UKH

Hi All,

Myself and some friends are considering traveling to Sweden (North of Stockholm) to vist a bunch of friends over January.

I have been recommend to go to the Jamland triangle, however their website currently down.

Has anyone any experience of basic mountaineering routes in Sweden?

Any advice would be great,

In reply to F_D:

The big mountains are a LONG way north of Stockholm! It's a big country Sweden. I've only been to the Sarek area in Lapland so don't know about Jämtland, but I suspect that where ever you go in January it is likely to be proper cold and skis will be the normal way to get around. Is that what you are looking for?

In reply to F_D:

We're looking for mixed climbing, low grade mountaineering. However I think January might be the wrong time to do it.
What sort of stuff did you get up in Lapland?

In reply to F_D:

Östersund climbing club has a few locales with ice and mixed climbing...

And Sylarna massif has classic mountaineering stuff. But Sylarana is about 25 km from the nearest road, and I believe the mountain stations are also closed (not even sure if there's a winter room).

Some stuff here:
http://www.ostersundskk.se/klattring/fjallklattring_sylarna.htm

The "good" stuff is further north, Sarek and Kebne.

In reply to F_D:

I've been to Jämtland but only in summer. Don't remember seeing any cliffs & it reminded me of rolling Scottish hills & guess it would give some good nordic touring in winter. I suspect trying to get around without skis would be pretty tedious

In reply to F_D:



Take a spare jumper,


Chris

In reply to F_D:

Take a torch and either a charger or spare batteries

In reply to Chris Craggs:

That line is either chance, or taken from Doug Scott, giving advice to Tasker and Boardman, for their upcoming Chagabang trip

Brilliant

In reply to F_D:

I live and climb a lot in Jämtland. The weather right now is rubbish - warm and wet - although the hills are sure to have snow and still ice. Most of the posts here are right - the main deal is rolling hills, a lot like the Cairngorms. However, there are some real gems. Sylarna is the most obvious and the climbing potential is massive - not a lot has been done there. The traverse is one of the great mountaineering days out, but to get to the mountain station is a 16km slog. I'm not sure it is open in January, but most have a winter room. The traverse itself is technical in places, but only up to Scottish 3 at the most. And you can bail off it in many places as well. As the other posts say, skis are pretty much essential although there is not a lot of snow right now. If you get a dump though, and are on foot, you are in trouble.

The other great place is Lunddörren. Access is a problem in that it is again a 25km round trip just to get to the climbing. In the pass itself there is a lot of ice, but maybe January is a bit early, especially with the poor winter so far. I was there a month ago and it was bare - we walked in and climbed a 300m grade VI,5. In and out in the day was an 18 hour round trip! I usually go in with hear for a weekend, but that involves skis and sledges.

Basically, it is Scottish climbing and Arctic conditions which is a full on combination. If you have decent experience you'll be fine, otherwise I would stick to the lower level routes. The Jämtland Triangle goes between mountain stations and goes through some amazing Arctic scenery. January may be too early for the stations to be open. Check out Storulvån, Blåhammaren and Sylarna mountain stations for the full triangle.

Otherwise there is good low level ice climbing about 45 minutes to an hour from Östersund which is always worth checking out. Offerdal and Klövsjö are the best.

Good luck with the weather. It can get down to -30C, but at the moment it is about +5C! Down to -8C at the weekend though. Who knows what it will be like when you come?!?

Good luck!

In reply to adamclimb:


It is, the road to Storulvån opens up sometime around March or so...