Last week the blog was about the art of guiding in general and judgement in particular. And it was six areas about this; What I take in, Who and what I trust, What I know about this, What I feel and believe, My choice and at the end Delivery. So here follows how you can improve all this areas.

1. What I take in. When listening and reading, be aware of your own information filters – make sure you are not just getting what you like to hear or see. Secure the consistence of the information. If the quality of the information you receiving isn’t good enough don’t hesitate to demand improvements.
2. Who and what I trust. Ask yourself how much you know about the source of the information you are taking in and about the source you getting it from. How credible are they?
3. What I know about Keep a track record of your judgement for what went wrong and wright. Identify lessons that you learn from decisions taken at times of stress. Look for broader experience to build understanding an knowledge in areas where your judgement could be tested in the future.
4. What I feel and believe. At least understand, and if possible mitigate, your own biases. Check your understanding of these with someone independent of your viewpoint, such as a coach or mentor. Be aware of the values that needed, or might preclude you from pursuing certain decisions or courses of action.
5. My choice. Check the way a choice has been framed for mistakes, biases or omissions. Ensure there is a risk assessment. Consider preparation for the choice. Prior meetings to review and clarify issues can help take the pressure off the final decisions. Pre-mortems can help anticipate what might go wrong further down the line.
6. Delivery. Consider your own relevant delivery experience and that of those making the recommendations to understand feasibility and associated risk. Check the evidence and implications of the proposed speed of action, being explicit about trade-offs between time and cost.

And at the end always thing of: Think critically, and tackle ambiguity and complex problems effectively and efficiently. Listen, respect others and appreciate diversity in all its forms. Surround yourself with highly-regarded people. Communicate clearly and effectively. Act with purpose and intention.

(the back pack for the upcoming guide session) I will try to use all this thoughts and guidelines in practice in my upcoming guiding session.  My result will be in the next blog. So time to go to Lapland and Kebnekaise…

Real nice tribute for Jämtland:

Min Hyllning Till Jämtland – YouTube

See ya soon

Todays topic will be about guiding. I really don’t know how many hours we have spend about talking about how to become a good guide, and what is the difference between a good to a great guide…

( A lot of thought and coffee about guiding)

When training guides you learn a lot from the students, as well from the other trainer and most important about yourself. This topic is really complex, because we all have our own view of the conclusion. But from my understanding and discussion with other there are three main parts for becoming a good guide. But first of all is to understand the role of the guide. As a guide you should be a part of the team sometimes, a leader sometimes and also teacher or a coach. The ability to play and feel the right time for all roles will be the ground to stand on. I always also comes back to the three step thinking. What will happen in the next step if I take this decision, and the step after that…And when it comes to the ground the foundation it will be our way of making our judgement. This is an interesting area which I will dig deeper in. I must understand why I make the judgement I do.  1. What I take in. This is about how much attention we pay about what we hear and see. 2.  Who and what I trust. We rely on the quality of people and material for the raw material of our judgements. In an era of “fake news” we are more aware than ever of the need for care about sources. Some colleagues are more reliable than others. 3.What I know about this Judgement is context-specific. What is right today may be wrong tomorrow when events have moved on. 4.What I feel and believe Values and beliefs are inevitably involved in judgements. It’s important that we are aware of them, not only to incorporate them if they are required, but also if they represent biases that could get in the way. 5. My choice (the stage at which many decision analysis techniques are available.) We need to make sure we bring together the raw material of the judgement in a way that improves the chances of success. 6.Delivery .Choice is not the end of the story. The feasibility of delivery also has to be considered.

And for being able to make and developing your ability of making good and right judgement, you must consider a responsibility of the participants, and safety. And also do it in a seriously way. With all important weight in the weighing scale. At Sunday I will continue of how to improve your way of improve your ability of making judgement.

KALEO – Backbone (LIVE at Breiðarmerkurjökull) – YouTube

see ya soon.

The todays history begins in the mid-60s, that was when I was born. Growing up with skiing, skating and hiking in my youth, the naturally step was to be a member of the Swedish outdoor association. The weekend were spend in wind-shelters or small cabins. At the photo here you can see one of the cabins where I spend a couple of Friday-Saturdays in my youth... Building footbridges and bird-watching etc. This membership broad me up to Sylarna in Jämtland in the beginning of the 80s. I could not imagine at that time that I was going to end up to a International Mountain Leader…Today there are few trails, cabins or mountain stations in the Jämtland area that not has been visited by me. Adventures in the     French alps, Italian alps the Austrian alps Morocco, Iran, Argentina, Norway led me to more experience and adventures. But lets begin from the start. Early 80s I went up to Jämtland for the first time. The Sylarna mountain station had burned down. The category of hikers at this time was old-fashioned. There was two big brands in Sweden at this time; Haglöfs and Fjällräven. Hiking was supposed to be a sacrifice and hard work. The frees-dried food was in a grey color and tasted…shit. But lets begin from the real beginning. The outdoor culture in Sweden was promoted by the Swedish outdoor association and that  already in 1890. With the first school championship on skies in 1886 the movement has been started. In 1957 the exercise facilities was created as a standard for the Swedish breeding home. From here the outdoor culture was growing. So from that, I was introduced into the outdoor world. So that was the background in the 80s. During the 90s, the thinking was that its everyone’s responsibility to take care of our own outdoor and workout responsibility. Now the running trends started to get in to the society. Nordic walk with sticks, and also “bicycle moto-cross” what we today known as mountain biking. During the 2000s, the “extreme” challenges was on the map. X-treme running (earlier known as cross-country running) was a “new” thing. Also the multi-sport challenges stared to become a form of new challenge. But was does this have to do with outdoor in the mountains you may asking now. But all this variants have to be more extreme. And the next step was during the late 2000s to move them up to the Swedish mountains. Mountain marathon running, and Keb-classic etc. 2010s. has become the decade where everyone measure and compare everything and put it into social media. Its more or at least same importance to show others then for your self what you have done. So what is my thinking of it in the 2022 then? We got a new generation of hikers or visitors in the Swedish mountains. Visitors with less experience, and at the same time the peak hunters that got equipment and knowledge. This means that the mountain area will get more affected than we think. This combined with the warm up effect out of our way of living, means that I think we will need restriction. Both from an environment safety and sustainability perspective. But I a very optimistic for many people are talking about it and thinking about it and have stopped their consumption…

So what will be the essence of all this words then…Well with good training and preparation in low lands you will be able to have a nice time in the mountains. And I have been preparing the whole life for being intendent for the mountains, and…here I am:-) still learning, still developing:-)

A tour to Rjukan. During the last weekend, I went to Rjukan. This place is the Chamonix of Norway. When you come into the valley, the Gausta peak will be in your sight, just like Mont Blanc in Cham.  The small town is magnificent, and offers a lot of adventures. A couple of morning hikes with the Husky and a peak visit at Gausta peak was the outcome. And also a visit at Vemork, the heavy water facility.  Havent you been there, it is a must:-) Now I been there for both ice-climbing and hiking…

This week I will review the Montura wind revolution west.

All Along The Watchtower: You’ve Never Heard It Like This #10! – YouTube

See ya soon…

July already and in the middle of summer. I have promise a review of a pant from Bergans, but I will dig a bit deeper in the area. I will also look into how to develop your skills of using intuition…

So when you are about to choose a pair of pant, there is a lot of different things you need to consider. Therefore it is not a easy topic. First you must choose if you want  shell-pant or a soft-shell pant. That will be your first choice. Today I will dig a bit deeper in the choice of a soft-shell pant. (you might use this as well for a jacket) At this picture you got three different pant. One pant for three season hiking, One what I shell call a hybrid, and a one for high intensive activities.

Lets start with the one to the left, the Stellar EQ Guide shell hybrid pant. This one is nice and got reinforcement on the knees, the butt and in the end of the pant. This one is a nice three season pant, but it has some bad details (you can read about it in a earlier blog) You can keep them a bit longer than a regular pant, but that is just for a short while. The second pant is from Beyond Nordic, it has nice details but the fit is not 100% though the cost is 92,94 Euro so really cheap of what you get. The third one, is a scaled variant for high intensive activities. The cost of 223 Euro is to much for a such a stripped model. Ok, so what have we learned from this then? Well, if you want a pant that suits well, you have to pay a bit more. (not necessary for everyone, rather for the one being in the mountains much of his or her time). Even if you have a hybrid pant (or jacket) you still need some sort of shell) So why don’t bring just one apparel. For the legs(pant) it can be a choice of bringing a breathable choice and bring a light rain pant in the back-pack. So what do I like the Y-lightline progressive pant from Bergans then?

This pant is alpine fit, means that it is tight fit. This is something I really like. Two big pockets were you can store a map etc. So really nice, but the price comparing to details and finish is to expensive. So it will be just NNN. No ventilation zippers or any other details. I have much higher expectations on a pant at this price area…

And now over to something complete different; In the mountain my intuition have both help me, and save me a lot of times. When you got that feeling that something is wrong and you take another decision that leads to the right way…Such as when you got a strange knowing  that something is going to happen. Or an unexplained feeling that want go away, Feeling very strong emotions toward someone or something and later understanding that those feelings were correct, and why…So how can you become even better of this skills? This suggestion might help:

First of all, start meditate. Use just a couple of minutes every day and just sit and meditate. Become aware of your gut instinct, choose the way or path you ”feel” most of. Third is to doing daily body scan, check if and where you got tension. This will also be in the present in a nice way. Spend time outside, use the lunch for a walk in the park. Be aware of what thought that comes up during this. It might be your intuition speaking to you. Get of from being reachable, get of from social medias etc. not for 1 hour but for four hours. Next suggestion will be to ask a question to your intuition, sit down and think of it, journal if you got a piece or the whole answer. It might not come immediately, but the process is ongoing. If you do this the developing is on, good luck!

7 Things Highly Intuitive People Do Differently – YouTube

Protoje – Incient Stepping (Official Video) – YouTube

See ya soon…