Review: Swedish Meatballs DVD

By Mike Binks

Producers DVD Summary
Join Dylan Smith and Carl-Ola Boström on a tour of Sweden’s best blocs. Swedish Meatballs features classic lines and first ascents as Dylan and Kalle spend a month on the road meeting up with the boulderers who shaped the Swedish scene.

So what’s it all about?
This is the archetypal road trip movie, so expect plenty of areas and quality looking problems of all grades, with the classic lines being sent here there and everywhere, whether it be by the well dialed locals or a series of drafted in wads, including traveling Welshman Dylan Smith and Swedish cherry picker Carl-Ola Boström. There is a varied grade range of problems though most lines featured are in the mid 7 to low 8 Font Grades. From the major classics, first ascents and highball lines this production is also interspaced with the usual banter-filled “on route” footage shot between locations.

My take on the DVD
For fans of bouldering DVD’s Swedish Meatballs is defiantly worth a watch. For those that are more inclined in watching the crème de la crème of bouldering DVDs, then this might not be your cup of tea, as – in terms of plot, camaraderie and music – there is nothing that you wont have seen before.

The bouldering is generally well filmed. The music is pretty chilled, plenty of Reggae beats, and most of the film has a relaxed feel to it, i.e. it’s not constantly in your face. A big improvement from previous Tielma productions is that this DVD is entirely English – lets face it your average schmoe does not speak Swedish!

In my view the main drawback of this film is the amount of footage on the road. Fair enough it is a road trip movie but the continuous “in-crowd” jokes and banter can get tedious, and I’m sure that after repeated viewings that these sections will start to drag.

What I do like is that these more esoteric productions open your eyes to ever more far flung (excellent looking) bouldering destinations. You often hear about new places which are touted as the next Fontainbleau or Hueco Tanks. Generally this is usually a slight stretching of the truth although it does show these newly opened up areas are going to be well worth a visit. Recently Swedish bouldering has been getting a fair amount of press most of which shows that these Norse lands hold some fine bloc sport. Rock + Run team member Greg Chapman has been to one of the most extensive Swedish areas (“Kjugekull”) and rated it very highly.

Watching this DVD has definitely inspired me for a Scandinavian trip and added yet another location to my ever growing list of places visit. Not quite sure if this is a good or bad thing, there’s already far too many!

Further information
Tielma Swedish Meatballs site, for more information including Trailer:
http://www.tielma.com/sm.aspx

As mentioned above Shawn Boye has also produced ‘Tjugo Pa Kjuge’ which centers on one of the areas featured in Swedish Meatballs (Kjuge Kull) which is apparently one of the best areas in Sweden. Whilst not being quite as polished or user friendly as Meatballs, it does show plenty more quality problems for those of you who want to delve a little further in Swedish Bouldering.
Tjugo Pa Kjuge

Purchase Swedish Meatballs here.