Swedish Meatballs

Review by planetFear

Monday 10th September 2007

Swedish Meatballs is a film by Shawn Boyle which follows Dylan Smith and Carl-Ola Bostrom on a tour of Sweden’s best boulder problems. In their month on the road the pair do loads of classic lines and first ascents on granite boulders the length and breath of Sweden including KjugeKull, Uppsala, Stockholm and Goteborg.

Shot on HDV the quality is excellent, always sharp with good bright color. The music is a good mix of low key reggae, guitar and electronica.

The DVD is documentary style rather than just pure action. This means we get the usual talking heads, speeded up shots of cars and messing around which I could live without. The climbing is well shot from multiple angles so you always know what is going on. Problems shown range from 5 to 8a with most in the mid 7's on every angle from slabs to roofs on various flavors of granite. Dylan and Carl are strong, motivated and must have great skin to climb day in day out on rough granite.

Highlights of the DVD are the perfect lakeside arete in Goteborg, Carl doing the first ascent of a highball face in Bjorndalen and Dylan's send of his beautiful dyno project in Uppsala.

The extras last about fifty minutes but are mostly just nonsense talk with only about a dozen problems climbed.

This DVD is well put together with lots of climbing and will appeal to anyone who has an interest in Swedish bouldering or is considering a visit.

Find out more about Swedish Meatballs and bouldering in Sweden at Tielma.com

Interested in bouldering in Sweden, check out Tjugo Pa Kjuge DVD