Climbing in Sweden has always been strongly influenced by other countries. This is probably due to the fact that the climbing potential in Sweden is somewhat limited, which has forced local climbers to travel abroad. Throughout the years there has been a constant change in style and attitude among Swedish climbers. In the early 70's for example, USA was the leading country and inspired by the Big Wall climbing in Yosemite aid climbing regained it's popularity in Sweden.

This period was short however, for in the late 70's free climbing came on strong in Sweden, with british climbers such as Ron Fawcett and Pete Livesey as role models. With the introduction of bolts in the early 80's new possibilities appeared on the cliffs and the sport climbing attitude was imported from central Europe, with France as the leading country. The british role models were replaced with french rock stars such as Edlinger, Tribout and Berhault. New crags were developped throughout Sweden. However, the british influences with clean climbing, didn't give in. Therefore many routes that were established in Sweden during the 80's have a mixture of fixed (bolt) and natural protection. This attitude, that bolts should only be used where natural protection is non-existent, is still the attitude of most Swedish climbers. I sure hope it stays that way.

So where do you find the best crags in Sweden? Follow me on an odyssey of Swedish rock climbing. We'll start in Sweden's most southern province, Skåne, and work our way up to Stockholm, with stops at some first class climbing areas on the way. If time is on our side we will continue up north to some of the more remote and less frequented areas. I hope this guide will give you all necessary information and hopefully some inspiration too.

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Back to assignments»
From top to bottom:
Göran Wennerbrandt on Centralpelaren, Stockholm.
Henrik Magnusson on Hemorrojdfuhrer, Stockholm.