Guiding tour at Kebnekaise. Mountain activity always demands a window of time. This tour was for a Friday to Sunday with only one day for an attempt to reach the ”roof” of Sweden. I went up to Nikkaluokta at Thursday with a faboulous weather. Friday was also fine but…Saturday…The cloud base was low and almost no sight. Also add the increased risk of avalanche, and unskilled clients. Well as a guide I decided to interrupt the attempt. For sure there were discussion in the group about the decision. But for me as a guide it was quite easy to make. I have not went up during this circumstances even on my own so… The thing is that the weather was fantastic the other day, and at last we did reach the target(but with a Little help of wings or rotors)

At the moment the sout peak was 30cm higher than the North peak…

The South peak and the Ridge over to the the North peak(Photo Ulf Bergman)

The snow layer was thin at Kebnekasie mountain station…Always a risk in late April…The sun will be warm..

When it comes to Equipment I have start a test of Fjallraven Abisko trekking tights. This ones belongs to the Abisko series which is the light weight one. I am a fan of alpine fit. This means tight clothing. From that Point of view the trousers is good. But with a price of 1699:- I expected more. I miss a zipper in the end of the legs for example. I like the belt holder so you can use a belt and easy to aplly a knife or other Tools, but a belt should be included in the price. The real price with a belt will be 1998:- and then it is too expensive. So so far just Three NLA:s from me.

The book suggestion this week will be Pär Axelstjernas: ”Nordtoppen och Sveriges tak”. A real nice and intresting book of the Kebnekaise area. Perfect for a cup coffee and a enjoyment of life..

From winter to spring, a new season with new possiblities and challenges. Today I reach 30km(including 10km running at 38,26 so on track..)

Ulf Bergman a happy Mountain Leader in his right Environment… the mountains.. 

See ya soon..

When it comes to the choice of middle layers you got different options. You got down or primaloft and what shall you choose? Down is more senceible of moist, but it Wight less. So how should you Think?! Well, it is quite easy. A down jacket with a good quality is Always very compact to keep the down ”inside”. The primaloft is very good to use when you doing activity with high intesity. So from that Point the heading is wrong, it should say: down and primaloft. For making the choice even harder there is also hybrids of the material. The Black Diamond jacket got primaloft in the main part and down in the arms. But the choise will be: for heating and to warm you should use down. For activity with high intensity in Cold areas, use the primaloft..and hood? That will be a personal choice if you like that or not… Stellar Equipment got a nice Primaloft jacket..

This week has been a real good workout week. Two wall climbing session with 6C as a challenge, a lot of strength and also a lot of endurance. So I am getting prepard for the upcoming Kebnekaise event..

The finger strengt will be tested at a 6C climb..And yea, thats my hand and fingers:-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrIG3K40-8A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYUILsJWsco

See ya soon..

At Saturday there was a avalange close to Sylarnas mountain station. It was at the Fruntimmers klumpen and seven persons was involved. Two of them was injured and needed to be transported to hospital. Mountain recsue with avalange dogs ws involed in the search. I will follow up this accident and will inform you more about it.

During the weekend I was myself involved in a accident with a puncture. This resulted in a tourniquet(tryckförband) and a visit at the hospital. So be prepared, secure so you know were you got the first aid placed. And train so you feel safe when you need to practice it.

When it comes to workout it is focus on the cardiovascular area. And prepare for the upcoming activity at Kebnekaise. With a movement round about 70km during the weekend I think i am on track..

Live in the moment, and let Tomorrow be the smile day. Smile at least to four persons..

See ya soon…

Tired, that was the feeling yesterday. After a real tough workout week, I decided to move the blog to
day instead. I was lost of inspiration and power, but know I got it back. Today it will be of course
about…workout, the hunt for the perfect gear and one of my loved area trends in the outdoor. So,
let’s begin there.
The ATTA (Adventure Travel Trade Association) have done some research of the topic, and here you got the inforamtion about the results:
The adventure tourism still grows. The estimate will be that 280 million household will be travelling
in 2025. So, the area as such will increase…China is one of the most growing nations when it comes
to adventure travelling. The traveler from China also need help from tourist providers to guide them
to their adventures.
The report also include that the solo travel will increase. It will not by default be single individuals, it
can be partners who doesn’t share their interest etc. So special grouping for this type of adventure
travel will be a demand for travel agencies. “Slow travel” is also an area that is increasing. This will
include staying in the place for a longer time, typically around some month. The participants of this
type of journeys got the ability to work remotely and have the drive for experience new destinations.
Adventure travelers seek wellness and mental health benefits in their itineraries. Wellness recovery,
etc.
From a product perspective the trail tourism will be in focus. A long weekend will be good enough for
a lot of practicing their activity whatever it is running, hiking or cross-country skiing. This in
combination with wellness etc. will be a clear trend. “Great Himalaya trail” and Camino de Santiago is
two of typical types of these trend. Another very clear trend in product is the increasing of female
adventure products. What we can see is an increasing with 230% of number of women only travel
suppliers. Also, winter travel area will increase. Glaciers, skiing, aurora borealis and winter scenery is
what the tourists longing for.
Adventure destinations need to prepare to avoid the problems of over tourism. We can see this in
the Swedish mountains as well. There are a few very popular areas, such as Kebnekaise area and
western Jamtland. Even if it can’t be compared to Machu Picchu…
So, if you are in the area, here you got some initiative to grab on to…

When it comes to workout I’ve always try to change and try new models of training for being able to
develop. This week I went for a martial art session with a boxing/MMA instructor. After a 75min
session I was completely exhausted. With a 45min hill running session at Saturday and a 10k run at
Sunday I was empty. Add also all dog training to that…

When it comes to gear I am hunting for the optimal solutions. I have got a trouser from Salewa. This
is a brand I really like. It is not so expensive, and they always got good and innovative solutions. This
time I will review the Ortles 3 DST pant. A softshell pant for 4 seasons, light Durastretch with Cordura
enforcement on the inner legs. Wind resistant and water repellant. This could be the optimal trouser,
the only one you will need?:-)

See ya soon

Today it will be a more philosophichal post. I Think it is very important to find a balance in life. In that sense, that you do what you really want to do. You only got one life, and you decide what it all should contains. If you got a mind that is dedicated, you will be able to reach your goals. 

Myself I get up early in the mornings, this means I got time to ”catch up” all things I want to do. I am also dedicated in almost everything I take care of. At the gym, I am very efficeient and focused. A older man, at the gym where I workout was told of one of the other members of the gym that the grey haired man was ”killing” the air assault bike(workout bike). The man(my friend) told him:  -that guy, he just workout when he is here. And that is true, I am almost always dedicated… I was having a goal to become guide, and today I am a certified one:-). By a coincidence? No, by dedication… So if you are ready to focus, stay dedicated and sacriface then you will earn your target. The only failure is quitting. Everything else is just gathering information. Your ”inner” dialogue must be positive and force you to feel good. For me the procedures and routines has become a good habit for reaching my targets. It might sounds a bit boring, but for me it makes life easy, and I almost always reach my dreams target… We are all such a fantastic persons and have the oppertunity to be able to create miracles. So just get out there and get your targets, and live your dream. But remeber; Watching somone else totally go for it can be incredible upsetting for a person who spent a Lifetime building a solidcase for why they themselves cant…So get out there and form your life to be ”your” life…

This week I have initiated the test of Taigas Oakland jacket. A Three layer of Gore-Tex. This Product is developed for ”Heavy duty” and is produced togather with the military. For beeing a Three layer jacket I Think it is very flexible. So it will be interesting to continue the testing.

See ya soon…

When it comes to mountaineering, the safety is very important area. All of us who deal with this type of activity (Climbing, Via Ferrata, mountaineering) always see the UIAA marking on our equipment, but honest, not so many of us reflect on what it is. The UIAA stands for Union Internationale des Assiations d’Alpinism. It was grounded in 1932 in Chamonix. Today it represents more than three million climbers and mountaineers from 90 different countries. The organization has also been recognized by the International Olympic committee since 1995. When it comes to the safety area the organization already in 1960 founded the UIAA label for approved climbing gear. Preserving the spirit and tradition area, Promoting the responsible access, culture and environmental protection and supporting youth participant and the Olympic movement. On the web page you can find a lot of interesting reading about everything from Mountain medicine to skyrunning. And a lot of inspiration for your upcoming adventures, and very nice pictures and films. When it comes to UIAA world cup 2019 results, we can see that Russia is like Norway in cross country skiing. So, haven’t you been on the site, it worth a visit.

https://www.theuiaa.org/

When it comes to gear I think the trousers is an interesting area. I got trousers for; Via Ferrata, climbing indoor, climbing outdoor, cross country skiing, Mountaineering etc. But the questions are, can there be any hybrid that is useful for all activities. I’ve been talking to a couple of stores and their suggestion of this is: Norröna Falketind, I can also se Lundhags Rocketer pants as a good option.

When it comes to clothing overall, spring is the time for news. Paramo is a new brand for us Swedes, with experience from 15years of Mountain rescue they know their area. So, the new Doulogy jacket is nice. Perfect for mountaineering, it got good water resistance a well as spreading moisture quickly. Another new brand will be Sprayway, a UK based company founded in 1974. There Torridon jacket is also an interesting product.

Other interesting area is also the GPS tracker. Spot tracker has been on the market for a couple of years and now some other brand has grab to the market. Protegeara*live is one of them. Garmin has also one model on the market. This one is perfect for the one that is alone on adventures…

This weekend Ive been skiing , sledge dog pulling and Snow mobile driving. a real nice weekend with a lot of Mountains and sun:-)

See ya soon..

Now we are in the spring winter. A nice season, which including skiing among a lot of other activities.
If we look into the program you will not be able to sit back and relaxing, which of course also will be
an option…
22-24/3 The outdoor fair at Alvsjo,
5-7/4 Ski alpinism weekend at Storulvan. https://www.teamnordictrail.se/loparresor/toppturshelg/
9-14/4 Fjallraven Polar,https://www.press.fjallraven.com/story/fjaellraeven-polar-2019.html
7-14/4 Extreme sports gathering at Riksgransen, https://www.esgwinter.se/
13-18/4 Pure Tarfala,
5-6/4 Keb Classic, http://kebclassic.se/vinter/
18-22/4 Pure Freeride camp, and I will also remind you about that Via Ferrata.se at Skuleberget will
open 1 st of May. So, you don’t need to idle the upcoming period.

The research of trends in the mountain environment. Klas Sandell has done a research about rural
tourism and outdoor life “Landscape relations in change” One of his early findings in the research
was the “sportification and outdoor activities goes indoors. It is a clear shifting to accomplishment,
action and commercialization and equipment. The number of competition such as Kebnekaise Classic
or Vikingarannet is two good examples of this. The measurement of result is important. When it
comes to indoorisation this will mean that typical outdoor activities move indoors, such as climbing
etc. But we can also see VR, white water paddling track indoor and so on. The interesting in this will
be that it will be less important of the “cooperate” with the landscape. In this research the result tells
us that 15-30% prioritize the Swedish mountain environment high. But the result does not tell us if it
is a special area or just the Swedish mountains that is important. Almost the same 10-30% prioritizing
the activity before the location of the activity. The rest in the research in in the between of these
extremes. Today it is 10-15% of the Swedish public that has have some experience of sport and
competition event in the Swedish mountain environment. There is just a few of them who has
participate. About 10% wants to see more of it but more than the half of the asked does not need
this type of activities.

Spring means also a lot of new stuff. To start with Climbing Technology has a new hoodie for the spring. https://www.climbingtechnology.com/en/outdoor-en/clothing/runout-ombre-blue

And Camp – Cassin  got a interesting back pack. The Eghen 35 is a nice climbing back pack. https://www.camp-usa.com/outdoor/product/packs/eghen-35/

See ya soon..

Today there will be an interview with Per Olov Wikberg.

-Hi Per Olov, what is your outdoor background?

Well, the outdoor have always become a main part in my life. Skiing, hunting fishing ski alpinism, well everything. Living in the Jamtland area means that you really got easy to access the outdoor environment…Today I am working at the Swedish Environmental Safety Protection Agency as coordinator for the Mountain safety.

-I heard that the budget for developing the avalanche program has been decreased, what will that have for effect of the area of mountain safety?

We will keep on working within the program, but this will mean that we can’t implement the satellite system for preventing for avalanches in Sweden. The system is developed in Norway and can help to predict the risk situation of avalanches in different areas. Today we got six areas where we are working with avalanche safety program, and we would like to increase with three more areas in the program. Today the program includes the Abisko and Riksgransen, Kebnekaise, Vindlefjällen, Kittelfjallen and Are – Funasfjallen. The result of reduce budget means that those three areas will be delayed. For us is very important to develop the safety. For the last ten years, six persons has died in avalanche accidents in Sweden. The numbers of avalanches will be over a thousand for a year in the Swedish mountain environment

.
-When it comes to the Mountain safety council, what is the news there?

The decreased budget will of course even affect us here as well. But we still work with developing the Mountain safety program. Today the association contains twenty different organization, which our responsibility is to coordinate them in the Mountain safety area. We schedule two meeting every year and one of them we normally plan for being in field environment. The next meeting will be in National Land Survey authority (Lantmäteriet) offices and one of the topic will of course be about the Mountain maps, the quality and how to distribute them in an efficient way. We also try to update the Mountain leader certification to level 2.0 so a lot of ideas and plans is ongoing.

-I’ve been talking with consumer agency(konsumentverket)t and tried to get some information about statistics about incidents connected to the Mountain leaders and there activities. The answer I got is that nothing has been reported. What do you think about that?

I think this is a culture question. We need to increase the willing of reporting incidents. I think it is hard to report that you as a guide has been involved in an incident/accident. Here we must work tight together with the Mountain Leader Association.

-I guess you been around a lot in the Swedish mountains, what will be your favorite area?

-There are many of course, but the Ljungdals area. When it comes to skiing of course Are will be a easy chose for a Jamtlander. But my special suggestion will be Frostviksfjallen. A very nice area, and an area where you will be on your own. This is a hidden pearl.

-And the coffee, what is your choice there in the outdoor environment on your tours?

-The easiest will be the Nescafe, but if I have the time I will have the coffee fresh boiled in the coffee kettle.

See ya soon

So already in March, and a lot adventures ahead..

Today it will be about glacier travelling. There is always a risk for crevasses and collapsing snow bridges while crossing glaciers. For that reason, you need to be prepared. You need to have right skills and the right equipment. A rule when you go skating on ice is that you should know how it feels to end up in the water. I think it is the same with crevasses. Have you ever got the feeling of 100kg, and try to stop the fall? First, you need to rope up. Here you got an example for how to do it. Make sure the first and last team-member got enough rope for being able to set up a rescue solution. The problem is the limitation of natural anchors. So, you must bring own equipment for that. A Deadman or a snow stick will help you out with that. You can also improvise with an ice axe, or if it’s possible you can also use Ice screws. You also need to bring equipment for being able to handle a crevasse rescue.

I use an equipment pack with; two ice-screws, one belay(reverso), one 120cm sling, and two pulleys one with self-brake function is to prefer and two lock carabiners. With this set up you will be able to do a rescue.

When travelling on glacier you might be on high altitude as well. Here you must relate to the fact of altitude sickness. About this I and a lot of others has been writing a lot and research 1000 of documents of it. The best way of avoiding the altitude illness will be to do an adequate acclimatization. Over 3000m you should not sleep higher than 300-500m then the night before. It is also important to not exercise hard the first day at high altitude (this will increase the risk of getting HAPE). Well known is that you can use Acetazolamide for preventing AMS. There is a wrong communication in the climbing society that this type of medicine hiding the symptoms of High Altitude Illness. In research studies the result will be speaking. With a dose about 125mg and the treatment should start the day before the person enter the high altitude. The result of the prevention includes; Stimulation of the ventilation, you will sleep better, and the physical capability will be better. Less weight loss, less muscle mass decrees and did better result in physical tests. An important research result is that Dexamethasone is more effective than Acetazolamide when it comes to prevent from AMS. But it does not increase the ventilation at the way as Acetazolamide*) does. Dexamethasone does hide the symptom of AMS and HACE. This medicine could be used within rescue missions.

*) Acetazolamide force the kidneys to produce bicarbonate, which balance the hyperventilating effect at high altitude. This will affect the breathing pattern to become normal especial at sleep. But there is also bi effect within the drug, something you have to consider.

It is Always necessary to develope your knowledge and skills. Good books can help you on the way. Today i will suggest Falcon guides books. A real treasure for us nerds..

I will also test the Ortovox Trad 35 backpack. A backpack for skiing and mountaineering. What I expect for a backpack is that it should be easy to access. It should  be light  and with straps for equipment. So far I like this one. But I will do a hard test on ski and snowmobile adventure for real feedback.

I will also update with feedback about the Arcteryx jacket Mens Beta SL

And at the end some good Music..

See ya soon..

Last weekend I spend at Abisko/Bjorkliden for a ice climbing ”clinic”.  Tovo Spiral a Swedish/French mountain guide was the mentor. The first day was a lot of controlling skills and tecnique and also traversing on the ice. Real good for develope our skills. The secons day the focus was on buildning belays set up and abseiling. So two real good and exciting Days of ice climbing tecnique… The ice Close to the mountain station was quite ok, but we were hoping to get some more ice, but the weather; rain snow and hail(as usual in the area)

When it comes to workout, it is time for strenghten up legs and the cardiovascular ability. So now it will be focus on hill training, stepp machine etc. So one month of prepairing for the upcoming guiding on skies andsnowshoeing. 

When it comes to gear I will have some new test in front of me. A totally new brand Arcteryx will be one. The jacket Beta SL hybrid. A light 2L Gore-Tex Pac-lite. This one will be interesting.

Another intersting thing will be to check the Petzl Micro Traxion pulley. This is a must in the crevasse rescue kit. High efficient with a self locking system, it is a good thing to bring on the glacier..

This week I will present a Swedish nice mountain lodge. The Fjallbacken at Bruksvallarna. Here you can ski, Ice climb and much more. The food is localy produced and will be served in the Helags restaurant.http://www.fjallbacken.se/

The upcoming week thre will be a new interview ..

See ya soon