Posts Tagged ‘lead’
This morning I set my alarm at 6 o’clock but I couldn’t get up on time. I suppose to leave at 6.30h, so I would’ve some spare time for my trip to Schiphol airport, but unfortunately I slept late. I left at 7 o’clock and arrived one hour later at Schiphol.
Fortunately I didn’t have any delay. At the airport I ran into team member Nikki, she was there on time. Team member Elko arrived soon and we’re complete. Checking in went well. This dude at the metal detector checked up on me. I had to open up my bags, but there was nothing dangerous inside my bag. He was just checking out my gadgets, I think he’s jealous at my camera!
The flight to Zurich was nice. I received swiss chocolate during the flight.
It was so delicious, I craved for more. I managed to score some more chocolates with my pure awesomeness at the end of the flight.
We could spend 1 hour at the airport. While Nikki and Elko were busy with their notebooks, I explored the airport. It was quite fun because I could try some fine chocolate sweets. I enjoyed it a lot.
So if you ever have time left at Zurich airport, I suggest you to walk around and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
At Zurich, Mathilde and her mom from Sweden joined us. They booked the same flight to Lyon.
When we arrived at Lyon, it was up to fix a rental car.
I booked a small car before, however it was meant for 3 persons. We were with the 5 of us and luckily they had a bigger car available on their parking lot.
We fit well in the car, including our luggage. It took us 2 hours to get to Valence. We managed to get on time at the climbing gym for the registration without navigation.
First we parked our car in the same street of the hotel and checked in. It’s a ** hotel and it’s about 15 minutes by foot to the climbing gym.
To be honest, I’ve seen better hotels in my life. Anyway, I’ll just stay here for a few days!
Next we went downtown to grab a bite. It was already 6.30 P.M. Most of the restaurants open from 7 P.M. We had to hurry because we wanted to be on time for the technical meeting from 7.30 P.M. We ended up in an average restaurant where we got served pretty fast. I ordered entrecote nature avec pomme et salad. Too bad I didn’t have ketchup with my fries. The meat was nice though.
I was too hungry so it was okay I suppose. Nikki picked lasagna and Elko had pizza.
We were on time at the technical meeting. There’s nothing special according the officials.
Nikki will start 7th in her first route and 23rd in her second route. Elko will start 6th in his first route and 28th in his second route. I’ll start 38th in my first route and 16th in my second route.
The programme remains the same. After this meeting we had some desserts to end our long journey. We visited this restaurant near our hotel.
It was super delicious. We’ll definitely return to his restaurant for a meal. After our dessert we went back to our hotel.
That’s it for now. I’m tired and I’m going to sleep because I have to wake up early. Goodnight to everyone and greetings from Valence, France!
Only 3 days to go, yeah! While time is ticking away, I promised to post more information about the Worldcup in Valence.
I haven’t been here before though, but I looked into this competition on the web. It’s always nice to know what you’re up against when you’re in another country.
Firstly, as we speak there are 75 77 competitors who signed up for this competition, among them are Nikki van Bergen, Elko Schellingerhout and me. We’ll leave Thursday morning by airplane from Amsterdam towards Lyon, France. Hopefully we won’t be delayed, or even worse, miss our flight.
Secondly, this is the fifth time the rock climbing Worldcup will be held in Valence. The competition will be organised by climbing club Mineral Spirit and the lead part will take place indoors. The wall is 14 meter high, has a width of 21 meters with more than 10 meter overhang! Here are some photos of the wall. In my previous post I inserted a map but below you’ll see a map with the exact location of the climbing venue.
As you can see on the map, our hotel Inter-Hotel De Paris Et Des Voyageurs is just around the corner. Thanks for booking Vera!
Thirdly, I found more information about the provisional programme. Overview:
Friday October 28th, men and women lead qualification will take place between 09.00h and 15.30h.
Saturday October 29th, semis will start at 12.30h and in the evening you can check the finals starting at 20.00h live on webcam!
Follow the Dutch climbing lead Team live or on Facebook.
To cut my post short, here is a teaser I spotted on the web. Have fun!
Hey everyone!
I almost forgot I was having a webpage! Anyway, I have a major update from Worldcup Puurs. I’m too late with this update, because the event was about a month ago.
Thursday 29th of September, Wally, Nikki and I left from Eindhoven to Belgium. We drove in a Volkswagen, which somewhat had more legspace than the prior small Peugeot 107 from last year. It accelerated pretty well, using 6 shifts and we had the luxury of airconditioning!
It was quite necessary though, the weather was superb. It was quite unusual to have such a weather at the end of September but I really enjoyed it. I had a bag full of stuff with me, whereas Nikki brought a big suitcase plus a big bag with her. It looked like she had packed for 3 weeks, while we suppose to leave for just 2 days from home.
On our way we got stuck in traffic jam, but not that long. It took us 30 minutes longer than usual and then arrived at our hotel at Mechelen. Our hotel was situated in a side street of the main market.
After checking in, we dropped our luggage in our rooms and went for a bite. It was already 7.30 in the P.M.
During dinner Wally managed to register us at the technical meeting. While we’re waiting for dinner, team member Jorg joined our table. He finally arrived after a long journey.
Later that evening fysio Tom arrived as well. He took care of us before we went to bed. Jorg and I shared a hotel room, next to our room was Nikki´s room.
Wally and Tom shared a room on another floor.
Before I went to sleep, I flipped some channels on tv. There was nothing interesting on. Jorg took control of the remote and we watched Jersey Shore on MTV. A nice episode to end this evening though.
In the morning we´re suppose to meet at 9 for breakfast. From the first floor I took the stairs down, because I expected there was a breakfast room on the main floor. But I forgot I was in Belgium, so they pointed me towards the 3rd floor for a breakfast room.
Hmm, quite logical right?
After breakfast we left to the climbing gym.
Once we arrived team member Elko Schellingerhout and Rachèl Nilwik were present too. I tried to figure out which route was my first route. There was a black route on the right and a yellow route on the left. I focused on the black route. It looked nice, but in the roof it was set impossible.
Inside I warmed up with Jorg.
He started with a 7c as warm up, makes you get a good flashpump. That’s a nice way to prepare for a competition route. On the startlist I was next after Jorg. It was a matter of counting down the minutes.
Once in a while I kept myself moving by traversing on the wall. I watched a video of the qualifications. There was a small room available where demos of the qualifications were projected non stop on the wall.
After 2 times you get so bored and walk away.
It was nearly my turn. I went outside, gave the route a quick peek and was ready to climb. Once I left the ground, it was a matter of going all out to the next hold. At the first module there was an undercling which you had to match, I zipped and almost fell out of the route but I managed to focus well and kept my body close to the wall. My feet went back in the wall on the holds and continued. Matching this sloper hold was exciting but I managed well. Then I arrived at this big volume, just below the roof. I could rest for a bit but not for long. When I continued to a pinch, I tried to put my left foot next to my left hand. I couldn’t match it somehow and I was convinced I could do this. I was unable to put my foot so high and fell out of the route. Bummer, it didn’t work! What did I do wrong? I wasn’t pumped or tired. Later I saw another hold in the roof and if you grab that hold with your left hand, then it was possible to swing your foot on top of the module. It was so stupid of me to forget about this hold, I didn’t even see it!
After the route I could get an arm massage. CTO fysio Tessa was present as well. I picked Tom, I believe he can pinch harder and that was just what I needed at that moment.
The second route was a yellow route. I just saw Elko climbing and falling. It was a crux from this intermediair hold to a pinch. Unfortunately his route ended at this point and stood back on the ground. After 2 hours it was my turn in this route. Again Jorg was first and he climbed pretty well in this route! Good enough to advance to the semis. I looked at the start and saw it was annoying. There was a foothold just below the starting hold, so you had to go dynamic and crossover at the first movement. It was dirty but I managed to do that. Carefully I matched a big sized hold and swung my feet to the other side and continued on this grey module. This module was quite dirty but I had to use it. Then I had to put my left foot high on the module and conduct a insecure jump to the next small hold. The next hold was quite far. I had to put my left foot high on this grey module and go dynamic. There were lots of annoying movements in this route where I felt I could barely reach it. It didn’t stop, again going dynamic to a small sized yellow hold on a module. Wow I was quite surprised how dirty this hold was when I matched it. I put my feet together on 1 hold below me. From this position I had to clip the rope. It took me quite some effort and it felt impossible to rest. Quickly I continued to this hold on my shoulder, and to continue I had to put my right foot next to my right hand. And grabbing this intermediair hold to continue to a pinch. I managed to pinch it but it wasn’t enough. Too bad! What did I achieve? Nothing. No satisfaction at all, just frustration..
Only Jorg managed to advance to the semis and even to the finals and ended up 7th.
I recorded his climbing moments and put it online.
Counting my 2 half routes, which makes 1 total route it wasn’t enough to advance to the semis. The routes are set that well that each hold counts. In my situation, that meant 3 holds more and I would’ve got myself in the semis! I ended up 34th from all 45 climbers. A result to forget right away. Elko ended up 28th, Rachèl ended up 29th and Nikki 30th. The rest of the results are here.
The award ceremony at the end!
What I like about Worldcups, is to see the top climbers at work. They climb so well and it looks like they take a lot of risks. I could learn a lot from observing. It was just super to be there, despite my sucky climbing moments. There were lots of side events, slacklining, dyno-ing, enough to keep yourself busy when no one was climbing!
Usually I get a lot of energy and motivation to train after a Worldcup when I get back home. However, after this Worldcup I had a meeting at the jaw surgeon. That went well but because of the painkillers afterwards I felt like I was weak and therefore felt less motivated to train past month. And that resulted into laziness and didn’t want to keep my blog up to date. Anyway, I’m back and fixed my desktop and started to write like a maniac.
Meanwhile 2 Worldcups past by and team member Jorg competed in Boulder (USA) and ended up 5th. Well done Jorx! Below you’ll see an impressive video from this Worldcup at Boulder.
The other Worldcup took place 2 days ago at Amman, Jordania. None of Dutch people attended here though. No surprising results because the unbeatable Austrian Jakob Schubert managed to win again and the small Spanish Ramon Puigblanque received silver and the Japanese Sachi Amma got bronze.
I’ve decided to join the next Worldcup. It will take place within a week at Valence, which is about 1,5 hours south of Lyon in France.
Come week I’ll keep you up to date! You’ll be receiving more Worldcup news from me. I’m going to climb and enjoy this weekend! See you around.
Tomorrow will be the IFSC Lead World Cup Puurs at Belgium!!
I can’t wait to pull plastic holds again in Puurs! Team members Jorg Verhoeven, Elko Schellingerhout, Nikki van Bergen and I will be attending this competition. Rachel Nilwik will reinforce the club. Coach Wally will coach us during the competition. We shall represent The Netherlands.
This afternoon I’ll leave from Eindhoven to Belgium. Tomorrow the qualifications will take place between 11.00 A.M. and 5 P.M. More info about the provisional program can be found here!
Come support us in Puurs. Live or through livestream. See you tomorrow!
Hey climbers!
I wrote a major story about my training abroad! Last weekend I visited Puurs Klimax, but unfortunately the open gym was closed since September 17th due to the Worldcup. This weekend I couldn’t return though. Where am I able to train proper?
To change subjects, my Sunday started with 3 super delicious brown buns, of which 2 were smeared with butter and choco paste and one with chick curry. My breakfast was surprisingly awesome. It gave me loads of energy for the next few hours!
In the afternoon I went to Wupperwände in Germany to train onsight climbing with Alexander, Nikki and Tabitha. This climbing gym is perfect to train due to its many hard routes. I haven’t been here since last year and all routes were new to me.
I believe we arrived there about 1.45 P.M. and we climbed until 7 P.M.! I ate 4 sultana crackers and didn’t have time for a lunchbreak. The other 5 hours I managed to climb 10 routes. I could recover pretty well and keep on climbing. Wupperwände is nice because of the lead climbing, the overhanging walls and the available free wi-fi for your phone. I wasn’t the one who figured out there was free wi-fi though. I won’t mention any names 
.
My ticklist: blue 6, red 7+, black 8-, green 9, attempt black 9+, brown 9, black 9+, attempt orange 9+, white 9- and blue 9. The routes probably doesn’t mean much, however a route database might give you an impression of the available routes. There aren’t that many difficult routes in my opinion. My reference point was like a German 8 equals a 7a, a 9 equals a 7c etc etc. Read more about a conversion table of the grades. German grade system belongs to UIAA list.
Sometimes the route wasn’t representing the grade. It was either too easy, whereas a + more it felt so much harder. The difference was quite noticable between a 9 and a 9+. Anyway, it a subjective experience though.
To cut a story short, I trained well abroad with Alexander, Nikki and Tabitha! See you next time again climbers!
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