NB: This is unfortunately not the expansive resource of Scandinavian climbing that it should be, given I was climbing in the region for 10 years. First, it is too long ago to provide any relevant up to date info. But regrettably, I mostly viewed our local climbing as merely fill between 'real' adventures to far away places, and simply went to the same three or four places again and again.

The tiny hamlet of Denmark, where I'm from, is curiously devoid of rock. No climbing there whatsoever, unless you include a handful of outcroppings on a small, inaccessible island called Bornholm, which, geographically, might as well be part of Sweden, just like Denmark appears more like some sort of growth on Germanys north coast.

Finland, another one of the four Scandinavian countries, may or may not have any climbing either. If indeed it does, it is certainly not very well known.

Which leaves it up to Norway and Sweden to provide the adventure. Well, don't worry:

The vast wilderness areas and thousands of kilometers of convoluted coastline of this huge peninsula is home to lots and lots of climbing. Between the fractured gneiss of southern Sweden's Kullaberg to the flawless expanses of Yosemite-like granite in northern Norway's Lofoten Islands, lies literally thousands of sea cliffs and walls and inland crags. Cragging on igneous rock is a rare commodity on mainland Europe, but not up here in the north, where almost all of it is on some sort of granite, mostly good, sometimes fantastic.

The size of the Scandinavian peninsula is often underestimated. Sitting in Copenhagen planning a trip, we realized again and again that we would be in Chamonix way before getting even close to some of Norway's best granite. Not surprisingly we too often opted for the southbound choice. The weather is more reasonable in the Alps, the ascents more accessible and prestigious and the culture distinctly different from Scandinavia with, among other things, better food and wine. So, much to my regret, I have done far too little adventuring in Scandinavia.