Eric Karlsson: Bouldering, YouTube and Learning to Climb Again

Eric Karlsson is one of the earliest bouldering youtubers. A Swedish boulderer and climber who started his channel in 2015 telling the story of boulderers beyond just ascending a boulder problem. Showing the failures, progress and the climbing community. 

Where he documented the struggle of battling with boulder problems he later also shared his own struggles with his health.

Eric Karlsson filming in a bouldering gym
Eric Kalsson

Eric Karlsson’s youth

Grew up in a small village in the east of Sweden, close to the Norwegian border. As a kid he had big ears, so big that his friends would call him Dumbo. For this he got a corrective operation, but this did not solve his insecurity. So through school he was struggling. Even his teachers pitied him, by giving him less homework to learn, because they did not feel he had the capacity to learn as much as his fellow classmates.  

At the age of 15 he moved to Karlstad where he started learning to paint. As he did not liked this education he lost himself in world of warcraft. Where he at first sucked, but after a year he became a decent player. Eric Karlsson set the goal to become the best. After 3 years together with his team he became the best team in the world.  

Eric Karlsson getting into climbing

From there he travelled the world, among others he had a shitty gardener job in Australia at the age of 25. In this time he met some climbers that invited his to join them. And he was hooked from that moment on. And he wanted to be the best within a year. Working out for 5 hours a week. Holding a strict diet. Getting sick and injured. The second year he took it even further, and got really sick because of malnutrition. A doctor gave him a wake up call. Even with this set back he achieved his goal of climbing the most difficult grade in the gym: silver. 

Climbing his goal got him in another black hole where he doubted what to do. This forced him to stop climbing.

So he started to make a video a day for his channel. Making a living from youtube he forced himself to climb. He hated climbing but this feeded his channel. Losing his confidence in front of the camera. Afraid nobody wanted to see him. Not knowing what side of him he should show in front of the camera. 

Yet there he found a new goal: climb an 8a: Jack’s broken heart. This helped him to lose his hate for climbing. 

A video a day: Eric Karlsson’s key to success

Working at the gym he would film the people climbing there. Featuring many of his friends and people in the gym. Among them Magnus Mdtbø and Emil Abrahamsson. This last one would start his own channel not much later. Showing and telling their stories each day would be his key content. A big shift in bouldering movies: from pros showing the hardest climbs, to regular people sharing their struggles and victories. A process that was not shown before.  Making him one of the pioneers of bouldering videos.

With this success he got access to new people and popular climbers. Giving more content to show in his videos. Getting recognition by EpicTV and other channels. 

A new reality

Eric Karlsson got deaf and tinnitus in his right ear overnight in 2020. This resulted in heavy balance loss. Doctors said he would never be able to climb again. Yet he took it one step at a time and first had to learn to walk again, and later returned to climbing. Even completing a 7c. Yet insomnia and anxiety because of his condition complicated his recovery. That is why he was forced to tune back on his youtube productivity.

Sources