petzl team

Said Belhaj's blog

www.petzlteam.com

Keyword - Partying

4200+ and counting July 27, 2009

- Mountaineering - Partying - Rock climbing

To conclude the past 2 months: summertime in Gothenburg with gigs, running and the good life. Then one month in Morocco: firts up the gnawa festival in Essauira. Then a bit of Marrakech, trekking in the Atlas mountains up on jebel Toubqal (via Imlil) -North Africas highest peak on around 4200m. Gnawa rituals in Marrakech (Tamesloht) and Salé/Rabat. Familylife and too much food! Then back in Sweden: Finally started climbing after my 5 month break! But easy does it for now... Went to the Outdoor tradeshow in Friedrikschafen, hung out and did a gig for Peak Performance with LaFouche feat. Timmy O'Neill. Back in Gothenburg, drove directly from the airport to another gig... Did a stunt job for a swedish movie than will run on the next Gothenburg Film Festival and SVT. Then LaFouche came over and we did a little shoot for Petzl. Philippe Ribiere arrived in his van and we have been out doing the best of the crisp july weather.

Now I'm heading of to France in a few hours for the TAB festival in l'Argentierre de la Bessé for gigs and climbing, then EASY climbing in Ceuse! Now, where's that BIG bag for both climbinggear and instruments..?

m'allem (maestro) Abdellatif El Machzoumi and his troup at the opening of the gnawa festival in Essauira.

at the top of Toubqal at 4200 something meters.

heading back down.

with m'allem Abdellrzaq Moustaqim and his group during a ritual in Salé.

it´s feels so GOOD!

with Timmy and LaFouche outside Friedrikschafen at the Peak Performance Party.

back in Gothenburg, playing at the Balkan Club "Disco Fanfare".

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chronicles of a x-onearmed man April 20, 2009

- Partying

Time allways flyes, this is old knowledge. First I thought my upcoming 6 weeks with only one hand would be slow as all my old routines were out of the question. All my climbingtrips were cancelled. And all my gigs too (allmost...). How could I keep he spirit up with such a turn in life?

Continue reading...

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greetings from a soaking wet Sweden September 11, 2008

- First ascent - Partying - Rock climbing

What's with all this rain? Just got an e-mail from Steve (McClure) saying it's been the same in England. Man, it's the first time in years that I decided to stay home in september and give some of the new crags and pojects a chance. But if youre not into dry-tooling, cayaking or pisswet holds it has'nt looked that good. Ok, so what's been good then? Well, when I just got home from Austria we actually had 2 weeks of REAL summer. A bit hot for the hardest of granit climbs but what the heck, I could'nt really coplain. Then when the rain came in we had 2 weeks of concerts in Stockholm during the "Vox Pacis" (www.voxpacis.com, I really recomend you to check it out, it's too complicated to explain here+you can choose from a bunch of different languages). For the first time in over 6 months it was time to train indoors -and I needed it!

Concert at the city hall, this is where the Noble dinner is held.

Gig at Medelhavsmuséet, Stockholm with Ismail, Said, myself, Mostafa representing Morocco and presenting the art of gnawamusic.

Playing the guinbri (or zintir or hajhouj...)

But of course it didn't rain every day. I've been out at every time there has been a gap between the showers. Mostly at Granitgrottan witch hosts some of the longest and steepest climbs in sweden and in the future maybe also the hardest. But don't forget, there is easier stuff too. We also rediscovered a place called Eriksbergs that allready had some bolted lines, but still projects. I finished those first and now the drill is on, creating a totally new area with at least 30 classic routes comming up. Please Erwan, send some more bolts!

Drilling the future classic "Astrospjutet" at Eriksberg, a very beautiful aret but still havet tried to climb it.

On the FA of "Elefantmannen", 8b, Granitgrottan. photo: Jesper Östlund/www.thinline.se

So I just hope the weather will be a little more stable so we can get to work with the really hard ones. Meanwhile I'll just have to dig beeing home. Get every chance to get out and climb, spend the time indoors playing music -or both!

Playing with legendary Christian Falk, Peak Performance, Stockholm, indoors...

Out in the wilderness with Micke and Said. Slottskogen, Gothenburg.

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Tradeshow, Roctrip and back a.k.a the big family August 7, 2008

- Bouldering - Partying - Rock climbing - RocTrip - Zillertal

After the stay in France it was time to, once again, join the great Petzl family. It felt more like something else than a team now. We didn't just share climbing but everyday life. And that's more than you can say about my routines with my family back in Sweden... We started of at the tradeshow in Freidrikschafen. A massive place with allmost all outdoor companies represented. As allways, Petzl wanted be a bit different and promoted the uppcoming Roctrip in Zillertal with a party at the booth with a pretty clear message. Me, Lafouche and Philippe did the entertaining part and Gerome, Mike and Charlotte made shure that no one was thirsty. I also made did a small perfomance at the Peak Performance booth at their "Black Light" press conferance, met the boys at La Sportiva, Hilleberg and Christian at Verve.


The cow-boys getting ready to climb at Freidrikschafen!

With my man Christian "Verve" Griffith at his booth.

After the show the family moved on to Zillertal in Austria (50 min from Insbruck) wich hoasted one of this years Roctrips (if you happened to have missed that info). Me and Steve got a really nice alpinehut room (I owe you for the kig size bed, buddy!) and we were ready for some more Roctrippin'. This time; rain, climbing, watersliding, late dinners, rain, slideshows, bouldering, sun, more climbing and the big party!

Bouldering at Zillergrund.

Trying Zillmarillion, 8b OS. Photo: Tomas Bartl/http://climbing.tecdogs.at

Legendary Ben Moon and Wills Young at work.

A very nice 8a indeed at one of the towers. Photo: John Evans/www.johnevansphoto.com

The final night at the "Europahaus". Our boys from Iran hade some things to say about climbing and how to dress properly.


The cowboys strike back at the Europahaus! Photo:John Evans/www.johnevansphoto.com

After the big party at the "Europahaus" (over 800 people, there wasn't eaven space for all) that lasted LATE it was time to realize the gathering was to come to an end. The family was to split up. Everyone stared moving in different directions. I took Stevie to the airport and did the 17 hour drive home non stop a muerte. I miss you guys, see next time, whereever that might be...

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Gotemburgo March 5, 2008

- Bouldering - Partying


I'm back in Spain, once again. Everything here is as it' supposed to be -climbing in the sun. The last month I've spent home in Gothenburg. I can't complain though, it's been a really nice time. This winter has been really mild so on the westcoat wev'e had some brilliant climbing conditions.

Island Rock. The bouldering on the Hönö island actually looks better than it climbs. Here Björn "Böna" Strömberg and Mad-Max Boholm actually are climbing something worth climbing. Ok, it's not all that bad but I guess it's all a matter of taste.

Allthough the weather was pretty good I was mostly indoors training. The vertical and bouldery outdoor Gothemburg style wont make you fit for the long and steep spanish fiesta.

"Trärummet" at the climbinggbym 5 minutes from my house. Appart from some notsogood ropeclimbing and some ok bouldering this place has a really badass woodroom: really good campusboard, 3 systemwalls, wooden bachar ladder etc. Good for for training that is.

As we normally don't get any real snow down in the south, you'll have to move north to experience some true winter. And so we did. If youre looking for skiing, Åre is a good place to pick.

Mad-Max Boholm with Åre as backdrop doing a nybörjardrop or should we call it nybörjar 7b? (sorry to all of you nongothenburgish speakers).


And as usuall I had to go to Stockholm for some sponsormeetings, gigs but most of all to see my musicteacher m'allem Christer Bothén. What would I have done without this man's knowledge? Here practicing the dosso n'goni aka the hunters harp from Mali.

In the other end of the music spectrum. The fancy clubgigs doing the percussion bag.

I also went to Copenhagen, spent some quality time with my family and friends, tried tae-kwon-do for the first time, went swimming, biking and running a lot. But officially the main reason I went home was still my photoexebition. 16 black and white portraits from all over the world. You can really make a lot of things of youre time if you are psyched. Now its gonna be 100% climbing for a while again though (and hopefully some music, dancing, shooting...)

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the beginning of the end January 24, 2008

- Partying - Rock climbing

Oh, it's not that serious... It's just the end of a chapter and soon the beginning of a new one. It's time to leave Catalunya -the climbing, my friends, the generous atmosphere, for a month. Back to Gotemburgo -the winter, the dusty climbing gym (joder, it's going to be my death one day, I'm sure any health inspector would shoot the place down!), family, old friends, music, hopefully good enough weather for some nasty granite edges... The main reason to change sunny limestone for wet granite at this time of the year is because I have a photo exebition in february (exebition called "FOLK", black and white photos from all over the world at Fotokompaniet, Kungsgatan 6. Opening 2nd of february 11-16, music with my group TREQ-gnawa system www.myspace.com/treqgnawa, free entrance). Then, in the end of the month, I'll get the first flight back down here, my car will be waiting on Danis parking...

Can you see him? Chris on his beautiful project in el Pati, Siurana.

The rest (not exactly a no-hands) that separates the direct start from the rest of "Estado Critico". Did I say it looks beautiful? And hard... Senor Sharma is not worrying about a thing.

The last week has been really good here. We've been climbing in Siurana, Margalef, Santa Linya. The weather warm and nice. Dani's got wireless in his house, does it get any better? A nice jam with Chris and Christian the other night. Met my boys from Gotemburgo in Siurana. Met Liv S in the bar and finally got to speak some french. Crazy new-route-in-Morocco-plans with Tony A. Good to see that David G is back in buisness. Hearing the echo of Chis's yelling in the Siurana valley. Seeing Daila send with grace.

The new defenition of quality time. Matrimonio ano 2008 -man, women, machine.

Santa Linya as allways and forever. Dani bolting faster than he is climbing. And this guy climbs fast! I bet this cave has moore hard routes than any other single sector in the world. Also good to see the legendary Carles and Oscar at strong as ever.

The classic "Ingravid Serps", 8c, in Santa Linya. photo: Pete O´Donovan/POD.

The never ending stream of energy looking up on yet a new project. "possible 8c or 8c+ or 8c/+ or...". photo: Fredrik Kilander/www.kilander.nu

But what would all this be without some good food and music? Last night at Dani and Andreas place I make my special "pesto rosso" (check recepy on Danis blog). The last night spent in Barcelonas best kept secret -the minimal jazzclub that have live flamenco every friday, OLÉ!

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Rudeboy Rock October 15, 2007

- Partying - Red River Gorge - Rock climbing - RocTrip

After 2 days of resting my leg and hoping for it to heal a little bit it was time to climb. But not only that, it was also the main day of the event -first the "flash rally" and then the big party!

I managed to walk up to the "Motherload" and found it packed with people. I teamede up with Steve and started warming up. The leg felt ok in all moves but highstepping and heelhooking. Ok, that'll do...

                     the "warmupwall" at the Motherload during the flash rally


After a 4 warmups we headed for the "madness cave". Steve cruised a 7c+ and I did a classic 8a. But the leg didn't like it. I thought it might be better to climb some easier stuff so we moved back to the easier routes. Well there we got into rally mode. After 10 routes that day (and almost falling of the last 6c 'cause I was so pumped!) we had to return our scorecards and check out at 4 o'clock. What we didn't know was that we had actually won the race but there was more good stuff to that day besides climbing.

  on the long and steep 8a in the madness cave during the rally. photo: john evans/petzl

Back at the festival area the place was allready filling up. After a local bluegrassband, Timmy Oneall madness and the local rapper Odub it was time for me, DJ LaFouche and VJ Guillaume (aka the Sagagnass sound system) to enter the stage as allwas before at the Roctrips. We didn't really know what to expect of the 400 people -would they dig the electro-percussion-psyanimation concept? -Hell yeah! After 1 second the whole place looked like any raveparty anywhere with lightstick and peolpe loosing it to the fullest...

           the very nice and very cosy climbingfestivalarea just before it turned into a raveparty...


nobody has so far been able to resist the force of sagagnas sound system.
photo: john evans/petzl

And now, it's all over... The tents are down, the crowds are leaving. Some of us are still here. The sunday after had still some festivalfeeling to it. We went climbing, I was happy to do an 8a and 8b OS. Then pizza at Miguels... I guess we could go on like this forever. Soon to be continued...

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