Posts Tagged ‘lead’
Here is another video from a famous climber, this time it’s the cute girly climnber from the USA.
In March of 2012, 5 months after her historic ascent of “Pure Imagination” -Adidas team athlete- Sasha DiGiulian, traveled to Spain in search of her next level. After a month of searching for a route that suited her best, she once again climbed the grade of 9a (5.14d) with her ascent of “Era Vella” in Margalef.
Sasha remains the only American women to climb the grade of 5.14d (9a). Keith Ladzinski and Andy Mann(3 Strings Productions) were there to capture her efforts and tell the story.
Have fun watching this video!
Last Friday I woke up at 6.30 AM and went back to sleep for another hour.
At 8 AM I had breakfast on the first floor. In the breakfast room there were a lot of Austrians too. Nikki and Wouter were already having breakfast.
After breakfast we went to pick up Tabitha and drove to the climbing venue. The routes were set outside in the big overhanging gym.
There were a lot of new holds, which made me curious!
The first for me was a yellow route and the second route was a black route. The first part of the route went well and I managed to climb until the roof.
From there I had a pocket with my left hand, clipped a quickdraw and went to another pinch for my right. I changed my foot position and crossed under to another pinch. From here I had to slab to this huge hold with a hole in it. But I didn’t get that far, cause I slabbed next to the hole! I thought the tickmark was going a bit more to the left. It was such a pity, cause I know I could do so much better than this. So far my first route. I had to make up for this in my second route.
At 3 PM was my second route with black holds. It was set on the right side of the climbing gym. This route looked funny. I was relaxing and climbed my way up until I got my right hand on this sloper hold.
It was only the 8th hold I think. I matched it quick and placed my left foot on this huge hold. From there I figured I should go dynamic to a pinch which was quite reachy. It didn’t work out for me. During my movement I suddenly stopped. I don’t know why. I was mad at myself. It went so good until this far move.
I should have locked off my right arm and I know I could have reached it with my left hand but I didn’t. I was copying this Korean guy I saw before and it didn’t work for me.
I ended up last in the ranking. This was a performance to forget very soon! I don’t know what to do. I do feel super motivated to train harder now. The rest of the event was nice. Nikki and Jorg advanced to the semis which was a good performance. Jorg even made the finals and ended up 6th!
Check my Facebook page to see the other 80 photos of the event. After the finals I had some free dinner and played some soccer with Jorg and the Austrian team 
I do have a note on how to improve the competition next time in Puurs. I think the speaker of the event should either work on his speaker style or turn off the microphone. The rest of the event was super!
It’s been a few days that I’m back home again. Last Thursday was my climbing day and I’m going to tell you all about it.
I had to wake up early. According to the climbing schedule, I had to climb 4th in my second route.
In the morning I was having breakfast with Tom. It was only 7 AM and I got a nice mini croissant with tea. After breakfast we left to the arena. Our hotel was nearby the arena, took us 15 minutes by foot. It was nice to walk outside and really wake up.
When I arrived at the arena, I had to show my pass to get in. I took a quick look at the wall to check the routes. I saw Jorg Verhoeven as well. He informed me about the blue routes. There were 4 routes set in the wall. I had to focus on the blue routes.
Behind the wall was the warm up zone. It wasn’t big nor high. I always find it difficult to warm up on a small boulder wall though and then climb a hard route. Perhaps I should standardise my training this way to get the feeling of it.
Anyway, I was placed in group B which had a total of 51 climbers. Group A also had 51 climbers. I’m not used to compete against so many climbers though.
I changed my clothes and started to warm up. When I felt a bit pumpy, I focused on the flash route. It was recorded on video behind the wall and repeated over and over.
I wasn’t paying too much attention to the route, just the sequence. I knew where the holds were set and took a look in front of the wall. I was visualizing how the movements would feel like when I will climb the route.
It was almost time to climb. I didn’t feel nervous yet. I was putting on my climbingshoes backstage and prepared myself to climb. I had to wait until it was my turn. The first part of the route went really well. I expected this route to be much harder. The holds were nice however the clipping the quickdraws wasn’t nice. Anyway, no hard moves so far which could have scared me off. At that moment I was believing in myself, enjoying the climb and I could could hear my team members supporting me. I can’t remember the music or anything else. The route was really nice.
Although I didn’t climb all the way to the top, but I was kind of surprised when I fell out of the route. From a sidepull I had to cross over with my right hand and grabbed an undercling with my left hand. I can remember this guy placed his foot on a far foothold and so did I. The next hold was meant for my right hand and as I went towards the hold I felt I didn’t get my fingers properly on the hold. It was small though, but that was the moment I fell out of the route. I wasn’t too happy about that but also I wasn’t too disatisfied about it. The climb went okay I suppose. I just wished I didn’t fall out at that spot. My left arm was starting to get pumpy but I wasn’t tired yet.
My second route was much later. I was placed 29th in the first route. I had to wait 2 hours, which gave me the opportunity to watch other climbers in the routes. From this point of view it looked like the 1st route was set harder than the route I had just climbed. Once in while I was walking backstage to traverse on the wall. Usually it feels easy to stay warm after one route. I memorized the route and was ready to climb.
Just before it was my turn, Michiel and Hans showed up. They were just in time to watch me climb. When I started my second route, I heard them supporting me. Actually I only heard my team cheering for me and nothing else. The moves looked hard but once again I expected it to be hard but it was all okay.
The roof had good holds and getting out of the roof was a crux for me. I knew it was hard to go to this sloper. I placed my left heel behind on the module and I knew I had to cross over with my left hand. It didn’t feel right though, so I went with my right hand to this sloper.
I wasn’t even close to this hold! Perhaps because of my feet placement it didn’t feel right and therefore I got punished.
I knew right away this score wasn’t enough to advance to the semis. I ended up 51st from 102 lead competitors. Just in the middle, what can I say about that? I’ll leave that to you.
I had a brief feedback session with Wouter after my climb. It was good to talk about it and listen to his point of view. I enjoyed climbing though! To be here for a whole week was great. Walking among the best climbers gives such positive energy. The semis and finals were great. The tickets were all sold out which means there were about 6000 spectators to see the best climbers in the world in action!
Below you can see a few photos from the whole event.
I didn’t stay at the arena all the time though, but also went sightseeing with my team. We went to Blocbuster for a few hours and had dinner together.
The other days I have visited Bastille, Les Arches, Arc de Triomphe, Pompidou, Notre Dame and many more venues.
Today I had a restday.
I was up in the morning to work on my blog.
As you can see, I have selected just a few photos.
Anyway, this morning I bought breakfast in a bakery shop.
I picked some nice pain aux raisins. I love those, especially when they’re still warm.
At the arena I explored a the different areas. The boulder area was quite small compared to the lead area. Of course lead climbing is way more fun than bouldering. My first impression of the wall was the hidden overhang. It looks huge, but actually it’s about 20 meters high.
Nikki climbed her first route in the afternoon. Her second route was about 2 hours later. I took a few photos of her second route. She climbed really well. She ended up in the semi final, so we’ll see her in action again on Friday!
The Dutch boulderteam was there as well. The problems looked hard with many sloper holds. Not my cup of tea though. Such a pity none of the men advanced to the semis.
After the competition we went back to our hotel. I got a leg massage from Tom, cause I felt a bit sore from the long walk. It felt good!
In the evening we went out for dinner. We searched for several restaurants but none of those met our standards.
Eventually after half an hour of walking we ended up in a nice restaurant.
Our toast went out to Nikki and her awesome performance today. I had a nice duck fillet with Orangina and some crepe du Nutella as desert. It was so delicious, makes me feel good yeah.
Now I’m back at the hotel. Once again updating blog, working on photos and catch up on the Dutch elections. By the way, I tweeted it before but I’ll repeat it here again. Tomorrow I’ll start climbing 4th in my second route and 29th in my first route, which means I’ll be climbing at approximately 09:10. I don’t feel the World championship climbing tension yet though, I feel quite relaxed.
It was good to check out the wall today. I was impressed by the paraclimbers though. Some were blind or missing a leg or arm but nonetheless they managed to top the route!
Anyway, check out the live stream tomorrow!
I just set my alarm clock: 06.30 AM on my phone. I’m going to brush my teeth, take a shower and get some sleep. I wish you goodnight from Paris. Bonnuit!
I’ve been flying under the radar lately. I have been quite busy training but I have an announcement to share!
This week the world championship sportsclimbing will be held in the prestigious Bercy Arena in France.
I’ll be there among the Dutch lead team: Jorg Verhoeven, Elko Schellingerhout, Nikki van Bergen and me. The Dutch boulderteam will be represented by: Vera Zijlstra, Nicky de Leeuw, Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen and Hans Busker. Coach Wouter Jongeneelen and physio Tom Mooij will support us during the whole week. Check out the rest of the competitors here.
Here is a short teaser about the competition.
What else? Here are some nice numbers. Did you know that there are:
• 85 000 licence holders
• 55 000m² arena space
• 15 000 expected spectators
• 500 athletes
• 200 volunteers
• 50 countries
• 15 judges
• 5 magical days of climbing in Paris
• 2 full days of finals
• 1 international sport arena
• 4335 facebook fans (and climbing…)
• The area looks like:
Provisional program:
Wednesday 12th September
09:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN BOULDER
12:00 – 18:00 Qualification WOMEN LEAD
Thursday 13th September
12:00 – 18:00 Qualification WOMEN BOULDER
09:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN LEAD
Friday 14th September
09:00 – 13:00 Practice time MEN & WOMEN SPEED
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final MEN BOULDER
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final WOMEN LEAD
14:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN & WOMEN SPEED
Saturday 15th September
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final WOMEN BOULDER
10:00 – 12:30 Semi-final MEN LEAD
18:00 – 18:30 Opening Ceremony
18:30 – 20:00 Final MEN BOULDER
20:00 – 20:30 Final PARACLIMBING (male blind1)
20:30 – 20:45 Awarding ceremony
Entract
21:15 – 22:15 Final WOMEN LEAD
22:15 – 23:00 Final WOMEN SPEED
23:00 – 23:15 Awarding ceremony
Sunday 16th September
13:00 – 14:30 Final WOMEN BOULDER
14:30 – 15:00 Final PARACLIMBING (male one leg amputee)
15:00 – 15:15 Awarding ceremony
Entract
15:45 – 16:45 Final MEN LEAD
16:45 – 17:30 Final MEN SPEED
17:30 – 17:50 Awarding ceremony
17:50 – 18:05 Closing ceremony
According to this program, I’ll start on Thursday 13th September (09:00 – 18:00 Qualification MEN LEAD)!
You can follow the World Championship live. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more updates!
Friday morning my phone woke me up at 06.00 AM in the morning. I wanted to snooze my alarm, but I got up anyway. You know that feeling when you feel like you just fell asleep but had to wake up? Well I was experiencing it in the morning. Lack of sleep yeah.
I took a quick shower to wake up and got myself ready.
When I was walking towards the car and heard the birds whistling. No one on the streets except me. Nice!
07.00 AM I entered the competition venue. Ulf was waiting for me on the parking lot. Together we walked to the wall to check the routes. It wasn’t clear which route was my first route. The tags still had to be placed by the organization.
I went to the isolation area where I warmed up. Then I checked the video of the qualifications. The first route looks okay and then went to the training wall to warm up my fingers. The holds were cold and so were my fingers.
The holds in the competition wall must be cold too, so I was trying to keep my fingers warm. Time really flew in the morning. I felt a small fleshpump in my arms and decided to focus on the route again.
It was close to 08.30 AM and I thought I was ready to climb. The organization told me to wait a few more minutes. I had to keep my fingers warm but every minute seemed too long. After a few minutes I could start my
route. I started quite safe and kept climbing in my safe mode. Every move was static and controlled, but very slow. As soon as I got to the roof of the wall, there was this hold which I had to pinch with my right. Then my fingers started to feel a bit numb and I tried to continue. I had to go to another pinch in the roof with my left hand. And this is the part where I should’ve turned my abs on. My feet were placed too low, but my hands weren’t ready to pinch on those cold holds. I decided to go. Although the next hold seemed so far away, when I got to the hold, my feet were hold-less. This was a no go. I wasn’t climbing as myself, not relaxed at all, just too tense. Perhaps a bit nervous because this was my first international competition of the year.
1,5 hours later I could start my second qualification. Ulf told me to relax and forget about the first route. I tried to enjoy from the start. I was here to climb and see where I stood in this strong competitor field.
I saw a few other climbers run through this route and I was planning to copy that style. This shouldn’t be so hard. I should just relax and climb! From the start I had this mindset and took some risks during the route. I climbed somewhat faster and got to the roof.
In the roof I knew exactly what to do. I rested first on 2 good holds and then I started the right sequence. It went well with a super dropknee in the roof.
There was a tricky move in the roof but I had to stick it. Finally I succeeded in these hard moves. Just a few moves later, my right knee sticked behind a hold and I couldn’t coordinate well. A small mistake paid by a fall out in the route. Without taking risks I couldn’t get so far. I wasn’t pumped in the route but still, this is so fudged up! I was just getting started. Sigh.
A few hours later, the final results of the routes were approved by the officials. In my first route I ended up 50th out of 58 competitors. Aaah sucky score! Second route I ended up 29th out of 58 competitors.
This score seems okay, but still not good enough! Average score: 40th out of 58. I didn’t end up with the first 26 competitors, resulting in no semis for me. Meh.
I have mixed thoughts about this worldcup. Being first isn’t nice in my opinion. It has its advantage like climbing on clean holds. There are more disadvantages to mention such as, getting up really early and climbing on cold holds. I would rather climb in the afternoon, when it felt 10 degrees warmer compared to the morning. Anyway, my first route just sucked. It’s my fault. Second route went better, I felt more relaxed about it.
The next day, I got over it and supported Nikki in her semis and watched the finals.
Between the semis and the finals there was a long break. Ulf, Elko, Nikki and me went to climb outdoors. Briançon has many outdoor rocks. We went to Mont-Dauphin, which was about 1 hour driving from Briançon. We walked up the hill (read: wooden stair in the forest) for 10 minutes and found the rocks. This area contains lots of pebbles and conglomerates. Ulf and Elko climbed, Nikki and I enjoyed the sun and the view of the landscape.
The finals were nice to watch. This square was full of people. There was no entrance. The finalists were presented in a cool way. They were standing in front of a window with spotlights aimed upon them. It was really spectacular to witness the finals.
I think the men finals was better than the women finals. The women finals seemed too easy. The semis of the women was set too easy as well. There is a new rule from the IFSC though. It doesn’t matter how many climbers top out the route, the one who’s the fastest will be the winner. Fortunately no one from the men sent the whole route. 5 women topped out the final route! Check the final results here.
Anyway, it was nice to be in Briançon. Everytime I see the finals, I really get psyched to train and get motivated. I think that is a part what I was looking for these last few months. Train towards worldcup isn’t easy. Only by competing a lot of worldcups, will get you back in the scene. You’ll know what you’re training for. The goal will be more clear. I think climbing with passion during competitions is important too!
After the finals, there suppose to be an after party. It was held in the center of Briançon. I was there, but this wasn’t a party to me. It was held outside, music style was dubstep and they played till 1 AM. The bars closed at 2 AM and we stood outside in the cold talking to each other or looking for some hot action if you know what I mean. I went home and got some sleep.
The next day I checked out and picked up Ulf. Nikki and Elko were going to Spain to climb outdoors for 2 weeks. Ulf and I went climbing in the morning. We checked this area called Les Ayes. It’s a tricky road uphill. There were lots of unpaved roads. It took us about 30 minutes driving from Briançon but every minute was worth it. When I got there, it was like heaven!
Super nice open area, with a nice small river next to the road. Behind the water was the rocks. You could park the car next to the water and walk 5 minutes and climb on rocks.
It was good to climb between 11 and 13.00 o’clock. Then the sun turned on the wall. We had to leave anyway to catch our flight. I climbed 3 routes, which was really awesome!
Then I got to the airport, checked in my luggage, had to wait for 1 hour and got on the airplane.
The end. I had a really good time, except the party was a bit lame.
Well so far my first international worldcup again. I’ll take my good experience in account for the next time!
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