There are a few magical places that I discovered in my climbing life where
I can simply come back over and over without ever getting bored of. For
bouldering there has been Fontainebleau, for sport climbing
Céüse, for multi-pitch Verdon and for trad climbing the
Peak District. Two years ago I discovered a new place that definitely deserves to be
included in the list: Bohuslän
in Sweden.
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| The crag of VRÅNGARÖ |
In this region you will see red granite cliffs everywhere you look, being
it on the beautiful coast full of fjords or coming out of the woods that
cover the little hills of the inland. The rock is fantastic: perfectly
smooth, with a wide variety of shapes and, of course, cracks. The climbing
here is mainly trad, with just few anchors here and there (most of the
time you have to build your own), and bolts just where is not possible to
climb with gear. Most of the routes here are not just splitters that eat
your gear: the cracks tend to be flared and intermittent, so you can get
less intuitive and more distant placements. I think this place is a
perfect mix between the “friendliness” of the crags we have in northern
Italy, like Cadarese
or Orco, and the “boldness” that a place like the Peak District can have. In
fact is not unusual to see people top roping a route before going for a
lead attempt on some of the harder lines (like in the Peak District it’s
often possible to access the top of the crag from behind).
Hassan Chop,7a - Granitbiten, 6c - Backdraft, 8a
My first visit was in 2019, just a short stop of a few days on the way
to Flatanger. We climbed at the crags of Hallinden
and Skälefjäll, and we had some nice temperatures and decent weather. During that first visit I had the pleasure to climb, besides easier
stuff, Veckans Värsting, 8 (7b+), and Backdraft, 9- (8a), that proved to be a good introduction to the climbing in
this place. On the last day we had some rain and we just managed to
visit the beautiful crag of Ulorna,
without being able to climb: it was enough to start planning a new and
longer visit the following year!
So in August 2020, after all the pandemic madness, we prepared to
drive again to Sweden, this time equipped with more gear as well as
crash pads. Unfortunately we were not so “lucky” with the weather, the
sun was hitting hard every day and temperatures soon rose up to +28°:
it was definitely more pleasant having a swim or eating an ice cream
than climbing on granite. The first days I worked the moves on the
scary Electric Avenue, 9- (8a) but I decided I was too hot for me to consider a lead
attempt, so I started to look at something different, and I found an
interesting line at the crag of Vrångarö, a short 8b called “Crassostrea Gigas”, placed just in front of a small beach where we could relax and
swim.
Crassostrea Gigas, 8b - Vrångarö
This route is mostly to a highball with a crack in the middle, where is
possible to place two cams. The first crux is getting to the crack and
is climbed above pads, the next one is managing to place the gear and
get past the flared crack itself, the third one consists of slapping a
slopy rail that leads to the top. I worked the route for a few days and
while being able to do all the moves, I always got too sweaty inside the
crack and could not get past it starting from the beginning. As a small
consolation I managed to climb a new boulder on perfect rock just right
of this route, and I called it “The Holy Pinch”, 7c+.
Another route I tried without success on that trip is the offwidth Presenten, 8 (7b+). It’s a short overhanging offwidth that goes from a tight
#5 to a tight #6 in the first part, and follows with some wide fists
(#4) until you turn the lip of the overhang and the difficulties are
over. It doesn’t look so hard when you look at it and, given the
grade of 7b+, I thought I could even flash the thing if I were lucky.
That was a huge error of judgment and I ended up sweating to death
even trying to aid up the thing. After two days of efforts I managed
to find a good sequence and to do all the individual moves, but I was
still far from the possibility to climb it, and my body was begging
for mercy.
We spent the last days visiting around, discovering new crags, and
trying to climb as much nice stuff as possible. A few evenings we
enjoyed bouldering under the shade of the trees at the crag of Häller
where the rock managed to keep a decent temperature throughout the day.
We were already dreaming of coming back with better temperatures the
next year as we had too much unfinished business!
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| the town of Fjällbacka |
This summer, for the third year in a row, we packed our car and drove
up to Bohuslän, hoping to find better conditions for climbing than in
August 2020. Sometimes is nice to come back to the same places: you
get to know the little secrets; you get to know people better and you
start to feel at home. This place although is so big I will need to
come back a few more times to be able to see most of the stuff it has
to offer.
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| Ramsvikslandet Fykan |
At the beginning of the holiday I had two goals in my mind: Crassostrea
Gigas
and Presenten. This time the temperatures were much nicer, always around +20° during
the day, and it was much easier to climb, like it was during our first
visit in 2019. It did rain a few times, but it was always possible to get
some climbing done before or after the showers. The first thing I tried
was Crassostrea: although the moves felt easier straight from the beginning, it still
required three days of work to make it happen. It is a bit scary above the
pads and placing gear gets tiring on a real lead attempt!
The route is hard, but it didn’t feel as hard as something like
Greenspit in Orco, which is very different by the way, and probably
deserves the “+” in the grade. After that we started climbing some easier
offwidths, to get in the right mood for “Presenten”. At first we went to
see Skrubbsår, 6+ (6b+) at Hunnebo Klåva, a nice wide crack in a flared corner, and then the classic
Offline, 7+ (7a) at Häller. I obviously failed at both on the onsight,
but they went smoothly on the second go after I understood how to do the
crux.
Skrubbsår, 6b+, Hunnebo Klåva - Offline, 7a, Häller
It was now finally time to try Presenten, the route that spit me out the previous year, and the route for which I
trained for this winter in the self-made offwidth I made in my garage. I
had already climbed earlier in June Penitenziagite
and Glowes of War
in Orco, both given 7c, but I knew I was going for something a bit harder with
Presenten. Luckily I did remember how to do the cruxes, and I managed to
climb the route on the 3rd go of the day, even if I already planned to come back at least once for
it. It seems all the lock down winter training in the garage paid off! Or
is it thanks to the new TC PRO prototypes of La Sportiva?
Who knows.
I haven’t done as many offwidths to be able to understand how the grading system works, probably nobody knows, but I can say something like Turkey Crack (8a) in Cadarese, Glowes of War (7c) in Orco, and Presenten (7b+) in Bohuslän should be reversed in order when it comes to difficulty, at least for me. After Presenten there were not many days left, but I still wanted to try another classic line here in Bohuslän. The options were Crackoholic at Ulorna and Electric Avenue at Skälefjäll (the one I tried last year), both 9- or 8a. I decided for the first one as it seemed a bit shorter, safer, and easier to work in just a few days.
the crag of Vrångarö - Ibens bock & Crackoholic at Ulorna
The first day working on the route was hard: I managed to do all the
moves in the upper part quite easily, but I really struggled with the
lower crux, that I managed to climb just a few times and not even
starting from the beginning. I also tried the famous route in the corner
on the left: Ibens bok, 8 (7b+) and I soon realised it was way
too thin for my fat fingers, there were a few moves I couldn’t do, even
trying to smear my feet all the way up every time possible. I have to
stop trying anything that involves jamming my fingers in a #0.2 crack
size. It’s totally pointless and I must accept this.
The next day on Crackoholic I tried to put on some stiffer
shoes, I revised a bit my foot sequence and eventually I managed to
climb it on top rope, mimicking gear placements as I was climbing. I
was planning to come back another day for a lead attempt, as the sun
was about to hit the wall, but in the end I set off anyway, just to
test the fall on the lower crux. Surprisingly I didn’t fall and found
myself at the top of the route! I haven’t got any footage
unfortunately, so I link you a video of the route above.
Ramsvikslandet Grosshamn
The last two days we went for more offwidths: a classic one called
Laybacksprickan 7 (6c) at Björkberget, which is a
nice hand/hand sized crack, and a new one called
Squeezebulb 7 (6c) at Hunnebostrand, a short
chickenwing size sort of chimney (wide #6). I managed to onsight both,
which is rare for me, so I was quite satisfied! We also had time to go
back to Häller for some bouldering one last time before
leaving, where I climbed “Lone Wolf” 7c+/8a, which I briefly tried the year before, but was too hard to
do in the heat.
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| Squeezebulb, 6c, Hunnebostrand |
August 2021 has been good with weather: not too rainy, not too hot.
We finally managed to enjoy Bohuslän for 11 days, which is
definitely not enough, and I strongly recommend you to stay longer
if you can! ;) We will definitely try to come back to this place
again, as it has so much to offer. Probably the best period for a
visit are springtime and autumn, when temperatures are a bit cooler
and you don’t have to constantly escape the sun.
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| Sotekanalen |
For those interested in this place I’ll link this film called
“Crackoholic”, like the route. It explains a lot of its story and
its ethics, and don’t worry: not all the routes are as scary as
the ones you will see in the video! There is plenty of easy and
safe, and even hard and safe routes to do as well. See you
next time Bohuslän!
