Today's one of those days. It was just a matter of time till it happened. It's been raining all day and I'm bored out of my brains. Whilst the sun is beating down theres something to be done or some place to go and visit. But now its indoors only and I find myself at the computer.
It's fair to say that essentially Denmark has no natural climbing to speak of. The island of Bornholm off the south east coast of Sweden is the closest thing I've seen so far. Besides that there are the crags of southern mainland Sweden for bouldering and some routes. Which pretty much leaves the indoor option :-(
The bulk of the action as expected is around Copenhagen. I've been around the various climbing 'hallen' over the last few weeks and prefer to articulate my opinion in an blunt and concise manner... generally the most constructive way I find. There are basically 2 decent options for the visiting climber. Skovlunde or Amagerbro. Although there are other walls/gyms they aren't worth it for a number of reasons, most importantly their lack of facilities.
The wall at Skovlunde called Pløks is further out of town but just a short walk from the S-train station. It has plenty of height, a good variation of route styles and angles as well as some specific training boards. It's indepedently run and generally the staff know their arse from their elbow in terms of climbing. Which helps. The Københavns Klatreklub run the wall in Amagerbro, which is just a short walk from the Islands Brygge train station.
The main issue with using a lot of these walls is the slightly socialist way in which they are run. Many of the walls require you to become a member of the local club or the Danish Mountain Club first. A pain in the arse to say the least. Nothing new to anyone who has lived here before, who will appreciate the total lack of entreprenuerial spirit and market capitalisation that characterises business in Denmark. The Nørrebro Hallen is a refreshing exception from this with their more logical 'turn up and climb' strategy, that's set to revolutionise things!
Kristoffer Slizas and friends drytooling on the outdoor wall at Artillerivej.