A climber of rank..

Gudmund Söderin is a legend among climbers and outdoor people. First climbs in Norway and Sweden, he has on his track record. About 6-700 routes he has been the first man on. In addition, he and Franz Fischer were on the first ”Swedish” climb of MT Denali in 1977. He has also been responsible for the alpine mountain rescue in Jämtland, and has also founded the Jämtland Climbing Center in 1989. The well-known climbing wall at Storulvån is among others one of his work. In 1975 he also was the 6th in the World Championship in slalom.

But how did your interest in outdoor life begin?
-Yes all started, I was out fishing and skiing with Daddy. When I was 17-18 years old I ran around the mountains and fished and other. Around -75 I went with Frasse (Franz Fischer from southern Germany) who asked if I wanted to hang on and climb. So it was. Frösön Östberget, Sylarna, Iceland and Canada became. Among other things, a climb of Mt McKinley (Denali) and also on Greenland.

When did you get into the alpine mountain rescue?
”It must have been 82-83 sometime, but at the beginning of my career, I worked a lot with skiing in Iceland as a ski coach so it did not get much at the time.

Can you see any trends or something changed within Outdoors during the time?
-The big difference today is that it’s going to be so fast. There are short weekend trips, with a peak ride on skis for example. Brorsan has run a top trip for 40 years and I for 20 years (became a lot of climbing instead of my part) but that’s a lot more. Driving the white band in 14 days is also such a trend that it will be so fast. On the equipment side it should be easy, and it’s fine as long as it’s right.

Can you see if these trends affected the mountain rescue mission in any way?
-No not really. Not the form of the mission itself. However, there are many more who are out and are active today than before. Then, one can see that Youtube, Facebook and other social media influence how people activate themselves. You would like to drive on more difficult passages, etc. Then it is clear that there were few who were out on the first snow in October, and it is more common now. The ground has not tied the snow, so if it is built on, the avalanche risk will be greater.
Do you have any favorite place to share in the Jämtland mountains?
You must become Frostviken then. Summer fall and the winter. However, if you want to get rid of the snowmobiles, which is allowed in the area, you have to go in Norway. Then you will have a quite environment..

Do you have any fun episode you can tell us about?

I was working as a guide at the Sylarna mountain station, I think it was Mattias Jaktlund who was the manager at the time. I was in personal housing when the phone rang. It was the reception that told me one men was lying 500m from the station. So me and another guide Mattias Jansson went down to the man. It shows that he was cooled and also got the Parkinsons decise. At this time it was a Product event at the station and among others Klättermusen was one of the brands there. This man was wearing a pair of trousers from the brand. The owner Peter Askulv passing by passing by and asked if he could help, we told he couldnt.  Of a sudden the man woke up and asked why all was staring at him. he did’nt understand a thing of what had happend. I told Peter Askulv that it was because of the trousers(ha ha). Next day the man continued to Blåhammaren. A couple of years later I was at a mountain rescue seminar. I asked a doctor if he ever had meet a man with cooled and Parkinson decise at the same time. He aswerd no, and he did not got a good answer how to treat it…

https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=78&artikel=6315248

And enjoy a old SVT program Vildmark, with Gudmund..

https://www.oppetarkiv.se/video/1556266/vildmark

See ya soon…