Moving house

Time to move. New blog at:  http://markokauko.wordpress.com/

Sisäpiiri ceases to exist soon.

An update

Some pictures in random order from this season. Blogger seems to have gone from bad to worse so I might move my blog elsewhere.

Kikka on a super cool problem in Norway

Mika climbing Høygaffel

Olli and project

Päivikki (have forgotten the name of the boulder)

Mini world

Kikka climbing in Almscliff

Ilari working on Booty

Ilari climbing in Kanavuori

Kikka climbing DR weed in Germany

7 Veljestä

Lake was literally starting to take over Nurmijärvi.


Luckily we still found our way to 7 Veljestä boulder and Jani got a quick send of the problem! Which now goes with a number 8a+. We got some good footage of the boulder. I will edit and upload the video later.

We also visited Boulderkeskus Konala. What an amazing wall! Can say that it will take a bit more than a pain job to get Hutunki look like that... Great job Jarmo!


A photographic note. Muuratsalo is a great place to go for a Sunday walk. With camera of course...

Prime

The weather has been prime for sending. Hope it stays that way for a month or so. Almost all the crags are dry now. Except Halsvuori but that's a sport crag so who cares. It's a boudering season!

Olli Mikkonen hoping to grow few centimeters. 'Huuhto' a Kanavuori classic! Altough almost all the problems are classics in Kanavuori!


Marko Yliniemi doing some upwards joga on 'Huuhto'.

Easter

Easter came and went. We were supposed to go to Åland. Weather was so bad so we decided to go to Savonlinna instead. Can't complain about our choice, good food in a good company! Except I can't really climb at the moment. I have a painful golfers elbow. Luckily taking pictures is as fun for me. Hmm, maybe I should start filming some cool climbing on video. That could be fun!


Mika and 'Noitavaimo'. Hardest problem in Hurissalo. Well maybe not but close anyway.

Slam Dunk

How high above the hold can you actually jump with out landing on it?

O-P answering the question. Kanavuori 'Ankle Fucker'. As you can see, still covered in snow...


Juho doing the same but,


Landing on the hold with out holding it. This time Näätäkivi 'Paskoja Kompiaisia'. Little bit less snow...


Forte was good yesterday. Today there was a puddle of water underneath. O-P in action.

Part 2

Took some time but now it's finished!

S U N

"Sun is shining, the weather is sweet". Makes you want to climb. Doesn't it?

Extremely rare sunny day! We hardly ever get to see sun in November in Finland. Not to mention climbing! But today (22.11.2009) was a welcome exception!

Testing testing, so interesting. I think these new DSLR's make handy cams quite obsolete...

Past weeks

I have been a bit busy with school work lately. Hence the lack of updates. Here are few shots from past weeks.


Kirsi sending one of the best aretes in Jyväskylä called 'Uniikki'. Moves on it are very unique indeed. It is an arete, but doesn't climb like one.


One of the strongest boulderers in Finland Jussi Remonen has changed his passion from climbing to woodwork and other hand crafts.


Jussi's stool. Everything is done by hand and no electrical appliances or screws are used. Everything is done the old fashion way!


One morning in Lehtisaari.

Fyysikko

A funny video of my accent of Fyysikko... How nice to see yourself behaving like a total twat. Believe it or not, but I was still enjoying every minute of it!

Huomio: Sisältää huonoa kielenkäyttöä! ;)



Fyysikko is a classic Font 8B problem at 28.7. First accent was done by Tomi Nytorp in 2005. Problem consists 12 hard sustained moves and a jug haul at the end. On the send I got a really bad cramp on my right calf muscle. Luckily I was able to fight all the way to the jugs and top it out.

10 days in Lapland - Part 1

This is the first of two videos from our Lapland holiday. I decided to make two videos instead of one long. It will work better in 27crags as it features one area at the time. I didn't edit this video too much so that it works as a beta video too, I hope...

Part one features 'Martti Servo' block. Quality of the rock is as close as you can get to Fontainebleau in Finland. Without the reindeer you might actually think that you are in Apremont.

Misty morning

I am not a morning person. Sometimes it worth waking up early though. Like the other day, it was a beautiful misty morning when me and Doris went for a walk. Thankfully I had my camera with me.

Plywood factory at Säynätsalo.


Infamous bridge which has caused a lot of debate lately for being too narrow.


A good place for a morning swim?

10 days in Lapland

By the original plan we were supposed to go to Lofoten. But being Norway the weather forecast didn't look too promising. So in the end we ended up staying in Lapland for the whole time. Out of the 10 days we climbed 9. First 8 in a row. We were a bit knackered after that so we had to take that one rest...

Hiidenkirnut. Can recommend!


Kikka sending 'Los Cojones direct'.


Some easy soloing at Kirnut.


Doris and her favorite toy.


Kikka climbing at 'Rotanloukku'.


Can't believe that we have rock like this in Finland...


Jarmo 'The Axe' Annunen sending 'Pimp My Ride' at Servo block.


Kikka sending 'Almendra assis'. Or was it 'Peukku assis'?

Think...

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2038

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=48885

Kuhanjulma

Went through my video archives and found one that I haven't published yet. Quite a lot of work filming yourself climbing...


Quick update. Just got back from Rovaniemi. Weather was warm and humid for most of the time, but we still managed to climb a LOT. But more form that later. I have some video of our trip. Would people like short videos, like one problem in video or a longer one?

Problems that we got on video:

• Pimp My Ride (Jarmo)
• Viimeinen Tuuttikuski (Marko)
• Almendra or Peukku Assis (Kikka)
• Turvasanat (Jesse and Marko)
• Los Cojones Direct (Kikka)
• Pyramidi (Marko)
• Easy Company (Marko)
• Midi Assis (Marko)

Off Season

Like it love it? Or just hate it?

Have to say that I have enjoyed climbing quite a bit these past few warm and humid weeks. Off season climbing can be fun if you don't stress too much about it. I've been having some nice sessions with friends in Jyväskylä and Helsinki. Especially super humid session in Myllis was cool! Just did a lot of easier stuff but had to fight for every single one of them. So cool! Seems that every time I go to Myllis it's either too warm or wet. Now it was both!

Btw. Should off season be called wedding season instead?

Once again congratulations to our dear friends Juha and Oili! Thanks for an amazing wedding party! All the best to you both!

Now that the weather seems to start cooling down I've injured my both middle fingers... Right worse than left. Board climbing isn't good for you if you do too much of it. Holds are very similar all the time. I think that's the reason why I got injured fingers. Well live and learn. Although I think I should have learned all ready...

Anyhow, here is a video of Gluteus Maximus. F.A was done by Mika Hinkkanen. Think it was 1st of November 2007? Boulder is quite "of the beaten track" so it doesn't get much traffic. Although it's really worth your while. It consists 3 hard moves and shares the top out with 'Pacman'. Climbing is very similar to this Font problem called 'Hibernatus gauhe'. Although for me Gluteus Maximus felt a tad harder. Conditions weren't prime though.

TIA

TIA = This is Africa.


Roadcrew.

Rock: Quartzite. Not all good quality, but there is a LOT of it to choose from. And it varies in different areas.

Texture: Exactly the same as Grit stone but with more holds. With pebbles and all.

Color: Orange / Gray.


Teemu Uusi-maahi sending 'Rhino'.

Climbing: From mindless jug hauls to best climbs that you can imaging. Harder ones being better ones (most of the time).

Fact: There is more jugs than anywhere I've seen before. Still maybe not for beginners. Most of the blocks are just too easy to be climbed on.

Amount: Lot of rock, still not very developed (hope it stays that way).

Approach: Mostly long and treacherous walks (20mins being average). Mostly gravel road, but sometimes you need to do actual climbing to get where you are going (not too nice when its wet)... It's not an 'easy' area to be in like Font or Swiss.

Permits: Needed for every area (about 3€ a day per person). Hard to get and find out how the whole thing works...

Rules: Leave no trace, walk on existing paths, pick your garbage (finger tape is also garbage). Clear tick marks (so the same as any were esle)!

Guide: Coming... (some info in the web). Locals are making one.


Roadside.

Senery: Beautiful!

Wildlife: Yes and some poisonous! Didn't see any snakes though. Apparently you have about 2hours to get to hospital if one bites. It will be hard in that terrain. Good thing is that they mostly hibernate in winter time. Baboons are quite scary too.

Weather: Could be rainy. We where lucky though. Only two days of rain. It was mostly hot around 27celsius. Had some cold weather too. Actually saw some snow up on the mountains! If you are staying in a campsite, you will most likely need warm clothing.

Season: Our summer.

People: Very friendly. Still stay a way from certain areas.

Bankcards: Work. Need actual cash to get petrol though. For permits too.


Teemu Uusi-maahi sending 'John Denver'.

Eats and Drink: Olifanti, Nancy's tea house, Kelder. All of them good! Cheep too!

Shopping: For grosery Spar in Clanwiliam etc.

Stay: Many different. From houses to campping. We stayed in De Pachys campsite. Can recommed.

Car: Needed. Preferably 4x4. Roads tend to be quite bad in climbing areas. With heavy rain there will be hard river crossings to do.


Ville Kurru warming up in Plateu area.

London epic

We had a pit of an epic, when coming back from Rocklands. Our transit in LHR was about 9 hours coming from Cape Town. So we decided to go sightseeing London. Of course not taking the underground but only the very nessesery. We ended up walking +15 km with heavy bags. Almost missing the flight because someone got hit and killed by the train so the tracks got closed and we ended up running like headless chicken in a middle of nowhere trying to find a cab or right bus line. When in airport we got stuck in security check behind Serrano family form Spain who didn't know that tooth paste etc is actually considered as liquids... So we just barely made the flight.


Teemu having no clue where to go.


Well Paddington sounded good.




London Eye and Big Ben.


Kids playing around near Tower Bridge.


A tourist.


Dunno what the hell that was... Long walk though. Had to go see. Apparently its called ' The Gherkin or Swiss re'.
Koko näy

Teemu and mates.