UKC

Recently moved to Sweden and was informed at the local wall you need a red card to lead climb indoors here. Was also informed there is a theoretical component to the test. Has anyone done the test?

Tack!

In reply to Mazza:

In Norway you have to do a test also. Red card means you can belay toprope and green means u can lead belay. I got asked a load of the usual questions when I did the test but no written test. I would guess Sweden is similar

In reply to Mazza: hmm. I was tested for lead in norway and only have red?

In reply to Mazza:

I did the test some years ago. It was a theoretical and practical assessment, where you show a certified instructor you have the necessary skills.

Green card means that you can climb using a top rope, and safely belay someone climbing on a top rope.

Red card means you can also lead climb, and safely belay someone leading.

In reply to Mazza:

If there's a theoretical aspect, I would guess that it's entirely at the discretion of the wall/club in question - I moved to Lund in August and started climbing at the wall there, and to get a red card I simply paid 50kr to have someone watch me lead a route and lead belay.
At least in Lund, then, if you're competent it's fine - The guy asked me a few questions while this was going on, but they were all of the 'which is the dead rope' kind. The only mildly surprising thing was that they frown on teaching people to use a stopper knot here - Supposedly, the SKF (Swedish national climbing federation) reckon that doing so could lead to people clipping into an anchor between the figure 8 and stopper knot when leading outdoors!
If you're not fully happy with lead belaying, however, you might struggle to get sorted - Unlike at the walls in the UK (at least the ones I climbed at when I was learning), you're really not supposed to learn to lead belay by doing it, even with someone backing you up via a top-rope or some such. I have friends who want to get into outdoor climbing, and their only real options are to get one of the few places available on their bi-yearly 'learn to lead' courses, or to be taught outside of the club somehow. That's the case in the Lund/Malmö area at least.

In reply to DBoothroyd:
I might be missing something here, but why don't they just go outdoors and climb something?

Surely you don't need a permit to climb outdoors there?

Can you not take your friends somewhere and show them, after all, it's really not that hard!

In reply to Oceanrower:

In reply to Oceanrower:

I'm only speaking in terms of Skåne here (and I certainly wouldn't wish to disparage Swedish climbing), but, in essence, people don't really do much other than boulder in the south. The area is incredibly flat, and there are, to my knowledge, two developed roped climbing areas - Soffabacken, which is mostly sport with a couple of decent trad routes, and Kullaberg, which is a peninsula with (mostly trad) sea cliffs and, oddly, I've met far more Danes than Swedes at both. Kjugekull, which has occasionally been referred to as the Swedish Font, is also in the area, and is a similar distance from Lund/Malmö as the other two crags.
So essentially, most Swedes in this area seem to boulder or top-rope - There are people in the club who climb V8/9 but have never worn a harness, and I once went to Kullaberg with three Swedes who were excited about my having a full trad rack because it gave them more options for making top-rope anchors (a dark day).
I know a few people who regularly lead outdoors, but getting to crags by public transport, coupled with the generally crap weather here, means that it's often difficult to get anything organised. I suppose there's always the option of just going with these friends who are new to climbing, but I don't fancy handing a belay plate over to a complete novice, explaining the concepts, and then setting off on a 30m lead on dodgy sea cliff rock.

Anyway, apologies to the OP for going wildly off-topic - This was more a diatribe bemoaning my own position. Also, this doesn't reflect on Sweden as a country for climbing as a whole! Chances are (statistically speaking) that the OP is in either Gothenberg/Stockholm, in which case I would assume that there is a far better culture for leading there, based on the proximity of Bohuslän!

In reply to Oceanrower:

I've lived in Norway for nearly 4 years. I still don't have their equivalent 'brattkort' and have never been asked for one.

In a way its a good system of universalising the test that most people take/ do if they join a new wall.

In reply to Mazza:

Thanks for all the replies!

Oh and as for going outside, winter is long up here but spring is on its way at last.