Early, early Spring in Bohuslän

Here’s a recap of a five day trip Lauri and I did to the trad climbing mecca Bohuslän mid-March. We both have visited the most popular cliffs more than once; Hallinden, Häller, Galgeberget, Välseröd and Vettekullen to name a few. This time we decided to scout new crags and ended up visiting a dozen.

I was still not recovered fully from a stubborn cold so I spent most of my time hiking, belaying, and making opinions about cliffs. Here’s my notes:

First day we spent at Hallinds klack. After climbing the classics at Hallinds Klack Vänster we went to check out Lilla Väggen. The guide book has no photo of it so we did not know what to expect – a pleasant surprise! The both easy routes (4+/5) are really good and the delicate bolted arete (7) is better and longer (and harder) than it looks.

The next day we visited Högberget, Furuberget, and Skyggeberg.

Högberget and Furuberget looked inspiring to me with routes mostly in the 6- to 7+ range. Högberget was tall and looked super fun, but unfortunately wet at the time. Furuberget reminded me of Kustavi with shorter routes on splitter rock. Skyggeberg didn’t look as fun as I was expecting, though it has three classic 6-s. The approach was quite long in the Bohuslän standard and the cliff looked broken and adventurous.

What is a long approaches in Bohuslän? Lea, Katja and I spent two hours approaching to Tuntorp, couldn’t find it. And then an hour to Skälefjäll, which we found eventually. Both should be easy 10 to 15 minute walks.

Störreberg was described “broken” and I think it fit the description. Lauri climbed the recommended Vassa Armbågar which looked ok. I was too tired to climb (hung on tr a bunch) but didn’t feel like I was missing out. Belaying in a T-shirt was worth the hike to a sunny cliff.

And then we went to Broberget where I had a mental breakdown because the routes looked fun, the weather was great, and I was too tired to climb. There’s a lot to do here, I’m sure to return. Sigh.

Third day was colder and windier than the first two. We slept in and started driving towards Vinternberget. On our way we noticed that the cliff has a climbing closure. The guide book tells to check out a website for more info but it wasn’t up to date. The cliff right before the parking lot was told to be ok to climb at but we didn’t want to risk it since the cliffs are close to one another.

Änghagen was an interesting stop. This is the home of Presenten: maybe the most sandbagged route in the history of climbing. The climb was originally graded 6+ (/10d) but after a couple repeats it turned out to be harder and got the grade 8 (/12c). Bästa leden i Välseröd (6-) must be good.

Hällers Myr was beautifully located right next to a small lake. I will go here on a hot summer day when I want to swim and relax by the water after climbing. The cliff offers good looking hand and finger cracks in the 6-7 range.

Svaneberget has really good looking routes in the 6+-7 range right by the road. Navigating the turn to the parking area first try is harder though.

I wanted to climb long, easy routes and Brabbersberget was supposed to be the place for it. Once we got to the base of the climbs the winds suddenly grew stronger and temperature dropped. I climbed in a double puffy and was thankful for Lauri putting up the ropes on the easy routes I had planned to lead myself.

 

On our last day the weather got really bad so we started driving back early and visited Klättercentret Telefonplan in Stockholm. I visited both Telefonplan and Akalla this winter and recommend both. Especially Akalla is very family friendly with an awesome toddlers wall and huge cafe.

I can’t wait for my next Bohuslan trip, maybe in the fall.  Now I’m off to Yosemite with Liisa, hurray!