Scottish Tooling Series, hit&run

And yet again another competition.

After Innsbrück we now went to Schotland, Edinburgh.

We were there to take part in the Scottish Tooling Series comp in EICA Ratho.

A friendly competition for climbers, by climbers.

There were more then 60 (!) competitors in all categories (veterans and youth included)

For the qualifications we had to climb 15 different routes. Varying in difficulty from M1/M2 to at about M8 (?)

I flashed or onsighted almost all except one, I fell out on the top :(

So, in the overall ranking I was shared second together with Malcolm [Kent].

Dennis was 'ruling', with climbing all the routes and so being first in the finals!

I didn't do too well in the finals. I missed a draw and had to climb back in the difficult part of the route, and I struggled with the slippery logs... Not too happy with my result but still being first :)

Later more about the whole adventure (incl: sleeping outside, Christmas in Edinburgh, meeting the massive amount of Scottish climbers, the Ian Parnell photo presentation, the night at the airport, climbing with Rob and Malc... and of course a little video...)

Photo: Will Caroll

Climbing has to be fun!

Sometimes it's not just hardcore rock-pulling.
Last weekend I was in Ith (Germany) together with the Student Alpine Club from Utrecht (USAC).
And, we had loads of fun :)

Alpin Messe - Pray for Ice

It's video weekend. First a vid of the tradclimbing meeting and now a video of the Pray for Ice competition.

Haha, you really see me fighting in that last route, my face...it looks scary...imagine meeting that girl in a dark alley...

Anyway, it was fun. Just too bad they didn't respect the female climbers too much (no finals, less price-money...)

Pray for Ice 2010 from eggermedia.com on Vimeo.

Valle dell'Orco

Some memories from the tradclimbing meeting in Valle dell'Orco put together by Maurizio.

Orco Trad Meeting 2010 from paolo on Vimeo.

My mind is full of....climbing!

Last days I'm working in Rock Steady (a climbing gym) and put up loads of drytool holds :) And...I went tooling with Fedor (see video)

And...I just saw what my Icelandic friends are climbing these days. Gosh, what do I do here in Holland? The conditions look perfect, now already, and it's just November!

Het is bijna winter, dus tijd om je voor te bereiden op het ijs in de alpen!
Eindelijk weer een klimhal met drytool boulders en routes
Vanaf vandaag kan er buiten bij Rock Steady gedrytooled worden.
Één boulderwand is helemaal ingericht als drytool wand.
Ben je ervaren drytooler of volg je een workshop? Dan mag je met scherp (echte bijlen dus) klimmen.
Binnen kan je in hout hakken en met een beetje fantasie kan je daar ook routes bedenken.
Weet je nog niet hoe dat allemaal moet: geen probleem, Rock Steady geeft workshops, cursussen en meer.
Kijk op de website rocksteady.nl voor telefoon/e-mail voor als je een afspraak wil maken voor een workshop of meer informatie.
Ben je een echte 'pro' mail dan eens met mij (Marianne) om samen nieuwe drytool/ijsklim dingen te bedenken
Pas op: voor het drytoolen is een helm, handschoenen en lange broek/trui verplicht.
Voor het binnen klimmen moeten je bijlen vast zitten aan je gordel. Bijvoorbeeld met een touwtje of elastiek zodat ze niet op andere klimmers kunnen vallen.
In de toekomst, als er animo, voor is gaan we ook ijsbijlen en stijgijzers verhuren.
Ijsbijlen met zogenaamde 'indoor picks' en helmen zijn al te huur.

Pray for Ice - Europacup flash-trip

No news so far from the Icelandic volcano. So, other things to write about :)

This weekend I went for a 'flash-trip' to Innsbrück, Austria.
We left Friday, landed in loads of traffic-jams, arrived in Innsbrück around 10-11-ish in the evening, slept in the car and climbed on Saturday the 'Pray for Ice' comp...The first competition of the new Europacup series.
Pray for Ice the name is, as it's just dry and indoors. No ice at all...

Around 9 we subscribed, and got to know the rules and details: three routes, all increasing in difficulty, no time limit, men and women had to climb the same routes, no crampon kicking in the wall...
So, nervous as I am, I decided to start early. A bit trmbly, block in my throat, I climbed up the first meters of the first route. And, placed my axe a bit too far on a hold, popped off and...fell :(
Fail...
So I thought I was 'out', no chanches for the finals.
Second route went much better, but I didn't top out. I was just so pumped that my hands bailed out on me. With my fingers loosing grip on my axes I fell off trying to climb out of the roof-section.
Third route, supposed to be the most difficult one.
Climbing up, quite long and technical moves, pumpy... On every move I tried to rest my fingers by loosening the grip on the axes. I was slow, but got higher and higher. And, even topped!!!
I had no idea how the others climbed untill Lucy (Hrozová) told me she was the only one who climbed higher then me. So, I would be in the finals!
But then she also told me there was no finals for the girls. Meaning she would be first, and I would be second :)
The organisation told us there was not enough time to build a route for us and the mens route would be too difficult for us.
That all, with the way smaller pice-money for the girls, really disappointed me: driving 1000km's to Austria, no finals and not really respected as women in iceclimbing...

But well, it was a good practice. Now I know what I have to train:

• get faster
• get more endurance
• climb more 'fluent' (meaning: think fast!)

Dennis did better on the routes and topped all three. But, he climbed a bit too slow to be with the first six, the finalists. He got on 8th place.

Up for the next comp...Scottish Tooling Series, DryToolStyle and then the Worldcup in January?

Photo 1: Place 1-6 mens.
Poto 2: me in the second route
Photo 3: Dennis in the second route

New eruption?

Iceland is full of active volcano's.
First we had Eyafjallajökull and now there is Grímsvötn (On the Vatnajökull)
Last night the Icelandic weather institute measured serious activity around Grímsvötn. There were earthquakes, one measuring 2.9 on Richter (at 2:30h last night) with increased tremor (see graph)
The last eruption there was just six years ago in 2004. Here a vid of the mountain...
They're now flying over the area to see how the thing is developping.
When I get to know more...I'll write some more :)

Iceland 3

Yes, home...bored... after I did...

• Fitness to do yoga
• Ikea for a warmer bed cover and some lists for my new pictures (thanks to Gummi)
• Make an appointment for the VW, new Winter tyres
• Go to the toilet for a poo
• Some knitting, a new Icelandic sweater
• Washing all dirty clothes
• E-mailing Boreal, Petzl, Cintamani and you
• Crackbooking
• Reading the Dutch newspaper NRC
• Reading a book about neurology
• Make a video of my trip to Iceland

And now I forgot to take a shower...again. Dirty...