorpi followed by Eija Joensuu and Eevi Jaakkola. With no surprise either, Sampo Kiesiläinen was the winner in the male category followed by Kuutti Huhtikorpi and Olli-Pekka Manni. Congratulations to the finalists. The detailed results have been added to the results page.
When Klondyke Wall had to give up their excellent climbing gym in Kerava last year, the popular Kinkkuboulder tradition was also ended. This event has been hard to substitute and it was therefore nice to see that there is now at least one good location where these kind of mass events can be arranged. The arrangements, atmosphere and the 'whole package' were excellent, so let's hope that the tradition of Graniboulder will continue also next year! [rh]
Update 9.2. See photos at the pages of Sami Salmenkivi Update 13.2. Photos also at the pages of Antti Arasto
Hard mixed at Rjukan
12.12.2005
Our reinforcements in Norway, Ansku Sihvonen and Antti Mankinen visited recently at Rjukan. About a week ago, Antti managed to repeat a steep Scott Muir testpiece, 'Fission' (M10, or rather D10) on a third go. The route was established 2003 and it's partly bolted. The upper part can be protected naturally. Nice job! [rh]
New climbing wall at Joensuu
07.12.2005
Joensuu has got a huge new climbing wall during November. The wall situates at the new Areena hall at the western side of Joensuu center.
What makes this wall so special are the strategic dimensions. 19 meters height makes it the highest in Finland, but maybe even more remarkable is the steepness. The main two profiles overhang all the way from ground to up so there is absolutely no vertical rest positions but pure pump until the burning end. Sounds like the best place to practise the noble art of roped endurance training in our country. Actually, with this combination of height and steepness one should get a good forearm pump by only taking a glance to the wall..
As the construction seems ideal also for competition use, there are initial plans for arranging Finnish Championships on spring and Scandinavian Championships on fall -06 in on-sight climbing. The wall should be open for climbers with proven belaying skills latest at the beginning of 2006. More information available at the pages of Karelian Kiipeilijät and Kaski. [rh]
Results from Youth NC at Helsinki
14.11.2005
Junior Nordic Championships in difficulty were competed last weekend at Kiipeilykeskus, Helsinki. According to the arrangement team the event was a success. This is easy to believe as the participation was huge, 82 climbers!
All Scandinavian countries were present except Iceland. Swedes had come with a big 21 members team with climbers mainly from Stockholm area. Participation from other countries: Norway :6, Denmark: 5, Latvia: 3 and Finland: 47 competitors.
In present system there are 6 different age categories for 18 years and younger climbers. The 92- and younger climb on top-rope (categories 1, 2 and 3). Older climbers i.e. 87-91 born compete with normal lead style (A, B and Juniors).
Best Finnish placing was the gold medal in female A category (88-89) by Roosa Huhtikorpi. Congratulations! Other podium placings are presented on the table below. Thanks to Joonas Sailaranta for the results. More detailed results will be added to the results page in the near future. Until that, surf to the pages of Swedish Climbing Association.
GIRLS
Cat 3 (96- )
1. Lieke Kia FIN
2. Kainulainen Sanna FIN
3. Haime Katariina FIN
Cat 2 (94-95 )
1. Høilund Sophie DEN
2. Fager Iines FIN
3. Valkama Siiri FIN
Cat 1 (92-93 )
1. Söderlund Mathilda SWE
-. Kalnina Elza LAT
2. Benedictsson Caroline SWE
3. Larsson Johanna SWE
Youth B (90-91)
1. Mitdbø Hannah NOR
2. Johanssen Therese NOR
3. Horak Cecilia SWE
Youth A (88-89)
1. Huhtikorpi Roosa FIN
2. Hammeraas Sunniva NOR
3. Tull Emma SWE
Junior (86-87)
1. Hedborg Camilla SWE
2. Jaakkola Eevi FIN
3. Hakala Saija FIN
BOYS
Cat 3 (96- )
1. Laaksonen Juuso FIN
2. Ainoa Eppu FIN
3. Hakala Elias FIN
Cat 2 (94-95 )
1. Schwerin Rasmus SWE
2. Honkasalo Petja FIN
2. Jussila Lauri FIN
2. Paasovaara Ville FIN
Cat 1 (92-93 )
-. Rugens Rolands LAT
1. Wiksell Viktor SWE
2. Kaisalmi Anssi FIN
3. Haime Henri FIN
Youth B (90-91)
1. Olsen Eirik B. NOR
2. Grandelius Erik SWE
3. Thomsen Nikolaj Finnäs DEN
Youth A (88-89)
1. Mitdbø Magnus NOR
2. Thorbjornsen Kristoffer K. NOR
3. Lundberg Tobias SWE
Junior (86-87)
1. Råström Oscar SWE
2. Päivänsäde Ossi FIN
3. Fogelholm Markus FIN
The winner in boys A category was Magnus Mitdbø (16), who has been a real rising star during the past year. We can expect to hear more from this young Norvegian who is the current holder of the world championship title in the same age group. He has gathered competition experience also in 'grown ups' as he currently holds also adults NC title and sensationally placed sixth in the UIAA World Cup cup(Valence FRA) couple of weeks back. His achievements in outdoors are impressive, i.e. 'La Cadre' (8c) in Céüse and several 8a on-sights. [rh]
Update 17.11. Detailed results added to the results page.
New cliffs at Taivassalo
31.10.2005
New topos have been published from the seemingly unexhaustible cliff reserves of South-West Finland! From the pages of 'Kalliokiipeilyä Lounais-Suomessa' you'll find topos of Hyyppivuori and Kahiluoto which both situates at Taivassalo area. In total the amount of routes is almost 50 and the climbing is completely natural. During the past years has development of this area been extraordinary and it seems that there's more to come...
British & Finnish ascents in High Atlas
28.10.2005
UK Climbing reports about hard ascents by British and Finnish team in high Atlas, Morocco. Dave Pickford, Mike Turner, Jack Geldard, Steve Mayers and Juha Saatsi have managed the first British ascents of several hard routes in the area. The routes include Fantasia (F7b+/7c 700m), Rivieres Pourpres (F7c, 500m) onsight and L'Axe du Mal (F7c+, 600m). Juha climbed in a group with Jack and Dave. This group did the first two of the routes mentioned. Surf to UK Climbing for more deatails. Thanks to Antti Liukkonen.
'Ikaros' free by Teemu
23.10.2005
Until now has the fall offered long and dry climbing season at the Southern Finland. On Saturday two weeks back was also Teemu Tapaninen inspired by the excellent conditions and managed to climb his latest project at Olhava. The line is called 'Ikaros' and it situates at the back cliffs of Olhava, sector Stradarotta. This early aid route was originally climbed and named at 2001 by Kari Laitila and it's graded stiff A2+/A3 in the official SKIL Topo, 2003.
Freeing the line took several weekends by Teemu. He describes the line cruxy with last third being the hardest. The crack takes reasonable amount of gear so it is not as scary as his last summer creation, 'Cro Magnon'. Maybe not an ideal onsight route says Teemu. The newborn holds grade around 8+ (7c) and is totally natural. Nice job!
Anssi Venho repeats Hottentotti assis
19.10.2005
Yesterday Anssi Venho repeated Tomi Nytorp's "Hottentotti assis" (8a+). Earlier at least Henri Pöyry, Nalle Hukkataival and Anton Johansson have repeated the problem. Check out our gallery for a video of Nalle's repeat.
Hattori Hanzo flashed
11.10.2005
Anssi Venho's testpiece boulderproblem "Hattori Hanzo" (8a) near Helsinki was flashed yesterday by no other than Nalle Hukkataival. Nalle's ascent was the first repeat of the problem despite many attempts by other hardmen. Good effort again!
Vaasa action
10.10.2005
During the weekend a group of boulderers from Jyväskylä and Helsinki attacked the bushes in Vaasa. On Saturday Marko Kauko became the first to repeat Tomi Nytorp's "Poketti ja krimppi" at Sundom area (see news 13.9.). Marko repeated the problem almost by accident on his 4th go while warming up. Anssi Venho, who's been desperate to get the 1st ascent of a very special problem attempted by almost all Finnish top guns, finally succeeded on doing "Hitman" ~8a:ish (Karperöfjärden, Rantatie). Anton Johansson seemed to be back in business after finger injuries. On Sunday Anton (and Marko) repeated "Uruk-hai" 7c in Merikaarto and Anton made the 1st ascent to a small but desperate problem to the right from "Uruk-hai". No name or grade yet but certainly harder than "Uruk-hai". Nice weather, great weekend!
Tomi repeated 'Dodo' assis
02.10.2005
After bagging the hardest boulders in mainland, Tomi Nytorp took a logical step and headed to Ahvenanmaa (Åland) for a weekend. Today he visited Kasviken and repeated 'Dodo' sit start in a humid conditions. This was Tomi's fifth 8b within one month! 'Dodo' assis is about 45 degrees overhanging and consists of desperate slopers and crimps. The line was established on last April by Nalle Hukkataival. Tomi describes the route as the finest he has ever done.
Nalle fourth in Firminy Bouldering contest
02.10.2005
Nalle Hukkataival continues his strong season by taking fourth position at the Bouldering World Cup competition in Firminy, France! The winner in the event was Tomasz Oleksy (POL), second Daniel Dulac (FRA) and third Kilian Fischhuber (AUT). For detailed results, surf to the result file (in pdf-format). Once again, big congratulations to Nalle!
A months ticklist
28.09.2005
One months ticklist: Nothing changes (8a), Never ending story part 2 (8a), Fat boy (8a), No liberty (8a), Pønk (8a), Frogger (8a/+), Rosswell (8a+), Electroboogie (8a+), Bodycount (8a+), Sofa surfer (8a+), The left hand of darkness (8a+), Bamlamusa? (8a+), Steppenwolf (8b), Amber (8b), High spirit (8b), The riverbed (8b), Deep throat 8b(+?) and Ganymede takeover (8b+). As you see, after placing third in Arco Rockmasters earlier this month, Nalle Hukkataival has ticked some real rock in Switzerland. At the moment Nalle is on his way to Firminy France to attend a bouldering world cup event (30.9.-1.10). Good luck!
Tomi strikes at Espoo
23.09.2005
If you haven't noticed yet, there is now one totally unstoppable climber out there taking all advantage of the dry autumn weather! Today Tomi Nytorp repeated 'Super Mario' (8b) at Espoo. Super Mario is medium steep boulder line with long moves between bad fingery holds. According to Tomi the route is maybe a bit soft for the grade and he therefore suggests more appropriate 8a+ for it. What next...
Tomi repeated '7 Veljestä'
22.09.2005
Tomi Nytorp continues ticking the hardest boulders. This time Nalle Hukkataival testpiece from last May, '7 Veljestä' (8b) got repeated at Nurmijärvi. This mega steep arete consists of nice moves on small crimps spiced with couple of technical hooks. Tomi did the job on yesterday on his third visit at the boulder within last 2 months. As the man is on form, let's find some really hard lines for him to do. Anyone?
New hard problems near Jyväskylä by Tomi
18.09.2005
Tomi Nytorp's weekend in Jyväskylä: "Vakiopaine" (7c+) flash and finally a second ascent to an old Juha Saatsi-problem "Nakit ja muusi" (7c+). Tomi also managed to climb two new traverses: "Unesco" (7c) and "Fyysikko" (8b). Check Projekti's website for more pics etc!
New hard problems in Vaasa by Tomi
13.09.2005
During the last weekend Tomi Nytorp climbed two new and hard problems in Vaasa. The "easier" of the two - "Kuumalinja" - situates just right of "Hartman" in the Pet Cemetary area. Tomi was unsure of the grade, but it probably is not below 7c or 7c+. The second problem can be found in the Sundom area on the same boulder as "Tao Tao", see topo. The problem connects two holds, a pocket and a crimp, hence the name "Poketti ja krimppi", grade suggestion 7c+ to 8a. Also "Voimalinja" (~7b+) got two repetitions by Jykä Kauko and Tomi. What makes this noteworthy is that the problem was considered as a perfect example of height dependent line, morpho, with no repetitions(?). Well, Tomi is probably about 25cm shorter than Make Tawast who put up the problem, so it should be doable by us shorties (right...). Thanks to Jykä for the news!
New cliffs and routes at South-West Finland
12.09.2005
Plenty of new routes have been established in our country during the past summer. For example Salo area has got heap of routes on two recently developed cliffs.
The first of these situates at Meisala, about 1 kilometers north-east from the 'old' Angelniemi bouldering spot. 14 new routes have been bolted and climbed by climbers from Turku region. Grades vary from harder six to 8a with 7a-7b being a typical level. Climbing is technical as the steepness varies from slab to gently overhanging. Stone quality is good and gentle to finger skin. The most active route setter has been Olli-Petteri Manni, who is also the father of the hardest lines: two 7c's and a vertical 8a test piece. You'll probably find some more info about the cliff in the next Kiipeily -magazine. Note the restrictions: park only to a place where you do not block the traffic. Also when walking to the cliff, use only field sides. DO NOT WALK THROUGH THE FIELD!!!
The other cliff, 'Haukkamäki', situates on the east side of Halikonlahti, only about 2 kilometers south-east from Meisala. Climbing at Haukkamäki is versatile as the angle varies from vertical to severely overhanging. The first line, 'El Gordo' (7c), was done by Martin Nugent already about 7 years ago. As the focus of route setting turned to new found Falkberget and Klöverberget, few years passed with no activities on the cliff. Most routes have been established on this and last summer by 'Helsinki crew'. At the moment 9 bolted routes have been climbed, the latest being 'Eldis' (6c) by Tatu Autio and 'Deep Impact' (7c+) by Rami Haakana. Other nice lines to mention are Tatu's 'Chocolate Salty Balls' (7a+/7b) and routes by Martin Nugent and Marko Heino.
Update 13.9. Some more IMPORTANT instructions concerning Meisala cliff!! * There has been planted trees in the forest immediately in the front of the cliff SO WATCH YOUR FEET! Do not tread on the plants. * Do not walk to the other side of the marking tape in the wood. Also do not walk to the other side of the small cottage in the area.
Sama suomeksi Meisalan kalliolla on tärkeää noudattaa seuraavia käyttäytymissääntöjä:
* Kalliolle saa kävellä ainoastaan pellon laitaa. Älä ylitä peltoa!
* Kallion alle ja välittömään ympäristöön on istutettu puuntaimia. Katso jalkoihisi ja varo polkemasta taimia.
* Metsässä olevan nauhan ja pikkumökin toiselle puolelle ei saa kulkea!
Pasila cave opens for winter season
07.09.2005
Winter season starts at The Cave of SKEY ry at Pasila. The Cave is open for public every Saturday starting next weekend, 10th September. Open time is from 10 to 14 and cost per visit will be 5 Euros. Possible changes in schedule will be informed in the page of The Cave.
Nalle third in Rockmasters
04.09.2005
Nalle's first masters competition seems to be a succes as he finished third in the Arco Rockmaster bouldering contest today! The winner was Kilian Fischhuber from Austria and second Loïc Gaidioz from France. For more detailed results, surf to the official pages of Arco Rockmasters. Congratulations to Nalle!
Update 6.9. A short quote from the Arco Rockmasters site regarding the route 3 that was topped only by Nalle:
"Boulder no. 3 is a beautiful slab invented by Godoffe. Just taking your feet off the ground is an impossible balance act, hands holdless apart from the distant arete. And this leads to the best bit: a dyno diagonally right to an undercling which, well, looks impossible to hold. Nalle Hukkataival makes the miracle happen on his second go. The boy from Finland seems to walk on air and, as if by magic, he reaches the hold that opens the way to the top: a beautiful game of opposing moves leads him up the semisphere and the finishing hold. The crowd goes wild. Incredible. Disbelief. Outstanding..."
Tomi defeats Hypergravity
03.09.2005
Tomi Nytorp is on form. Today he ticked 'Hypergravity' (8b) at Sipoo. This was the first repeat to this roof problem, which is undoubtedly the most difficult boulder line in Finland at the moment. Hypergravity was established year back on September by the natural talent Nalle Hukkataival.
Last time Tomi tried the route two years ago and now he did the job on the second consecutive visit. This gives a promice of a good autumn season to Tomi!
Nalle's hard ticks on a way to Arco
30.08.2005
After the wet NC event in Denmark, Nalle Hukkataival headed to Switzerland and did quick work for example with 'High Spirit' (8b) at Magic Wood.
The most interesting stop for his trip is on next Sunday (4.9.) at Arco, Northern Italy. Arco Rock Masters is probably the most recogniced masters competition and as a first Finnish competitor ever, Nalle got personal invitation to the event! Bouldering has been included in the event now for couple of years. Let's wish success to Nalle!
Bouldering NC at Aalborg
28.08.2005
Update: Nordic Championships in bouldering were competed yesterday at Aalborg, Denmark. The weather was not on the side of organizers: mens final was not competed due to rainfall. The first two positions in male category were determined in a superfinal between Nalle Hukkataival and Danish Claus Vedel Jensen. This year the winner was Claus Vedel Jensen who climbed higher the single superfinal route. Nalle's position was second. In female category Eija Joensuu placed third after Swedes Angelica Lindh and Anja Hodan. Congratulations to Nalle and Eija! Thanks to Eija Joensuu for corrections.
Jari climbed 'Diablo' at Niemisel
14.08.2005
Present Oulu inhabitant Jari Pöllänen did nice job by redpointing 'Diablo' (8a+) last weekend at Niemisel, Sweden. Congratulations!
Nalle 5th!
06.07.2005
Nalle Hukkataival flashed 5 of the 6 problems in the bouldering finals. His final postition in the World bouldering championships in Munich was fifth. Comments and more information will follow later. VERY big congratulations to Nalle!!
Update: Couple of videos from the competition added to the 'Videos' page.
WC 2005. Nalle 3rd in bouldering qualifications!
04.07.2005
Qualification of the World Championships in bouldering: Nalle Hukkataival performed extremely well and placed third (together with Daniel Dulac and Tomás Mrazek) after Salavat Rakhmetov (RUS, 1st) and Keita Mogaki (JPN, 2nd). Nalle flashed 4 of the 6 problems and managed to top one more. According to Nalle the fifth qualification problem was an extremely difficult one. Of the ~130 climbers only Rakhmetov managed to top this problem. Finals are held tomorrow at 20.30 (Finnish time). Results and live video of the finals > here.
More ascents to 'Swing It'
03.07.2005
The Swedish sports climbing mecca Niemisel has been seeing regular weekend invasions by climbers from Northern Finland. One of the test pieces 'Swing It' (8a) saw yesterday it's third Finnish ascent by Jani Lehtola from Oulu. Congratulations! The line was climbed 2 weeks ago by Jari Pöllänen and couple of weeks back by Sami Haapakoski.
World championships in Munich
03.07.2005
World championships 2005 in difficulty, bouldering and speed climbing are now in progress at Munich, Germany. The only Finnish participant in difficulty, Tomi Nytorp topped the first of the two qualification routes and did also well on the second one. The level however was extremely high and Tomi's final position was shared 40th of total 116 participants. Best Scandinavian was Peter Bosma (SWE) with his impressive 13th position.
Bouldering qualifications will start on Monday 4th and our hope there is Nalle Hukkataival. All the best to Nalle!
New cliff at Kustavi, Hopiavuori
23.06.2005
Development of Kustavi area continues and the place is rapidly becoming a Finnish trad climbing paradise! The local climbers have just released fourth topo from the area. The latest spot Hopiavuori offers around 40 (!) versatile routes ranging from 4- to 8+. Hardest lines are established by Perttu Ollila who has made his mark on the other cliffs at the area as well. Please visit the pages of Rock climbing in South-West Finland for the topos. A good moment to get familiar with the climbing at Kustavi could be the Kustavi climbing gathering at the first weekend of July.
'Swing It' repeated by Sami
16.06.2005
'Swing It' (8a) at Niemisel got repeated last weekend by Sami Haapakoski from Oulu. Sami was on form also last summer when he ticked several hard lines at Niemisel, including 'A Day in A Life' (8b).
New routes at Luhti
30.05.2005
Toby Archer reports about two nice additions at Luhti cliff, Askola. 'Trad Jihad' is a crackline just left of route 15 'Mineral-p'. The second one is the groove line going up just to the left of route 10 'Le system de detachable boulon'. This route is called 'Sarcophagus Groove' as it goes past something that looks like a stone coffin. The grades are 5+ and 5- respectively. Routes were established past weekend by Toby and seconded by Jody Wren.
Update 1.6. 'Trad Jihad' has actually been climbed about three weeks earlier by Saku Korosuo who gave it a name 'Namula'. The new lines will probably be updated to the topo in the near future.
Hard on-sights by Tomi
29.05.2005
Tomi Nytorp and Mina Jokivirta spent couple of weeks climbing in Southern France. They visited some of the best crags in the area including Gorges du Tarn and St Leger du Ventoux. During their stay Tomi managed to on-sight total of four 8a's! You'll find the details in the next 'Kiipeilylehti' which should be out around mid June. Nice job!
Solvalla cliff parking restrictions
24.05.2005
Parking near Solvalla cliff at Espoo has caused problems during the spring. Owner of the cottage nearby, the local rescue service and ordinary users of the road have been complaining about wild parking and behaviour of some climbers.
In order to prevent access limitations in the near future, SKIL has given instructions for parking and for other noteworthy matters. Please leave your car to the parking area of the sports institute of Solvalla instead of the roadside. More info on the pages of SKIL.
7 veljestä (8b) by Nalle
18.05.2005
Yesterday Nalle Hukkataival completed one of his projects, this time in Nurmijärvi. The new "7 veljestä" is about 70 degrees overhanging arete. Grade suggestion is 8b. Excellent work! Aleksis Kivi, the author of the book "Seven brothers" (first novel written in the Finnish language) grew up and lived in Nurmijärvi. A large boulder has quite an important role in the story. The brothers, however, dispatched the boulder quite easily trying to escape from a horde of bulls.
New bolting at Jaanankallio
28.04.2005
A popular cliff Jaanankallio at Hyvinkää/Kytäjä area got re-equipped last weekend. Teemu Ojala and Ari Kujanpää installed 6 new anchors and 17 bolts to the cliff. Main target was to correct older bolting and to improve safety, but also a new route 'Velli' (5- or 5a) was established. This line situates next to 'Sile Stone' on the right side. See the picture on the right.
Following improvements were made: * Käkimassaa, an ancient 'super bold' route by Nikko Prauda was equipped with 3 bolts and an anchor
* Routes Moovijumppa, Pyhimys, Vompatti, Antipatia, Magma Red and Silestone got new anchors
* Routes Woodpecker, Magma Red, Stinger and Haliba were rebolted
* Invicta got one bolt to the upper slab
Access to Rollarit
20.04.2005
SKIL (Finnish Climbing Association) informs that the negotiations concerning the access to Rollarit cliff are over. Climbing is now allowed for individuals but chargeable activity and arranged groups are forbidden. For detailed info surf to the pages of SKIL.
Nalle climbs the old Kasviken project
08.04.2005
Nalle Hukkataival climbed the old Kasviken project in Geta. The standing start called "Dodo" was already climbed some years ago by Anton Johansson. Nalle found a new method on the lower part using a very small crimper and climbed this true and natural line in about 10 moves. Grade is about 8b and name is "Dodo".
Huomio kiipeilijät!
05.04.2005
Neuvottelut Falkbergetin maanomistajan kanssa ovat vielä kesken.
Autoa ei saa missään tapauksessa jättää vanhalle paikalle eikä myöskään muualle Stenbacka-tien varteen.
Tämä kielto on ehdoton!
Jos access-ongelma ratkeaa, siitä tiedotetaan välittömästi.
Jyväskylä Finnish-cup results
04.04.2005
Seasons last Finnish cup competition at Jyväskylä consisted on both bouldering and on-sight rounds. The winner in male category was Kuutti Huhtikorpi and second Jere Ylönen who was impressively the only one to flash all the eight boulders. Third one was Bruce March. In female category the winner was Russian Anna Mikoushkina who collected highest points from both boulders and on-sight route. Roosa Huhtikorpi and Eevi Jaakkola shared the second position. For detailed results, surf to pages of Projekti.
Update: results added also to Slouppi result page.
Switzerland bouldering news part II
21.03.2005
In addition to "Dreamtime", Nalle Hukkataival managed to do for example the following problems during his trip to Switzerland: "Gully" 8a+, "Jungle" 8a, "Le pilier" 8a, "Le vent sombre" 8a and
"Kirk Winstein" 8a+. Nice beginning for the starting Finnish bouldering season!
Results from Nordic Championships
20.03.2005
Nordic Championships lead 2005
men:
1. Magnus Midtbo NOR
2. Tomi Nytorp FIN
3. Said Belhaj SWE
...
10. Olli-Petteri Manni FIN
12. Kuutti Huhtikorpi FIN
13. Sampo Kiesiläinen FIN
17. Joonas Sailaranta FIN
20. Teemu Tapaninen FIN
women:
1. Linn Karin Stendal NOR
2. Malin Folkestad NOR
3. Roosa Huhtikorpi FIN*
4. (3.) Stine Ostergaard DEN
...
8. Heini Merikallio FIN
13. Mina Jokivirta FIN
*= not official participant
NM 2005 1st day
19.03.2005
The first day of 2005 Nordic championships in sportclimbing in Sweden has ended. Tomi Nytorp was the only Finnish male to get into the finals. Also O-P Manni got really close. Together with Tomi other strong competitors in the finals are for example Said Belhaj (SWE), Martin Mobråten and Magnus Midtbo (NOR). In women, Roosa Huhtikorpi and Heini Merikallio are climbing in the finals tomorrow. Good luck!
Results, Bouldering Masters 2005
13.03.2005
Bouldering Masters 2005 results have been added to the results page. Top scores below. Thanks to Joonas Sailaranta for the results.
Today Nalle Hukkataival repeated a boulderproblem called "Dreamtime" at Cresciano. That's probably enough said. Supersized congratulations!
Lappicup 2005 results, Rovaniemi
27.02.2005
The second one of the seasons two Lappicup competitions was arranged on 26th February at Rovaniemi. The competition format was a combination of bouldering qualifications and worked lead finals.
The sunny competition day was started underground at the RVK cave at Karkalovaara, where route setter Jani Lunnas had created a decent set of 10 qualification routes. After three hours of intese cranking the order for the finals was clear. Biggest heap of points was collected by Kuutti Huhtikorpi (Erä), followed by Joonas Sailaranta (Erä) and Olli-Petteri Manni (Kruxi). The other finalists were Sami Haapakoski (OKS), Risto Saarinen (RVK) and Rami Haakana (SKEY). Participation in female category consisted of the 'basic set' of Tapanilan Erä: Roosa Huhtikorpi, Eevi Jaakkola and Heini Merikallio, who all continued to the finals in this order. There is certainly space for many more women climbers!
The finals were climbed at the other side of the town at the wall of Lapin urheiluopisto. The wall is actually the oldest lead wall in Finland, built already at the beginning of nineties. Despite of the somewhat 'old school' wall profiles, the route setter Sampo Kiesiläinen had managed to create versatile and challenging routes for the finals.
At the start of the finals round, every competitor was allowed to rehearse the route for 10 minutes. Women started the actual competition round and the only top out was shown by Roosa Huhtikorpi. Eevi became second and Heini third. Kuutti Huhtikorpi was the best in male category, although the long reach below mid route from a gaston hold was about to become as crucial for him as it became to OPM. Kuutti was the only climber to get up to the roof section. The second was Joonas Sailaranta with easy looking style. Sami Haapakoski and Rami Haakana fell at the same hold so their 3rd and 4th positions were determined by the qualification results.
The evening was continued in a relaxed atmosphere at the top floor of hotel Santa Claus. Arrangements were excellent so many thanks to the RVK crew for a nice competition day!
Update 1.3. Detailed results added to the results page.
Pori On-sight results
13.02.2005
Again another Finnish cup competition of the season was competed during the past weekend. The event took place at Pori and was participated by about 20 climbers. Qualification, semifinal and final routes were the same both for men and women. In short, the order in male category was Tomi Nytorp 1st, Olli-Petteri Manni 2nd and Teemu Tapaninen 3rd. Eevi Jaakkola was 1st followed by Mina Jokivirta and Heini Merikallio in the female category. Detailed results have been added to the results page.
Lappicup results added to the results page
08.02.2005
Results from the first of the two Lappicup events have been added to the results page. Location was the cave of OKS at Oulu and style was bouldering. Kuutti Huhtikorpi dominated in the male category and climbed all routes within an hour. Risto Saarinen climbed also all routes, so the final order was determined in superfinals. Roosa Huhtikorpi was the best in the female category before Heini Merikallio.
Speed SM 2005 results
23.01.2005
Nine male and five female climbers competed for the Finnish championships in speed climbing at Kiipeilykeskus last Saturday. The order in male category was Kuutti Huhtikorpi, Vesa Salonen and Teemu Tapaninen. In women, the winner was Heini Merikallio, second Roosa Huhtikorpi and third Eevi Jaakkola. More detailed results will be added to the results page in the near future. Congratulations to the medalists.
Tomi Nytorp won Nordic Championships in difficulty
28.11.2004
Nordic Championships in difficulty were held past weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tomi Nytorp won the men’s event after superfinal. Both Nytorp and Peter Bosma topped out in the qualification, semifinal and final, so superfinal was needed to separate the climbers. Nytorp climbed absolutely superbly in the superfinal and almost topped out the route just falling from the top hold and winning the title by large margin. So Bosma was runner-up and Martin Mobråten placed third. (JP)
Update 29.11. Other results: Olli-Petteri Manni 6th, Joonas Sailaranta 18th. Women: Eerika Pawli 7th, Eevi Jaakkola 8th, Mina Jokivirta 12th. For detailed results, surf to the pages of Nordisk 2004.
Anton ticked 8b+ route in Thailand
20.11.2004
Camu team member Anton Johansson has climbed an 8b+ route at Tonsai Beach, Thailand. The line is marked as a project in a topo but according to the local climbers it has been climbed by Chris Sharma. Name is yet unknown. It took about 15 tries for Anton to do the route.
Anton has also been working on a harder 8c+ route but has teared his finger recently. He has however a target to climb the route before returning from the trip on March...
Kinkkuboulder 2004 results
07.11.2004
The annual Kinkkuboulder event gathered over 200 boulderers together to enjoy a quality climbing day at Klondyke wall, Kerava.
The highest score (641 points) and the ham was collected by Nalle Hukkataival who was the only one to climb all 46 routes during 5 hours qualification. Nalle was also superior in the 'Hardmen' finals where he flashed 5 out of 6 routes. Sampo Kiesiläinen placed second with one top-out and 3 bonus holds. Third was Olli Manni with one top-out and 1 bonus.
In 'Hardwomen', the winner was Roosa Huhtikorpi, second Eija Joensuu, and third Eevi Jaakkola. In the most popular A-category ('Toppahousut'), the order was Jussi Kuoppasalmi (1st), Jussi Mikkonen (2nd) and Jani Hautala (3rd). In the B-category ('Sunnuntaikiipeilijät') Juha Olli was 1st, Eetu Koivisto 2nd and Jarkko Linkosuonio 3rd. For more detailed results, surf to results page.
Despite of the high popularity, this was the last ever Kinkkuboulder event. Let's hope that the tradition goes on in some form. Big thanks to the arrangement team!
Results from the Finnish cup at Turku
04.11.2004
Climbing club Kruxi arranged the season's second Finnish cup event at Turku past weekend. This time the style was on-sight, and the competition got nice participation with total of 40 competitors: 29 men and 11 women. Both categories had qualification, semifinals and finals round to climb.
The exclusive winner in male category was Tomi Nytorp who was the only one to top out the semifinals route. He almost topped the finals route where no one else managed to climb past the tricky mid route crux. The second was Joonas Sailaranta and third Olli-Petteri Manni. Winner in the female category was Roosa Huhtikorpi with the same finals result as Eevi Jaakkola. The order between first two positions was therefore resolved by the result of semifinals, where Roosa took only a quarter of points more compared to Eevi. The third was Heini Merikallio.
Thanks to the Kruxi for excellent competition and congratulations to the winners! For detailed results, surf to the results page.
'Listerie' repeated by Nalle
31.10.2004
Nalle Hukkataival had a good bouldering weekend at South-West Finland during the past weekend. First he managed to climb an old project at Half Dome boulder of Luolavuori, Turku. The line got name 'Banaanipuikkoja' and the grade around 7c+. At Angelniemi near Salo, Nalle managed to repeat 'Listerie', a route Tomi Nytorp established few weeks back. According to Nalle, the grade is solid 8a+. Thanks to Heikki Toivanen for the news.
'Kasparov' repeated
25.10.2004
Last thursday Nalle Hukkataival (who?) made a repeat to 'Kasparov' (8a/8a+) at Meilahti cliff, Helsinki. The boulder was first climbed by Tomi Nytorp on spring 2003. Check the story about the first ascent by Anton Johansson.
Old project climbed in Angelniemi
12.10.2004
Last Sunday Tomi Nytorp climbed an old project at Angelniemi. 'Listerie' (Fb 8a+) takes the obvious overhanging wall right of 'Super Crack' and it consists of very dynamic and powerful moves between small crimps. The route is 5-6m high which makes projecting quite difficult so ladders are recommented for anybody who tries the upper moves. Congratulations!
On the same day Henri 'Heko' Pöyry made the 2nd repeat of 'Millyways' (Fb 8a) at Mynämäki near Turku. Heko practically hiked the route after few nervous tries on his second day on the route. Congrats to Heko also!
Results from Youth NC, Kopenhagen
04.10.2004
Youth Nordic Championships were competed last weekend at Kopenhagen, Denmark. Finnish participants did well in both girls and boys event! Roosa Huhtikorpi won at the girls 89-90 age group and Heini Merikallio became second on 87-88 category. Boys 87-88 category was participated by 3 guys. Kuutti Huhtikorpi was second, Ossi Päivänsäde fifth and Markus Fogelholm sixth in this age group. Congratulations! For more detailed results, surf to http://jnm.klatreforbund.dk/page5.html.
Nalle opened a new 8b roof problem
26.09.2004
Last friday Nalle Hukkataival managed to climb an old Nytorp roof project at Sipoo. Nalle describes 'Hypergravity' as a horizontal roof with 8 hard moves to a rest and then about the same amount of moves over the lip to the top. According to Nalle, the grade is a solid 8b. Althoug, there are no repeats yet, the grade has been confirmed by other 'hardmen'. Congratulations!
Results from YWC, Edinburg
14.09.2004
Six Finns took part in Youth World Championships last weekend at Edinburg, Great Britain. In female juniors Eevi Jaakkola placed 21/35, Heini Merikallio 42/49 (Youth A category) and Roosa Huhtikorpi 37/48 (Youth B). In boys event all Finns competed in Youth A category. Final positions: Ossi Päivänsäde 42nd, Kuutti Huhtikorpi 43rd and Markus Fågelholm 48th. This category was participated by 62 competitors in total. See Digitalrock for more info.
Sami does 'A Day in a Life' at Niemisel
12.09.2004
Yesterday Sami Haapakoski from Oulu climbed a Niemisel testpiece 'A Day in A Life' (8b). This was the second Finnish ascent to the route after Tomi Nytorp. Congratulations to Sami for the brilliant effort! Thanks to Jarmo Annunen for reporting.
Tomi ticks at Northern Sweden
16.08.2004
When returning from the trip to Lofoten Islands, Tomi Nytorp stopped few days for climbing at Northern Sweden. During 4 days, Tomi managed to climb impressive list of routes at Niemisel, Källsberget and Åberget. Hardest was 'A Day in Life' (8b) at Niemisel, which he did on the second go. Tomi thinks the route holds the grade. He also climbed 'E-Type' (7c) and 'Viva Las Vegas' (7b+) onsight. At Källsberget both 'Rallyplaneten' (7c+) and 'My Little Pony' (7b+) were climbed on-sight as well as 'Just Did It' (8a) at Åberget... Addition: Tomi's onsight of "Just did it" might be the first 8a onsight in Sweden. A week after Tomi's ascent also Said Belhaj onsighted a route of this grade according to 8a.nu.
Nalle's trip to Switzerland
09.08.2004
Nalle Hukkataival is back from a two week trip to Switzerland where he stayed mostly in Magic Wood but paid a visit to Sustenpass and Cresciano also.
In the Magic Wood Nalle managed to repeat for example:
Lolo ferrari, 7c
Octopussy, 8a/+
Supernova, 7c+
Du cotê de Seshuan, 7c+/8a
Massive attacke, 8a+/8b
Man of the cow, 7c+
La dance, 7c (flash)
Schneastuarm, 7c+
Astronautenfieber, 8a+
Pura vida, 8b
Blindfisch, 7c+
Jack´s broken heart, 8a+
Fightclub, 7c+ (flash)
Groove attack, 8a
Piranja, 7c+
Goldfisch, 7c
Waldbrand, 7c+
The never-ending story part 1, 8b (the problem was more or less wet)
And last but not least a second repeat to a nameless new hard slab
In Sustenpass:
Madrugada, 8a+
two nameless 7c+ flashes, both according to Nalle about 7c.
Before the trip he also repeated Tomi Nytorp's recent "Millyways" (8a) at Mynämäki near Turku.
Big Congratulations to Nalle!!
Teemu climbs 'Cro Magnon'
06.08.2004
Teemu Tapaninen has opened a new route at Olhava last Wednesday. This naturally protected line is called 'Cro Magnon' and it situates on the arete between 'Los Capitanos' and 'Viimeinen Dinosaurus'. The route offers quite bold climbing as the first gear placement is at 15 meters height. For the on-sight attempts, it's good to know that the technical and reachy crux comes at about 10 meters. Better to have a dry pair of extra shoes and chalk bag for a second go... Teemu suggests stiff 8 (French 7b) for difficulty.
Kikka and Syyshämärä
06.07.2004
While visiting her home ground in Jyväskylä Kirsi Hiironen has managed to climb for example Jussi Remonen's classic boulderproblem "Syyshämärä" 7b at Näätäkivi in Jyväskylä. Nice work Kikka!
Nalle in Turku
06.07.2004
Despite the rainy weather conditions this summer Nalle Hukkataival has managed to climb some of the harder boulderproblems in Turku. Nalle did for example "Kellarijengi" and the sitting start version of "Matahari". Despite some controversy about the grades Nalle thought that both problems are 8a. Earlier this summer he repeated "Hyperfreak" 7c+ at Kärsämäki. Congratulations to Nalle for staying fit!
Results from EM 2004, Lecco
30.06.2004
European championsips in difficulty, bouldering and speed were held at Lecco (Italy) during last week. Nalle Hukkataival took part in bouldering and placed 29th of total 57 competitors. This was the best scandinavian performance. In difficulty event, Janina Käyhkö placed shared 41th position of 43 competitors. Surf to Digitalrock for detailed results.
Jason's roof
22.06.2004
Yesterday Marko Kauko managed to climb "Jason's roof" 8a+ in Crookrise, Yorkshire. Picture can be found at Projekti's website. Congratulations to Marko!
I Feel Good
14.06.2004
Last saturday Sami Haapakoski climbed "I Feel Good" (8a+) at Niemisel in Sweden. Video of the ascent can be found on our videogallery. Congratulations to Sami!
Climbing prohibited in Falkberget!
11.06.2004
The landlord of Falkberget has prohibited climbing on the cliff from this on. This is very sad news and huge loss, as Falkberget was one of the best spots for rock climbing in Southern-Finland.
Reason for prohibition is on disregard of rules concerning e.g. parking. Major part of the climbers know how to behave on the cliffs but thoughtlessness of few or only a single climber can lead to this kind of consequence. Really a sad day for Finnish climbing.
Falkberget has been removed from the cliff database for the time being.
Access to Klöverberget
07.06.2004
In addition to Falkberget, another popular cliff in Southern-Finland is Klöverberget. Martin Nugent reports that the relations with the land owner are good but there are some rules what comes to parking. If the instructed small parking place is full, do not park beside the main road! This will block the view for the people coming from the yards, which may cause dangerous situations. Instead, you'll find a place to park about two hundred meters to Evitskog direction, near the crossing of Annila. More exactly, turn to Annila and immediately turn left to a small road. Park on the left side but here also, do not block the road.
In order to prevent further access problems, it may be good to review some of the main rules for behaving on the cliffs:
1. Park your car to a place told in the topo. If the parking place is full, leave your car to a place where it won't cause any problems. Do not block roads or by-ways to the fields.
2. Take all your garbage with you when you leave the cliff. Even the cigarette stubs and pieces of finger tape!
3. Do not make any unnecessary noise as in many places there are people living nearby.
4. Do not walk to the cliff through someones yard. Rather than walking through the fields, use the field sides. There might be something growing on the field.
5. Do not build an open fire without permission from the land owner. You need a permission also for cutting down trees, bolting and removal of moss.
6. Use your common sense!
Oma Planeetta repeated by Tomi
06.06.2004
Yesterday morning the hardest route at Olhava, 'Oma Planeetta' (8a+), got it's first repeat by Tomi Nytorp. This beautiful line was bolted by Henrik Suihkonen about 10 years ago and got it's first ascent by Henkka about 5 years ago. Despite of fast ascent, Tomi thinks that the route is hard for the grade and it could well be 8b. Congratulations (again) to Tomi and thanks to Joonas Sailaranta for reporting!
Nalle at Rollarit
31.05.2004
Nalle Hukkataival added two new hard boulderproblems to Rollarit. One should be about 7c. The other one is a hard double dyno from an undercling and small crimper. Nalle could not grade the problem but considered it as maybe the hardest problem he's done. Nice job!
Tomi on-sighted Matador!!!
28.05.2004
Today Tomi Nytorp made Finnish climbing history by on-sighting Matador (8a) at Falkberget, Kirkkonummi!!! This is the first known 8a onsight in Finland. What makes this performance even more significant, the quickdraws were put in during the ascent.
Matador was established five years ago by Martin Nugent. The route goes up the beautiful overhanging arete and offers both powerful and sustained climbing. Matador was first considered 8a+ but when an easier sequence was found for the crux, the grade settled to around 8a.
According to Tomi, the on-sight was not easy. First hard part was the long move at the crux section below third bolt. After getting feet up and passing the long move up to the small crimp, the problem was getting the quickdraw in to the third bolt and rope clipped in. Next hard part was the slopy arete before a rest, and the last roof section was causing hard time as Tomi went to it wrong handed. Extremely brilliant effort! BIG congratulations to Tomi!!!
Arthur Dent and Sméagol by Tomi
27.05.2004
Tomi Nytorp has been actively changing the old projects into new routes! Earlier May Tomi managed to climb the last project of Havukallio calling it 'Arthur Dent' (7c+/8a). The line situates left from 'Captain Kirk' and was bolted looong time ago. According to Tomi the route offers reasonably easy climbing after a cruxy start. On the middle of May Tomi also managed to climb his old project at Mäyrävuori, Tampere. The line got name 'Sméagol' and the grade is stiffer, probably around 8a+. Tomi did also a quick second go repeat to 'Adlon' (8a) at Nummi cliff.
Couple of days ago Tomi also added a new hard boulder 'Millyways' (8a) at Mynämäki, near Turku.
Hottentotti assis repeated
10.05.2004
Nalle Hukkataival managed to do the 2nd repeat of "Hottentotti assis" (8a+) in Espoo. Also Anton Johansson has repeated the problem which was put up by Tomi Nytorp a couple of weeks ago.
Anssi Venho added a sitting start to "Melankolia" in Mellunmäki. The "assis" adds a powerful one move using a poor hold with your left hand and catching the left hand starting hold. Grade is about 7c.
Marko Kauko has put up a fine looking problem in Crookrise, Yorkshire. Marko named the problem "Karjala". We don't know if he meant the fine Finnish beer or the area lost to Russians in II world war... See Projekti's website for another picture. Congrats to all!
Super Mario
30.04.2004
Yesterday Anton Johansson managed to do his long standing project in Espoo calling it "Super Mario". The problem is about 40 degrees overhanging with nice moves on small holds. Together with Tom Nystrop (who?!) Anton thought the grade could be 8b. Nice work Anton!
Significant ascents at Liljendal (part II)
29.04.2004
Also Nalle Hukkataival seems to be unstoppable at the moment! Yesterday Nalle visited Liljendal where he did for example "Pukaron Paroni" (8a, 3-4 tries). Also he managed to climb "Elonkorjuu" (7c+), "Tsuit Tsait" (7b+) and "Basically Done" by dynoing from bad crimps a little higher than in the Northern Lights video.
A little earlier Nalle had repeated Anton's "Sienityttö" (7c+) at Rollarit and "Hueco Blues" (7c) at Mellunmäki. Both in Helsinki.
Hottentotti assis 8a+
28.04.2004
Tomi Nytorp has done the 1st ascent of "Hottentotti assis" (8a+) in Espoo. The sitdown start adds 3 hard moves to the stand-up version which Tomi opened two years ago. Tomi seems to be unstoppable at the moment. Thanks to Jari Pöllänen (again...) for the news!
Bouldering action at Rollarit
28.04.2004
Anssi Venho has opened a new traverse problem at the popular rock climbing cliff Rollarit. Anssi's new "Countdown" (7c) starts sitting from the right arete on Sienityttö-boulder, traverses left and finishes on Anton's "Sienityttö".
Significant ascents at Liljendal
27.04.2004
Here is some collected news from Liljendal about what has been happening there during the spring. Tomi Nytorp has made the 1st ascent of "Pukaron Paroni" (8a) and it was repeated by Anton Johansson. The line situates on the 45 degrees overhanging wall near "Villen Pitkäveto". The route has long moves on semi-small crimps and it tops out to the slap on the other side of the arête. The same pair also climbed an another project right from "Nakkifakiiri". Tomi did the 1st ascent by flashing it and Anton then quickly repeated it. The route is called "Tsuit-Tsait" (7b+). Tomi also did the 2nd ascent of "Basically Done" (7c) by not dynoing to the top but crimping out from some poor holds and somehow making it to the top.
Nytorp has also made two hard traverses to Liljendal. First to go was "Piérre Chavaliér" (8a+) which starts from "Misty" and ends topping "Sweet Smoke". Later on he made from right to left traverse called "Sormifestarit" (8a) which situates on the same overhanging wall as "Pukaron Paroni".
Thanks to Jari Pöllänen for reporting!
Bouldering news from Switzerland
27.04.2004
During their time in Switzerlands major bouldering venues in March and April Ville Kurru, Toni Rantanen, Marko Kauko, Kirsi Hiironen and Juha Saatsi ticked some nice problems including Juha's and Ville's ascent to 'Octopussy' (8a/+). Here's something that Ville wrote to us in Finnish:
"Lähdimme matkalle Toni Rantasen aka Lil'Tonyn kanssa 21.3 ja tarkoituksena oli viettää noin kuukausi Euroopan boulderparatiisissa.
Tässä muutamia bouldereita, joita tuli kiivettyä: Octopussy 8a/+ (Magic Wood), Nameless prow 8a (Chironico), Acid House 7c+ (Brione), Soucoupe left 7c+ (Chironico), Son of a gun 7c/+ (Magic Wood), Rainbirds 7c (Chironico), Michi's problem 7c (Cresciano) ja viisi muuta hienoa 7c:tä. Pääsimme harjaamaan ja kiipeämään myös muutaman uuden probleeman, nice...
Myös Toni kiipesi suuret määrät upeita bouldereita ja pääsi tavoitteeseensa tikaten kolme hienoa 7a:n nousua.
Paikalla vierailivat myös Suomen Brittivahvistukset Juha, Marko ja Kikka. Hekin tikkasivat aimoläjän hienoja probleemoita, joista kovin Juhan nousu Octopussyyn 8a/+ Magic Woodissa.
Ilma oli koko reissun ajan hyvä, vaikkakin lämpötila kohosi päivisin ylensä 20 asteen tienoille. Magic Woodissa kelit olivat korkeamman sijainnin takia täydelliset (+5 astetta). Siellä olisi voinut viettää kauemminkin, mutta lumentulo lopetti kiipeilyt toisen päivän jälkeen. "
Nalle going very strong.
27.04.2004
After his eastern bouldering vacation where he was flashing for example a superb 7c/+ and making some notable highball first ascents Nalle Hukkataival visited Vaasa last weekend. Nalle climbed for example "Sirkus" (7c). Good effort! Thanks to Jarmo Annunen for reporting!
12 years old project climbed in Havukallio
26.04.2004
Last Saturday Tomi Nytorp made the first ascent of very old project in Havukallio. This beautiful slightly overhanging line was bolted 12 years ago and it situates left from "Ee-mäntä". The route is about 15 meters long and it could be characterized as very technical climbing with small and sharp crimps. Tomi named the route as "Maailmanlopun Ravintola" (8a). Thanks to Jari Pöllänen for reporting!
'Forte' repeated by Kalle
09.04.2004
A classic testpiece, 'Forte Risoluto' (7c+) in Jyväskylä, got today another repeat within a short time. This time, the line was climbed by the strong local Kalle Nättinen, with a fresh PhD thesis in his pocket. Congratulations! Thanks to Päivi Peltola for the news.
Mika does 'Forte Risoluto'
06.04.2004
Projekti reports that Mika Hinkkanen has climbed Juha Saatsi's (1997) boulderproblem 'Forte Risoluto' (7c+) in Jyväskylä. Good effort!
Spring boulder action
05.04.2004
Last saturday Henri Pöyry climbed a long standing project at Soukka (Espoo). 'Ananasakäämä' (7b+/7c) is on the face right of 'Saturday night fever'. At Jero near Joensuu Olli Pyykönen repeated 'Humanoidi' 7c. Thanks to Tommy Vänskä for reporting.
News from Fontainebleau
02.04.2004
Tomi Nytorp has just returned from 3 weeks bouldering trip to Fontainebleau. He managed to tick an absolutely amazing list of problems as follows:
Apremont and Apremont Bixons:
Tomi climbed 'Phénix' (7c+) and wall problem called 'Merry Christmas' (7c) at Apremont and he also made a quick repeat of 'Shoot' (7c+) at Apremont Bixons. All these were climbed on the same day.
Bas Cuvier and Cuvier Rempart:
Two mega classics 'La Balance' (7c+) and 'Hypothèse' (7c+) at Cuvier and overhanging sitstart 'Verdict' (7c+) at Cuvier-Rempart. Both 'Verdict' and 'la Balance' were climbed on the same day.
Buthiers Piscine:
Tomi climbed a famous traverse 'Atomic Playboy' (8a+) on 3rd try. He also made a quick one hour repeat of roof problem 'Mongolito' (8a), despite the fact that all the three holds on the roof were wet during the repeat. See the picture.
Dame Jouanne:
There must be something special on this problem called 'Hibernatus'. Tomi liked the problem so much that at first, he climbed stand version (7c), then lower start version (8a) and finally sitstart version 'Hibernatus assis' (8a+). All the 'Hibernatuses' were climbed in very short time during the same day.
Francard Cuisinière and Franchard Isatis:
Tomi climbed an another hard traverse (20 moves long) 'Liaison Futile' (8a+) at Cuisinière and an overhanging problem called 'Vita Beata' (8a) at Isatis. Both routes were climbed during the same day.
Rocher Canon:
Here he did big roof called 'La Baleine' (7c+).
Rocher de Bouligny:
Here Tomi managed to climb a nice overhanging problem 'Les Beaux Quartiers' (8a).
Thanks to Jari Pöllänen for info and Mina Jokivirta for the photo.
Seasons first hard boulders at capital area
01.04.2004
On tuesday Nalle Hukkataival climbed the project number 9 (pictured on the right) at Bemböle. The grade of this crimpy highball is around 7c. In addition, Nalle also flashed the tricky 'Delikatessen' (7b). After returning from Fontainebleau, Tomi Nytorp climbed a new hard line at Sotunki, Vantaa. This one is also a crimpy highball with a grade estimate around 7c. Guys have been too busy to name the routes yet. Thanks to Jussi Isoaho and Jari Pöllänen for info.
Finnish Championships 2004 results
28.03.2004
Finnish Championships in difficulty was competed yesterday 27.3.
Good amount of spectators had found their way to Helsingin Kiipeily-keskus. Unfortunately this did not apply to the competitors as only five men and four women registered. Injuries and travels prevented some of the hardmen and -women to participate, but there must also be other, more significant reasons. Despite of poor participation, the atmosphere, praised routes by Jussi Koivulahti and good overall arrangements made the event most enjoyable!
Kuutti Huhtikorpi gave brilliant effort on the finals and tied with Olli-Petteri Manni with top-minus result. As they both had also topped the qualification route, superfinal was unavoidable. Olli-Petteri was better on the mega-stiff superfinal route and took the championship. Teemu Tapaninen was third with his smooth and impressive style.
Superfinal was unavoidable also in womens event as Eevi Jaakkola and Eerika Pawli fell from the same hold on the finals. In the end Eevi climbed the men's qualification route slightly higher and took the championship. Eija Joensuu became third.
One reasons for the poor popularity of on-sight comps is maybe on the unforgiving competition format. You have only one single chance to give your best, compared to the bouldering comps, where the same problem can be tried several times. This means that competing with rope demands good nerves, whereas, bouldering no nerves at all. One of the essential qualities is good tolerance for lactic acid. This can only be trained with 'no pain, no gain' attitude. Are we getting too indolent? C'mon, we can do better!
Thanks to Antti Saarikoski for the results and Olli-Pekka Orpo for the photos. Congratulations to the winners!
Ice Climbing Finnish Masters 2004
14.03.2004
The Finnish masters in Ice climbing was held yesterday in Oulu. Sara Fagerstedt took the gold both in womens difficulty and speed! Nico Backström won the mens difficulty and Jukka Tervaskanto took gold in mens speed. Congratulations to everyone! See the Results -page. More also at the official site and some pictures can be found here. Story and video on Kaleva newspapers web site.
Thanks to Jouni Aspi for reporting!
Baltic Open and other competition info
04.03.2004
Detailed competition invitations to SM in difficulty and Baltic Open have been added to the Competitions page. Yearly Baltic Open will be held at the end of May in Riga, Latvia. Last year there were participants also from Finland. For pictures and results, surf to the pages of Baltic Open. Thanks to Lauma Kazusa for info.
Nalle 1st and Tomi 3rd in NC bouldering!
29.02.2004
Scandinavian Championships in bouldering was a great success for Finland! Nalle Hukkataival, who has lately dominated national bouldering competitions, took today gold in Bergen. Tomi Nytorp did also really good job and placed third after Peter Bosma (SWE) better known as excellent onsight climber and regular winner in difficulty NC's. Anssi Venho placed 12th. Detailed results in these pages.
It can be concluded that Finland was clearly the best country with three medals of the six available. Congratulations to all medalists and quick recovery to Miika Hakari, who twisted his ankle during the qualification round.
Henri Pöyry climbs Bleau classics
29.02.2004
During the last weeks spell of good weather in Fontainebleau Henri Pöyry climbed for example such classics as "La Balance" (7c+), "La Gaule" (7c) and "Futurs Barbares direct" (8a). Good effort!
Eija took silver in NC bouldering!
29.02.2004
Women have just ended their final round in NC bouldering. Eija Joensuu climbed extremely well and got silver after the winner Rikke Ishøj from Denmark. Janina Käyhkö was 7th and Eerika Pawli 12th. Mens final is still on-going and we'll have to wait for the results. Thanks to Henrik Suihkonen for information and big congrats to Eija!
NC bouldering, qualification results
28.02.2004
The qualification round of NC in bouldering was competed today at Bergen. Three Finnish men qualified to the tomorrows finals. These were Nalle Hukkataival (3rd), Tomi Nytorp (4th) and Anssi Venho (12th). All women will also compete tomorrow. Detailed results can be found from these pages.
NC Bouldering, the walls
27.02.2004
Nordic Bouldering Championships will be competed on coming weekend in Bergen, Norway. Some idea about the walls can be found from the following pages of Norwegian Climbing Federation. Thanks to Pia Pylvänäinen for the link.
Finnish participants according to the organizer: Miika Hakari, Mika Hinkkanen, Nalle Hukkataival, Karri Lammila, Olli-Petteri Manni, Tomi Nytorp, Anssi Venho, Eija Joensuu, Janina Käyhkö and Eerika Pawli. We wish all the best for the Finnish team!!!
Results from Bouldering Masters 2004
21.02.2004
Those who took part into Bouldering Masters 2004 had certainly a good and joyful training day. The routesetters had put up 76 routes on the profiles of Kiipeilykeskus. Amount of participants was this year 86, slightly more than last year. With 6 hours climbing time, it was ensured that everyone had plenty of time to give all avaliable effort and even more.
In womens category the strongest one was Eevi Jaakkola with 316 points, second was Eerika Pawli (251 points) and third Roosa Huhtikorpi (248 points). In men, the highest score was collected by Nalle Hukkataival, who climbed 73 routes and collected 854 of the total 920 points. Second was Toni Ruokonen (765 points) and third Matti Joensuu (713 points). Some top candidates were prepairing for the Scandinavian Championships next weekend, so they climbed only few routes. This can clearly be seen on the results list.
The routes and arrangements were good and atmosphere relaxed but energetic. In a case you missed the event, you should seriously concider participating next year!
Thanks to Teemu Tapaninen for the results.
Results from Lappicup 2004
10.02.2004
Lappicup 2004 was arranged last weekend by RVK (Rovaniemi Climbing Club) at Rovaniemi. Here's a report by Aleksi Kankainen (in Finnish):
"Kiipeilyn jokavuotinen Lappicup kisattiin jälleen 7.2. Rovaniemellä. Tänä vuonna panokset olivat kovat, kisattiinhan samassa yhteydessä paitsi Lapin kiipeilyherruudesta, myös Suomi- ja Pohjois-Suomi-cupin pisteistä. Laajentunut tapahtuma keräsikin ennätysosanoton; kaikkiaan 25 vääntäjää (21 miehissä ja 4 naisissa) saapui paikalle. Ennätyksellistä oli myös kisan kova taso ja junioriosallistujien määrä.
Aikaisemmilta vuosilta tuttu konsepti: boulder-karsinta ja liidifinaalit osoittautui taas oikeaksi ratkaisuksi. Kolmen tunnin karsintojen aikana kaikki saivat vääntää riittävästi ja kova-kuntoisimmat pääsivät illan megatapahtumaan Lapin liikuntakeskukseen yli satapäisen yleisömeren eteen näyttämäään "kissamaisia otteita", kuten paikallinen media kiipeilyä kuvasi... Jani Lunnaksen loihtimilla reiteillä miesten sarjan ykköseksi superfinaalin kautta taiteili Olli-Petteri Manni. Kuutti Huhtikorpi tarjosi hyvän vastuksen vieden kisan yleisöystävällisesti superfinaaliin kaksinkamppailuksi. Naisissa Roosa Huhtikorpi oli suvereeni voittaja. Yhteistyökumppanit, kisailijat ja yleisö olivat tapahtumaan tyytyväisiä, joten eiköhän tämä kannusta järjestämään tapahtuman myös ensi vuonna."
Thanks to Aleksi for the text and results and Mikael Leppä for the photos! Follow this link for detailed results.
Marko Kauko on Stu's roof
14.01.2004
Marko Kauko climbed "Stu's roof" 8a at Almscliff Yorkshire. Picture and more at Projekti's website.
Results from Kinkkuboulder 2003
14.12.2003
The annual Kinkkuboulder (Ham-boulder) competition was a success. Arrangements, routes and prices were excellent and the amount of registered competitors was record braking: 174 in total!!
This year the winner of the ham was Olli Manni, who managed to climb 41 of the 44 qualification routes and collected 457 qualification points. The best in men's finals was however Nalle Hukkataival with extremely strong looking style. The traditional winner Sampo Kiesiläinen placed third after Miika Hakari.
The finals in womens category was very even between Roosa Huhtikorpi and Heini Merikallio. In the end Roosa took the first position with 2 point margin and convincing qualification performance.
The most popular category was 'Toppahousut' with 93 participants. Highest qualification points were collected by Vesa Salonen who placed third in the finals. The winner was young Ossi Päivänsäde and second Tapio Mustakoski. In the category of 'Sunnuntaikiipeilijät' the best score was collected by Mika Arola.
BTW: Olli Manni revealed that the secret for his good bouldering condition is actually not bouldering at all! Insted, Olli has done a lots of trad climbing which seems to give exceptionally good physique also for bouldering competitions.
Thanks to the organizers and congratulations to Olli and other winners!!! Follow this link for the results.
Results from world cup, Edinburg
14.12.2003
Tomi Nytorp participated world cup bouldering competition at Edinburg last weekend (4.-7.12.03). Tomi climbed well but barely missed the finals placing 18th. Good effort nevertheless! Another result worth mentioning is Tero Järvinen's second position in Total boulder contest recently at Stockholm.
Results from Junior Scandinavian Championships
10.11.2003
Junior Scandinavian Championships in difficulty was competed at Tromsø 8.-9.11. The competition was a success for the Finns!
In girls 88-89 category Roosa Huhtikorpi took the gold medal and Heini Merikallio was third. In 86-87 category Eevi Jaakkola was second after Malin Fokestad from Norway. On the subject of boys, Finland had participants only in category of 86-87 born competitors. Kuutti Huhtikorpi took the gold medal, Niko Pakalen was fourth and Markus Fogelholm eighth.
Congratulations to all participants and especially to Huhtikorpi family! For more info, surf to Norges Klatreforbund. BTW, an older competition result that sould be mentioned: Roosa Huhtikorpi came 17th (of 45 participants) in Youth World Championships at Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria 19.-21.9. Well done!
Anton in Fontainebleau
02.11.2003
Camu reports that after Switzerland Anton, Anssi and Janina headed to Fontainebleau where Anton did for example "la Balance Sans" (8a), "Antithèse" (7c+, 3rd try), "Infidèle" (7b or 7c+, 3rd try), "la Bérézina" (7c) and some 7b flashes. Nice going for the first days!!
Juha Saatsi bouldering hard
28.10.2003
After a summer of roped climbing Juha Saatsi managed to climb "Jason's roof" (8a+) at Crookrise, Yorkshire. The big roof contains about 15 moves and was first done by Jason Myers in 1996. The problem is seldom repeated with 4-5 known ascents. Juha is not unfamiliar with hard bouldering, having done many problems in 8a range mostly in Yorkshire. According to Juha the problem was certainly one of the hardest he has done. Some pictures of Crookrise can be found at Yorkshiregrit.com. Congratulations!
New Finnish climbing DVD coming soon!
27.10.2003
Torsti Laine reports:
"In August 2003 new bouldering video was shot at Åland. Climbers include Ben Moon (UK), Erik Massih (SWE), Stefan Wolf (SWE), Tomi Nytorp (FIN), Olli Manni (FIN), Tomas Johansson (FIN, Åland) and many others. Trailer (coming this month) and more information is available at www.aclimbingfilm.com and full DVD with extras is ready in December."
PS. take a look at the cover of Climber, November issue...
Hobbits in Switzerland
20.10.2003
Janina Käyhkö, Anton Johansson and Anssi Venho are currently bouldering somewhere in Switzerland. Anton has ticked for example "Du cote de Seshuan" 8a, "Super Nova" 8a "Serre Moi Fort" 8a+ and "Massive Attack" 8b. Also Anssi did "Du cote de Seshuan". Little more to read in Finnish at Camu. Let's hope for good conditions for the remaining time!
Teemu sent 'Adlon'
08.10.2003
Last Saturday Teemu Tapaninen climbed crimpy and technical 'Adlon' (8a) at Nummi cliff.
Yorkshire news
09.09.2003
Expat Finn living in Bradford Marko Kauko seems to be in good shape. Last weekend Marko did two hard boulderproblems in Yorkshire and Peak. At Almscliff he did a V11 linkup problem on the Keel boulder with about 20 moves and ending by doing "The Keel" harder original version. At Burbage North he climbed "Blind Drunk" which is B12 or according to Marko something between Font 7c and 8a. Nice work Marko!
In Jyväskylä Mika Hinkkanen did the fifth ascent of sloping dreamproblem "Unelma" 7c at 28.7.
Martin set his 'Tesis'
06.09.2003
Today, Martin Nugent managed to climb his longstanding project at Klöverberget, Siuntio. The new route is called 'Tesis' and it's by no doubt the hardest line at the cliff as the grade is around 8a+ or 8b.
The line situates on the smooth part of the main face between 'Tres Chic' and 'Vitamin M' and it was bolted several years ago when free climbing in Klöverberget started. Characteristically it offers extremely technical and hard climbing on tiny holds. There are two ways to do the crux depending on if the climber is short or tall. Martin has named the sequences respectively as 'Syntesis' and 'Antitesis'. Martin himself climbed the more difficult super-version 'Syntesis', as the key hold was a bit too far for him to reach. Big congratulations to Martin!!!
News from Liljendal and Klöverberget
01.09.2003
Tomi Nytorp has established two hard traverses in Liljendal bouldering area. Both of these situates on the 'Misty' boulder. The first one, 'Elonkorjuu' starts about two meters left from 'Ghettoman corner', continues left through the slopy horizontal corner and goes up 'Karoshi' 7a (wrongly named 'Kakka.net' in the topo). The second one 'Punainen Planeetta' begins from the starting holds of 'Sweet Smoke'. It continues right through the crux of 'Back in Business' 7b to further right and ends up topping 'Misty' 7a+. Tomi suggests grade 7c+ for both traverses.
Roped news: about a week ago Jani Lunnas climbed 'Vacuum' 8a during his visit to Klöverberget!
Switzerland bouldering
28.08.2003
Jyrki "Jykä" Kauko and Esko "l'Esko" Hautanen spent the last couple of weeks bouldering in Switzerland. According to the guys scenery and bouldering were excellent. Besides having fun in the woods Jyrki also climbed some hard problems including "Octopussy" (8a, some say 8a+), "Lolo Ferrari" (7c) and "Dopeshow" (7b+) in the Magic Woods and some 7c and "Sprung Tarzan" (7b+/7c) in Chironico. In Cresciano he sent two 7c's and in Sustenpass one 7c+. Nice work Jykä!
Atte Piiroinen ticks 'Sheriffi' (8a)
19.08.2003
Yesterday Atte Piiroinen showed again his strong form by making a smooth and convincing ascent to "Sheriffi" (8a) at Nummi cliff! Atte has lately been regularly on the spot as this was his third route at this level in a short period of time. Rumours tell us that this "Fat free ticking machine" has been working on "El Toro" (8a+) at Klöverberget. Hopefully there will be something left for the next season... Good work!!!
Hard ascents at Niemisel & Klöverberget
11.08.2003
News from the North. Jani Lehtola from Oulu made yesterday third Finnish ascent to 'Diablo' (8a+) at Niemisel. Thanks to Jarmo Annunen for these news! In Southern-Finland, Atte Piiroinen has continued ticking the local testpieces. Shortly after sending 'Adlon' (8a), he climbed 'Shake My Tree' (7c+) also at Nummi and 'Vacuum' (8a) at Klöverberget.
Sami Haapakoski and Jani Lunnas climbed 'Diablo' (8a+) at Niemisel
22.07.2003
We've heard that Sami Haapakoski and Jani Lunnas have climbed 'Diablo' (8a+), one of the testpieces at the huge MTV wall in Niemisel, Sweden. The route is about 22 meters high and according to Jani, it starts with juggy 6c climbing for about four bolts. This easier section is followed by a crux and a hard dyno at top section. Both Sami's and Jani's ascents were done at around 2 AM in the sparkle of midnight sun.
The other ascensionist, Sami Haapakoski has been climbing about 2 and a half years. We'll probably hear about this young talent later on. The ascent was reported also in Borrbult.nu. Congratulations to Sami!
Nummi & Klöverberget action
14.07.2003
Today Atte Piiroinen climbed crimpy and technical 'Adlon' (8a) at Nummi in less than optimal conditions. Thermometer showed decent 29°C and air humidity about 100%. Now, who said this route is somehow weather dependent?? Other ascents worth mentioning is Eerika Pawli's redpoint to 'Tres Chic' (7c) last week at Klöverberget, Siuntio.
Btw, Klöverberget has got an excellent new route between 'Al Qaida' and 'Superhero'. The new line is called 'Atlantis' and it was established by always diligent route setter Peter Hammer. The estimated grade is around 7a.
Jussi Remonen in good shape
14.07.2003
Jussi Remonen seems to be in good shape, again. Last week he put up probably the hardest moves in Jyväskylä, "Marvin" at Keljonkangas. More in Finnish here: Projekti.
More Chamonix results
13.07.2003
World Championships in difficulty (on-sight) has been completed in Chamonix. The final positions of the Finnish participants were as follows: Janina Käyhkö, 48th in women, Sampo Kiesiläinen 55th and Tomi Nytorp 61st in men. For more details, visit Digitalrock.
Boulder Champs in Chamonix
12.07.2003
World Championships in bouldering were competed last Wednesday and Thursday at Chamonix. Our Tomi Nytorp climbed extremely well in hard company positioning to 20th place! The winner was Christian Core from Italy and second Jerome Meyer, France. Total amount of participants was 76. More information from Digitalrock.
The action in Chamonix will continue, as the World Championships in difficulty (on-sight) are competed today and tomorrow. The Finnish participants are Tomi, Sampo Kiesiläinen and Janina Käyhkö. Best luck for all the Finns!
The Finnish bouldering movie Northern Light now available
09.06.2003
Finally it is here. The long awaited boudering movie is now available from climbing shops in Finland (Camu & Mountain Shop; Summit later this week) or directly from the creators via email: contact@postponedproductions.com. Online ordering from Northern Light website will be available in a couple of days. Over 70 minutes of pure pleasure!
Tomi on-sights 'Shake My Tree'!
07.06.2003
Today made Tomi Nytorp Finnish climbing history by on-sighting 'Shake My Tree' (7c+) at Nummi! This is undoubtedly the hardest on-sight in Finland. The route is steep and pumpy and it requires also jamming skills. Brilliant effort!!! Tomi has been active also on hard natural routes as he made a clean ascent to 'Päiväuni' (7c+) at the beginning of June. This mighty line situates on the North side of Pärkänvuori (Uusikaupunki) and was opened by Olli Manni on August 2001.
Selected bouldering news
02.06.2003
Heko Pöyry is in good shape at the moment. Last week he cruised "Hottentotti" (8a) and is now working sitdown start for the problem. At the weekend trip to Vaasa, Heko opened some new hard problems. In Vaxlax he made the first ascent of "Piss Easy" (7c/7c+) and next day "Iisakin Kirkko" (7c/7c+). The latter situates at Mikroautorata and is in fact one of the oldest projects in Vaasa. Heko also flashed "Kultakala" (7c) and Jari Pöllänen did the problem as well.
Other recent ascents to mention: Ville Kurru repeated "Supermartikainen" (7c/7c+) in Geta and Jarkko Kyllönen climbed "Masurkka" (7c) in Taivaskallio. Thanks to Jari Pöllänen for these news.
Niko does 'Matador'
27.05.2003
16 years old Niko Pakalen, known also for his strong presentations in bouldering walls, doesn't get confused with harness and rope either. Last Friday he made a successful attempt to "Matador" (8a) at Falkberget and became possibly the youngest Finnish climber to achieve this grade. Earlier Niko has managed to flash "Kalinka" (7b) as well as flash or on-sight most of the easier routes at Falkberget. Way to go!
Kirsi does 7b in Yorkshire
18.05.2003
Kirsi Hiironen has climbed a nameless V8/7b slab in Crookrise (Yorkshire). This is certainly one of the hardest boulderproblems done by a Finnish woman. Nice work Kikka! Source Projekti.
New routes at Falkberget, Kirkkonummi
08.05.2003
Peter Hammer has been active in Falkberget, Kirkkonummi. During April he established three new routes: "Sledgehammer" 6b+, "Freestyler" 7b and "Jump" 7b+. The first one starts from the right side of "Roadrunner" and goes up to top of the cliff. As 27-28 meters high, the line is the highest one in the cliff. The route is easy to spot as it has chemical bolts. "Jump" starts from the half way ledge between "Echinaforce" and "Charlatan" and continues to right side of "Charlatan" and over the roof to top. "Freestyler" is a variation where you first climb the start of "Jump" and then the end of "Charlatan". The line is continuous and even for the grade so you need some stamina! The grades are only suggestions by the route setter. Thanks to Peter for the information!
Martin's problems
07.05.2003
Back to old school
Mr. Nugent has been active by opening some highball problems in the Capital
area. At Haaga, he did "Tigris" 7a, which contains 4-5 hard moves on little
edges before topping out. Martin also managed to climb the old project in
Taivaskallio left from "Valaskala". The route´s crux is high above the ground
and is very technical climbing on small crimpers. He named the route
"Anabasis" 7b+/7c (read 7c) and says that it´s as hard as Matahari 7c. Thanks to Jari Pöllänen for the news!
Scandinavian Championships 2003
05.05.2003
Scandinavian Championships in difficulty was competed during the past weekend at Oslo. The winners were Peter Bosma and Ingela Nilsson from Sweden. Best Finns were Tomi Nytorp and Janina Käyhkö, who both placed third. Silver medals went to Said Belhaj (SWE) and Linn-Karin Stendahl (NOR). Other interesting placings: Sampo Kiesiläinen 5th and Olli-Pekka Manni 13th. In women, Eerika Pawli placed 11th. More info from the pages of Norvegian Climbing Association. Congrats to our bronze medalists!
Easter action in the Åland Islands
25.04.2003
Large group of Finns visited the Åland Islands during Easter and took all the advantage of the excellent bouldering weather:
Fågelberget:
"Swiss Roof" 8a was quickly repeated by Anton Johansson, Markku Tawast, Jyrki Kauko and Jari Pöllänen. All the climbers felt that grade 7b+ would be more exact. Another steep line "Make´s Roof" 7b+ was repeated by Anton, Markku Makkonen and Jyrki. Both Anton and Jari flashed "Elf" 7a+.
Anton made several hard first ascents including "Mellon" 7b, a direct start of "Elf". The route was repeated by Jari and Jarkko Kyllönen. Many thanks for the line's spotter Jyrki for cleaning the problem:-) Anton also made the 1st ascent of "Paskiainen" 7b+/7c and "Orange". He refused to grade "Orange" but it's quite scary anyway...
Djupviken:
Jyrki Kauko, Jari Pöllänen and Anton Johansson repeated "Geta Life" Fb7c. Markku Tawast made the 1st ascent of "Supermartikainen" 7c/7c+. This superb line was repeated by Anton, Markku Makkonen, Jyrki and Jari.
Kasviken:
Anton Johansson made the 1st ascent of "Hihipingviini" 7c and Jyrki Kauko flashed "Bubo Bubo" 7a+.
One old boulder project less
04.04.2003
Tomi Nytorp succeeded in climbing one of the really old projects in Helsinki. The problem is at Meilahti cliff right from "Kusiainen". Read Antons nice story about the 1st ascent of 'Kasparov' here (in Finnish).
Nalle in Turku.
03.04.2003
Last friday Nalle Hukkataival continued to show his good form on the boulders of Turku. At Kärsämäki he made repeats to "Rumpman" 7c and "Kiikku" 7b (flash). At Luolavuori he repeated "Mossman" 7b and "Matahari" 7c. Nice work!
Results from the Finnish Masters in Speed Climbing
03.04.2003
Nokia Vertical Adventure -happening was arranged in Helsinki at the Itäkeskus shopping mall right next to the notorius east side ghetto of Kontula. The happening lasted whole week with public climbing etc. The week ended with first ever(?) Finnish Masters in Speed Climbing. Prices were good, brand new mobile phones and a trip to Kalymnos for two! Young gun Roosa Huhtikorpi was the busiest female around with Janina Käyhkö at the 2nd place. Anton Johansson took the Kalymnos trip in the mens series. Whole results added to our competition archive. Congrats to the winners! Check out a videoclip which shows Antons nice style (we have no knowledge of who made the clip). Lots of pics you can find via this link.
Results from the Nordic Champs in bouldering
23.03.2003
The Millet Boulder Nordic Championships was held in Klondyke Wall at Kerava. See the official NM site for pictures and complete results here (mens final results still yet to come). In women the first place went to Ingela Nilsson (SWE), 2nd was Christina Rivett (DK), 3rd Angelica Lind (SWE). Janina Käyhkö (FIN) finished 4th. In men Tomi Nytorp (FIN) took the first place, Stefan Rasmussen (SWE) 2nd and Said Belhaj (SWE) 3rd. Congratulations to everybody! Results also added to Slouppi competition archive. And lots more pics here.
Two hard problems repeated in Helsinki.
22.03.2003
Taivaskallio, Helsinki. Last week Nalle Hukkataival made the third repeat of "Bart Simpson" (7b). He also climbed the unrepeated and painful "Masurkka"! Henkka Suihkonen put up "Masurkka" about 5 years ago and it has been tried by quite a many strong people. Nalle didn't give much comment on the grade which has been thought to be something around 7b+ and 7c. Congrats to Nalle!
Bouldering Masters results
16.03.2003
The Bouldering Masters 2003 was held in Tapanila's newish climbing centre. The fun event had about 60 problems which were mainly vertical and tricky. 75 climbers competed indoors when it was one of the first really good days to climb outside in Helsinki! Roosa Huhtikorpi won the ladies series. In the mens series Tomi Nytorp and Nalle Hukkataival got the same amount of points so it went to a superfinal, the Finnish way... Fat-o-meter. The one who is the fattest wins. Nalle came first with mind blowing 5.1% body fat. Tomi had to settle for second position with 4.9%. See complete results.
Yorkshire bouldering news.
25.01.2003
After moving to Yorkshire a couple of months ago Marko Kauko has done some of the areas classic problems together with his visiting younger brother Jykä. The highlights being Jykä's 2nd try ascent to Matt's roof 7c+ and Marko's ascents to Keel 7c, Sewer ratt connection 7c and Matt's roof! Nice, hooray, keep it going and yeah! For more specific ticks check out Projekti's website.
Kinkkuboulder results
16.12.2002
Annual Kinkkuboulder competition was arranged at Klondyke Wall (Kerava) last Saturday 14.12.2002. The competition was a huge success what comes to the amount of participants (135), arrangements, quality of routes and atmosphere! The women's comp was dominated by Janina Käyhkö. The men's competition looked more dramatic with Sampo, Anton and Ilkka quite close in qualifications. Sadly Anton got high fever after qualifications and didn't climb in the finals. Sampo was the clear winner this time. See results page for complete results.
Results from Junior Scandinavian Championships
09.12.2002
Junior Scandinavian Championships event took place in Kiipeilykeskus during the weekend. You'll find the results of all age groups by following this link. Thanks to Pia Pylvänäinen for these results.
Janina fourth in Kranj
28.11.2002
European Youth Cup competition in difficulty was arranged last weekend in Kranj, Slovenia. Janina Käyhkö took fourth position at her age group and after this event, she is ranked fourth in the cup!
NM bouldering video link
20.11.2002
Check out http://www.highsport.se/snf/ for nice videos from the Nordic Masters in Bouldering. Almost 20 mins of stuff! Both womens & mens finals.
Bakke and Mobråten new Scandinavian champions!
03.11.2002
Last round of the Scandinavian Championships (difficulty) were competed today at Kiipeilykeskus in Helsinki. After the semi-finals it seemed that the winners of the last year, Peter Bosma and Ingela Nilsson would dominate also this year. Well, the routes were technical, reachy and hard to read and the final order was something different...
In women, Marianne Bakke from Norway climbed highest with style. Second was Eli Skeid, also from Norway. Janina Käyhkö was third by a slip of the right foot. Only one man passed the tricky crux over the mid-height of the mens finals route, young Martin Mobråten from Norway. Peter Bosma (SWE) came second and our Tomi Nytorp was third. All detailed results can be found from the results page. Videos (hopefully) soon to be loaded. Congratulations to the winners!
Scandinavian Championships, qualifiers
02.11.2002
After exciting quarter finals, three men and one woman from the Finnish team got through to the finals. The only top-outs were shown by the 2001 champions, Peter Bosma and Ingela Nilsson. Sunday's finalists are:
MEN
1. Peter Bosma, SWE 2. Said Belhaj, SWE 3. Martin Mobråten, NOR 4. Magnus Högsrtröm, SWE 5. Ilkka Westling, FIN 6. Martin Nugent, FIN 7. Claus Vedel Jensen, DEN 8. Tomi Nytorp, FIN
WOMEN
1. Ingela Nilsson, SWE 2. Julia Bergklint, SWE 3. Marianne Bakke, NOR 4. Janina Käyhkö, FIN 5. Malin Folkestad, NOR 6. Eli Skeid, NOR 7. Stine Østergaard, DEN 8. Fiona Fitzpatrick, SWE 9. Jenny Förander, SWE
Forthcoming Scandinavian Champs & competitors
28.10.2002
Less than a week and the waited event, Scandinavian Championships in difficulty, will start! This far 46 participant have registered. There are many hot contenders participating and here are some names to mention:
MEN
FINLAND:
Tomi Nytorp Olli-Pekka Manni Sampo Kiesiläinen Ilkka Westling
SWEDEN:
Peter Bosma Said Belhaj Bosse Sättare
NORWAY:
Pål-Benum Reiten Martin Mobråten
DENMARK:
Flemming Rasmussen
WOMEN
FINLAND:
Janina Käyhkö Eerika Pawli
SWEDEN:
Ingela Nilsson Julia Bergklint Jenny Förander
NORWAY:
Malin Folkestad Eli Skeid
DENMARK:
Christina Rivett
We wish luck for all the contenders! Tickets to the event and night party are now on sale. See the official SC page for more info. Slouppi.net will keep ears open and report about the event. Stay tuned!
Experience the Millet Open-Sportclimbing Scandinavian championships and the NIGHT PARTY 2.-3.11.02
15.10.2002
Hopefully this is not news for you. If it is, check more information from official page or competitions-selection from bottom of front page. However the point is: BE THERE!
New contender as the hardest boulder problem!
07.10.2002
Last week Anton Johansson had a fantastic climbing day. First, he repeated ´Hottentotti´ (8a) and then did a first ascent of ´Koopa´ (8a/8a+), which is probably the hardest boulder problem in Finland. The problem is pure 1,5m all-out dyno on the 50 degrees overhanging wall. Don´t use your height as an excuse, if you can´t do the problem. That´s the one thing that Anton doesn´t have as an advantage...
Janina fifth in Youth World Championships 2002
03.10.2002
Youth World Championchips in difficulty was arranged last weekend (27.-29.9.) at Canteleu, France. The competition was participated by two Finns, Janina Käyhkö and Kuutti Huhtikorpi. Janina performed excellently qualifying to finals and placing fifth in overall results!! Kuutti competed in Youth B class, qualified nicely to semifinals and placed 27th.
Tomi and Hottentotti
25.09.2002
Report from reliable source tells us that Tomi Nytorp did yesterday a new boulder problem ´Hottentotti´ 8a. The problem overhangs nearly 50 degrees and contains some very dynamic moves on slopers and medium-sized holds. It is definitely one of the hardest boulder problems in Finland and the hardest in the Capital area.
Some hard repeats...
23.09.2002
Yesterday Jari Pöllänen climbed 'Matador' 8a at Falkberget. This was at least second repeat this year as Teemu Tapaninen did the line on August. BTW Teemu has this far climbed every single route at Falkberget.
Hardest traverse in Finland!
19.09.2002
Tomi Nytorp hits again! This time at secret spot, where he established 'Eskimo', the hardest traverse ever seen in Finland. This line has around 37 moves starting with '72 markkaa' (7b+) crux move, linking a traverse around 20 moves long and finally topping out at 'Usual Suspect' (7c+). Tomi suggests grade 8a+ which is probably not over estimated...
Tomi's weekend
19.08.2002
Tomi Nytorp had quite a good weekend. On Saturday he visited Nummi where he redpointed 'Sheriffi' 8a on second go and on-sighted 'Tornado' 7b+. After this he cooled down at Rokokallio boulders where he also made a new route 'Mun Katto' 7c. On Sunday he visited Klöverberget at Siuntio and on-sighted several routes including 'Imshullah Rollum' 7c. Not bad...!
Double victory to Finland in the bouldering NC
18.08.2002
Sampo Kiesiläinen (1.) & Ilkka Westling (2.) took double victory to Finland in the Nordic Championships in bouldering, which is nice. In women Janina Käyhkö came 6th, Eija Joensuu 10th and Helena Siipi 12th. Congratulations! Small article & pics at 8a.nu (in Swedish).
Hard onsights by Tomi Nytorp
08.08.2002
During his 3 weeks trip to southern France, Tomi Nytorp did some hard climbing at Ceuse and Verdon. From the three 8a's he tried, he managed to on-sight two! The routes were 'Carte Blanche' (originally 8a+) and 'L'Atome de Savoie'. The first one is an old classic at Demi Lune and the second one is at Cascade sector. Tomi also managed to onsight the two new 7c+'s at Cascade. At Verdon Tomi did 'Take It' 8a on second go.
EM Chamonix 2002
15.07.2002
European Championships of climbing were competed during the weekend at Chamonix. The event was participated by two Finns, Tomi Nytorp and Janina Käyhkö. Tomi's position was 27th after the quarter finals and unfortunately he was the first to drop out from semis with extremely small margin. In women, Janina topped the first route and finished 21st at the semi-finals! Both performances were excellent and both climbers left several tough names behind.
Tomi also took part in bouldering event and finished 29th. Total amount of participants in the bouldering event was 51.
Some Nummi action
13.06.2002
Despite the rainy weather in the capital area and slippery conditions at Nummi, Jari 'Kukonpoika' Pöllänen took his chances by repeating one of the testpieces, 'Sheriffi' (8a) yesterday. Well done!
One of the 'old' hard boulderproblems near Jyväskylä repeated.
11.06.2002
Most people don't even know the existence of these hard problems in Suolahti near Jyväskylä. The problems were put up by Jussi Remonen & Juha Saatsi during mid/end of the nineties. At that time they were certainly among the hardest in Finland, from 7b to 7c+. Some of them are still unrepeated. On saturday Jyrki Kauko managed to do the 3rd ascent of 'Kokovartaloerektio' 7c.
Altough the mosquitoes have arrived to Vaasa some people still search for new blocks. Near the Magic Mushroom forest some nice big boulders got first ascents by Olli Pyykonen, Make Tawast & Co.
Jyrki Kauko opened superb 'Herkules'
04.06.2002
Last week Jyrki Kauko managed to climb one of Jyväskyläs old projects. The boulderproblem contains sustained big moves through the whole 6-7 meters. 'The best line I've ever done!', said Jykä afterwards. This problem remains unrepeated like many of Jyväskyläs hard ones. You can find 'Herkules' 7b+/7c at the 'Olohuone' boulders. For topo see Projekti's website.
Rami sent "El Toro"
04.06.2002
Roped news from Klöverberget, Siuntio. On sunday Rami Haakana did the 3rd ascent of 'El Toro' (8a+).
El Toro repeated
31.05.2002
Yesterday Marko Wallin made the first repeat of 'El Toro' 8a+ with his typical smooth style at Klöverberget, Siuntio. This beautiful line was established on August 2001 by Henrik Suihkonen.
Yosemite news
23.05.2002
Last Friday returned a group of four Finnish climbers from their 3 weeks invasion to Yosemite. The group consisted of two pairs of experienced climbers: Marko Wallin + Juha Saatsi and Nico Backström + Henrik Suihkonen. Their initial target was to free pitches of 'Freerider' as far as possible. 'Freerider' is about 1 km high route at El Cap spire consisting of about 35 pitches and is graded 5.13a. The route was established few years ago by Huber brothers.
Unfortunately, the first week was very rainy so the group headed to Joshua Tree for bouldering and one pitch cracks. After the first week, they returned to Yosemite and started their work in a sunny weather. Both teams managed to free the first 20 pitches when they came up to several wet pitches which forced them to change to aid climbing. According to Marko some pitches could practically be described as waterfalls. Up at the headwall, time was running out so the groups took the 'Salathe' variation straight up. A
'Gare au Grand Gourou', an 8a+ onsight by Tomi
