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10.11.2008
Infidel 7C
Alta 7C, Flash
Karma 8A+ !
Noir desir 7C
Ce tait demain 8A
Verdict 8A
Conviction 8A
Hibernatus 8A? ,Flash
Rainbow rocket 8A
Magic circus 8A
The island 8C
De la terre a la lune 7C+
Amok 8A
La super prestat 7B+
l Aplait du Gain 8A
Satan i Helvete 8B

The weather turned worse so it was time to leave. I may fly back soon if the weather changes.
Sorry, no photos from this trip because our cameras got stolen along with our passports and wallets.


Switzerland ticks

05.10.2008
Im back in Finland where the temps are nice and cool right now. Heres my ticlist from Switzerland:

One summer in paradise 8B
New base line 8B+
nameless? 8A
Business time 8A+ FA
Access problem 8A+ (8B?) FA
Transformer 8A
Voigas 8A
Tintenfisch alarm 8A+
Chickenhead 8A
The arete 8A+

Both of my first ascents are really nice problems. Business time is in Avers and Access problem in Ticino. We also got some filming done in Italy and Switzerland with Chuck Fryberger for the movie Pure. It should be out in February. I cant wait to see it.

videograbs (c) Chuck Fryberger
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New Base Line

19.09.2008
Newsbulletin: Nalle climbs New Base Line.

more swiss-stories to follow later.

Photos by Emanuel Moosburger and Nalle.
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Rain and First Ascents

06.09.2008
The weather in Finland has been very rainy lately but I’ve managed to put up a couple of new problems. One of them is in the Vihti area which I named Optical Illusion because it looks really easy but infact it is probably 8A. The other one has been a project for a long time. Actually there was a problem called Hottentotti and it was 8A from the stand start and 8A+ from the sit, but the problem ended in the middle of the wall. My new line called 1up is the obvious line from the sit start straight up all the way to the top at about 8 meters height with a bad landing. I don’t think the top part is hard enough to make it 8B so it stays a very solid 8A+ and scary too. We did a big night filming session with a film crew plus two photographers so there should be some cool footage of the ascent. The short film we made might premiere in the Reel Rock Tour in Helsinki 13.9. We’ll see. Right now I’m on my way to Arco Rock Masters in Italy and after that we are going to Switzerland to do some bouldering and filming for the movie Pure. Ciao!

Photos by Heikki Toivanen
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Rocklands rule!

06.08.2008
My six week trip to South Africa has come to an end. I feel sad leaving because I can honestly say that Rocklands is the best bouldering area in the world. At least what I've seen. On the other hand I'm also pretty worn out after weeks of hard climbing and ready to change the scene. It's been an awesome trip and I'm happy with what I've climbed. Climbing Amandla was probably the hardest send of my trip. I also managed to climb Madiba and Moistie Meisie quickly in one session.

I also spend a lot of time and energy looking for new lines and doing first ascents. Problems that I put up like Solar Power and Hole in One are are really top quality problems.

Last year area called Kleinfontain or Black Label was found. This season the area got some amazing new problems like Scoop of Marmelade, The Hatchling and Sky. Hatchling is on this hollow boulder lying on top of another boulder so first you have to climb the lower block before you're really even on the problem itself. It must weigh tons and tons but with a couple of people you can get the upper boulder moving. That's a scary thought because you're climbing an overhanging side of it...

Sky is one of the best problems in the world if you ask me. In fact maybe even the best I've ever seen because of the pure style and movement on it. Perfect starting hold, maximum reach dyno to a fairly good crimper in the middle of the 45 degree overhang, match, iron cross dyno to a sloping edge and a more or less campus move to the top. The best thing is there's no way around it, just pure dynamic movement all the way. Perfect!

I had an awesome trip and I can't wait to go back! Here is my ticklist from this trip:

In between dreams 8A (hard!)
Black velvet 8A
Nutsa 8A+
Once upon a time.. 8A
Leopard cave 8A+
Pinotage 7C+, flash
Shoshaloza 8A+
Panama 8A+, 3 tries
Shark 7C+, flash
Barracuda 8A, flash
Hatchling 8A
Moistie Meisie 8B+, quick send, soft
Pendragon 8A
Oral Office 8B
Out of Balance 8A+
Madiba 8B+, 1 session, soft?
Steak house 8A+
Sky 8B+, one of the best in the world!!
No late tenders 8A, flash
Solar power 8A+, FA
Amphitheatre 8A+, flash
Josef Malbos 7C+, flash
Amandla 8B+, (8C?) with full swing!
Green Mamba 8B, close to flashing it
Hole in One 7C+, FA
The Vice 8B
Armed Response 8B
Stromboli 8A+
Ark 8A, flash
Quintessential 8B
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A visit to Colorado

16.06.2008
Here's my ticklist from a short visit to Colorado. Video can be found from the Moventum video magazine.

RMNP:

Veritas 8A
Stinkbug 7C+
Both sides of the spectrum 8A+


I had a good day at Mount Evans and this is what I climbed on my first day there:

Clear blue sky 8A+, 2.go
Mental masturbation 8A+, 2.go
No more greener grasses 8A+, FLASH, one f the best!
Super guy 8A, 2.go
Silverback 8A


The next day I went back up and climbed Ode to the modern man 8B+
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Feel good inc.

01.06.2008
A few days ago I climbed the last project in Sipoo. I named it Feel good inc. and I feel like 8A+ is a proper grade for this powerful and very delicate problem. With long quality problems like this one, Spider pig 8A, Super Fazer 7B+ and Understatement 7A this place is definately worth a visit.

photos by Heikki Toivanen
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Kjugekull

20.05.2008
Here's my ticklist from our 5 day trip to Sweden's biggest boulder area Kjugekull:

* Lithium low start 8A
* Matador ss 7C+ FLASH
* Ferdinand ss, 7C+
* Forza 7C, 2. Go
* Casperssens arete 7B, FLASH
* Laijfstajl 8A, FLASH
* Huggsexa 8A, FLASH
* Alla vill till himmelen ss, 8A+ Great!
* Mamma Mu 7C+

Alla vill till himmelen (Everybody wants to go to heaven) was definately the most striking line of the whole area. Absolutely a world class problem with it's 11 meters height.

Photos by Heikki Toivanen
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Turku, part xyz

13.05.2008
Me and Tomi made a quick visit to Turku to check out some new areas and projects. Despite I totally destroyed my skin, I still managed to climb Tomi's new 7c:ish? (hard!) boulder in Luolavuori, Ylösnousemus 7c+ and flash Lucifer 7c+. Ylösnousemus (photo) is a really cool and big dyno on a vertical wall in Hirvensalo put up by Olli Manni. We also climbed a quality 7a+ slab called 4. heinäkuuta.

Photo: Olli Manni
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Spider Pig

07.04.2008
The season is kicking in here in Finland. With nice temps I put up a new relly good new 8A in Sipoo a few days ago. Spider pig is perfect height, around 6 metres and has 14 moves which is a long boulder in Finland. Last move is a dyno to add a little excitement. It’s waiting for a repeat…

pic by Marko Siivinen

Also check out the vid [click to watch video]
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Ticino

31.03.2008
Once again I headed to Ticino in southern Switzerland where it was prime conditions most of the time. This trip I also spend more time working on projects and finding new stuff instead of just repeating old problems.

I put up a very good new problem in Ticino called ‘Side Effect’. You walk straight to the river from Marilyn Monroe. There’s a big overhanging block in the riverbed. It climbs the right side of the wall starting from a big jug. It has long moves in the start and then a very nice Font like topout. Grade is probably around 7C+.

Confessions is a beautiful and steep arête in Cresciano put up by Dave Graham. I did the first repeat even though the problem isn’t that new. You climb all the way your left hand under the roof side and right hand slapping the arête. There is a double heelhook for the crux move that helps a lot, but in the end I decided just to dyno through the crux since the heel didn’t seem to stay. It is one of the best arêtes for sure.

Midnight Lightning of Ticino 7C+in Schattental of Chironico is also a proud line that you rarely see anyone trying. Even though it has a pretty good child lock in the start the moves higher up aren’t that reachy.

Conditions should be getting good in Finland right now so I’m heading there for a short while before Hall World Cup.

Here´s my ticklist from this trip:

Mr. Pinch 8A+ No way 8A+
Mr. Jump 8A+ Soft
Blox Addiction 8A+ Would someone give me the right sequence!!Mine wasn’t 8A+…
La Soucoupe 8B
Midnight Lightning of Ticino 7C+
nameless? 8A+
Side Effect 7C+ FA
That Goes Left 8A Flash ,Soft
La Boule 8A/+
Sent of Snow 8A
Confessions 8B+
nameless? 7C+
Rah Plats Plats 8A
Frostheaves 8A+
Electric Ant 8B
Vechia Leone 8B
Orange County 8A

La Soucoupe pic by Heikki Toivanen, other pics Nalle Hukkataival Collection
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Thailand

16.02.2008
I’m back home again after spending one month traveling in Thailand. I hooked up with Gareth Parry and
first we did some climbing in Ton Sai. We climbed some routes there and went deep water soloing.
Deep water soloing was good fun even though some of the routes very quite dirty because they are so hard to clean.

On the east coast we checked out the boulders of Koh Tao. This island is widely known among divers. I had heard a lot of bad things about the climbing there, so I was very skeptical about the whole place. After a long search of the islands only climbing shop, I found out that it no longer exists. After a lot of effort to find someone who knows anything about the climbing, I finally manage to get a hold of Gareth who has been in Koh Tao a few days already and knows the place. He comes to pick me up on his scooter and drives us to an area called secret garden.

After a quick tour of the place and I soon find out that people where right when they told me that the rock here
is super rough. Well, not all of it. There is some pretty good rock to be found too, but mostly it is very rough granite.

On the first day we do a couple of first ascents and Gas shows me pretty much all of the islands hardest problems. First I climb James and the giant peach, the only V11 on the island. Then classics like Relec (V10) flash , M-150 (V10) and Dengue fever (V10). I also managed to flash Gareth’s new problem Coco nuts which is probably about the same difficulty as Relec, which seemed pretty soft for the grade.
It is hard to say if these grades are right or not because it is HOT! And it never gets much cooler than this.
After a day of climbing my fingers are begging for a rest day.

Overall I would say the place is well worth checking out. And if you’re not in the mood for climbing, there’s lots of others things to do on this beautiful island.
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Nordic Championships

09.12.2007
Boulder Nordic Championships '07:

Men
1.Nalle Hukkataival Fin
2.Tomi Nytorp Fin
3.Tomas Midttun Tobiassen Nor
4.Daniel Andersson Swe
5.Kuutti Huhtikorpi Fin
6.Martin Nugent Fin

Women
1.Therese Johansen Nor
2.Anja Hodann Swe
3.Roosa Huhtikorpi Fin
4.Mina Jokivirta Fin
5.Enni Bertling Fin
6.Minna Ruokonen Fin


More pictures and a story coming later
pic (c) Heikki Toivanen
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Back again

06.12.2007
I just got back home from my Swiss trip. Weather was really good except for a few rainy days. We put up some new problems and climbed old ones. My both cameras got stolen but here's some low quality photos.

Also I would like to remind people to behave in the climbing areas. On weekends the popular climbing areas like Cresciano and Chironico are packed and. You see all kinds of things like people littering and putting up fires on private land. This has already caused access issues in certain areas. We want to be able to climb in these places also in the future!

Here's something I climbed:

Arcadia 7C+
Reve de Mario 8A
Marilyn Monroe 8A/+
There Is No Spoon 7B (Really good!)
Bridge Over Troubled Waters 8A
Sissywuss 8A+/8B, FLASH (super soft)
Placebo 8A, FLASH
Freak Brothers 8A+
Wally Watcher 8A/+
Veni, Vidi, Vici 8A (Weird sequence)
Einfisch Kleinfisch 8B

first two pics (c) Kuutti Huhtikorpti, last sunny one (c) Pontus Ljungberg
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Flashy Swizzy

19.11.2007
I'm back in Switzerland for three weeks or so. Since there seemed to be lot of snow in Magic Wood, I headed down the valley.

And not a bad decision at all. To start up my swiss-weeks I got a nice flash on 'Placebo', a 8A in Chironico. After that I went to check out 'Sissyfuss'. Climbed that one too, didn't onsight it as Pearson did, but flashed it. Not sure how one onsights boulders, but I do know that Sissyfuss felt easy. Can't be a 8B as some people have suggested.

Tomorrow there are some more finnish people coming over, so really looking to do some more good climbing the following weeks!


Living The Dream

27.10.2007
This thursday I finally managed to climb a project in Åland known as the Sphinx. I’ve tried this line on my five trips to the island during over four years of time. 'Living the dream' as I named it, is a very pure line with long dynamic moves, heelhooks and very beautiful climbing. It's 10 moves long to the top. The upper moves are very hard to work on because basically if you can't do the moves at the lip you need someone to push you up (thanks Tomi and Anssi) to try the last moves. This trip was my first time I was able to hold the crux dyno and figure out the top sequence. I find 'Living the dream' to be harder that any 8B I've ever climbed and it totally suits my climbing style. That's why I'm going to propose a grade of 8B+ for it, making it the first boulder of this grade in Finland.

I also checked out a problem called 'Ålandsbanken' in Kasviken wich is given 8a+/8b. I quickly climbed it on my fifth try, many of the holds being wet, and felt like 7C+ or so would be a more proper grade.

First photo by Anssi Venho, other photos by Heikki Toivanen
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Project Manager

10.10.2007
Me and a couple of friends did a small tour of boulder places in Finland. First we drove to Jyväskylä, but the weather was really bad and it even started raining when we got to the boulders at area 28.7. Still, I managed to climb a classic arete ‘Kuhan julma’.

After that we headed towards Keuruu. Here the friction was perfect and I flashed ‘Vakiopaine’ 7c+. I was trying a bit a direct version to the Unesco wall. It would be really beutiful and super hard line too if it’s even possible. When the sun went down we packed our stuff and drove to Vaasa.

The morning started a bit foggy but after warm-ups the sky cleared and after that it was perfect weather. Me and Tomi did the first and second repeat to ‘Hitman’ 8a. I brushed a pretty nice new sitstart problem just right of Hitman. Later in the new area in Sundom we climbed a cool overhang with big pockets called “Hole in my soul sitstart”. Anssi showed us a dynoproject and I quicly did the first ascent. It‘s a long all-out dyno from two crimps. (Anssi read this:) I named it “Puuttuva pala”.

After that we got to the real deal of the whole trip. A high and unclimbed overhanging arete, that I had seen a picture of. Since then I had wanted to do it. The boulder is so big you can see it from the road a kilometer away. 5 minute walk and we arrive at the spot. Anssi tells me the boulder's 12 metres high. I find it hard to believe it would we that tall, but it is tall as hell anyway and the fact that it is overhanging all the way to the top makes it even more scary because you are in a bad position to fall. We try out the moves in the beginning and I clean the top with a rope. Meanwhile people have disappeared to other problems taking some pads with them. There's a big crew with us, but it's hard get anyone to spot me because they all want to film or shoot photos. I’m waiting for more pads and spotters. I get bored from waiting and decide to go for it.

The start is not easy, but once you get to the half way there is a rest. I stop for a moment to gather myself and the I go. From this point on every move is new because I haven’t dared to climb any further. I don’t feel like looking down anymore so I just ignore the chance of falling. I notice I’m gripping also the bigger holds like they were tiny crimps. I reach the top. I even use my knee to top out because I don’t want to take any changes this high up. A small victory yell and a new great line is made. The name is ’Projektipäällikkö’ which means project manager.

I'm happy because I just climbed what I really came here for.

photos by Tomi Nytorp, Kuutti Huhtikorpi and me.
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Wonderwall

01.10.2007
Ciao! I’m back home and the conditions are finally good for bouldering after a hot and rainy summer. It’s nice to be back on some old projects and new ones too. Yesterday I made the first ascent of a very nice problem I spotted in June just driving by.

’Wonderwall’ is around 7c, slightly overhanging with great moves and close to the road. Although it situates in Veikkola and there are no other problems done, I think it’s well worth the drive. Photos by Justus Kontiola.
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Swiss-Italian greets

17.07.2007
Hello everybody!

I'm back from my roadtrip. I spent five weeks bouldering in Europe, mainly Switzerland. I also did three competitions.

First comp was a World Cup in Grindelwald, Switzerland. I placed 3rd so I'm pretty happy with it. After that I went to Magic Wood, but the weather was bad and it was raining almost every day. One day there was very heavy rain and the water level rose higher than I've ever seen and washed away many pads left at the Bruno block.

Next comp was another World Cup event in Fiera di Primiero in Italy. It din't go so well and I didn't even qualify so I drove back to Switzerland where I was invited to an event called Nissan Outdoor Games. The idea was that there were five teams that each had pro athletes from five different extreme sports plus video and photography group. We had five days to shoot a short film and make a photo portfolio.

I was in the Nordic team, Golgoht. We had very nice people in our team and the team spirit was very good. I really enjoyed the five days of filming, except for when I had to climb in +1 degrees celsius weather next to a glacier. Just kidding, it was fun too, just very hard to stay warm.

On Saturday there was a Masters comp. I won the qualifications and in the finals I placed second after Gaz Parry, who climbed really strong. After the price givings the movies and photos were displayd on a big screen and it was really nice to see not just our own work but also what other teams had done. We didn't win the photo nor the film contest, but I'm still very proud of our stuff because we all put a lot of work into it. Carrying our photographer Petri's flash case to a base jumping cliff is something I'm definately not gonna miss...

If you want to see our or the other teams movies and photos go to www.outdoorgames.ch . [click here]

That's it for now. See ya!

pictures copyright:
Petri Kovalainen/Nissan Outdoor Games by Columbia
Click image(s) for a larger version.


New photos

10.05.2007
The pictures from the easter trip are online in the gallery! Go check them out at media-gallery! [ click here ]


Latest thoughts

01.05.2007
I’ve been traveling a lot lately. Three comps in a row. First Sofia, which didn’t go very well and now the same thing here in Hall. I guess I’ve also had a bit of a bad luck, because both times I’ve been out of the semifinals by one try only. Of course the real reason is bad climbing in both comps. In competition climbing you can’t really afford to make any mistakes and I think I’ve made a lot of them lately.

It’s been fun anyway. On Saturday and Sunday we went bouldering in Zillertal. It’s a really nice area one hour‘s drive away from Innsbruck. I did some cool 8a's, one in 4 tries and one other on my second go. Also climbed some projects and cleaned a nice new problem.

Today I’m flying to Reunion near Madagasgar for another World Cup.


Easter at Åland Archipelagos

14.04.2007
We spent the Easter in the Åland archipelagos between Sweden and Finland climbing the old stuff and putting up some new ones too.

I made the second repeat of Tomi's Mongooli. It felt pretty hard for an 8a, but can't really argue because I didn't try the other sequence.

I also worked Dodo all over again since a hold broke some time ago. Using a very small crimp right next to where the old one used to be I managed to climb the whole problem to the last moves before falling off. I can say that the grade hasn't changed, not even the moves except for the foot sequence in the beginning.

One day we were just wandering around the Fågelberget when we came across this high and plain arete on a huge block sitting in the middle of a stone field. There seemed to be some holds so we took out our brushes. After a while there was a boulder I named 'Never land'. For those who know the world-famous boulder called Partage in Font, I can say that the climbing is very similiar, but with a lot worse landing. To the very top this problem is maybe 7-8 metres high. Luckily there is a small ledge a little before the top. The landing is very horrifying as you fall straight into a meter high edge from the crux. Regardless it surely is one of the Finland's finest arêtes. You just don't want to fall.

One new boulder that I'm particularly proud of is the long overhang in the middle of Geta (Djupvik). This proud and steep line has been a project since the place was found in the early 90's. This was my third trip trying this line and I really wanted to do it this time. Last trip I got really close; fell from the last move. It had been a while since my last visit, so I needed one day just to work out all the moves again.

On Saturday we went to try the whole thing. The weather was really cold: 3 degrees celsius and very windy. Perfect for climbing but because of the wind it was very hard to get warm. My first try of the problem I caught the last hold, but fell when my foot slipped. I was pretty frustrated. The next few tries weren't that good. I always did something wrong: my foot was slipping or I didn't hit a hold right. The thing is that this boulder is 17 moves long and almost all of them are long and hard, so you really have to be moving fast to not to get pumped. It's easy to make mistakes when you move fast. Anyway, next try it all came together and I stuck the last dyno. Finally this beautiful line got a name: 'Normipäivä'.

For those wondering about the grade I would say it's around 8B. Time will tell.

I also spend some time working on my project near Fågelberget or as some people know it 'The Sphinx'. I felt really positive about the whole problem and made some real progress too. Despite that, I still haven't been able to do many moves. This thing's going to be hard. Real hard.

Check the pictures
Check the video of Normipäivä


Mur Bien

03.04.2007
Got back from Norway and I'm happy because I finally managed to climb a long-standing project in Vuosaari. This line has been my project for about three years.

Mur Bien, which I named it, is a vertical wall involving some of the most fingery and technical climbing I've ever done. It tops out at about six metres and with my method is about 14 moves long. I graded it 8a since it's super technical and there already exists close to ten different sequences, including a dyno version which would skip the entire crux section, so it's possible that better beta can be found.
Click image(s) for a larger version.


World Cup

30.03.2007
Nalle makes his way cleanly to the semi-finals by being among the three competitors to top-out all 6 qualification-problems in WorldCup in Germany, Erlangen. Nalle also flashed 4 of the problems.

UPDATE 31.03.2007:

In semi-finals Nalle made his way into the finals as number 1. He was the only one to top 3 of the 4 problems.

Nalle placed fourth at the finals.

See the results at:
www.DigitalRock.de


European Championships 2007

18.03.2007
Nalle placed 2nd in European Championships held at Birmingham!

Congratulations!