Lijden is best leuk

Dag 12 van 14 met Alpine Mentors.

Het sneeuwde vanochtend. Min twee gaf de thermometer aan in ons Patagonia chalet in Chamonix.

De laatste weersvoorspellingen zeiden dat het de hele dag zou blijven sneeuwen en dat het erg koud zou zijn. 

My dream house, a.k.a the Patagonia chalet!

Alle locals zijn gevlucht uit Chamonix en klimmen nu in warmere oorden zoals Finale en Arco.

De locals die er nog wel zijn raden het af om omhoog te gaan met de lift.

Wij zijn er nog en besloten toch maar te gaan. 

Ik had er niet veel zin in. €50 voor de lift naar de Aguille du Midi is veel geld en dat voor een beetje harken en zwemmen in de 1,5m verse sneeuw leek me helemaal niks. 

Sjacherijnig zat ik te wachten op de eerste lift. Die uiteindelijk pas om 11uur ging. 

Ondertussen waren we een hele attractie voor alle toeristen; alle Japanners, Koreanen, Indiërs, en andere Aziaten wilden met ons oude foto. Ik heb er een hekel aan, dat toeristische gedoe, dus ik liep weg. M'n humeur werd er niet veel beter door. 

I'm not going to participate in this shit.

Boven op de Aguille du Midi gaf de thermometer -24 aan. Koud. 

De eerste stappen in de sneeuw waren diep en zacht. Tot m'n heupen zakte ik weg in de verse laag poeder.

Stap voor stap liepen we over de witte gletsjer richting het startpunt van onze route.

Ik had er nog steeds geen zin in. De route had ik al een keer gedaan en het ding was zo makkelijk dat ik het nu van een touw niet echt zag.

Just before the snow it already looked pretty white...

Aan het begin van de route werd het pas echt zwemmen. Diep gravend in de sneeuw kwamen we langzaam steeds hoger. 

Het was erg lastig om het juiste routeverloop te vinden door de dikke laag sneeuw. Aan m'n ijsbijlen had ik niet veel en m'n handen en gezicht werden koud van het opwaaiende poeder. 

Hoe hoger we kwamen hoe lastiger het werd. En de wind stak op, zoals voorspeld. Steeds harder stoof alle sneeuw om ons heen. M'n jas kon niet verder dicht en m'n neus werd steeds kouder tot ik m niet meer voelde en er ijspegeltjes aan m'n neus en wangen hingen. Bij elke ademhaling kregen we een hap sneeuw binnen en alles werd steeds kouder.

Ik had 3 broeken aan, 3 truien, muts, handschoenen en een waterdichte broek en jas. En nog was er koud. Tijd voor de donsjas.

Naast me stond iedereen ook te rillen. Ik was dus niet de enige die het koud had. 

Inmiddels begon de tijd te tikken. Alsof we in een 'time vortex' zaten vloog de tijd voorbij zonder dat we echt hoger in de route kwamen. Nog 45min voor de laatste lift naar bededen. Als we die niet zouden halen zouden we boven op de berg moeten overnachten. Gelukkig zijn er verwarmde wc's om in te overnachten als nood, maar ik lig toch liever in een echt bed.

Nog ging alles langzaam. Iedereen was koud. Opeens was ik er klaar mee. F*** dat touw, ik ga wel zonder. 

Bijna rennend ging ik omhoog. Ik werd warmer en zelfs het lastige stuk voelde makkelijk aan. Anderen volgden mijn voorbeeld en al snel stonden we boven. "Cinq minute" hoorde ik omroepen. Nog 5 minuten voor de laatste lift naar bededen. Nog niet iedereen was er. Sommige klommen nog wel met touw...

We renden naar de lift. Gooiden onze spullen erin, renden weer terug om de laatste twee van ons team (van 5) omhoog te zeulen.

Net op tijd voor de laatste lift.

Downtown snow at Chamonix

Vandaag weer een dag...dag 13. 

Bijna aan het einde van onze trip. We voelen ons moe maar super geacclimatiseerd. 4000m hoogte doet niks meer met ons lichaam.

Bovenop de verse 1,5m is er een nieuw pak gevallen van 40cm.

Vanaf de Helbronner (Italiaanse kant) hebben we ons een weg over de gletsjer gegraven. Eigenlijk meer een tunnel dan een pad. Het waaide zo hard dat na 5min het pad weer verdwenen was in de verse poedersneeuw. We klommen een 'mixed' route. Rots en een dun laagje ijs. Voorzichtig klom ik omhoog. Dit was in de zomer super makkelijk. Zelfs iemand met nauwelijks klim ervaring kan er dan omhoog komen. Met -20, een dikke laag sneeuw en een flinterdun laagje ijs was de route moeilijker dan de Noordwand van de Eiger (alleen wel korter). En dan was er de constante wind die de sneeuw om ons heen blies en me regelmatig uit balans bracht. Afzekeren was lastig, want de nuts, pitons en cams bleven nauwelijks zitten in de ijzige spleten...

Het weer was veranderd van helder en winderig in stormachtig met sneeuw. We zagen letterlijk onze eigen voetstappen niet meer achter ons. Met kaart, kompas zochten we een weg terug naar de hut. Regelmatig vielen we in de nu onzichtbare gletsjerspleten en zwommen we weer omhoog. Onze gezichten waren bevroren, stap voor stap kompas recht vooruit kostte het ons 3uur om weer bij de hut uit te komen...

Na 10uur 'suffering' waren we weer terug bij de hut. Alles was koud en m'n gezicht was zó pijnlijk. Ik wou dat ik een baard had, dan kon al het ijs in m'n baard blijven zitten in plaats van op mijn schrale wangen.

The beard I need to be a better Alpine climber ;)

En toch denk ik eigenlijk denk ik dat ik dat lijden wel leuk vind.  Hoe harder ik er voor moet werken hoe meer voldoening het geeft als je weer terug bent.

Morgen de laatste dag. Zó veel geleerd en met zulke bijzondere mensen geklommen. Het weer zat niet echt mee, ik had gehoopt moeilijkere dingen te kunnen klimmen, maar met zó veel sneeuw is dat gewoon onmogelijk.

Toch morgen weer. 

Via Ferrata with a view

Yesterday was the last of the four day family trip with Dennis parents and brothers.

I found a great viaferrata not far from Chamonix "Via Ferrata de Curalla". Located on the 'Plateau d'Assy close to the village 'Passy'. The guidebook even stated that it was Europe's best and most beautiful one.

Sure, Dennis and I are both more interested in hard climbing then doing a simple viaferrata but as we were with Dennis brothers we thought it would be a good alternative for sunbathing and swimming at Lac du Passy.

Only one of Dennis brothers joined us, Arno.

We drove to the Chemin du Curalla to find a marked parking just uphill in a side street. 

It's supposed to be one of the busiest tours around so we expected loads of beginners. But we were the only ones around.

Close to the parking there's a small shop where you can rent viaferrata sets. 

As we have our own we didn't check the quality. Just want to say that you should be careful and check the safety of your equipment yourself too.

A short 15min hike with signs guiding you in the right direction brought us to the start of the cliff

The viaferrata was graded as AD+ which means just two trades harder then the easiest viaferrata in the grading system. 

When climbing the first meters we found the steep 'nails' in the wall topically harder then AD+ and Arno found it all pretty scary.

We were surprised how well equipped the whole tour was. Perfect over engineered cables, no sharp endings and super solid and and foot placements throughout the whole tour.

The tour has some great bridges guiding you over a big left going traverse to the top of the cliff. 

The view, especially with clear weather, is amazing. One of the 4 meter long bridges is called 'Pont du Mont Blanc'. And with a reason; when you look back from that bridge you have a perfect view on the Mont Blanc.

Though, it's a South facing wall on a height of 1400m making it one big 'grill' when climbing t on a Sunny day.

Make sure you bring enough water and protection against the sun when you decide to go on a bright mid-Summer day.

For an AD+ graded tour I found some sections very 'airy'. And the sometimes slightly overhanging climbing will be hard when you're less fit. 

Also children will have trouble clipping the cable as there's quite a distance between the 'nails' and on the 'cable-bridge' the safety-cable is high above your head. That makes it all quite safe, but hard to clip when you're smaller.

If you're experienced with belaying and the use of a rope on viaferrata's it's possible to use the 'pig-tails' that are secured every three to five meters. This would make the tour a lot safer and easier for climbers that are smaller and/or less experienced.

The guidebook said it would take you 1:30 to do the whole climb. We did it in 1:20h. And we're fairly experienced and as the weather wasn't too good we wanted to hurry a bit to be in time before any rain or thunder would hit us.

We concluded that an average climber would do the tour in 1:45h or more instead of 1:30h.

After an 'airy' ending with yet again a small bridge you end up at the top of the plateau. A marked path leads you down to the parking in a 20 to 40 minute hike with some fairly steep down hill sections. 

All the paths are well maintained especially if you consider it a real mountain-path.

After the climb we drove back to Lac du Passy where we went for a cooling swim.

A brilliant ending of the day was the pizzeria I can really recommend in the town Sallanches.

Super good pizza with Eco-ingredients for a very good price.

Only the logo-sign of the place might scar you a bit, but don't worry, really, it's a good place.

Urlaub

We're on our way.
The engine in Climbuz seems to hold just fine. Some little parts (like the dashboard indicators) aren't working yet and some things still need to be fixed (with Sugru).
And Dennis knows how to fix it all.
Love having my personal mechanic (oh, that sounds wrong...)



And as Climbuz still is not a Porsche or Ferrari we had a climbing stop at Kronthal (yay, sandstone!)



Urlaub, the German word for holiday.

That's what most people call it when you leave your house and get on the road to some sunny destination.
And thats what we just did. At about.

Only difference is that we don't call this holiday. It's our way of living and we have to work for it. Really hard.
Part of our 'holiday' was our annual trip to OutDoor in Friedrichshafen.
Meet our sponsors, see new gear, get a good view on the market I work at (the Outdoor industry), and most special thing this year was the lecture I gave.

And it all went so well.
People were interested, motivated and had so much positive feedback on my lecture.
I'm so motivated now to do this again :)

Other great thing is our new awesome sponsor.
Awesome because they make functional bling-bling.
Eyewear.
And not just a plastic piece that makes you feel like it's all dark outside.
No, real sunglasses. You can even get them shaped for you when you're wearing glasses in your every-day life too.
Luckily I don't need that, but it's possible, and thats cool.
The next weeks in the Alps will be a good test to see how my new shiny sunglasses will last.
If you're interested in bling-bling too, then like the Facebook page and visit the website 
Oh, curious to know what brand?
Julbo, of course :)
(What other brand makes glasses that are actually functional)

And after all that good news we drove to Chamonix. With a sleepover next to a beautiful river at Därstatten (Swiss).







Reason for the sleepover was the stupid petrol-station that took our €50,- but didn't supply us with any Diesel in return.
We had to wait until the shop would be open again to get our €50,- back.
Unfortunately we now missed the finals of the European Championships (sportsclimbing) in Chamonix.



After a break to meet up with Dennis parents (who will join our climbing trip for this week) and a hitchhiker we arrived at camping 'Mer de Glace' close to Chamonix.
It quite weird to be at a campsite. Climbuz isn't used to campsites, and we find it strange to suddenly be inbetween so many weird campsite-people again.
Hopefully we'll manage and get enough climbing done this week.



For now: need-to-climb-need-to-feed-addiction-...

Because of our little petrol issue we didn't have a chance to climb yet (for FOUR days!)
So I need to make up for all the non climbing.
I always feel so guilty towards myself when I haven't climbed for three days. Imagine four days...
The running and hiking I've done instead doesn't count to me... I really need to pull on rock (or ice).

The video (Ginat)

Altitude is a bitch, especially when you're Dutch

There I am again, back in 'the low lands'. After a big weekend in the real mountains (Chamonix).

I was fed up by being here, no climbing, no ice, no mountains. Just work. I needed to go out and I was reaaaally missing Dennis. He's doing is traineeship at Petzl right now and is living in France for half a year. (Really cool but sometimes France feels like a 'million miles away')

Then I was thinking... I'm working as freelancer so I can climb more and that's why I'm working. So...I should go out and climb as much as possible.

The possibility was there, right there. It just included some money and time. (Time enough and I didn't bother the money).

So suddenly on Wednesday I was climbing in the Netherlands and on Thursday I was on my way to France.

I met Dennis in Crolles. He already took off from work and I met him in style: Dennis driving his home/van.

We both felt weird, happy and yet after two seconds it already felt 'normal' again to be together. Though cute as it sounds, I had those tiny little butterflies in my stomach again :)

We did some 'Alpine-climbing-shopping' (candy bars and other food that contains loads of fat, sugar and other types of instant bulk-energy) and went for the drive to Chamonix.

We didn't even make it half-way. We enjoyed the sun (is was over 20 degrees in Grenoble!) too much. Dennis even started to show freckles already ;)

We drove on the next day, went for a pit-stop in the Decathlon store (where I heard Tania passed her Winter/ice guiding exams! I hope the cake was good ;)

We took the cablecar up to the high point at Argentiere. To skie down again (sort of). With backpack on this steep snow it was quite hard for me. I sort of managed to get down the slope happy that only climbing lay ahead of us for the next day.

We dug a snow-hole just under the route. Just deep enough to avoid hitting the crevasses.

It was quite cold but allright when I finally fell asleep.

I slept quite light but we both didn't hear our alarms that morning! One hour late we started on the route: The Ginat/Jackson.

The first bit was just snow digging. Easy enough to do without a rope. We dug ourselves a way up and were quite okay I found. On a certain point I guessed it would be better to use a rope so we wouldn't drop off the whole cliff if something would go wrong.

We both didn't question the use of a single string of the rope and just climbed on.

We went slower and slower fighting the altitude. The weather started okay. Cloudy but the later it became the more fog came in and eventually it was snowing.

The climbing was surprisingly easy and just seemed to go on for ages. In the start there was a small mixed section and then the big icefield.

That icefield seemed to go on for ages! It felt like a never ending story.

I really had to motivate myself to move: okay, just 5 steps more and then you place a screw... and then after those five steps I said to myself 'just 5 steps more'. And finally it were 15 steps before I placed the next screw. And then 100 steps again. Or 105, or 110 and then with 115 I was proud enough to place another screw.

I was slow, but Dennis probably felt even worse. On the start of the Jackson variant of the Ginat Dennis told me he wanted to go down.

Okay.

No choice. Just go down now.

Not that I felt good at the height. I was tired after just moving to axes :) So going down was an okay option.

We abseiled over the route and were just able to find the belays and abalokovs. Even our own newly made ones disappeared every time again in the huge spindrift (including ice and rocks) that came down every minute or three.

Sometimes I just had to put my axes in the ice again to keep myself stable because of all the snow coming down over the route.

Dennis got his on his cheek by a big piece of ice. Resulting in a beautiful bloody 'egg' on his face. We got used to the ice hitting our arms and legs and the look of the snowman abseiling next to me.

Beneath us there were two Swiss climbers going up still. When we were down again (without getting our rope stuck or failing belays or dropping gear/headlamps) we saw that they went back too. The soloist we met under the cliff didn't even start his climb...

We packed our bags and skied down the Argentiere glacier and the (horrible) piste on the other side.

For me it was quite hard to get down. I really had to go slow to be able to keep control and not disappear in a crevasse or drop down the hill. I just need to learn how to ski... But for my fifth time on ski's and with the backpack I found I managed quite allright.

Down in Argentiere we were both just tired. I was wondering why we bailed. Really it was just the height :) Altitude is a bitch... How much that stuff can affect your climbing. Note-to-self: try to acclimatise before trying things on 3000m+

In the end it was all love for the both of us: nice to hold the axes again and get freezing cold hands, two sleepingbags in a cold snow-hole, both closed up so we could hardly hear each other, running belay-climbing so we hardly saw each other and we got so tired that we bailed. How romantic! Let's go again this week!

Thanks Dennis for the climbing :)

Pictures: Dennis & me on the climb, ascent and descent.

Home...in the flat country

After one 8a, some ED/ED+, hard boulders, long walks a 1/2 marathon offroad, loads of pasta&tomato sauce, many Alpine roads and 2 months without a shower...we're back home again.

But not after a quick stop in Kandersteg (sportsclimbing, mountain running and drytooling in the sun -yes, drytooling is a sport for all year round- ) and later a stop in Ettringen.

Yestderday was so hot that it was impossible to climb. Which made us go for a swim instead. Laacher see it was. After all this sitting, driving and baking in the sun I decided it was time for a bit of movement. A bit became a lot and became a test. Wondering how fit I actually was (I noticed I could run uphill for 50 mins on 1200m height without getting tired and doing an offraod mountain run for 1:10hrs without getting any muscle-soreness or sore knees)

So how far could I run on a warm evening? It became 27km in less then 2 hours. All offroad in the hills around the Laacher See. It's not advisable to try this when you didn't eat enough and forgot to drink the regular amount of water you need on a day... Though, I did. Next is of course to run a marathon, offroad in the mountains :) Which is 'nothing' if you compared it to what runners with the Mont Blanc ultra-trail will run this week.

This morning it was cold enough to try climbing. Around 8 in the morning we had our warm-up and around 12 we had to leave because of the pressing humid heat.

In between we climbed quite some things including 'magical project' Mut der Verzweiflung. I tried this route before and once I knew how hard it was and that it had never been climbed by a woman (at that time, now it's been climbed by German local Melanie). I'm not so good in 'tempering myself' so nervous as I was every time I'd get upon the route I just failed. Getting scared, pumped, unfocused, basically just far too nervous to climb it...

But now after a Summer full of trad (7a on 3000m height) I was just far too fit to miss out on this 'simple-almost-below-sea-level-climb-on-a-hill-instead-of-a-3000m-heigh-mountain'.

I toproped it as warmup and 'walked' through all the moves with surprising ease. And I knew I had to get on lead. Nervous. Shit. Trembling, shaky on my legs even before I made any move. I got pumped after 2 moves. Shit.

I belayed Dennis, went for a walk with him (he knew I got nervous...too nervous to climb...) and ate a waffle, drank some water and relaxed.

Ready this time.

I climbed it, had the right locks on the right places and even had time to relax and shake my arms. Not that I got pumped, it's just a habit: Chalk up, shake, look, chalk, shake, move, look, move, shake, climb, chalk, shake, chalk, move...I'm a slow climber.

But I did it. Gear on the right place and never scared, pumped or in trouble. So cool, it felt like climbing 6b!

I have to say, this is so much easier then 7a trad in a long long multipich :) Officially Mut der Verzweiflung is graded as 7b/7b+. I'm not so good in grading routes. I'd guess it's more a 7a. But thats just because it went so easy right now. Guess I'm fit :)

Now, home again, I have to work again. Earn some money and go out again as soon as possible!

Here the three last movies of the 'Summer climbing trip 2011'.

Kandersteg, on our way home...

Yesterday we left Chamonix after a very nice movie evening (Jackass) with -almost guide- Roeland van Oss. On the day we climbed together on some really really long granite sports routes (37m long 7a+ and more)

Since the last time we had quite some new adventure involving a big wall called the Grand Charmoz. We climbed the Cordier West Pillar. Not too hard but really beautiful climbing. Especially the cracks in the top part of the line are amazing! And also the piaz in the middle is pretty cool.

But it's time to head back. Work, earn some money and go out again :)

Today we'll do some drytooling in Kandersteg (as we can't find any long hard trad multipitch here, ideas are welcome) and then we'll drive to Ettringen.

Chamonix, in rain...again

Actually rain is just perfect now.

We're having a restday after a full day of drytooling. Deserved restday I guess. This morning I denied that I felt my muscles but now, sitting here I feel stiff and tired in my shoulders and arms.

Tomorrow it's time for yet another Alpine route (if the weather stays ok). Grand Charmoz we'll climb. Not as hard as the Americaine Directe, a bit shorter and thus more comfortable climbing.

Vimeo just tells me the new video is uploaded for 63% so soon a new video here about what we do on our holidays [we never call our trips 'holidays' as it's hard work and we need restdays when we get back home again]

Chamonix/Petit Dru and more

Sometimes you just neeeed a restday.

Like one we needed today. Good weather, clouds in the mountains, bit of rain in the morning. Perfect for a restday.

We washed in the public toilets this morning, posted the usual cards to our families at home and now enjoying coffee in internet café 'Enjoy' in Chamonix.

Dennis is still at our 'home' reading a book about the history of the SAS (nice book it is, full of adventure and real stories)

The reason for this restday was the following adventure:

Petit Dru, Américaine Directe.

Dennis told me about the route Roeland never stopped talking about the thing, I know Jelle wants to climb it and we...well, we tried :)

Mission was to do a ground-up onsight attempt in a day. I had the honour to try and onsight all the difficult pitches (6a-6c/7a/7a+) We started quite late, but that was good, we figured later. It was cold, all water was frozen, even the little melting streams in the route were frozen. Later we met two experienced climbers who were forced to go down because of frostbite (they started too early, around 4 o clock)

We managed to get all the way to the big block, which is 21 rope lengths (following the English topoguide) We had to wait for two who were struggling in the next pitches. A good rest was welcome, but took us quite some time. We lay in the sun, warming up our frozen toes, fingers and water. Thirsty as we were, but we had to wait for the snow to melt...

Dennis was tired, I was tired but I wanted to do my mission: onsight the two hardest pitches of the route. So we went up, a short V up to a little bloc and then it started. A finger crack that first started with a chimney struggle behind a stuck flake. I struggled, go so out of breath because of the height but made it all the way to the belay in the middle of the long corner. Happy, tired, thirsty, hungry, one hard pitch to go! Dennis struggled his way up, carrying the little backpack and the tagline. We had to wait again for the party in front of us, but it was welcome, again. And there I went again. I screamed, tired, pumped, out of energy, and when I finally had a good fingerlock I just couldn't hold on anymore! My arms were so tired. Shit, no, fuck, kut, no I cursed to myself and had to let go. I failed! Al that climbing and then failing there! Damn!

I lost all my motivation there for a second.

It was late already, we'd had to abseil in darkness and, because I didn't do what I came for we decided to go down. We abseiled, got our rope stuck in some shit (nasty!!) got the rope stuck again, and again and finally got down...It was 12 o clock already, time for an evening meal: 'chicken with herb'. And at that time all food tastes like a four Michelin star meal.

We slept till 9 in the next morning, ate our porridge and some cereal bars and went down, over the moraines, through the swamp, and then stopping every 2 metres to eat blueberries.

We only have 10 days left. Hopefully the weather will stay good enough to try this route again or any other beautiful line.

Tomorrow rain and thunder in the forecast so time for sportsclimbing.

Pictures: Dennis & me on the Dru (sorry, couldn't flip the pictures...)

Eric Frankenmolen missing! Update: found!

Lost & found...

Eric indeed went to Cham. So, you can stop searching!

He's doing fine and will return to the Netherlands somewhere soon.

An important message from Menno Boermans:

Dear all,

Eric Frankenmolen left his home in Eindhoven, Friday october 1st. He is been missing since then.

He did not take any medicine or liquid food (he needs to take his food by a tube in his stomach) with him.

He is most likely wearing a yellow Mammut jacket.

Please let me know if you see or hear anything from him.

We also have to calculate the possibility that he is on his way to Chamonix.

Thanks! Menno Boermans (info@mennoboermans.ch)