1up

So, I'm back in Finland and it's snowing. Big surprise. Well, not really but I was expecting the weather to be better when I flew here. I might flee to Austria any day now in search of better weather. Anyway, last Saturday there was a premiere in Helsinki for the movie Pure, which went pretty well. It's good to notice how I seem enjoy the movie more and more every time I see it. That is a sign of a good movie if you ask me. Also, I think Chuck did a very good job with putting together the soundtrack. I'm really pleased with the music in the film.

Here is a short clip from last fall. We shot this at about 1 A.M, after hours of setting up camera equipment. This is the first ascent of a highball problem in Finland that I named '1up'. With about 9 meters height and the landing dropping away at the end, it is quite scary. The problem starts by climbing an 8A+ called Hottentotti, but instead of dropping off half way up, 1up climbs all the way to the top of the wall. The upper section isn't very physical climbing, but technically and mentally hard for sure. As the landing drops off at about 6-7 meters, falling off after that point isn't really an option. I felt like the last five metres of climbing surely add one grade, therefore the grade 8B.

Rain and First Ascents

The weather in Finland has been very rainy lately, but I’ve managed to put up a couple of new problems. One of them, located near Vihti, I named Optical Illusion, because it looks really easy, but in fact the difficulty is around 8A. Another FA I did, has been a project for a long time. My new problem is the full line climbing an 8A+ called Hottentotti (8A from the stand start), but instead of dropping off, you climb all the way up. I named it 1up, because it is THE line from the obvious sit start straight up to the top. 1up is 8-9 meters tall with the landing dropping away, so it adds quite a lot to the scary factor, but I'm not sure if it actually adds a full grade to the 8A+ difficulty.

First Ascent of Optical Illusion, 8A

We had night filming session, with a film crew plus two photographers, so there should be some cool footage of the ascent. The short film we made, might premiere at the Reel Rock Tour in Helsinki 13.9. We’ll see. Right now, I’m on my way to Arco Rock Masters in Italy and after that to hopefully not too hot Switzerland.

Let there be light

1 A.M. Bouldering session

Photos by Heikki Toivanen