Got the word in the middle of May that I’m getting published in a photo book called “Mitt Småland”. I sent one of my pictures in into the competition and I had almost forgotten about it when I received the e-mail saying that the book was now being printed and that my picture was in it.
Well that was great news! I didn’t know how big my picture was going to be in the book or where it was. I found out that my picture was one of few out of 1681 that had made it out of the selection process, 176 pictures was published in the book.
About a month later in the middle of June I got an invitation to a vernissage that was being held in three different cities and one of them being here where I live. I happily accepted the invitation and went today. There was food, drinks and a lot of mingling going on amongst big prints and such. I walked around the restaurant where it was held looking at different pictures and then eventually I grabbed one of the photo books and started browsing. I opened it some where like just past the middle towards the end and started going backwards. I didn’t find my picture… What? Well then I went from the really end of the book and a few pages in I found it! It wasn’t just a small picture, it wasn’t just on one of the pages but rather in duplex – two damn sides where covered with my picture! Must say that I got a tingly feeling in my stomach at that precise moment 🙂
My better half made this photo collage.
This book is part of a big advertising campaign to get more people to visit Småland (the county where I live) and it will be sold at different places all around Sweden.
This weekend we had an overnighter planned but we couldn’t make that so it had to be a shorter trip. I browsed the web for nice places to go and felt that Isaberg Mountain Resort would be a good choice. I drive past Isaberg almost once a month in work errands so the place is well know to me and it sits very beautiful in the hearth of Småland, Sweden. Just a fun fact for you guys that are not Swedish but know the brand Hestra Gloves. They’re made not very far from there 🙂
Click the picture to get a high-resolution downloadable map.
We parked my car close to the golf course in the east and started walking towards the t-junktion in the middle of the map where Hestraspåret and Bjärsvedsleden connects. Through out the day we walked Järnbärarleden, Bjärsvedsleden (our main goal) and Sjöstigen. This sums up at about 20km in total. Unfortunately it didn’t occur to me that I could track and trace our routes via my Sunnto Ambit watch so I started recording after we’ve done the smaller tracks. Down below you can see some info about where we went and so on.
Today it was the maiden voyage for some new stuff too. I had my new Arc’Teryx Palisade pants and they were light and not too warm. They were also pretty easy to role up and wear as shorts. We had great weather throughout the whole day with temperatures around 18C and blue skies.
The most interesting piece of equipment for the day was the Trail Designs Sidewinder Ti Tri. I got it with both the 12-10 stove and the Inferno insert. I bought it sized for the Evernew 1.3L Titanium pot.
Trail Designs Sidewinder Ti Tri with Inferno insert made for the Evernew 1.3 Titanium pot.
Burns wood like a baws!
Sidewinder in alcohol-mode.
Sidewinder with Inferno insert and floor.
12-10 stove is made of recycled aluminum soda cans. Weighs only 14g.
This amazing piece of gear is ultra lightweight and weighs in at only 267g with all the stuff listed above! That gives us the possibilities to run it both on alcohol and wood. Cooking times are great. We didn’t time the 12-10 stove but with the Inferno insert and wood we had about a liter of water boiling in 5 minutes from when the wood started burning. That is not too bad, not bad at all to be honest. The Inferno insert is an great addition to the Sidewinder itself. What happens is that it works like an jet engine igniting the fumes/gas making it burn more intense. This also helps with the “leave no trace” mantra. Because the wood burns so hot and with a great airflow it doesn’t give you any thick branches or charcoals unburnt when you’re done. It’s not really as good as the manufacturer makes you think but it’s a lot better than many other wood-burners out there or even an open fire.
You’ll have some ashes left but they just blew away in the wind because it was so fine. You can see in the upper right corner that the ground got burnt through the titanium floor because the heat was so intense.
Enough about the nerdy gear talk already! Here are some pictures from Isaberg!
I’m happy that we’re on the move.
Walking.
Sjöstigen, taking a short break.
Jon is sorting his feet.
Jon’s new Gossamer Gear Kumo pack and my Granite Gear Crown V.C 60.
The Kumo is a frameless pack so he puts his Therm-a-Rest X-lite pad as a frame.
Sidewinder Ti Tri
Freeze bag cooking – Mashed potatoes with pepper and leek.
Isaberg Mountain Resort is a ski resort among other things but in the summer the lifts are asleep.
The view from Bjärsveds Klint, 250m.
A short break on the hill where the picture above was taken.
An old hanging bridge. We had to get our sea legs on when crossing it because it was moving quite a bit.