If someone asked me what my favourite European cities were, I would immediately answer Amsterdam, Paris and Stockholm (besides Innsbruck, of course). No wonder therefore, I have been to all of these places several times – and I still can’t get enough (even though I would be the last person to call myself a city-vacationer). For this reason, I was delighted when I was invited to this year’s Purple Open event at Karbin Klätterhall in Stockholm. Purple Open – an event for women only ­–  was first organised four years ago. Female climbers gather together to exchange training and motivational tips, listen to talks about different climbing related topics, take part in workshops to learn more in certain fields in which they still see potential and last but not least, going climbing together. It truly is an inspiring, fun event!

I was there with my two good friends Matilda Söderlund – the local pro – and Katharina Saurwein, and of course many others. While the other two did practical workshops about climbing, training and campus board skills as well as a talk by Katha about her climbing trip to Australia and Tasmania, my job was to talk about climbing psychology. I’m super happy that sport psychology generally gets more and more attention these days. As important as it is to train your physical strength in order to get fitter, as important it is to train your brain. Not to mention that not only physical fitness leads to a better well-being and self-confidence. Our mental strength also plays an important part in our well-being, self-confidence and the way we deal with pressure and difficult situations in our every day life. Training our brain equally as our muscles therefore has a positive impact on all parts of our life – not only our climbing performance.

I was talking about „My attitude towards training“. What is the right „mindset“ for training? And how can you get into this mindset? Discovering strategies for getting into this positive mindset requires a lot of reflection. Not everyone likes the same strategies. But firstly, it’s important to reflect in order to get to know ourselves better and recognise hindering thoughts and behaviours. Becoming aware of our „weak“ points can help to form positive, alternative thoughts and behaviours, and how we can adapt them in our every day life and training. 

The talk and workshop seemed to have worked really well. It was amazing to see so many people engaging and being interested in this field. (Well, it’s obvious that I’m fascinated by my subject, but I guess I can’t always expect it the same way from others. The cooler it was when the interest and passion for this field was also shared by the participants!).  

On Sunday, Katha, Matilda and I spent a chilled day in Stockholm. A must-do what we obviously didn’t miss: strolling through the beautiful old town and eating lots of „kanel bullar“ (cinnamon rolls). I guess I must be lucky not living here – the cinnamon rolls here are so delicious that I’d surely become pretty big in no time! 😃

And so this short trip came to an end. Purple Open & Stockholm – it was a blast! I’m looking forward to next time!

If you have any questions/ feedback/ comments concerning the workshop/ talk, leave me a message or comment! 

Here are impressions from our trip - some more photos and some less serious ones. 😉