UKC

If you were to ask any dedicated boulderer about Europe's best spots, the answers you'd get would be pretty predictable: Fontainebleau, Magic Wood, Albarracin, so on. The reasons are obvious to anyone who's been there, or even those who've only read about them! But does that mean that there aren't many other places around the continent that can hold their own on the international stage

Pete Edwards presents the case for Swedish bouldering.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

If you think the 27Crags has good enough topos. Perhaps investing 5 Eur for a months Premium access might be smart. Especially, as you can download the topos to the phone (Navigation still requires web access though).

In reply to UKC Articles:

Where's my passport!

What are the bitey bugs like?

In reply to UKC Articles:

Who's going to write the Finnish Bouldering article?

In reply to pasbury:

The bouldering is great but we did encounter mosquito's in huge numbers! Sometimes they covered the trees like bark but we didn't seem to bothered to much.

In reply to pasbury:

Not too bad, mossies and horse flies.

Horse flies only come out to play when it's sunny and warm.

Mossies can be dealt with nifty stuff like a Thermacell...
https://www.thermacell.com/products/repellents/portable-repellers

In fact they also work really when for single pitch crags with lots of mossies (for the belayer that is).

In reply to pasbury:

Plentiful. I'd say the numbers CAN (but not always do) rival Scottish midge. BUT they are mosquitos so they're significantly easier to spot and swat. That goes for anywhere too - we had so many of them it was driving the dog nuts in Kjugekull and enough to force us to take refuge in the car near Gavle. But at the same time, we had days all overr the country with absolutely none. Sorry that's a bit vague but it is very hit and miss.

In reply to ad111:

You pay to get me there and i'll gladly write the article! The island of Aland was actually the original plan but it fell through and the Great Swedish Bouldering Tour was what came about as a consequence.

27crags was actually started in Helsinki so there is tonnes of stuff there too. Give me enough time and i'll be there for sure.

In reply to Pete E:

I'm already in Helsinki! I've had to bail on three trips to Ahvenanmaa (my Finnish mates prefer not to use the Swedish name - Åland) so far this summer. I will hopefully get out there a few times before it gets cold again! 27 crags is great, although they've swapped a bunch of the Helsinki crags to premium only recently, which is annoying but probably fair enough.

In reply to ad111:

Did you read the email from them recently explaining why they've gone premium? Kinda made sense but i'm guessing they've had lots of criticism. Still a top quality service though.

Finland is really high on my list, really wanna get out there. Sadly (for my plans, not for life) i've got a young family now so the days of three week road trips have probably gone for a little while but the dream will stay there. Keep us posted with photos to keep the psyche high!

In reply to ad111:


It was in On The Edge about 12 years ago! It was back when the endless boulders around Vaasa had just been discovered but my understanding lots of the East Finland stuff discovered since then is more finger friendly rock.

If you live there, why not have a go writing it yourself?

I haven't looked at 27crags for some time and can see why they might need to charge, but if you had added crags or blocs, or edited them, back when it was free it would be a bit annoying if they were then charging for others to access your contributions.

In reply to TobyA:

The climbing in Vaasa is fantastic! Aside from Font I've never been anywhere with such a high density of great quality and cool boulders. Next week I'm heading East so I'll try to sample as much of the climbing as I can. Last time I went I got completely shut down by a bunch of sport routes that (theoretically) were well within my grade!

I've got August free and writing it up would be great fun but I feel there's such a huge range of places I don't yet know enough to write it. I've only been here since September - and obviously I didn't get out much over winter! Perhaps I'll run it by a bunch of the Finns I climb with. Anyway it's something to think about.

I'm not actually upset with 27crags, the website is really helpful, the topos tend to be great and it is a high quality resource. I'm sure in the near future I'll end up paying for premium. I'll definitely get it for next time I go to Font.

In reply to Pete E:

The kids will love Finland - it's the home of Father Christmas!

In reply to ad111:

Didn't you get to Nuuksio or Kauhala for ice climbing through the winter?

In reply to TobyA:

I wanted to. I failed to find any partners. Plus I'm not a particularly experienced ice climber and I sold all my screws to pay for the flight to Finland in the first place so I needed to find someone with gear as well!

I've actually struggled to find trad partners as well. I've got one now but most of the Finns I know just want to boulder and do a bit of sport climbing. They seem to think trad is scary.

In reply to ad111:

You should have asked me.

But unfortunately I think with the kid no 2 on the way, I'll be pretty much focusin' solely on bouldering. I do hope the the winter arrives, as I still have a line or 3 I wish to climb... and a new mixed crag I'm thinkin' of developpin'.

In reply to HeMa:

I see my mistake now!

Hi, I'm Adam. I'm a keen climber who moved to Helsinki in September. I'm an experienced trad climber and inexperienced winter climber who'd love to get out and climb this winter. If you are in need of a partner it would be great to get out and do some trad, ice or mixed (although I've never done any before)!

My logbook gives a vague idea of my climbing, although I tend to forget to fill it in.