My climbing injury

My left index finger, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

On Monday I visited the hand clinic at Balgrist, just a few minute’s walk from my home in Zollikon. There I saw Dr. Schweizer, who examined my finger and came to the same diagnosis that I had suspected: partial rupture of the left collateral ligament of the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint of my left index finger. This ligament is the main thing that prevents the finger from bending sideways toward the thumb, so it’s pretty important.

In the upper radiograph, above, the damaged ligament would appear just above the joint in the center of the photograph. You cannot see it in this picture because soft tissues like muscles, tendons, and ligaments do not show up well in x-ray photos. This is a top-down view, so that ligament lies on the left side of my left index finger. I sustained this injury while working on a particularly difficult bouldering problem at Minimum, back in the beginning of August. It happened when I held a crimpy grip with my left hand and rolled the fingers counterclockwise to give myself a bit more reach to the right. With the weight bearing down sideways on my fingers, the collateral ligaments bore more than their usual share of the load.

Dr. Schweizer gave me some little strips to use to affix my index finger to my middle finger, limiting its mobility, and all but eliminating the possibility of oblique forces that might cause further damage to the ligament. Two months of rest are called for, along with daily exercises to maintain and restore the finger’s range of motion.

I may climb, but only if I completely avoid using my left index finger, or if I tape my index and middle fingers together tightly and avoid sideways loads. The prognosis a full recovery in time.

Climbing again

Yesterday at lunchtime I joined a few colleagues and met Simon at the private bouldering hall in Adliswil. The problems there are pretty difficult and I hadn’t been climbing in more than a month. So I was not too surprised to find that I couldn’t do much. Still, I had a good time and finished a few problems. Today my hands and forearms are sore. I should really climb more often!

Lucia 2008 in Stockholm

_MAL4843, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

I just returned from my first trip back to Stockholm since moving to Züruch two months ago. I was in town on business for a couple of days, teaching a TWS course for IBM. I extended my stay to include the weekend and Monday so that I could spend a bit more time in my old home and visit with friends.

Friday night I went the Klättercentret’s fifth anniversary party. The evening began with a bouldering competition. I enjoyed it very much, especially when I surprised myself by completing not one, but 4 black-graded problems—and this after months without any regular climbing to speak of! After the competition, the climbing came to an end and the real party began. Thai food and beer were served, and later in the evening we toasted to KC’s success with Champagne. Around one o’clock in the morning, a bunch of brave men took turns leaping from the central tower to try to grab a trapeze hanging at eye level about two meters out from the platform. I managed to grab the trapeze with one sweaty hand; but did not manage to hold on. The guy after me was the first one to nail it. It’s not easy to jump straight off a platform fifteen meters up in the air, even if one does have a rope to catch one’s fall! A live band consisting of several fellow climbers provided entertainment throughout the evening, and I saw so many of my old friends there. Being back at KC was bittersweet. I really miss the place. In the evening, I caught a ride from Helena back to her place. She was kind enough to let me crash at her apartment for the weekend.

On Saturday, I had dinner with Shahyar and Farzhaneh, the couple who are leasing my apartment in Bergshamra. Farzhaneh is an excellent cook, and prepared seveal tasty Persian specialities. In return, I helped get their internet connection up and running.

Later in the evening I met Lotta on Gamla Stan. We went to the Lucia concert at Storkyrkan. It wasn’t as good this year as in years past, but I still enjoyed the concert very much. This time of year, and Lucia in particular, will always remind me of my first visit to Stockholm in December of 1999. After the concert, Lotta and I had cake and coffee in the cellar of Chokladkoppen, a hip and cozy little café on Järntorget located in a building that must be at least five hundred years old.

Saturday night after the concert, I joined Helena and went to O’Leary’s in Sundbyberg, where Salsaakademien was throwing a Christmas party. I had an absolute blast at the party, dancing with so many of my friends from the Stockholm salsa scene. It felt just like old times, and everyone seemed glad to see me. Some of the best dances of the evening were with the ever-lovely Alexandra. The Sacuye gang delivered some great dance performances too, including one by Ibi and Marina that left me with a bewildered grin on my face for the next ten minutes. Those two have talent!

Sunday morning I met a couple of friends for brunch at Café String, and in the afternoon I went to Karbin for a bit more climbing. There, saw Emma and Bobo, and I made two new friends, Michaela and Alex.

Monday morning before my flight back to Zürich, I met Åsa downtown at the main train station. After a quick coffee, we took a walk in the brillinant morning sunshine. It was cold and windy, but we endured the cold with ease, soaking in the light and warmth of the sun. We walked down to Stadshuset and to the edge of Lake Mälaren.

I’ve lived several months now in Zürich, and I am finally beginning to feel like it is a place I might someday call home. However, Stockholm is stil home, and this trip was reassuring, if a bit bittersweet. It’s nice to know that the city and friends that I know and love are just a few hours away, and ready to welcome me again any time I choose to visit.

Thermography

Paula-visual-infrared-h.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Last week I had an opportunity to play with an infrared camera. Ayse, who works at FLIR Systems, was kind enough to bring one of the testing units from her office to Klättercentret, where we did some bouldering and took photos of one another.

The camera we used was a P640. This camera’s lenses are not made of normal silicate glass; they’re made of an oxide of the element Germanium. They are silver in appearance and are opaque to visible light. The camera is sensitive in the long-wavelength (8–15 µm) infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Warm objects emit IR radiation in this range, with a wavelength inversely proportional to their temperature. What you see is a picture of the heat being emitted from the body. For this reason, photography in this range of the EM spectrum is often referred to as thermography. 

In the photo composite above, you can see Paula’s profile in both visible and long-wavelength infrared light. The visible light photograph was taken with my D300. I’ve posted many more thermographs from the evening to a new Infrared photo set. All of the photos from that evening, including visible light photos, can be viewed here.

Sunday afternoon at Karbin

_MAL6338.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

This morning I joined Pete and Per for brunch at Frapino on Långholmsgatan just North of Hornstull on Södermalm. The food and the conversation were varied and satisfying. Afterward, I joined Pete at Karbin, the excellent climbing gym in the Southern part of the city of which he is part-owner. I climbed a few hours with Elin and Malin, and then bouldered for a while. While bouldering, I met a friendly chap named Pelle. Eventually, Ewa showed up and I took a bunch of photos of her as she traversed across the wall. She's an excellent climbing model: she has strength, skill, looks, and attitude!

Here are all of the photos from Sunday afternoon at Karbin.

Fun climbing at KC

_MAL5597.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Last night I completed a fun 7a+ on the tall wall at Klättercentret—the first 7-graded route I’ve done on that wall! The photo here is of another 7 that I’m working on. I took a wrong turn on this attempt though, and ended up having to lean on the rope a bit later in the route. Next time, I'll do the whole thing in one go. Thanks to Ayse for taking the photo!

Midsummer's eve in Stryn

Yesterday afternoon, Åsa and Patrik picked me up and we drove to Norway. We stayed the night in a friend's cabin in Trysil, and then continued our drive Westward this morning. We crossed over the pass, through a few tunnels, and down into Stryn, where we'll spend the next week. We're staying down in the valley in a cabin by the fjord. In the morning, we'll drive twenty minutes back up to the pass, where we'll ski on the glacier atop the mountain ridge. It should be great!

We just sat down to a lovely midsummer's eve dinner of pickled herring, gravad lax, boiled new potatoes, and broccoli and ham quiche. We washed it down with beer, and of course, Norwegian aqvavit. Damn, alcohol is expensive here. One half-liter can of beer in the grocery store costs about 4 USD.

If the skiing is too slushy on the glacier, there are other options down valley. We can go kayaking on the river or climbing on any of the many cliffs. The latter depends on somewhat dry weather though, and right now it's still raining. Typical midsummer weather!

More to come soon, including photos. Love from Norway.

My first traditional climb

It was less that one year ago that I did my first lead climb, indoors at Salveo Gym. Since then, I have gotten quite good at lead climbing on indoor and outdoor bolted routes (those with bolts permanently attached to the wall or rock). Last year, I bought a bunch of traditional climbing equipment while in the U.S. on trips to Texas and Massachusetts. My climbing bag is now well-stocked with climbing equipment, including nuts, cams, and an assortment of other devices. However, until this past weekend, I had not actually done any actual “trad” climbing—that is, climbing wherein one secures oneself against a fall by placing protective devices in cracks in the rock. I thought I should give it a try, put my expensive gear to use, and see if I liked it.

So this past weekend I did my first trad climbing. I took a two-day course arranged by Solna Klätterklubb. The instructor, Andreas Bengtsson, was knowledgeable and friendly. On Saturday we went to Vårdberget near Fituna. The other students who had originally signed up for the course had cancelled, so Andreas had told me I was welcome to bring a friend. I invited Linda and she joined us for the first day. It was a beautiful, sunny day; the temperature was well above 25° C, and probably closer to 30°. Once at the cliff, we got some basic practice building anchors and placing protection. In the afternoon, we sought refuge from the sun by retreating into the shaded crevice at the left end of the wall. After a long and sweaty day, we cooled off with a refreshing dip in the sea.

On the second day, Andreas took me to Grönbrinksberget, another cliff in the Fituna area. I had never been to this cliff before, because almost all of the routes there require trad climbing. We started off by rigging an anchor from a big pine tree at the top of the cliff and rappelling down. Next, I climbed an easy 4+ route on a top-rope, but placing protection and clipping in another rope as I ascended, just as though I were leading the route. Once I had reached the top, I rappelled back down. Having familiarized myself with the route already, I felt confident enough to do my first traditional lead climb on the same route. A route with a Swedish grade of 4+ is quite an easy route for me, but it was a completely different experience leading it and placing protection along the way. It felt like a 5 or even a 6 because of the added work of placing protection. It's psychologically more demanding as well, because the protection one places is the only thing one relies upon to stop a fall in the event that one looses one’s grip! I completed the route without any problems though, and it was actually easier and less scary than I had expected. I attribute this to the work done leading up to that point, getting comfortable with the trad gear and learning how to place it properly. In addition, the route was very easy to protect, with excellent places for nuts and cams all the way up the route. I must also give Andreas credit for his patient tutelage.

After my first trad lead climb, I secured Andreas as he climbed up and reviewed the pieces of protection I had placed. He pointed out potential problems but in general there were none. He told me that I had an eye for good placement of “pro.” Once he reached the top, we took a break for lunch. As a place to have lunch, it's hard to beat the sunny and windy top of 30-meter cliff overlooking the Swedish countryside. By coincidence, we ran into Matt & Lisa at the cliff. They were also there for a day of climbing, along with Johan and Maria, two other climbers from Klättercentret. They joined us at the top for a while and we all had a bite to eat.

After lunch, we moved the top-rope to another route and constructed an anchor using a rope around a pine tree and a cam placed in a crack in the rock on the top of the cliff. We rappelled down one by one and then I repeated the same procedure as in the first ascent: climbing secured by the top rope, but placing protection as though I were leading. This route was quite a bit more difficult than the first one, and I reached the top only after resting on the top-rope a few times along the way. If I had been leading the route, I would have had to down-climb or fall at the points where I had run out of strength. That scary prospect convinced me that I wasn't quite ready to lead this particular route.

Instead, we moved back to the first route we had climbed in the morning and I practiced falling. This was perhaps the most scary part of the day, but also the most rewarding. With me belaying him, Andreas climbed up and placed a few pieces of protection. He then fell on the top piece a couple of times to confirm that it would catch a fall. Then he came down and I climbed up to just above where his pro was, placing a large nut in the same crack. I climbed up a bit more and then, after a moment of hesitation, convinced myself to let go of the rock. I was probably a good 10 meters up the wall at this point, so letting go was not really easy. But I did it, and of course I was alright. The nut didn't budge, and I fell twice the distance from the point to which I had climbed and the nut. I actually fell a bit more than that, there being a bit of slack in the system. Next, I climbed up a bit higher and did the same thing. No problem: scary to fall, but so reassuring to experience first-hand that the protection does work. I then repeated the same procedure a bit higher up on the wall with a cam. I placed my green Camalot in a lovely crack in the rock, clipped in the rope, climbed up a bit, and then let go. The cams are a bit more complicated devices than the nuts, so until I actually took a fall on one, I wasn't really sure it would work. But I'll be darned if the thing moved a millimeter. I climbed up a bit more and took what was probably the longest fall of the day, 3-4 meters. Again, the cam held. I wasn't completely prepared for the length of that fall though, and I ended up bumping into the rock face with my hip and shoulder. I was a bit shaken, but otherwise unscathed. I have much more confidence in my equipment now that I have fallen on it a few times. The falling exercise was a good way to end the course.

I look forward to doing some more traditional climbing soon. But one thing I have learned is that some traditional climbing can be risky. If there aren't any good places to put protection, it could be tempting to some climbers to satisfy themselves with a poor placement and to just continue climbing. However, I prefer to avoid this kind of risk. Yes, there is some risk involved. And yes, part of the excitement comes from imagined risk, and from overcoming the fear associated with that feeling. However, the way I climb, I do not do anything that is actually very risky. I have no intention of climbing routes that cannot be well protected.

Over and out from sunny Stockholm.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Lisa took a few photos of me when I was preparing to my falling exercise. I will post these photos and more soon.

Oh baby!

_MAL8275.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Friday night I joined Isabelle and Patrik for a bit of climbing at KC. I had bouldered there for a few hours the night before, so I didn't expect great accomplishments this night. Even so, I completed a white-graded problem that I'd never seen before. It's probably only the fourth white problem I've completed. Yay!

Here, Karthik climbs a black-graded problem that involves a big leap at the end. Well, it involves a leap for him. I can pretty much do it statically. I think I did well this night because I warmed up properly, starting on the blue and red problems and only proceeding to the black and white ones after the first half hour or so.

Climbing at Ekoberget on Sunday

_MAL6661.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

On Sunday I joined Charlotte, Pia & Johanna for an afternoon of climbing at Ekoberget. It was crowded when we arrived around noon, with many of the easier routes already occupied. With some trouble, we managed to set up a top rope on one of the anchors. To do this we walked around to the top, set up an anchor on a tree there, and I rappelled down and traversed up to the anchor. It was scary but we managed. We then tried to climb the crack to the left of the anchor, but it proved too difficult due to the distance of the anchor from the crack. The route under the anchor was fun but at 7b a bit too hard for us. Finally we got to climb a relatively easy 5c. I led it without difficulty and the girls climbed afterward.

There were lots of familiar faces at the cliff, including Sara, shown here climbing a 6c with the moon and an airplane in the sky behind her.

After climbing, I took a dip in the sea beside the cliff. The water was cold, but the warm evening sunlight felt great on my skin once I got out. I'm looking forward to more great outdoor climbing this summer!

Climbing at Karbin on Sunday

_MAL7044.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

After brunch, Udo gave me an several others a ride to Karbin, where we climbed for a while. Diana, the American I met on the subway a few weeks ago, joined us too. I climbed ropes for a while with Diana, and was again impressed by her ability. She climbed a 5c without any trouble. Cool!

After Diana left, I climbed ropes with Sara for a while and then did some bouldering. I repeated several of the fun problems from Friday’s boulder open competition, including the one of blue-and-yellow holds in the above photo. (Thanks to Sara for taking the photo!) I also completed a black-graded problem of orange-colored holds that I hadn’t quite been able to manage during the competition.

Overall, the climbing went well despite the fact that toward the end of the day I began to feel like I was coming down with a cold. My neck and shoulders were sore, I was getting slight chills, and my head didn't feel right. After a while, I stopped climbing so much and resorted simply to taking photos. I’m particularly pleased with the photos I captured of Christian, Josefin and Jenni.

Here are all twenty-six photos from Sunday’s climbing.

Boulder open #62 @ Karbin

_MAL6485.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Friday night I joined Linda and some of her friends for a bit of bouldering at Karbin. We participated in the boulder open competition and had a lot of fun. I completed twenty-seven out of forty problems, a new record for me. I placed seventh out of thirty-two in the rankings.

Here are forty-five photos from the competition.

A bit of bouldering instead of salsa

_MAL6041.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Wednesday night is normally the night that I have my salsa lessons at SalsaAkademien. However, this week there are no lessons, so I had to find something else to do—preferably something equally strenuous. I decided to get a bit more climbing in before Friday’s boulder open competition at Karbin. I generally prefer to take a break from climbing the day before a competition, but climbing on Wednesday before a competition on Friday seems okay.

I climbed last night too, so I wasn't expecting much. Even so, with a bit of perseverance and a bit of advice from others, I managed to make some progress, including conquering this fun problem of yellow and purple colored holds. The trick is to match feet and flag with the right foot just after the first move up to the edge. Maybe that’s obvious to some, but it wasn’t obvious to me until Peter suggested it and I actually tried it. Thanks, Peter!

Here are seventeen photos from the evening.

Sunday afternoon at Karbin with Jens & friends

_MAL5684.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Sunday I slept in a bit, but went down to Karbin Västberga in the early afternoon. There, I ran into Jens, who was climbing with his friends Hanna and Annica. The four of us climbed together, and I took some shots of them from the top of the wall. In the above photo, Hanna is about halfway up a relatively tricky route.

I can’t wait for summer! I want to go outdoors and get some proper climbing photos. Oh well. Summer will come when it comes. In the meantime, this bunch of photos from the day’s climbing will have to suffice.

Climbing with Diana et al

_MAL5072.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Last week on the way to a customer meeting I sat across from a cute girl on the subway. I noticed that she had Pearl Izumi shoes and a JanSport backpack, so I figured she must be an American. We struck up a conversation an exchanged email addresses just before the train arrived in T-Centralen. A few days later, she joined me for a bit of climbing at Klättercentret.

Diana's from Boulder, Colorado, and went to school in Oregon. These are two of my favorite places, so I knew she and I would get along. Diana insisted that she hadn't climbed at all since September, but I found that hard to believe ’cause she did so well. For me, the climbing was much better than on Tuesday. I managed to climb a 6b+ on the tall wall start-to-finish without stopping.

After climbing toprope for a while, we bouldered a bit with Matt, Lisa, Anna and Johan. Diana took all of the photos of me. She's got mad cam skillz, I'm tellin’ ya. Here are nineteen photos from the climbing session.

Back to bouldering

_MAL4784.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

After few weeks away from climbing, I returned to Klättercentret last night for a bit of bouldering. I invited Kalle along, and he brought a couple of his friends too. I met Kalle through Emelie while skiing at Kittelfjäll over the weekend. Lisa H. was there, as well as Anna J. and several other friends. Jens from the ski trip was there too, and I learned today that he also knows Johanna, a girl I often see climbing at Karbin (and occasionally dancing salsa at La Isla too).

Well this night was not a spectacular one for climbing. My strength had been sapped by three days of skiing, not to mention three weeks of not climbing. It's now Thursday—two days since the bouldering of which I write—and my forearms are still sore. Oh well, at least I had fun. I saw Libby there and realize to my surprise that she’s from Australia. For some reason, I had just assumed she was Swedish. Her boyfriend Jerk was there too, and I got several good photos of him, including the one above.

I was too tired to remember to ask someone to take any photos of me. And besides, I wasn't climbing very well. Next time. I'm planning to go climbing tomorrow evening too. Here are a bunch of photos from Tuesday night’s climbing session.

Boulder open #61 @ Karbin

Last night I participated in boulder open #61 at Karbin in Västberga. I completed 22 out of 40 problems, better than my last showing of 16, but still a bit off my record of 26. I met some nice folks there, including Joakim and Sara, whom I learned are also friends with Josefin, a girl I met at Karbin a couple of weeks ago.

Update: The results from the boulder open #61 have been posted. Andreas and I tied for fifth place.

_MAL3283, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

I arrived late at the competition, and as a result, I didn't have much time left over for taking photos. Still, I managed to get a few. In this shot, Isabelle conquers one of the problems on the back wall. I posted thirty-five photos from the competition.

_MAL3465, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

After the competition, I joined a bunch of climbers at Judit & Bertil near Hornstull, for a few beers. The bar has Samuel Adams Boston Lager on tap, so I was happy. Here are twenty-three more photos from the pub.

Sunday afternoon at Karbin

_MAL2116.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

I spent a few hours Sunday afternoon at Karbin, mostly climbing with Elin, Emma & David. I also ran into several other folks there, including Fredrik and his sister Christine, pictured above. I climbed with them for a while, and them climbed a bit with Frida and Ewa.

To capture many of these photos, I attached with a sling to an anchor at the top, and used my 70-200mm lens pointing downward. It takes a bit of preparation, but I have the routine down pat: the camera is on its own sling attached to my harness, and the backpack in which I carry the camera has a carabiner on it so I can quickly attach it to the anchor when I reach the top. It takes only a minute or so to hook into the anchor and prepare for photography.

Here are the thirty-four photos I posted from the day.

In the groove

_MAL1372.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Now it’s beginning to feel like climbing again. After a couple of months in Austin, I had lost a bit of my strength. I’m proud to say that I’m now almost back to where I was before my trip to the States. It helped too, no doubt, that I got a full night’s sleep last night. Alex had been trying his usual annoying tricks, meowing and clawing papers in order to keep me awake an get attention. But last night I had finally had enough, so I locked him in the kitchen.

This black problem that had vexed me for weeks, and that I first managed to solve with Rami’s advice last week, was actually quite easy tonight. It’s amazing what a good night of sleep can do.

I climbed tonight with Elin, her sister and her sister's boyfriend. It was nice to see them. They usually only climb at Karbin, which is a bit out of the way for me.

Oh, and guess what? On my way into KC tonight, I bumped into Helena, a girl I met on the slopes at Kittelfjäll a few weeks ago. Apparently, everyone is a climber in this city these days.

Here are all the photos from tonight. By the way, these are the first photos I’ve taken with my new D300, which arrived yesterday. It’s amazing, and represents a bigger improvement over the D200 than I had expected. I’ll have more to say on this topic once I’ve had more time to play with the new camera.

Saturday afternoon at KC

_MAL6797.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Saturday I biked to KC for a bit of climbing with Emma & Henrik. I brought my 70-200mm lens and had fun capturing some photos from the top of the tall wall there. Photos taken from above the climber are often the most interesting, because the face and hands — usually the most interesting parts of the photo — are clearly visible.

I also saw Miranda’s sister Josefin there. I imagine Miranda and Kalle are back in Lund now, resuming their studies this week.

After climbing with Emma and Henrik on the tall wall, we all did a bit of bouldering. It was then that I ran into Stefan & Anja, two regulars from Karbin. They're both excellent climbers, and it was fun just to watch them and to see how they approach each problem.

Speaking of Karbin, the results from boulder open #60 have been posted. I finished 16 out of 40 problems, placing 23rd out of 50 participants. Not bad, but I'll have to get back in shape if I'm going to place in the top 10 again. Actually, I think the problems must have been harder than usual this time around. Dan S. completed just 26 problems, and he’s a lot better than I am.

After bouldering for a while, I joined Daniela, Robban, Kjell & Maja for a bit of Thai take-out food. I hadn’t eaten a proper lunch, so the meal was tasty and welcome.

Here are the 14 photos from the evening.