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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Boulder open #60 @ Karbin

_MAL4718.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Last night was boulder open #60 at Karbin. I did the best I could, but it was certainly not my best performance to date. I completed 16 problems, a bit off my record of 26! Still, I had a good time and completed a few tricky problems. Here are a bunch of photos from the evening.

Weekend recap

I've just stepped out of the shower and brushed my teeth, and I'm looking forward to laying my head on my pillow in just a few minutes. I'm really tired after a fun and eventful weekend.

The original plan for Friday evening was to go climbing and dancing with Åsa R. Unfortunately, she found out at the last minute that she had to work late, so I changed my plans a bit. I skipped climbing at Klättercentret and had dinner at home instead. I was actually partly relieved to have a little time to catch my breath and wind down a bit after work. Around 10 o’clock I went down to La Isla for a bit of salsa dancing. Some other friends who had planned to show up never did, and the place was really dead. Lots of the folks from the Stockholm salsa dancing crowd were on a Baltic cruise this past weekend, so maybe that's why the place was so empty. Elin was there with her new dance partner Paolo, and I danced a few dances with her. I also saw Niklas and Suzanne there — two of the folks from last weekend’s Sailsalsa after-party. After a while I saw that Janaki was there with some of her friends. We danced a bit, but after just a few dances, the D.J. started playing only reggaeton and disco music. We decided to try another club, Mojito, instead.

Mojito was packed, but not as crowded as the last time I was there. Plus, with the cooler weather, one could actually breathe. It wasn't a sauna this time, but it was still hot and sweaty. We danced until closing time. It's fun to dance at different clubs because each one has its own crowd. The crowd at Mojito is definitely Cuban and Central/South American: much more relaxed and easy-going than La Isla, but also a bit less serious about dancing.

Saturday I spent most of the day just lounging around and relaxing. I went outside for a while to take some photos of the flowers in Vibeka’s garden. I had mixed success because of the clouds that obscured the sun much of the afternoon.

In the evening I took the commuter train out to Johan K.’s parents’ place in Spånga for his 28th birthday party. I met some nice folks at the party, including Tennessee native and MIT graduate Katy, who moved to Stockholm two weeks ago to begin her post-doctorate work — something related to finance and mathematics. Inger and Eva also showed up after a while. It was through Inger (and Elias) that I met Johan three years ago. A few hours into the party, a bunch of folks went down to the basement playroom to compete in a dance-based video game. One plays by dancing around on a mat on the floor that's connected to the game machine (a Playstation 2). It was a lot of fun, and Johan’s sister was the best of all of us. I dind’t realize how late it was getting, and before I knew it, the time was after 3 in the morning. The trains had long since stopped running, so I called a cab to take me home. During the drive home I chatted with the friendly driver, a man from the Kurdish region of Iran who has lived in Sweden for 30 years. I finally got to bed around 4.

Sunday morning I was awakened around 9:30 by a phone call from Åsa B., reminding me that the “IBM Day” at Gröna Lund was about to begin. IBM reserved the amusement park between 10 in the morning and midday, and bought tickets for all of its Stockholm employees who wanted to come. I managed to make my way down to the entrance on Djurgården just after noon. Once inside the park, I met up with Åsa and Patric and went on a few rides with them. We rode the blue roller coaster and then rammed into one another in the bumper cars. Åsa and Patric had been in the park riding the rides since just after 10, so after those two rides, they went home. Left to amuse myself, I rode the roller coaster again, and then rode the fun catapult tower that shoots you up to the top of the tower (sort of like an inverted free-fall tower). It was quite cool outside, and after a while it started to rain. The cold weather and a slight hangover discouraged me from riding any more rides, so I took out my camera and started taking photos. I took a few photos of people and the rides; but mostly I photographed the park’s nice flower arrangements. I was reminded then that I had met a girl on the subway a few months ago who told me she worked maintaining the flowers and plants at Gröna Lund. I can't remember her name, but I do remember that she was friendly. The flowers were lovely, so she must be doing her job. I'll post some of those photos soon, by the way. I also met a fellow Nikon SLR owner (and soon-to-be Mac owner) who was there taking photos of her friends. Her pictures from today are already online, so you can take a look at them to see what the weather was like today.

After a couple of hours at Gröna Lund, I went down to Karbin for a bit of climbing. I had expected to see one friend there, but she never showed up. Instead though, I ran into lots of other friends, including Sara, Elin, Emma and Ewa. I wasn't really in top form, so instead of climbing intensely, I make more of an effort to get some good climbing photos. I went up to the top of the wall, tied in with a sling, and took a bunch of photos pointing down as my friends climbed up. With the help of a new friend named Joachim, I also got some photos of myself. Also climbing with us was another new friend named Jessica. She comes from Canada, and despite being relatively new to climbing is very good at it.

The rain was still coming down outside when I walked across the street to the bus stop. As I sat and waited for the bus to Liljeholmen, another fellow climbing walked up and sat down. We started talking and I learned that his named was Alexander. It turns out that he has an American fiancée and plans to move to Denver soon.

When I arrived home around nine P.M., The Bourne Supremacy was just starting on TV. I watched it on-and-off while answering emails and fixing dinner. That film is pretty good: better than the third, but not as good as the first.

Well, that’s it. That was my weekend. Lots of activities and very little sleep. Of corse spending half an hour writing a blog entry doesn’t help the balance of my sleep account very much, now does it? But what are you going to do? Over and out from Stockholm.

Boulder Open at Karbin

_MAL1188.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Friday the 31st of August was the last boulder open at Karbin and I'm just now getting around to posting the photos from the evening.

_MAL1317.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Here, Kjell tackles a tricky but fun black-graded problem. With his advice I also managed to complete it.

I wasn't climbing my best that night, and managed to complete only 18 out of 40 problems. I usually complete a few over 20. First of all, I was still recovering from a cold, so I wasn't really firing on all cylinders. Also, there were a lot of good climbers there. These days, folks are returning from their summer vacation, and with were more competitors, it's harder to place high in the rankings. I think the problems were pretty hard this time around too. I placed 16th, down a bit compared to my recent showings. All things considered though, I'm quite happy with my performance.

_MAL1400.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

After the competition, a bunch of climbers went to the Tre Vänner bar in nearby Midsommarkransen. There we had chips and drinks. Here I am with my climber friend Elin. Take a look at all 27 photos from the evening!

“Summer Open” at Karbin

_MAL1005.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Friday night I participated in the recently-announced and somewhat last-minute “Summer Open” bouldering competition at Karbin in Västberga. I had a sore foot but still managed to complete 26 out of 40 problems. I think the problems were a bit easier this time around, so that probably helped too.

Ewa took a few photos of me, including this one of me tackling problem #4. This was hardest problem that I managed to complete.

For more, take a look at my 38 photos from the competition.

_MAL1060.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

After the competition, I joined Elin, Emma, Sara, Magnus, Lisa, Christian, Pete, and a few others at Judit & Bertil pub near Hornstull. The pub has Samuel Adams Boston Lager on tap, so I was satisfied. Nothing beats a cold beer after climbing, and my sore foot probably benefitted from the alcohol.

_MAL1062.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

And after that, I went to Mojito on Upplandsgatan for a bit of salsa dancing. There, I met my new friend from Paris, Mouss, and his salsa-dancing friends from Stockholm. It was so hot and humid inside that I had to wipe off the lens with a cloth in order to get this shot of Mouss and Amanda.

Boulder Open #55 at Karbin

_MAL3713.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

I went to Karbin tonight for the boulder open. It was a lot of fun and very challenging. I completed 25 out of 40 problems this time — one more than than last time, but still one off my record of 26. When the rankings have been tabulated, they'll be posted on Karbin's competitions page.

Update: I placed 6th — not bad!

The problem of orange grips pictured above was a tricky one. It was necessary to pull oneself up on top of the orange grip I'm holding with my hands, and then reach up to another grip just off the top of this image. That was the hard part, and it took me a few tries before I did it successfully.

Tonight when I had climbed ten or so problems, I thought to myself, “this boulder open is harder than the last one!” It's funny, because I remembered thinking the exact same thing last time. For some reason I always get the idea that each boulder open is more difficult than the one preceeding it. But in fact, each time, I complete about the same number of problems. So either I'm getting better at a rate equivalent to the increase in difficulty, or I'm not really improving very quickly!

As in past competitions, tonight there were a couple of black-graded problems that I could almost complete, but not quite. I didn't even try any of the white-graded ones.

I met some new folks tonight, including sisters Elin and Emma, who did a great job considering that they've only been climbing for a couple of months. Hung and Daniel were there, and they made the rest of us look like we were working too hard. Christian K. was there too, and he gave me some good tips on a couple of problems. Isabelle, Patrick, Zindy and John were there as well, and some of us might go bouldering together in Kolartorp on Sunday if the weather cooperates. Follow that link and click on the "stor bild" links to enlarge the photos. I especially like this one.

I have posted 34 photos from the evening, including some of Åsa and Colleen, who were there climbing the top-rope routes.

Boulder open #54 at Karbin

_MAL9659, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Friday night I participated in boulder open #54 at Karbin. The assortment of bouldering problems was more challenging than last time, and I completed just 24 out of 40. Still, I placed higher in the rankings this time: 8th place as opposed to 14th last time.

I met some nice folks there, including Emma, pictured above, and Matilda, the 14-year-old girl who placed first in the competition. Matilda is one of the best climbers in Sweden and was featured in an article in the most recent issue of Bergsport magazine.

A bit of climbing at Karbin on Saturday

_MAL2218, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

I went climbing with Anna at Karbin on Saturday. We had a good time and I posted several photos from the day.

Boulder open #50 at Karbin

_MAL9231, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Here, Kjell tackles a tricky route on the back boulering wall at Karbin, during the December 22 boulder open competition there. I placed 22nd in the competition. I posted 31 photos from the evening.