Niccolò Ceria and the bouldering at Västervik in Sweden

The report by Niccolò Ceria currently getting to grips with the boulders as Västervik in southern Sweden, where he added a sit-down start to Primitive 8A+ and flashed The Hourglass 8B.
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Niccolò Ceria sending Frost 8A+ at Västervik
Giulia Paoletti
I've been wanting to visit northern Europe for quite a while, I've been attracted to the Scandinavian forests ever since I was a young boy. Västervik caught public attention largely due to the International Boulder Meet which takes place at the end of September and I've finally made it here now for a 10-day trip. We arrived last Thursday, my girlfriend Giulia and I, a just a few kilometres from the airport we entered into this marvellous nature, so different from ours back home and very special indeed.

That evening I spent two hours at Marstrand, one of the most popular sectors. I was immediately struck by the rock: very compact granite, coarse but not painful, with hues of pink, red and grey. During the first five days I managed to check out 5 different sectors, all different one from the other but all with conifers, birch and frozen lakes. And snow everywhere.

The boulders are scattered loosely across the vast area, every boulder is practically a sector and so you have to use the car a fair bit since most boulders don't host a large number of problems. The quality of what I've sent so far is outstanding, The Hourglass is definitely one of the most beautiful granite problems I've ever sent, while Awake the unkind, King's speech and Animal act impressed me far more than they did when I saw them on video.

I've also had the chance to climb with Stefan Rasmussen, a climber of Västervik who has developed most of the area, searching and cleaning beautiful problems throughout the forest. Yesterday afternoon I returned to the Marstrand sector where I also made my first ascent here in Sweden, a problem called Primitive with an unclimbed sit-down start. It's pretty strange, a long first move to a good pinch. I reckon it might be 8A+ and height makes a difference, like most problems I've climbed so far.

VÄSTERVIK AND THE BOULDERS SENT BY NICCOLÒ CERIA
Primitive sds 8A+ First ascent
Frost 8A+
Awake the unkind 8A
Nightshift 8A
Animal act 8A
Pro 2 8A
The office 7C+
Le pacte des loups 7C
King's speech 7C
Goofhead variant 7C

by Niccolò Ceria


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