Hunza Peak 6270 Swedish FA in 1991 in alpine style
Well friends soon I will leave the bolted paradise of southern France and head out to the real world. The Himalayas where real alpinism happens. I have spent two winters preparing for this outing. In September of 2007 I had not climbed ONE meter in 14 year. Yes not one meter. Between 1986 and 1994 I climbed almost full time but the tragic loss of so many great and loved friends made me take a long break from climbing. Then one day in September of 2007 I bought a pair of La Sportiva Mythos and went "sport" climbing. This shit was new to me. I grew up trad climbing and this bolted stuff was a strange encounter. I started climbing with a teacher from school who brought us out a day to HIS (Vardkaseberget) self develop cliff. I don't know what I expected but not a 12 meter cliff. The cliff was located south of Stockholm in Sweden. And one of the greatest inspirations of my climbing life was Lars-Ake Swartz my high school teacher. At the cliff I was hugely disappointed but as the day unfolded I like it. My friends where super exited about the new cool sport but I was reluctant.
I wanted a MOUNTAIN not a cliff. Later that summer I was off to Kobenekaise 2217 m and the crown Jewel in Sweden as its the highest peak in Sweden. I was equipped with a pair of Makalu Extrem a double leather boot good for real MOUNTAINS. A slight overkill... Well it was fun I felt like a real alpinist. But better I meet a Swedish alpine pioneer Mr. Per-Elof Lidstrom. He was a bit of a legend and I was listening like a kid at christmas eve to his stories. I was transfixed from that day and lucky for me he kind of took me under his wings and thought me climbing. I started off cleaning his aid routes and then I brought me Ice climbing in the north of Sweden with legend Frasse Ficher. I re visited Frasse with Andy Cave in the late 90th on a slide show tour. This was the start of my winter climbing activities.
In 1989 I was off to Pakistan on my first Himalaya Expedition. At 18 this was kind of a shake up... Quite different from suburbia. My dearest friend Tomas Weber (UIAGM Guide and Bank owner) was with me on this trip and we had a blast apart from quite bad snow conditions. I think we where in way over our heads but it was great for Swedish alpinism so who gives a shit if we failed I know we inspired lots of friends to go to Himalaya. In 89 when this expedition happened it was the first alpine style effort by Swedish climbers in Himalaya. No royal protection in the shape of the King as patron, no big sponsor and no guys with grey hair from the army...
I was back in 91 and scored big as a leader of at 10 man strong expedition to Shani 5885, Hunza Peak 6270 and Bubelemutting 6000. We toped out two out of three and made a FA of Hunza Peak via a new route in alpine style. It was the beginning of the end for me. In 1993 our dear friend Daniel Bidner died decending from K2. It was to much for me. I had lost about 5 true and real friends to mountains and I had not finished University and just lost my virginity... Politics and work was a resort of comfort far from suffering and pain. But as a friend said: "you meet every one twice and life tend to go backwards"... So In 2007 I was back at square one. It was great and in a few weeks I was doing 7a:s and I started to think about alpinism. In feb 2008 I topped out the Colton-Brooks in 12h and the Cecinell-Nomine and I was back in the game.
Now I'm 100 per cent back at where it all started. I'm off to uncharted territory in Pakistan trying to pull off a super ambitious plan of summitting G3 7952 and G4 7925 both via new routes in Alpine Style. One is quite a big bite to chew off TWO is huge! It can even be too much but then again too much is never enough. I have never managed to do any thing with moderation in life so why start now? This will be a great summer and a huge adventure but I will miss the number one Swedish Alpinist Krister Jonson. I care if we summit G4 that is our main target, but my life is not depending on this summit so I have a casual approach to this epic venture. My ego is big but summits bigger so in the end its about adaptation, not ambition. That's why I despise O2 and fixed ropes and trade routes on 8000 meter peaks. There is thousands of new possibilities to try your skills on in Himalaya why summit Everest or Makalu with O2 and think you have archived any thing worth reporting?
