My next expedition!

New website, new blog and new plans for the summer of 2021! Welcome everyone. I´m so excited for this! I blogged at ELLE for 8 years but since my life is more about mountains and adventures these days then going to events or hanging backstage at fashion week I thought a change was in place. Also – now I can write in english so people outside Sweden can read too.

We all know the last year havn´t been what we planned for or expected. All plans were put on hold and that included my big project I was really looking forward to. So instead I found myself a new project: To try to climb my first 8000 m mountain!

There is 14 mountains in the world that is over 8000 meter and deciding which one to climb wasn´t hard. I´m going to Broad Peak!

Broad Peak 8051 m is the 12th highest mountain in the world. It´s located in the Karakoram mountain range and that´s a place I really want to experience.

I will leave in the beginning of june. I have basecamp support by Furtenbach Adventures but my plan on the mountain is to be independent. I will use the fixed ropes and I also hope I get the opportunity to help out fixing the ropes. I will try to do it without oxygen. But since I don´t have prior experience on altitudes like this I´m going there very humble to just gain experience and see if my body let me go as high as the summit. I don´t know if it will be possible but I´m excited to find out!

The highest I´ve climbed before is Aconcagua 6962 m. I have been over 6000 meters six times the last years and climbed these mountains:

2017 Aconcagua 6400 m (turned around due to cold hands and feet, it was -40 windchill), expedition with Adventure Consultants

2018 Ama Dablam 6812 m, expedition with Adventure Consultants

2018 Aconcagua 6200 m (turned around due to bad weather. Weather was shit when I was there.) Solo

2019 Nevado Sajama 6542 m. I led the climb and had a friend as partner

2019 Chimborazo 6268 m. Solo

2019 Aconcagua 6962 m. I led a independent expedition

I think my experience is enough to be ready to try a 8000 m mountain.

Climbing Broad Peak isn´t too technical. There is a ”crux” part around 7800 m when you get to the ridge with grade II climbing. But the rest is just steep glacier. People who climbed it says right after basecamp it becomes steep and then it never stops. I´m thinking it will be similar to the last 300 meters of Ama Dablam. Steep glacier on altitude where you take 15 steps than you have to rest for a minute. It will be slow. On Broad Peak there is also a long summit ridge with some pre summits. So I need to make sure I´ll reach the right one. My friend Fredrik Sträng climbed it once and went to the wrong summit. 17 altitude meters short of the real one. So he came back the next year and did it again. His tip to me was to go to the right summit 😉

I´m not sure how my body will react to the altitude. On Ama Dablam I felt a little bit dizzy the last part. Like I had a few beers. Same on Aconcagua the last time. But all the other times I felt good. I usually get some light AMS problems like headache during acclimatisation that goes away with one paracetamol and a night´s sleep, upset stomach and it´also hard for me to sleep on altitude. I have never experienced lack of appetite or vomited. So we will see. I will be careful and do proper acclimatization.

I have an injury in my achilles that have prevented me from training properly this year so I´m not sure I´m at my best when it comes to fitness. There is still 10 weeks left before I leave so hopefully I can get some more miles in before I leave. But I also know climbing a mountain is also a big bart mental strength and I know I have that part.

Other from that there is a lot of preparation to do before I leave. Paperwork for everything, go to the Pakistan Embassy for VISA, get all the gear needed, try out all the gear, get food, pack and hope it won´t be over 40 kg.

I will keep you posted and updated about the process. There is a vlog coming out before I leave too.

So welcome to the new blog, I hope you are with me through this!

Photo of Broad peak by Furtenbach Adventures.