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I am minutes away from shutting down the computer before I go to bed and then head off to the airport. This time we are going to Phoenix via Portsmouth and for 6 months! Unfortunately I have to work there but we hope to get some time to have a look around the area and possibly do a few short trips within the country. 2011 will be about work and a life in another country but what happened really in 2010?

This past year has been dominated by many short trips to Switzerland (for me) and Sweden (for Andy) but we also managed to squeeze in two trips to the Maldives and one to Iceland. Although the trips to the Maldives felt big at the time they now seem quite distant. Both since it is almost a year ago and because we decided not to dive in a few years in favour of climbing and hiking. I am glad that the commute between Sweden and Switzerland is over and that we now live together. It makes everything so much easier and more fun. But even though the short trips were hard I will also miss Lucerne and its surroundings. We have had lots of fun with all the wonderful people there and that I will look forward to coming back to.

If I have to choose one picture to represent this year it would have to be from the mountains in Switzerland. Maybe not because we spent the most time in the mountains, I am not sure we did, but more because for me personally it has all been about Switzerland and the fact I love the mountains.

Lucky me there are mountains in America too.

Happy New Year!

Last weekend my brother and I drove down to Gothenburg to go to a beach party. Yes, it is November and bloody cold and dark so how did this happen? One of our sisters and her husband both turned 40 so they took the opportunity to throw a party. It was held at this brilliant place where they had actually built a little beach and with special lamps the temperature came up to about 30 degrees. Before dinner we were hanging out at the beach bar under the lamps with cold beers.

This did not make me long for a holiday in the sun… noooooooo…

I never thought that I could get tired of flying. But at the moment I am. The past year I have been flying a lot to Zürich, once or twice each month. Normally the trip is a part of a journey for me, a part I rather enjoy. At first the beginning of a trip when expectations are built and you finally realize that you are on your way. Then at the end when you have time to think about what you have experienced and decide whether you will miss it or not.

Basically I do like flying, the atmosphere at the airport and the isolated time on the flight itself. But in this case the flight has just become a way to get to where I need to go. Like taking the train to work. I don’t go by train because it is fun but just because it is the only way of getting there. The flight is not important anymore, just a hassle, just a long train ride. I have noticed that I don’t really think of it as travelling but just going somewhere. I do not experience the flight like I normally do. I either sleep or work because otherwise it would feel like a complete waste of time. Every time I am on my way I am eager to get there, I don’t feel like spending time on a plane. I just want the time to pass and the flight to be over instead of feeling that it is a part of an exciting trip.

Soon the trips to Switzerland will be over. I can’t wait. Then I hope the feeling of flying will go back to what it used to be. Hopefully I will soon enjoy a view like the one in the picture above (which is the Swiss Alps from a flight from Stockholm to Milan).

Last weekend I went to Switzerland again to visit Andy. This time the weather was not on our side and we cancelled the planned two day hike in Grindelwald. Instead we decided to hike up the Pilatus which is Lucerne’s house mountain. It is a “smallish” mountain about 2150 m or so, which is a few meters higher than the highest mountain in Sweden, Kebnekaise.

It was a very hot day with temperatures well over 30 degrees and we did wonder on the way up to the top what the h-ll we were thinking of. We could have been having a lazy day at the lake… Of course we had also decided to walk all the way from town and not from the foot of the mountain. In good time we made it though and could enjoy a well deserved beer at the top before we hiked all the way back again. We had stunning views of the Vierwaldstätter See and Lucerne. Unfortunately I forgot my camera this time so no photos today, you will have to imagine it.

On the weather forecast they had warned for thunderstorms and clouds did start coming in during the afternoon. As we came closer to town the sky was completely black behind us and we started to walk faster in order to make it back before it started to rain. It did start to rain a little and we actually ran the last few hundred meters. When we came up to the apartment it had started to rain very heavily and a few minutes later it hailed. It was one of the more violent thunderstorms I have experienced and we managed to time it by a minute. Considering the whole adventure was about 10 hours I think we did a pretty good job.

Because I do not have a picture from this hike I am attaching one from our latest tour. This picture is of us crossing the rope bridge was taken by Johannes Peschut who we met on the climb.

Asia is the best!

A couple of weeks ago I went hiking for the first time during the winter. I was visiting Andy in Lucerne and the weather was supposed to be good so we decided to go hiking. Our first plan was to hike the Pilatus but they warned us for avalanches so we chose Rigi instead.

When we started it was cloudy but soon we came above the clouds and the sun came out. Although it was January it was really warm. Compared to Sweden the sun actually makes a difference here…

The view was of course superb once we came out of the clouds.

As we came down again the sun was setting over the lake. This was the first time winter hiking but not the last. Until next time…