The crazy danish duo Wullff/Morgenthaler has made some funny climbing related cartoons.
Don’t we all know the feeling?
Visit their great site and see more funny crazy drawings.
Climbing Cartoons
Cure for the winter blues
Even though it is not winter yet, the fall? is still dark and wet around here. No ice and only cold wet rock or plastic to be climbed. I decided to cure the blues by spending a week on the Island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. That was one great idea! Corsica is simply a fantastic place. Sunny sculptured granite, sandy beaches and beautiful nature. Even in late October it was possible to? take a refreshing dip in the sea. The air temperature was hovering around 23 degrees during the day, the water around 20 – just perfect.
The famous Roccapina Beach?
The Col de Bavella is without doubt the Premier climbing location on the island of Corsica. A road from Sulenzara on the East coast, to the town of Zonza? splits the Col down its middle. A Stop on the valley rim is almost obligatory by all new comers to the area and gives you time to take in the view and then photograph it.?
Anders climbing on Col de Bavella?
Another fine location? is the beach of Roccapina. A wonderful sandy beach surrounded by yellow granite. Read more about this place and other Corsican climbing sites? at Planetfear.
If you want to explore the old towns of Corsica you might take a look at Bonifacio located on the extreme south of the island. The famous action movie The Guns Of Navarone was shot here. We went on a sea trip from Bonifacio and had a chance to see Bonfacios waterfront. Very impressive!
The Guns Of Navarone?
I’ll be back for sure!
Bornholm Climbing
Last weekend was spent climbing on the Island of Bornholm. Bornholm is located in the Baltic Sea and it is the only place on Danish soil where you can find real rock. The climbing is on granite and is mainly single pitch cragging and bouldering. The island is peaceful and secluded so it is a fine place to get your batteries recharged. We only met one other climbing team during the whole weekend. The weather was also really nice so basicly there was no excuse for not getting totally wasted – Just Perfect!
There are other reasons for going to Bornholm than climbing. The nature is wonderful and there are a lot of interesting medieval historic sights worth seeing. The castle of Hammershus is just spectacular.? There is an online climbing guidebook and you can find more tourist type info on Bornholmer Info
New Look
We are now running a new theme here on frontpoint-sport.com. The theme is called Transinnova Black by Mike Lopez. What do you think?
Hitting the lecture circuit
Fall and winter is the traditional time for me to do lectures. The summer climbing season is over, and for many this is the perfect time to go inside and enjoy interesting lectures about mountaineering. I have made an arrangement to give various lectures at AOF locations in Copenhagen.
I will give lectures on the Tatra Mountains on the 5th of October at AOF Rødovre and at AOF Hvidovre (2 shows) on the 11th of October. Check the respective AOF pages in order to see the details and schedule.
Eiger, The Vertical Arena – Book Review
Well! This is the first book review on frontpoint-sport.com. The book on review is called ‘Eiger, The Vertical Arena’ and it is written by Daniel Anker of Switzerland. As the title implies, this book is about the infamous Eiger Mountain located in the Swiss mountain range of Berner Oberland. As some of you will know, I have had some interesting mountaineering experiences on and around this mountain.?
Anders on Eiger North Face (Photo: Morten B. Johansen)?
The north face of the Eiger was the ‘Last Great? Problem’ of the Alps. The dramatic first ascent in 1938 by a German/Austrian team is described in detail, but also later attempts to climb the more direct lines is included. The extreme skiing attempts are covered in great detail. The photos throughout the book are very inspiring.? In short? this book contains everything you would like to know about the Eiger. This book is a highly recommended read, and a must for any aspiring Eiger climber.?
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‘The Vertical Arena‘ by Daniel Anker. ISBN: 0-89886-679-0
Summer in the Alps
I have just returned after some very intense weeks of climbing in the Alps. We climbed in the Swiss Berner Oberland, Mt. Rosa Massif and Chamonix. We climbed alot of different stuff and we made an attempt to climb the infamous Eigerwand. We did not succeed, but it was a very exciting experience beeing in such a forbidden and historical place. Check out Mortens Johansens gallery.
Now it’s back to work, but there will probably be time for more outdoor climbing during the weekends. I am running a bouldering trip to Kjuge in August and I will also be going to the climbing areas around Göteborg in September.
Summertime Rock
According to the calendar the summer will soon arrive. This means rock climbing on sun soaked rock during the weekends. Our local Copenhagen area ‘Kullen’ (in Sweden) is a great place for such trips.
Last weekend was fairly ok. It rained all Saturday, so we went to watch a movie in the nearby town of Höganas. In the late afternoon the sun came out again and allowed to climb for the rest of the weekend. We had a good time on the north shores of Kullaberg!
Klatre-POLITI
As a funny gimmick, frontpoint-sport.com has designed a T-shirts with the text ‘Klatre POLITI’ Which basically translates to ‘Climbing Police’ Some will consider this as a friendly message to some of the more conservative persons in the Danish climbing community who often act as the ‘Climbing Police’ telling people what to do and trying to define the right way to climb.
We believe that everyone is free to climb as he or she feels like and that climbing is a matter of self expression, where we take responsibility for our actions. Don’t let other people tell you what to think. Think your own thoughts and decide!
The Tatra Mountains
The Tatra mountain range is not well known to western Europeans. It’s located on the border between Poland and Slovakia. The highest point is Gerlach, 2655m which is also the highest point in Slovakia. During the summer the Tatra is a dream destination for alpine rock climbing. The Rock is solid granite and you don’t have any nasty glaciers to worry about on the approaches. In the area you will find several hundred well established and well protected multi-pitch rock climbs. This is also one of the only alpine areas in Europe that has not been invaded by expansion blots. The mode of climbing is traditional.
In winter there is excellent ground for ice and mixed climbing adventures like the ones you can find in Scotland.
You can approach the chain from either Slovakia or Poland. From Slovakia the nearest hub is the city of Poprad. In Poland it is Zakopane.
Anders will be leading a trip for the Danish Alpine Club to the range in June-06
Further info about the Tatras:
The mountains and climbing topos
