2 competitions in one weekend

...And yes again competition climbing today.

This time bouldering. Really fun relaxed atmosphere in THEA, Amsterdam (Tussen Hemel en Aarde=Between Heaven and Earth, as the gym is in a church)

Climbing with other good climbers who respect each other and are interested in what others climb. Such a good support to be around these people. (Thanks Bart, Roelien, Hans, Mariana, Joost, ....)

Nikki joined, but didn't put in here score card, Mariana, Roelien, Rianne, Martina and others did put in their score cards and surprisingly, I won! As price I got a pair of climbing shoes :)

It's very motivational to win this little comp and see where I stand between the other climbers.

Mariana won the over-all Winter competition. She got a really cool big triple crashpad!

Though, I still have to keep on training. I notice that my fingerstrength really has to improve and I need to get some more powerendurance. I can do most of the moves, but get tired fast.

So, restday tomorrow and then training again!

NSK Sportklimmen

Yesterday (and officially today as well) I competed in the Dutch Student Championships Lead climbing (short: NSK Sportklimmen)

And gosh, suddenly I was a little insecure girl, not knowing if I could climb on these walls and if I'd reach a proper place in the ranking. I got completely influenced by arrogant girls who were telling me they're basically better climbers.

When people shouted up when I was climbing I wasn't thinking of climbing better but thinking of the girls who were all hoping I'd fall off so they would win. So I climbed too slow, too insecure and not strong enough.

Strange how much influence people can have on me.

All the waiting in between the routes didn't help either. I was happy that they shortened the program to just one day to avoid having the finals in the rain (it's raining here today)

Though, I reached second place.

I drove to Utrecht with Jasmijn (who became 6th) and Truong Ngo, who also landed in second place. And now up for the next competition in Amsterdam, bouldering this time. Hopefully I'll do better there :)

Ettringen...again (3)

Yes, and again we went to Ettringen. Just for one day.

Way too warm to climb and not the focus to climb the things I wanted to climb :(

Sometimes I just have a day that things don't work the way I want them to work.

Then I get pumped after 3 moves,don't have the strength to do the crux of the line, get stressed by not climbing my project and frustrated, and then nothing works anymore. It's very annoying to have these days. Sometimes it works to take a break, but as we only had one day to climb, I couldn't really take a break.

Though, Rick and Dennis did a good job. Dennis climbed his first 7c: Diablo! And Rick did a very nice traverse over the Grosse Wand.

Later more, when I'm finished editing the little video :)

Spring!

In Iceland you have just two seasons: Summer and Winter. The in-between-version doesn't exist. Understandable. It's often just cold there: t-shirt weather is nice, but far not as nice as t-shirt weather in the Netherlands.

So, I'm enjoying the sun!

Worldcup Boulder Eindhoven

Waaa, exciting!

I'm going to join the worldcup bouldering in Eindhoven this Summer!

It's now official and on all webpages: climbing.nl, nkbv.nl, the worldcup webpage and more :)

Quite scary when people talk about you on webpages and stuff. I'm even in some kind of poll on climbing.nl: "Who is going to be..." bla bla, just vote, or don't ;)

I never expected to be fit enough after I broke my arm this Winter. But, with solid 6C os. level again and sometimes even 7A's that go good already, I'm feeling fit and strong.

These days I'm spending more time then ever on my climbing. Fitness in the mornings cycling everywhere instead of going by car and climbing in the midday and/or evening. Just bouldering and weekends in Ettringen for a change of scenery.

Ettringen...again

Ettringen last 2 days.

It was great: rain, cold, humid, but fun!

And I found myself two such cool things to do! Couldn't climb it today, but I'll definitely go back and get all my strength and power together to climb it!

Route 1: Diablo (1e Grotte, Modor) 7c on pure power. Bolted, long moves ok "ok" holds in a big roof.

Route 2: Mut der verzweiflung (Grossen wand) 7b/7b+, trad climb. Obvious crack line, very challenging but very possible. Only one woman has climbed it so far see Melanie climbing the route on basaltcracks.de

I made a little video of our climbing last days. Not the best video, but maybe fun to see :) (Thanks Vincent, Erik and Dennis for the images/video)

Who's up for Ettringen next week/next month/somewhere this year??? ;)

The weather forecast for today

After a week of rain in Freyr, I was hoping to have better weather this week.

But cycling today in wind and rain wasn't much fun today.

I even thought of cycling inside (they call it 'fitness').

(The picture is no joke, it really was the forecast for today...)

Giro d'Italia

This weekend is Giro weekend. All around Utrecht and Amsterdam there are little cycling events. And there is of course the big tour: Giro d'Italia. Italia/Holland, yes, I don't get it either...but it was fun to watch.

I took my brother and dad and five different camera's with me. This is the result: video/slow motion and pictures. Though, the best pictures stay on my dad's page.

Climbing is fun...in the rain

Last week I drove down South (sounds like driving to warm sunny weather...)

Freyr was our destination.

We were invited by Petzl in the classic Freyr restaurant (Le Chamonix) to sign our 2010 contract. Really amazing to be member of a team with the world's best climbers!

Though, the weather was quite bad...rain, cold and I even got sick! Sore stomach, fever for a day and the next day my belaybitch (Dennis) had the same thing :(

But, I found some new projects and when you have the right route, Freyr is not that slippery :)

Though...sometimes the Dutch climbers should try to shut up and climb instead of scream over the cliffs that it's scary/high/difficult/slack/...

Here a little (unfinished) video of my adventures.

Freyr and Petzl

I feel very flattered, amazed, exited, respected, motivated, energetic... I'm officially sponsored by Petzl!
Last Friday we signed our contacts!
And we climbed in Freyr with our new draws.
There's sun, slippery classic Freyr cliffs and fun!
Hopefully more climbing the next days :D