Good luck - Bad luck

Back in the Netherlands again. 

After more then a month of just travelling and climbing.

I've seen amazing things, met beautiful people, shared so much happiness.



Luck and hard work gave me the opportunity to travel all the way to Ouray, Saas Fee, Rabenstein, Bad Gastein, Busteni...

Sometimes luck was bad luck, like the day I realised I had the flu that everyone had been bugging for weeks.
I thought my immune system would do better.
Since Saas Fee I'd been sick. The flu going up and down in different stages.
But it didn't really stop me from climbing.
It was so great to swing my tools in the Bad Gastein ice, it was so much fun to see Dennis win a sheep, and actually I had to laugh when we got a plate of undefinable fat meat again in our crappy Romanian hotel.
I think everyone in Busteni was lucky last weekend, because no one died, even when the belayers gave slack all the way to the ground, it was still all 'o.k.'



I learned this week that, when you work really hard, you can get a lot of things done.

I also learned that when you work really hard other people will try to profit from you. And some of those in a very mean and unfair way.

Like the man that promised me coaching, training, support... But in return took all I worked for and now claims it for himself and now even tries to exclude me from all that I worked for.
And like the woman in the hotel that stole my passport, price-money I won in Ouray, insurance card and visa documents.
Like the Bulgarian guys that robbed me in France.
And the people that stole my clothes, sleepingbag, stove and more.

Those people took away immense opportunities for me.
They didn't just steal money.
They stole a piece of my life.

All this money I lost in the past months made it that I had to decide that I can't go to Canada next month with the Alpine Mentor Programme.
Even now that I work full-time this week, next week...
Still have to pay tax, insurance, rent, food.
And I need to climb.

To the ones that stole a piece of my life:
You are pathetic, mean, low, sad, worthless people.

Life is so much easier when you live in a cave in sunny Southern France.