Finland had wel een heel teleurstellend einde voor ons. Het leek alsof de Finnen wel heel graag wilden dat ze zouden winnen, het ging niet meer om eerlijkheid maar om voordeel geven aan de lokale klimmers. En dat hadden ze eigenlijk helemaal niet nodig, ze waren al goed, ook zonder de jury partijdigheid zouden ze…
Dinsdag. Eindelijk weg uit Korea. De laatste paar dagen ‘gevangen’ in de grote stad hielp niet voor onze motivatie. Gelukkig konden we bij Enni in huis verblijven. Paulii, Enni’s man, haalde ons zelfs op van het vliegveld. Had lunch voor ons gekookt, en meteen al in de auto voelden we ons hier meer thuis. Wat…
Het is 18:00 ‘s avonds. We wachten al een uur op twee mensen die echt niet gaan komen. Net aangekomen in Hohhot, het vriest, al zou je dat niet denken want er is geen druppel water te vinden en geen vlokje sneeuw. Het landschap om ons heen is kaal en bar. Als de bus dan…
It’s there! SO proud to be in this great movie, about the HISTORY of our sports! Download the full movie here: https://www.reelhouse.org/pierre.chauffour/generation-dry
We learn from the things we fail. Maybe it’s sometimes better to fail then to succeed. Safer. It’s brings you back home, makes you realise why you’re out there, what you love, who you love.
You need to be a dwarf (Zwerg in German, so ice dwarfs the route is called, the journey in the land of the ice-dwarfs, lovely name) to climb this route, wiggle yourself through a hole and cramp up whilst traversing the wall. Such an adventure, almost exactly 25 years after it’s first ascent we climbed…
We still had enough to discover at the big roof. So, back to the semi-cold dripping hole :)
Now we expected to just be there and train. Of course we’d try our best. But this? Really? Who would have known this :)
Sometimes you just want the swing the tools, use them for their true purpose. The simplicity, the pureness, the honesty of the game. As remedy for the successes and losses.
The comps can be such a rollercoaster! From the biggest succes to the just-miss. From the high to the lows, the love for the game, the hate for the failure. My gosh!
Thats one cool thing! Between all these sportsman in his town, between all these results, performances, presentations they chose the big ice climber. Whilst Dennis was climbing the Speed finals, back home he got the award of Sportsman of the Year. A small word from the winner:
And what do you do to finish a good week? Attent a real comp! The Swiss welcomed us to their home comp, the finals of their National series. And we had fun!
A thing we noticed with the Dutch is, they only climb toprope back home. We’re all a little scared for the real stuff due to the lack of realistic training scenario’s back home. So it was good to simulate a bit more ‘realness’ in the training.
Ice, is what it’s all about, not the first ice they (and we) climbed this season but sure it was something. It just feels great to climb ice :)
We were on a mission. We are on a mission this season. Broaden the sports, not just on the broader level, but grow the highest level in the Netherlands. And thus we train the new. Here, their first day with us. And it was cold, really cold, brrrrrrr :)
Finally, after everything that let us down (car mechanics, finances, unexpected obligations, anything…) we’re finally ON THE ROAD! We’re feeling insecure, the freedom, the performances that are expected, the new environment. We have to get used to it all. Hopefully we adapt fast :)
This year is new for us. For the first time we have a big group of enthusiasts that want to become stronger, better, learn more and more. To get them ready for bigger challenges we took them for one of their first outdoor training venues. Starzlachklamm, Germany. A dark hole, wet, moist and cold, but…
A week full of things happening: car issues, a lecture, my heart on fire and the drytool event at Usine. My heart on fire. Read about it here: Tuesday November 15. We missed the movie premiere at Grenoble. So wished we were there. So great they managed to publish the new movie! European climbing: ice,…
OutDoor is THE trade fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Here you’ll find everything from anyone and anywhere. All that’s new, improved, changed or just so good it’s still there. As Dennis is Industrial Designer and I’ve been (professionally) into all climbing aspects and we’re both sponsored by a few brands; we just had to visit the…
