Sunday, March 21, 2010

"This is my church": two Sundays in the forest

Two Sundays, two great days of climbing. Some pictures from this and last weekend. Last week on the Saturday evening, Dave and I went up to Valkeala, and camped over night. It was a beautiful starry night but cold - at least -15 oC. Drinking beer before camping when it's that cold is never a great idea as you always end up having to get up to go out a pee. I really must remember that, but then beer under a canopy of stars is great too.

Dave tarping. He claims he was snuggly and slept great.

My little Hubba. It seems to shed snow with ease.

Dave climbing at Lintojanvuori.

Dave seconding.

The end of a good day.

A frozen lake. Finland has a lot of those.

Today we went over to Kisko and despite temperatures hovering around freezing, had a good session with the ice feeling plastic and comforting in comparison to the scary brittleness that has typified the ice of this very cold winter. I even stopped in at Kauhala on the way home and soloed another 4 lines in about twenty minutes, jogging back down to the bottom of the cliff between routes. The hero-ice was just that good.

Dave climbing 'Bon Voyage', WI3+ at Kisko.

Me looking vaguely terrified whilst leading 'Tappisolu', WI3+, Kisko.

Dave thinking light thoughts whilst styling up the very skinny and steep dagger of 'Nilkkapilarit', WI4+.

3 comments:

neil said...

"Drinking beer before camping when it's that cold is never a great idea as you always end up having to get up to go out a pee."

Toby, I can recommend you invest in a pee bottle - a 2 litre Nalgene is the Antarctic veteran's bottle of choice.

Anonymous said...

Fat up for the Kukko cans, attaboy!

Toby - Northern Light Blog said...

Kukko pils, in fact all Laitila Brewery beers, have been a great addition to Finnish culture in the last couple of years!