Welcome to the Planetclimber blog, stories from climbing around the world, from indoor halls to big mountains. And active volcanoes! The Planetclimber has climbed in 26 countries, in a total of 69 places. You can also click on a map below to see where in the world they took place.
The Planetclimber articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.
All climbing-related articles:
| Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun I visited the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, as well as the Ravne tunnels few kilometers away. The pyramid is remarkably pyramid-looking green mountain and the tunnels are .. well, more about that later. Both are in the small town of Visoko, 35 kilometers outside Sarajevo. The claim is that the pyramid is a concrete-covered man-made structure built by an ancient civilization 29 000 years ago. And that the tunnels were also man-made network leading under the pyramids, and only later filled in. And that there are health benefits to all of this. Long story short: lots of pseudoscience, but of course a nice mountain to visit. And it is always pleasant to be wet, dark underground tunnels. Even if the the support beams are rotting... Full story May 2024, Tunnel Ravne, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Ruins); Caving (Basic, Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Ruins); Climbing (Mountain) | |
| Limestone in the Käsivarsi area As part of our exploration trip to the Njiellalanjávri area, we scouted all signs of limestone around lakes Njiellalanjávri, Toskaljärvi, Veajetjávrrit, and Láfoljávri lakes, and the mountains in between. In some cases limestone was easy to identify, known to be limestone, in other cases it was not so easy to identify by non-experts. But we think we made a reasonable analysis, and found quite many places where there is at least potential limestone. There's plenty of loose rock pieces that are clearly limestone, but the more interesting target for us were ground rock layers. Or larger collections of potential limestone rock pieces that might indicate a ground rock layer would be somewhere nearby. Full story August 2023, Toskaljärven maanalainen joki, Enontekiö, Finland; Njiellalanjávri, Enontekiö, Finland; Láfolvárrit, Enontekiö, Finland Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Researching); Hiking; Climbing (Mountain) | |
| Láfolvárri - one of highest mountains in Finland Woohoo, climbed one of the highest mountains in Finland! But I shouldn't mention it was only 1000 meters and few meters over. And just 250 meters to climb to from where we were. Still, a nice view. And most importantly, the only place in the neighborhood where we could get connectivity to mobile networks! Yay social networks! Full story August 2023, Láfolvárrit, Enontekiö, Finland Climbing (Mountain) | |
| Jasná Nízke Tatry - Chopok Our second day of skiing in Slovakia was on Jasná Nízke Tatry, also called Chopok. Chopok is the name of the 2024 meter peak by the highest lift station, few meters lower at 2004 meters. I did climb to the peak as well, going up was easy but coming down was treacherous as it was quite icy. And speaking of ice ... I think either my skis were a bit off sharpness, or the slopes were extremely ice. Actually maybe both. It was difficult to control speed on the steep black runs from the top. Full story (TGR version) January 2023, Jasná Nízke Tatry - Chopok ski area, Demänovská Dolina, Slovakia; Chopok, Horná Lehota, Slovakia Skiing (Outdoor, Snow, Lifts); Climbing (Mountain) | |
| Mali Kozjak hike Mali Kozjak is a mountain ridge in Split, Croatia. Near the airport, in fact. I had seen this on a previous trip, and it looked interesting... was there a hike? After perusing through the Wikilocs and Starves of the world, and some (maybe not enough) local advice, it seemed like there's a nice walk up via the Planinarski Dom Putalj mountain hut. I chose to hike up a bit further north so that I could descend to the hut. But boy did that generate some headache! Full story (TGR version) June 2022, Planinarski Dom Putalj, Kaštel Sućurac, Croatia; Svrka Sv. Luka, Blaca, Croatia; Veli Vrj radar station, Vučevica, Croatia; Orlovo gnijezdo - Planinarsko sklonište, Kaštel Kambelovac, Croatia; Gojača Beach, Kaštel Sućurac, Croatia Climbing (Mountain); Hiking; Urban-Exploration (Military, Buildings); Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Sea, Beach) | |
| Massive crack cave at Korkberget Korkberget is probably Finland's largest cave, with 300+ meters of tight tunnels underneath massive boulders. But, there's also a cliff... and if you climb half-way up the cliff, you will find an amazing crack that leads underground. Full story (TGR version) (Suomenkielinen versio) August 2019, Korkbergetin halkeamaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic); Climbing (Rock) | |
| Swim at the Castel Gandolfo On our last day of the Italian tour, Janne and I drove to Lago Albano, an old volcanic crater that is now filled with water. On the rim of the crater you can find Castel Gandolfo, one of most beautiful Italian towns, the Pope's summer cottage, and wonderful views. Full story August 2018, Lago Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Italy Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach); History; Climbing (Volcanoes) | |
| Vesuvius Went to see the Vesuvius crater with Janne, quite interesting and of course the source of many sad fates in destroyed cities around. Overdue for eruption, too. Full story July 2018, Vesuvius, Naples, Italy; Small cave at the Vesuvius, Naples, Italy Climbing (Mountain); Caving (Rock, Rock-Volcanic, Morphology-Boulders, Basic) | |
This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, and set 6.