Pukinmäki

There are just not enough good slab climbing in Finland, especially with good rock quality. Luckily there are some small places that fit into that category like taivaskallio and munkkivuori which has one really nice slab wall. But Finland has never been slab kingdom by any means, not even close. Pihlajanmäki has also quite a lot of slab climbing, but the rock quality there is not something to brag about.

If you fancy a place with easy and fast access, dries quickly, is child friendly and can be accessed by child carriage, a place that has good rock quality, a place with perfect Fontainebleau mantel topout simulation. Then Pukinmäki (puksun fontsu) crag is just the place for you. By Fontainebleau mantel topout simulation I mean just that. This place is quite unique in Helsinki area and the way the slab ends. It is perfect shoulder training which is really close the way you topout most routes in magical Fontainebleau.

The only downside for this place is that it resides next to road and there are direct view from nearby households to the wall. So if you want to be in a place where you can be completely alone and where you don't meet other people, I'm afraid this place is not for you.

As story goes Pukinmäki aka. puksun fontsu crag was found by Kuutti Huhtikorpi who briefly tried one of the most obvious lines there but didn't climb that route. Afterwards he told about the small slab wall to our local slab master called Andy. As both of them lived really close to the crag at that time, Andy went and climbed the slab Kuutti tried before. I heard about the wall couple of years later from Andy and went there as I was living close to it as well at that time. I was told that Kuutti never went back to climb the route, so I made the second ascent of Andyn släbi in 2011. After that all the other routes were established to the sector.

From 2011 Puksun fontsu has been my home crag for many years and a perfect place where I went to hone in on my foot technique for future font trips.