I started climbing in '93 after seeing a newspaper ad for climbing shoes on sale and took a day off from school to travel to Stockholm to buy a pair. From there on I was pretty much addicted and past the point of no return when I traveled to Australia and Thailand 93/94 for half a year and seeing and feeling the freedom and life that's climbing.

In summer '95 I travelled to Yosemite got my first taste of big walling when climbing The Nose on El Cap etc. From there on I was totally hooked on walls. Later that year I climbed my first 8a spots route. Over the years I returned to Yosemite to learn and to climb harder walls as Aurora and South Seas and spent time in Southern France and Spain to sports climb, mixing all this up with as much bouldering as possible and taken place in developing some nice areas for example a beautiful area called Geta in the Åland archipelago in Finland.

I've never seen a reason to look at different aspects of climbing as different really, it's all climbing, and it's all connected and I love it all. Only the logistics are a bit different. Now when reflecting over it, it's obvious that what one learns in one venue can be taken to another and then one can evolve, just like in life in general. Having said that I sometimes wish that I could focus but following my heart and doing what feels right for the moment seems to have worked.

I certainly prefer climbing on-sight and ground-up no matter if it's a bolted sports route or a big wall even though I've done my fair share of working on routes and red pointing. First ascents and going as light as possible in the mountains is taking more and more focus. Over the years I've traveled for climbing to Australia, Asia, all over Europe, Mali, Greenland, USA, Marrocco. Lack of motivation has so far never been a problem.

Today I believe I've found a good balance between climbing, work and family, specially after marrying Sofia who herself is a accomplished climber having climbed big walls (all girl ascents) in Greenland (Ulamertorsuaq) and Norway (Blaaman and Kjerag) and sportsclimbed up to 8a.

Some FA's of Big walls and MPs:

• Bongo Bar (VI A3 450m, Blixt, Ekefalk and Massih, 1998),Blaaman North face, Kvalöya, Troms, Norway
• Flänsostpassagen (V 7/7+, 900 m, Blixt and Massih, 1999, 11h) Kjerag. Norway
• Qivitoq (VI ,8- A2, 900 m, Blixt, Krane och Massih, 2002) på Tinninertups östpelare, Tasermuit, Grönland. Ground up onsight
• Kairos (IV 8- 250 m, Erik Massih and Haavard Nesheim 2004) Baugen, Kvalöya, Norway
• Dark Side of the Moon (IV 6+ 250 m, Massih and Sandgren, 2000) Baugen, Kvalöya, Norway
• Life is Beautiful, FFA, VI 5.13- 650 m Alexansdersson and Massih, 2009) Tasermiut fjord, Greenland

Selected Repeats:

• Left Pillar aka Brittish Route (VI, 5.12c, 750m FFA Martin och O'Neill) på Nalumatorsoq 2004 med Marco Kuppianen.
• Moby Dick (VI 7c+ A1, 31 repl, Glovacz och Albert mfl, 1994) på Ulamertorsuaq, Grönland. Close OS 2004 med Marco Kuppiainen, 36 h up and down, Se Climb nr 10, sid 83.
• War And Poetry (VI 5.12c 32 pitches, Skinner et al, 1998) on Ulamertorsuaq. Free on sight with Oskar Alexandersson, 2009. 30 h up and down.
• Aurora, El cap (with Ian Parnell 1998) och South Pacific (with Mårten Blixt 1998)
• Sports climbed up to 8b+ red point and 8as onsight. Over 120 routes harder than 8a redpointed. Several 8as on natural gear and up to 7c onsight on natural pro.
• Boulders up to 8a.
• Ice up to WI6 and M9+ (onsight/flash) and redpointed Bladerunner FA M10 R/X

Check out Eric's blog at motlutochbaktakt.blogspot.com