Sunday and summertime (here in Sweden). So today it will be about tenting. With a upcoming spring and summer it is time to plan the tent adventures. So when it comes to tenting, it is important that it will be comfortable, so how do we do that? As always it is important to plan this. Just the way of choosing a place for the tent can be a whole blog by its self,  but chose a plan surface and most important; check where the sun will rise. You don’t want to have a hot tent in the morning. Don’t eat directly before you shall go to sleep, your body will work with the digestive and it can be more difficult to come in sleeping mode. Boil water and fill up your thermos. Now you got all prepared for the breakfast. Bring the breakfast in place so you can sit or lay in the tent and eat. Put you headlamp so you know where it is, if you need to get up during the night. Ear-plug can be good to bring, it will help you to fall in sleep. A good sleeping mat is also a very well invested equipment which will help you to sleep good. And of course a good sleeping bag. Remember that is should be the sleeping bag who shall warm you up at not your clothes. So  sleep in wool 1st layer. A lamp(or a light stick) in the tent can be comfortable. Also think about the ventilation, todays tent often got real good ventilation, so make sure you have that in palace before you go to sleep. Now I hope you will get a real nice night in the tent. But on the other side, you might stay up and enjoy the sun-set…

Ringnes-Ronny – Valhalla Bass Boosted – YouTube

See ya soon…

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

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

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

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

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

Deer Tick – Twenty Miles – YouTube

See ya soon…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

300 Mornings – YouTube

See ya soon..

Review of a guide…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For complicate the whole picture you can look into this:

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

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

See ya soon…

Dotan – Home – YouTube