(5km running 10 km cycling and 5km running again)

The heat has come to us, and you got the summer vibes. During this period it is time to build up the fitness overall. Running can easy become boring so it is important to challenge yourself all the time. Today I chose to do a duathlon. Running 5km mountain bike 10 km and 5km running again…you have to keep up the creative side.

As a guide you understand that I must always be prepared, fit and always develop/evolve. But if you are a adventurer you will have the same challenge or?! Of course it is more important as a guide, but as a participant you also need to be a good one. When you are out there, think about the first time you where out, bring that feeling. That is maybe what some of your company feel at the moment. And as a guide -be like your local bartender – know and fulfill their desires before they have to ask. You need to be present and a good listener, you should always be excited about what’s occurs around you…One of your skills should be to becoming a showman. When your guests -those intrepid explorers -feel like they are stepping up to a challenge and making discoveries on their own, you are a successful showman. See and hear/feel everyone that is your responsibility. This ”soft” skills will often get forgotten or not counted, but from my perspective all guest disserves VIP treatment from you as a guide. I will continue on this track ahead within the blog.

This week it will be season premiere at Skuleberget Via feratta. But than the weather must be good with out to much rain. So if its good condition, it might be a tour in the near future…

Whosoever South – Til the Day I Die – YouTube

See ya soon…

This week has been a very hectic week. Annual meeting in the Swedish Mountain Leader organization among a lot of other stuff…The workout has been good this week, a focus and the strive of keeping the orienteering competence at the top.

Today I was thinking to get into the mid-layer area in clothing. And as you understand it will be about the upper body. I think this is a difficult area. Should I have a vest, or a jacket? Should it be with hood or not? Should it be water and wind repellant, o maybe not? Shall it be down or hybrid or both or just merino wool or? Yea, as you can see this is a real mess. But as usual, start analyze when, where and for what you will be using it. For me it will be one with hoodie. Then I can use it around the seasons. And I can use the hood for store the jacket/sweater. I also think it is nice if I can use it as a shell as well. Not for hard rain, but wind and water repellant. So down or not, same here it will be a taste for each of you. Cold weather down works fine, wet condition it is better with primaloft etc. And I always got a vest of course…

Due to the topic of today what would fit more than a review of the Swedish brand Tierra. This brand has been in the market since late 80s, and its been a hidden gem for the most of us. But today I will review the Tierra Belay jacket. This is a hybrid jacket with hoodie and that is water an wind repellant. It is a perfect friend to bring in your back pack. With wool from Gotland Sweden, and designed from Tierra this is a nice mid-layer.

The other garment I will test is the Tierra 3L Templet trousers. This is a ski and expedition pant. Special pockets for transceiver’s etc. Spontaneously it looks nice, and with a good finish. But I will  come back when they have been in heavy duty…

Tiësto – 10:35 (feat. Tate McRae) (Official Music Video) – YouTube

See ya soon…

-How do you got the time for all that she asked me after I told her about what I am doing. So what have I told her? Well, working at least 40 hours each week within the IT business., Being Vice Chairman/treasury of the Swedish Mountain Leader organization, workout six days a week, driving my own guiding company, training and assessing International Mountain Leaders and hiking with my husky twenty K each day, and reading non-fiction and fiction literature.  And yes, just that, I also give lectures on both leadership and other topics such as mountain safety etc. -How do you get time to all of that, she asked me. And to be honest she was not the first to ask this question, and it is just in those seconds I reflect over it by myself. First of all I must inform you all; I sleep very good, but I need my at least my seven hours sleep. This is one of my key I think. If possible I never waste my sleep. There is also four focus areas that I think I am always having in my mind.

The first is moral, and for me it means; if I have decided something I am doing it. And I am doing it even if the conditions are not the very best. That always give me good feedback in my mind. It strengthen me all times. Ok even if it was tough and I did not want to do it, I did it…

The next will be dedication, this area is really a challenge. If I am in to something I am really into it. Time after time I realize having this habit or inhabit. This can be a curse, both for me, but mostly for my family. Luckily me they got used of it…A good example, in 2016 I became member of the SFLO and ask the chair if they needed same help, the answer was: not at this time. Well, two years later I was elected in as Vice Chairman and treasury. Oups, how it can be…Dedication oh yes..

Effectiveness is my second name. For all who knows me a bit, you know this is one of my great skills. When I am sleep I sleep. When I am workout I am just doing that, with fully focus. If I am going to shower I do it just in maximum out of 1 minute and 38 s. I am not shower for being warm or anything else just for the reason of becoming clean, that’s it, nothing more nothing less. This meaning that in the morning knowing exactly what I am going to do during the day. Hm. Now you think, what happening if there will be a change that he can’t influence? You spot on there. Within the years I have becoming much better in adopting to the reality. But I am then replanning directly and adapt and solve the problem in my mind with a new plan.

Planned, yes I am planned. I will have things in order to achieve the best result. A good example is the planning for a trip in the mountains. Some of you have become familiar with my planning list, in minutes arrangements of the journey. But the planning also result in the that I being doing what I want to do and achieve. It is one out of my best tools for being as much as possible in new adventures and being prepared and in shape for it, both mentally and physically.

In the service (army) I learn all this with SOP (Standard Operation Procedures) you need to have routines for being able to do the planning. The Routines will be the putty that combines all this together…That is crucial for living a life like this😊…

So ok, now I think we will be on a wave divider here. You who think; shit this is what I would like to be. And you other who would think; what a boring and unspontaneous person this must be. I really like my life, and I have so far being able to do the things I wanted to do, and there is still more to come. But on the other side, I might be a good guide.  And you, with having a wife that is quite the opposite of much of my characteristics I am much more adaptable than you might think while you reading this. So my last word this week will be -It takes two to tango in a good life😊

See ya soon

New Generation – Two Faces Have I – YouTube

The fire crackled cozy in the stove, and the coffee was poured. Outside the dark has captured all the daylight but here inside it was warm. The cabin was located on the Swedish side of the Norwegian and Swedish border.  The mountain man was a handsome man, his face testifying about to many days in harsh weather in the mountains. Slowly he started his story for the company in the cabin. But first we need to know this man a bit better. He was well known in this area. He has been in a fight with a bear, and was during the situated under the wounded bear. He was saved by his moose skin coat and his hunting mates shoot. The bear could however been able to give him a bite in his neck. he could show vision for the word. A mighty scar that made him walk slightly bent forward. He also got a special place to the Samis, for a wolf the ”reindeer killer” he has shoot in a distance of 400m. So he got access to there wind shelter and hidden fishing lakes among others. The moutain man put some more wood in the fire and continued. -It was midwinter at new years evening at 1891.  I was on my way back home from Norway, where I have sold some marten and wolf skin.

I have prepared one of the cabins close to Bråvallen at Öysjö mountain. The plan was to spend my night there on my way home. My Norwegian friends advised me against it, and it would show me that they was right to not do the trip. The snow increased in snowing and I thought I would dig me into the snow if got worse…The storm get higher in intension and it was not without the karolinerna that came to my mind. After a while I could see the cabin coming up in front of me. The storm has now stopped and the moon has come up above. Soon the fire crackled and the coffee was ongoing. The stories ghost stories I have heard about the area did not scared me. At one a clock the sleep come to visit me, it was totally quite. Then of sudden I woke up a hour later. There was a human close, I felt it by institution. The I sudden saw a face in the window. The face wearied a cocked hat (sv. trekantig hatt) and looked extremely emaciated. My first thought was that it was a Swedish military who has got lost or something, so I rushed out for getting him in. But outside there was no one and no track as well. I went round the cabin, there was no track to find. Strangely I went back into the cabin again. I took a cup of coffee and started to collect my thought, and when I looked to the window the face was there again. Now it felt eerie. I loaded my gun and went out shouting -is any body there. No answer and I went in again. It was quite, but after a while I heard shouting. I went to the window and now I saw humans, no ghostly figures. At a distance about 100 m a saw a group of faltering soldiers. Some with bare heads and some with bucked hats and all of them with collared boots(sv. kragstövlar)I saw this during a minute and then – then all was gone, and the mountain shone white resting in their gloomy secret. I did not sleep any more that night that’s for sure. And as you now understand I never rest at Bråvallen during the night anymore since then. One in the company made his voice heard – certain events may be projected into present time, and that maybe what has happened here he meant…This event happened in the area of the Karolinernas Death march. 

Well I also might heard a Kaolin at the wind shelter of Getvalen…

Quiet as a Star – YouTube

See ya soon…

In the blog from 5th of March I was writing about the essence of the guide. Today I going a bit deeper on one of the part, namely social intelligence. The key components of social intelligence is; communication skills and verbal fluency, self-efficacy in a social context, ability to understand and observe other people, impression management skills, strong listening skills, observation skills, improving emotional intelligence and practicing effective listening. So ok, now we got the understanding of the components of social intelligence and we probably understand that this is all important skills. But how do I improve my skills and ability of it? A good start will be to try to be quite and don’t listen or do anything for 50 seconds. Next suggestion will be -practice active listening. Let people talk there sentence full, before you answer or comment. Let it be a naturally paus…Now you have started your journey for become a better person and increase your ability of social intelligence. As usual I also got some book suggestion. Difficult conversation by Douglas Stone,  The Charisma myth by Olivia Fox Cabane, Talking to strangers by Malcolm Gladwell.

This week I will do some evaluation of the Salewa boot Men’s mountain trainer2 mid Gore-tex boot.

And the glasses Swiss Eye Raptor. So a report will be present next week…

Mazzy Star – Fade Into You (Official Music Video) – YouTube

See ya soon..

When it comes to emergency bivouac during winter in the mountains it is easy. You can use the snow as building material.  In your pack you also normally got a wind sack(shelter) you can use. But during the summer and autumn it can be a bit more challenging. But here comes a suggestion. First of all, when and why do you need to build a emergency shelter? Probably something has went wrong. Either you got injured or you may have got lost, or you’ve been surprised by severed weather. So now you need to act fast, and here comes one/two suggestion of how to build a emergency shelter that might take less than twenty minutes to build.

What you always should bring is a cord with a length of at least 5m. I always carry a wind-sack if I don’t bring any tent. Also bring a emergency blanket and now you got all for building a shelter. You need protection from wind, water and cold. So let us now begin. Step one, find three sturgeons in the same length as your self. You tide them together with the cord. Put two of them in the bottom and one up on the others.

Start the cord with a clove hitch knot(sv. dubbelt halvslag). Then turn the cord 10 rounds around the sturgeons.

Then secure them with a pair of length along them, and voila, you got  ”three-leg”.

This is the base for the shelter. Now you take your emergency blanket in the bottom and fasten them in the and sturgeons. Next step will be to put the wind-shelter or the outer tent on at the top. Secure the blanket among the sides with shorter sturgeons. Using dry sturgeons means you don’t need a saw.  But be careful, the emergency blanket is sensitive for tears etc.

(Really nice and cozy in here…)

If you need or want a lower emergency shelter use two shorter sturgeons in the opening. (50-70cm) otherwise use all in the same length as you are. So now you know what to do in a emergency situation….Ps. how did you spend your Easter? I did it building an emergency shelter:-)

Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love (2015 Remaster) – YouTube

See ya soon…

-Are you going to Marrakech the young men from Asni asked. We answered -yes we are. -Ok, you can go with my brother, he has a car and can drive you. Just sit down at the café and take a coffee and he will soon show up.

It sounded like a good suggestion so we took our backpacks and after a night in the storm and a avalanche tour at the foot of Jbel Toubkal we took our breath for a while. There was a little action, but not much in the small village, and after 30 minutes we started to wonder if the brother was going to show up. After 40 minutes i started to have doubt about  our ride. In the corner of the eye we could see a taxi started to be filled up, and at the same time we could see that our contact got a strange movement patterns. He was drunk, or full of drugs somehow. We grab our stuff and ran to the taxi and got the last places onboard. So in a Mercedes 200 from the 70s we where bound to Marrakech with 8!! others. The car did not have no or almost no shock absorbers. This on a mountain road, you can imagine what it was like. Soon the whole car was shaking out of laughter from all the passengers…But I was a beginner of climbing in Africa. And it was a great experience. And I think it is very important that we become beginners also when we got older. If you still want to live for real and learn more don’t avoid difficult situation, embrace them. You might fail, but that doesn’t matter, because it is not a failure you done before. You have developed – evolve. And since you are a beginner, you got a open mind. Our mind also become lethargic, so we cant se new ways to solve problem or challenges. When we don’t challenge our selves our brain, it will go on in the same ”speed”. Creative, well not so much..With this way of seeing the world, to learn new things – it will make the world larger, because we feel larger. So what will be your next step of largening your world?

En liten låt ôm vårn – YouTube

Paul Rey – Royals (Official Audio) – YouTube

See ya soon…

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..