DDE 2014

On Sunday evening last week I arrived in the Netherlands.
I had to walk to the climbing gym in the rain (as there is still no bus stop close by).
The gym was going to be my new home for the next week.

My bedroom gives me good dreams

I had just five days to set 22 drytooling routes on the outer wall of the gym.

In the rain, the cold, the wind, and the darkness I worked full time form 9 in the morning till after 11 in the evening.

Luckily a couple friends had been working really hard too the previous weeks.
Bas and Rick have done a fantastic job by putting ropes in the anchors, hauling wood blocks up the wall and even setting quite a few routes.
Also Marit, Tim, Tom, Erik, Richard, Elwin and Fedor helped out with the routesetting. Elwin even set the hardest route in the qualifications. It turned out to be a pretty hard route as only two competitors managed to climb it flash!

The tree-team

That took quite some pulling getting such a huge pole between my legs

Nuff said

19 different qualification routes in varying difficulty from D3+ to D9+ and then two finals (at about D8+ and D11+)

Rick testing one of the routes by night

The wall is ready

On friday evening I had something different then drytooling. 'Sinterklaas'.

Every year we celebrate 'Saint Nicholas'-day on December 5.

The Saint was a good man from Turkey, living in Spain who freed child-slaves and gave them food, a job and housing. The myth says he went by ship to the Netherlands and we always tell children he brings presents for you when you've been a good child over the last year.
The saint has 'little helpers' called Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) that crawl into the chimney's to fill your shoes with presents. The chimneys made the faces 'black as soot'.
Traditionally we buy presents for the whole family and make 'surprises' and a long poem about the tone receiving the present. The idea is to make fun of the others in the poem. Discuss things that happend during the past year, like a car crash, new job, favorite food or something they're scared of.

I drew Dennis for the surprise-poem thing. So I had to make something for him and buy him  €15,- present.
Okay...what to buy for someone who doesn't like to get presents, doesn't like to get goods as he gets emotionally attached to it and then never dares to throw it away when broken or not longer useful.

Peter, the owner of the Monte Cervino gym was working on his present. An artistic impression of a guitar. Or apple, or softball-bat, or... the idea was a guitar.
He was using extremely old wood, over a 1000 years old from the old docks in the Rotterdam harbor.
As I've studied Forest and Nature Conservation I knew a bit about the wood and figured it was Basralocus. When looking for it online I couldn't even find an English wiki for the wood.
The wood he was working on probably comes from Suriname (South America) and it's know for it's high silica content. As it doesn't grow fungae and is really dense (it doesn't float but sinks) it's often used for docks and other water works.
And he had much more of it. Oh, I should ditch the paper-folding-T3-conversion idea and go for this. Make Dennis a present that is utterly useless but too beautiful to ever throw away and then hide the actual present inside it.
Peter and I decided to make a stone. A stone out of wood. I just got two old ices crews from Vera and there we had it. Cutting, filing, shaping, sanding... Every evening and every day of the week Peter, Arjen and I worked on the stone for a bit. On thursday Peter oiled the stone and suddenly it got his whole beauty. The reddish wood with all the lines and even more special, I had the core of the tree in the middle of the stone. On the side I put the old icecrew and the wood was suddenly a story. It almost shone energy, 1000 year old vibrances of energy.

Meanwhile Dennis was on his way from Germany with two friends/colleagues; Vitus and Jan.
The deal: you dress up as Zwarte Piet and you get free food, beer and a place to sleep over the weekend.
They accepted the deal.
Was hastily got them into their costume and just minutes after we all nicely sat in the living room they nocked hard on the door and jumped in with the presents. Dennis' dad started singing "Sinterklaasje kom maar binnen met je knecht..." and all others joined in.
It was hilarious, such a surprise and everyone had so much fun!

Jan and Vitus

On Saturday morning all was ready for drytooling.
Volunteers showed up and the who circus started running.
My parents did the subscriptions, Arjen and Peter the finances and Rutger did an amazing job with all the registrations.
Outside there were fires, tents, flags and Peter had sausages for sale.
Inside there was free pea soup for all competitors.

The first routes are being climbed

Maya having fun

Dennis climbing Elwin's route

Weird people

The idea was to hang under the tree...

Ape-factor XXL

From 10am to 3pm everyone was free to climb. Flash, all routes had to be climbed flash to get the points. With so many competitors (97 in total, too bad not all subscribed and filled in their scores so on the end results it doesn't show) we had to have that rule. If you fall you're out and that hight is your final score. Though there were 19 routes, so enough for everyone.
Some did make some tactical mistakes, like staying too long in the easier routes or going too fast in the harder routes and slipping off the first holds...
Jelle had some really bad luck, twisting a hold twice (=technical incident) and so 'waisting' energy he didn't have enough time in the end to reach the high score needed for the finals. I think he could have done really well in the finals too.

The atmosphere was positive, friendly and open with only one minor accident. A climber forgot to tighten his helmet and dropped his helmet half way in the route.
Much better then last year where I unfortunately had to disqualify a climber.
It was all so positive this time, so satisfying!
People liked the routes, the sun shone, the music was good, no-one stole ice axes, the soup was warm and time was flying! Before I knew it, it was time to start the finals.

Rutger and my parents were counting the results rapidly. Tim and I hung in the wall to adjust the lighting and the holds.
It was getting colder and darker but still quite a bunch of people stayed to watch the finals.

The six men and women were inside, warming up and getting nervous. Whilst outside the first woman started her climb. Noel Diepens.
She was actually not in the finals but as number 6 didn't show up she was added to the finals.
When she passed the wood-log I got a little worried. She climbed well, very well. What if all the other girls would do the same, then the finals would be too easy...
Kind of 'luckily' she didn't make it to the merge of the men's finals. But for a new-be to drytooling, this was a really impressive climb!
The next climber was Jojanneke. The crew of 'IGOKO' a new online climbing shop. She's tall and really could use her length. Unfortunately she didn't get as high as her support-team was hoping for.
Aniek was next. It wasn't her first time in the finals and a couple weeks ago she won the Sportsclimbing Junior Nationals. Not very tall but very strong she got further and further up the wall. The women had 12 minutes to climb. Maybe too much time as it got a little boring to watch the lack of speed. When Aniek got the "one minute" warning she speeded up and slipped off exactly when she timed out. Reaching a new high point.

Aniek in the finals (photo Jan Hoffmann)

Marin was next to climb. She had an advantage, but her advantage became a disadvantage. The small holds from Edelrid is what she'd been training on lately. But she thought when they were turned in a certain way you could only use them as stein-pull.  She lost so much energy on this and fell off early then I expected.
Maya to climb next. She's the daughter of former ice climbing team member and this year's routesetter Elwin. Reaching the finals and qualified second proves she's got the talent too.
Unfortunately she lost her iceaxe in the middle of her climb and thus had to stop climbing...
Finally Anna had to climb. Anna is doing really well in Scotland on the comps and this is her training for the world cup season. I was expecting her to win, but I was curious with how much difference to the other competitors she'd have.
Getting higher in the route she didn't seem as pumped as the others and just made the move where Aniek slipped off. In the chain (the end of the men's finals) she fiddled with her axes and lost one!
Losing an axe means 'out' and her time was almost out too. Still good enough for a first place :)

Anna in the finals (photo Jan Hoffmann)

The men's finals was a different story, also for me.
It took me three tries to climb the route in once within the time, so I knew it was possible but not easy at all! Long moves, technical moves, tricky holds and little time: I'd set the time first on 7 minutes but decided to change the time to 8 minutes when I did the final briefing to the competitors.

Maxime, Tom, Harry, Laurens, Fedor and Dennis qualified for the finals.
Maxime from Belgium was first to climb. We met Maxime last Spring on the Kahiltna Glacier in Alaska where they also climbed the Moonflower Buttress. Great to see him here again in a totally different scenery and performing well again. I expected an clear result: battle between Harry and Dennis, Fedor just below, maybe something good by Laurens and then 'the others'.
Though, that didn't really go as I thought. Maxime got so high in the route! Again I got nervous...what would the others do now...?
Tom to climb. You could see he was not as experienced as Maxime with the axes yet but still managed to use creativity to get high. It was his goal to reach the finals and he did it!
Harry to climb. He got higher, higher, but the moves sometimes seemed a little long for him. The time was running and when going passed the chain at the top of the wall he timed out... Still a few climbers to go...!

Power move by Harry Holmes (photo: Jan Hoffmann)

Laurens' turn. He's tall. And that helps when drytooling. And it was not his first time he reached the finals. One axe still at the top of the chain and one axe in the wood he timed out, so close to the top!

Laurens running against the time (photo: Jan Hoffmann)

Fedor's turn to climb. Ex-iceclimbing-team-member and still very much into the stuff with ice axes. I know what he climbs...he should do well.
Though in the middle of the route he slipped! All axes off the wall he suddenly was flying in the darkness...
Just one more to go. Dennis.
Of course I wanted him to win but the vertical wall the unknown small technical holds and my routesetting style are not really his strong points.
Could he do it?
I was nervous!
Just a few moves up the wall he placed his aggressive Krugonogi Giraffe pick as semi-steinpull in the hold. None of the climbers had used the hold that way. Jelle, who was sitting next to me said he didn't understand why Dennis was using the hold so strangely. The crowd was silent. Suddenly the hold broke! I expected it. Why would you use it in this way?
Technical incident and thus second attempt...
I replaced the hold and Dennis had to climb again.
He moved steady up the wall and clearly had more speed then the other climbers. With just over 2 minutes left he got at the start of the chain. Most climbers timed-out at this point where Dennis had enough time to top the route. The move from the log to the next Edelrid hold was long. Inspired by the DTS of the previous weekend I knew this moves were possible. Dennis tried and just didn't grab the hold, tried again. Again. The crowd was screaming. And I was so hoping he could do it!

Dennis running for the first place (photo Jan Hoffmann)

He passed the 'one-minute-warning' and tried again. I knew the move was long. Come on, put your feet in the chain, grab the axe on the top and go for it! Once again he just missed the hold and fully timed-out!
Ohh! I so wished he would have topped the route! Luckily still enough for a first place :)

Final results can be found here:
http://was.shiftf5.nl/competitions/view/3171
More pictures soon on the DDE Facbook site here: https://www.facebook.com/DutchDrytoolEvent

Tired but happy we went home.

But the weekend wasn't over yet.
Sunday morning we stood at the gym again. For the first time we'd have kids drytooling!
A group of young kids from 8 to 19 years old came to learn the new climbing.
We had the worst weather possible: rain and wind and almost freezing.
Still all dressed up well and we climbed outside for the whole day.
So impressive to see the group climb the same routes as the adults did the day before! And swinging the tools was amazing to watch.

Dennis to young climber Letho: "Oh, you better don't use those tools, it's kind of hard to swing them into the wood". The young eight year old tells him "nee hoor", walks to the wood and shows a perfect swing getting my Grivel Froce axes perfectly into the wood.
We really had fun!
Hopefully we can do this more often and establish a youth team within the next 2 years.

That evening Dennis, Vitus, Jan and I drove back to Isny. And today it's office life again. I'm happy I ran this morning (in the snow).

The NKBV just wrote a very nice report with pictures on their website:
http://www.nkbv.nl/home/actueel/Winterklimseizoen+geopend+met+Petzl+Drytool+Event/9114

Zo professioneel

...zoals De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig zei.

Onze sport, ijsklimmen werkt toe naar een  Olympische status. Daarvoor zijn wij als atleten uitgenodigd in Sochi. We zijn al een Olympisch erkende sport (nou ja, erkend, in Nedeland is alleen de heren discipline erkend) en we willen ook echt uitkomen op de spelen in de toekomst. De kracht van de sport is hoe spectaculair het er uit ziet. Saas Fee trekt er een parkeergarage vol met niet-klimmers mee die al juichend Hee Yong Park naar de top zien klimmen. Geen flauw idee hoe lastig de bewegingen zijn, ze vinden het blijkbaar gewoon mooi. En, ze betalen ervoor. Je moet entree betalen om het te mogen zien!

Wij, Dennis en ik deden ook mee in Saas Fee. Dennis won er zelfs vorig jaar. 

Dit jaar helaas niet. We hadden ook wel een hele ongelukkige voorbereiding waarbij we voor Dennis in december en januari meer ziekenhuizen van binnen hebben gezien dan klimhallen. Ondertussen is Dennis aan het afstuderen en alsof het allemaal nog niet genoeg was prikt hij zijn ijsbijl 5cm diep z'n been in door het slechte ijs in de speedklim kwalificaties. Hij kan amper op z'n been staan nu en heeft minimaal 3 weken nodig om te herstellen. 

Ondanks te slechte voorbereiding schopte ik mijn stijgijzers wel naar de finale en stond ik opeens tussen de grote groep echte professionele klimsters. Ik kan met zekerheid zeggen dat deze wedstrijd de zwaarste is uit de hele competitie. De wand, de routes, de hoogte (en dus het gebrek aan zuurstof) en het deelnemersveld was nog niet eerder zo sterk. Iedereen in de top 12 behalve ik, had in de afgelopen twee jaar al minimaal een keer op het podium gestaan. 

Ik had dit jaar nog geen enkele keer op een wedstrijdwand geklommen. In tegenstelling tot de rest van die top 12, die zo'n wand soms letterlijk in hun achtertuin hebben liggen. Op sommige stukken was het heel duidelijk dat ik het beetje achtertuin ervaring hard miste. Wat me uiteindelijk een 7e plaats opleverde. 

En ja, achteraf zeg je altijd dat je het beter had kunnen doen... 

Ik was er toch wel soort van blij mee, want ik was lang niet zo zenuwachtig als de afgelopen jaren en ik vond het zo tof om te mogen klimmen :)

Ik werd gezocht, zo bleek, door de dopingcontrole. Niet omdat ze iets vermoedden, gewoon random, en dit keer was ik aan de beurt.

Bla bla, plassen in een potje en dat een beetje overgieten in was test-bekertjes.

We kwamen in gesprek over het klimmen. Dat het wel heel gaaf was om zo van klimmen je werk te kunnen maken en de hele wereld af te reizen. Zo veronderstelden de twee sportartsen uit Servië die de dopingcontroles doen voor de UIAA. 

Ja, van klimmen je werk maken. Wat zou dat gaaf zijn, zei ik terug. Verbaasd over mijn antwoord babbelden we verder en meer en meer realiseerde ik me mijn rare positie: ik ben geen professionele klimmer. 

Na wat rondvragen kwam ik er achter dat al de twaalf klimmers waar ik het over had wel professionele klimmers zijn. Zij krijgen allemaal een salaris om mee te doen aan deze wedstrijden. Een salaris om te mogen klimmen. Stel je voor! Zelfs de Russische en Tsjechische klimsters krijgen beaald. Bizar. Nog veel vreemder; het Azerbajaanse team (die standaard als laatste en een-na laatste eindigen rond plek 70) krijgen per klimmer een vergoeding van €1000 plus alle reis en inschrijfkosten vergoed. Azerbajaan. Ja, Azerbajaanse deelnemers krijgen ook betaald. 

Vanuit onze verenging, NKBV, krijgen wij een vergoeding. Een paar mensen hebben hard gewerkt om dit voor elkaar te krijgen en wij zijn er erg blij mee, anders waren we hier niet geweest. Maar deze vergoeding is net voldoende voor het deels dekken van de kosten van een paar wedstrijden. Wanneer we naar Korea en Saas Fee zouden gaan zou het geld al op zijn. En dan betalen we ons eten en Dieselkosten nog zelf. 

En dan blijven er nog 4 wedstrijden plus Sochi over op de lijst...

In de eindranking zal je ons dus niet terug vinden, want daar hebben we het geld niet voor. We hebben niet eens een kledingsponsor die ons van warme kleding voorziet of een materiaalsponsor die ons van ijsbijlen voorziet. En zelfs als de beste bergsport prestatie van het jaar verkozen wordt, staat er niks bij over het feit dat Dennis de Worldcup in Saas Fee won en mogen we stemmen op mensen die het bijzonder doen op het NK. Zelfs door onze eigen vereniging worden we dus vergeten.

Niet dat we het niet proberen, we hebben blog, website, Twitter, Facebook, staan in magazines zoals iPhone Magazine, ik stond in de Viva400 en in kranten. We worden opgebeld en gemaild als iemand iets over ijsklimmen wil weten en om de sport te vergoten organiseren we jaarlijks een wedstrijd, die dit jaar ruim 100 deelnemers trok!

Ja, je zal me wel een grote zeur vinden dat ik dit zo schrijf. "Je moet er zelf voor zorgen", "het komt niet vanzelf", "het is crisis, er is geen geld voor dit soort dingen", "wat zeur je nou, je kan toch meedoen in Saas Fee", "het is toch mooi dat je het allemaal zelf kan"... 

Echt? En dat is het excuus? En wat nou als ik full-time kon trainen en daarmee wel op het podium kan staan...? In plaats van full-time naar een computer staren en 's avonds betaal om even te mogen klimmen in een kleine klimhal waar ik alle routes al gedaan heb. 

Kan iemand mij alsjeblieft vertellen hoe ik dat in Nederland nou eindelijk eens voor elkaar kan krijgen? Alsjeblieft?

Hoe word ik 'zo professioneel'?

...en dit wil niet alleen ik.
Lees hier Dennis visie op ijsklimmen in Nederland (in het Engels) 

Petzl Dutch Drytool Event - The Video!

A great impression of a super good day!

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Petzl Dutch Drytool Event

By Monte Cervino

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Thanks guys for putting this together :)

Hoogtelijn

In the Dutch magazine "Hoogtelijn" from our Alpine Club (NKBV) there is a big interview with Dennis and me.

Really proud to have such an interview in a magazine that goes to the more then 55.000 (!) members of the NKBV.
Pictures are funny, original and professional. Made by photographer Laurens Aaij.
The interview is good to read. Except from the mistakes... (like: I'm not climbing since I was 8 years old, and the 7a+ is not the hardest trad route ever done by a Dutch climber)

I hope we inspired climbers with our passion!

Read it all online here.

Dutch National Lead Series in my home-gym

Last weekend the national leadclimbing series took place in Monte Cervino, my local gym.
As it was my regular climbing gym I had no reason not to join.

I had (as usual) a big chunk in my throat, felt super nervous. Sweaty hands, trying to get enough chalk on my hand with every move I made.
And then all those people watching me climb. I just find that all só scary!

But it was all not too bad reaching 4th place in between other Sportsclimbing team-members. Not too bad after a full iceclimbing Winter without any specific sporclimbing/finger training.
And I even felt a bit of progression: I feel less nervous then a couple months ago.
Maybe I should do this more often and actually get better in dealing with my nervousness-issues :)

Ruben took a video of my final climb (thanks Ruben)

Congrats to all who dared to compete and to the winners: Nikki and Tim.

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2e promotop 2013 - Monte Cervino - Finale - Dames - Marianne van der Steen

By Nehbur

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Help mee de verdwenen Nomic's terug te vinden!

Beste mede-klimmers,

afgelopen november 2012 organiseerden we in samenwerking met Petzl, klimhal Monte Cervino en de NKBV het Dutch Drytool Event.

Vele mensen deden enthousiast mee ondanks het slechte weer.

Helaas was niet iedereen even eerlijk deze dag.
Er zijn 5 paar ijsbijlen verdwenen.
Dat is dus tien Petzl Nomic ijsbijlen. 
Met een nieuwwaarde van €240-250.

Een simpel rekensommetje leert dat er deze dag dus voor €2500,- aan materiaal is ontvreemd.

Zoals jullie kunnen begrijpen zijn de distributeur van Petzl (die de bijlen gratis te beschikking had gesteld voor het evenement), het bedrijf Petzl zelf en de andere organisatoren hier niet gelukkig mee.

Het verdwijnen van de ijsbijlen had onder andere als gevolg dat er geen leen-bijlen meer ter beschikking gesteld waren na het evenement.
Voor iedereen zonder ijsbijlen is het nu dus onmogelijk om de routes te proberen, terwijl het introduceren van de sport bij een groter publiek juist ons hoofddoel was van het evenement.
Ook zal er voor het volgende evenement veel strengere eisen gesteld moeten worden aan de deelnemers, wat het misschien minder aantrekkelijk maakt om deel te nemen met het evenement.
En, logischerwijs heeft een verlies van €2500,- gevolgen voor de toekomstige financiering van het evenement.
Om het nog maar niet te hebben over het geschonden vertrouwen.

De distributeur van Petzl in de BeNeLux was desalniettemin zeer enthousiast over het evenement en wil degenen die het materiaal hebben meegenomen een laatste kans geven:

Breng vóór 28 februari 2013 de bijlen terug bij klimhal Monte Cervino en er zullen geen gevolgen zijn.

Worden 10 de Petzl Nomic ijsbijlen niet terug gebracht voor deze datum, dan zal er aangifte worden gedaan.
Let op: alle serienummers van de bijlen zijn bekend bij Petzl. Sommige van de bijlen waren prototypes ("sample not for sale"), wanneer je klimt met prototypes zonder toestemming van Petzl, ben je niet verzekerd.
Koop of verkoop je bijlen met een gestolen serienummer, ook al heb je ze niet zelf gestolen, dan ben je alsnog medeplichtig (heling).
Vinden wij de bijlen na 28 februari 2013 terug, dan zullen we alsnog actie ondernemen en o.a. aangifte doen tegen degene die de bijlen op dat moment in bezit heeft/te koop aanbiedt.
Twijfel je aan de herkomst van de ijsbijlen die je hebt gekocht of gekregen, aarzel niet contact op te nemen met mij of Petzl BeNeLux (info@petzlbenelux.be).

Ik nodig iedereen uit om mee te helpen zoeken en er voor te zorgen dat we onze eigen reputatie hoog kunnen houden: klimmers stelen toch niet van andere klimmers?!
Help mee het Dutch Drytool Event een nog groter succes te maken in 2013.
Alvast bedankt, namens alle organisatoren,


Marianne van der Steen

Dutch Drytool Event 2012

We did it. 

Again. 
Better and bigger. 

This weekend was the international drytool weekend. 
France had the DTS.
Scotland the STS.
And we had the DDE.

We don't have a website. We just had a Facebook Event Page and managed to get more people then the STS and the DTS together!
91 competitors subscribed. 
Next to those who subscribed there were also some who just paid and climbed without the competition element. 

This whole week we'd been hanging on our favourite Dutch mountain to get the 20 routes ready for the big day. 
The last two days we'd spent on testing and adjusting everything. 
Goal of this event was to have as many people as possible to try drytooling. 
So we weren't looking for the next Dutch talent, weren't trying to gather a drytool team... We just wanted everyone to have fun :)

On Saturday all was set for the day. Tents, wood for the fires, flags, banners, ropes, sound...
It all looked cosy and nice. 

Before the storm ripped the flags and tents...

And then the storm came. Super strong wind gusts even ripped the banners off the wall. 
All big tents were blown away, broken or ripped (those tents are always on the terrain, this never happened before!). 
It was all too wet to get the music safely started...
When it started raining that morning we though: 'We have to cancel the event!'
But then the rain stopped and over 70 drytoolers were waiting to subscribe.
The show must go on. 

Storm!

And so with went on. 
Quite some start-up problems but thanks to Rutger we could actually do the registration in time (sort of in time).
Dennis dragged half of the climbers outside in the wind and introduced the whole group to their new friends: Nomic and Nomic.

I took the last group for an explanation and forgot to explain how to actually hold Nomic and Nomic. (Too much stuff on my head I guess). 
The wind wasn't really cooperating either...

The easy and the harder routes

Spot the leashes!

Rutger trying hard in the swinging logs

To my own surprise all went pretty smooth. No big accidents, all just happy faces and around midday the bar&kitchen crew had pea-soup ready for everyone. 
At three 'o clock exactly it was time to get ready for the finals. In less then 15 minutes we had a list with the finalists. 
8 men and 6 women were there to climb the finals. 
On Toprope. 
We decided lead climbing with this wind would be too hard and maybe even dangerous. 

I hear you thinking...'why was this all outdoors, don't you have an indoor wall there?'
Yes we do have an indoor wall. Pretty big one actually. 
But as almost all is overhanging indoors, we got a bit of a safety issue there. When you'd drop your iceaxe it would land in the middle of the gym where all people are belaying... And we wanted to keep all the routes open till the Summer season. 
And say it, drytooling indoors sounds like AID climbing on toprope. It's just not real...

We first thought to just have 6 people in the finals in total. 
Maybe one or two women. 
There wasn't really enough space for another route on the main wall (next to the 20 we'd already set) and we thought it would take too long if we'd have more then 6 people climbing. 

But it's also quite unfair to only give a chance to the men and not to the women. So the best 6 women were invited to climb the finals too!

The hard thing with that was, that non of the women were actual iceclimbers. Placing a good swing in the wood in the start of the route was quite an issue. 

Loads of hooking in the female finals

Only Rachel managed to get passed the wood section, passed the long move from the log and onto the technical traverse. 
Totally out of time (climbing time was 5 minutes) she managed to reach all the way to the high end of the wall. She popped off a small hold but was obviously the best female climber in the comp.

1. Rachel Nilwik
2. Jascha van de Bunt
3. Karin Hoekstra
4. Monique de Groot
5. Sanne van Merrienboer
6. Aniek Lith

Fot the men it was a different story. They managed to pass the wood section in the start.
But as only some were real drytoolers, they weren't too secure on the technical traverse.
I made the route in such a way that real drytoolers would have an advantage on the sportsclimbers with iceaxes. Knowing how to place your axes and move securely on the sketchy holds was a pré.
Most climbers popped off early, but some managed to pass the traverse.

Ferdinand in the finals

Laurens got pretty high up, but Roeland just passed him before he was out of time. Laurens was climbing for the first time with iceaxes he said, not bad to gain the 4th place :)
That time thing was quite an issue. All climbers knew that they had 5 minutes. With one minute left we'd call 'one minute'. But the judges thought five minutes would be too little time to get all the way to the top.
Dennis and I were pretty sure the time was enough.
And with normal lead climbing they don't call 'one minute'. Never.
So when Roeland was climbing he never heard the sign 'one minute'. And then I called him out after 7 minutes as his time was up, for real.

Roeland climbing the finals, Dimitri van Heezik (photographer) and Tim van der Linden (NKBV) in the wall and Dennis brother Arno enjoying hot chocolate in the cold.

Roeland doing something 'rare' for his climbing style: making a dynamic move

Confusing thing there. It really pissed me off, as I just wanted the competitors to have a hard but honest finals.
It got dark fast, so we provided all competitors with headlamps so they could still spot all the tiny footholds.
We had two friends from Germany, here for the comp. All the way from Germany!
Jan had a bit of bad luck in the qualifications but Markus made it to the finals. He really went 'a muerte'! He flamed his way almost to the top. But got out of time...

Markus 'a muerte'

Then the last one in the finals. Jurgen Lis from Belgium.
Breathing heavily, pushing hard but steady he was quick and solid. Passed the hard sections and found himself on the last moves. Two jumps, or dynamic fig-fours. I was nervous. I knew it was possible...but could he make it. From the small donut shaped hold he had exactly one minute left, feet on the wood, he pulled, jumped and at the same time swung his axe in the final hold. He made it!

Jurgen op the top!

And so it turned out that Jurgen, the organiser of the Klimax Drytool Event in Belgium won the comp in the Netherlands (after Dennis, won the comp in Belgium).
Full results list here.

An international stage: Belgium first, Germany second and a fake French guy third ;)
(Fake French: Roeland van Oss is UIAGM Mountain Guide and lives in Chamonix, France)

1. Jurgen Lis
2. Markus Urbanowski
3. Roeland van Oss
4. Laurens Machiel
5. Ferdinand Schulte
6. Yannick Lis
7. Job van Hemert
8. Thijs Ruijgrok

The best

A lot of things can be improved I think.
Next year we need music (not possible this year because of the wind/rain), an online subscription system including online payment, more time to explain the routes to the new climbers, maybe more super easy routes as warm-ups, and maybe we should make the thing two days, so we can have more quality time (for explaining more about hardwear, safety and where to climb outdoors)
Suggestions are welcome.

It was SUPER to see everyone climb and share the passion for dry/mixed/ice.
Thank you all for being around!

Special thanks to:

• Rutger Elink Schuurman to help with the registrations, even today he's still working on it to get a clear result into the NKBV competition system.
• Jeroen de Winter to host the competition in Monte Cervino and helping out with the routesetting
• NKBV Tim van der Linden, Dirkjan van Heumen and Joost Hofman for promoting, judging and the medals for the best three climbers. 
• Petzl BeNeLux for providing 43 iceaxes, helmets, climbing holds, and soup
• The Monte Cervino crew for belaying, serving hot chocolate and soup, putting up the tents and more
• Ramses Beer, for providing the best beer (Poolvos and IJsbeer) for the finalists.
• Mark Heine for providing the portaledge (altough we didn't use it)
• Jeroen Bliek for the music that we couldn't use unfortunately
• The old iceclimbing team for giving us the inspiration for this event.
• And you all for being around.

And oh, yes, we're still looking for sponsors for the 2013 worldcup/ice season.

Any support is welcome :)  (warm blankets, heaters, hot chocolate, or just money so we can recover in warm housing after a hard iceclimb)

Please e-mail us to talk about the possibilities!

Dutch Drytool Event 2012

This week I'm working harder then ever to get my favourite local climbing gym ready for the biggest climbing event of the year: Dutch Drytool Event.

Super stormy weather with rain... Perfect to go out for some routesetting...

Last year I organised the event in another gym. 
They promised me all kinds of things. Money, being part of a climbing team and I was free to keep some of the routes so I could train for the worldcup. 
After a week they took out almost all routes, forbid us to climb and completely ignored all promises that were made. 
After an pretty angry short letter I wrote they got even stranger... A very weird disparaging phone call I got was for me the end.
I lost all my training routes, was not allowed to climb in the gym any longer, was not allowed to be part of the climbing team and got none of the money (€500,- in cash and €500 in clothing/goods) they'd offered. Only if I'd excuse myself for my angry letter...

Right.

Time for a more positive and healthier gym.

Monte Cervino was very willing to host the event.
Petzl got some money left on the end of this year and sponsored ropes, helmets, loads of iceaxes, 'snert',  (pea soup) and more.
The NKBV (Dutch Alpine Club) sponsors it all with help in advertisement, money and on the day we'll have official NKBV judges and people who do the hard administrative part.

The former national iceclimbing team (Elwin & Fedor) testing the routes

Dennis, Jeroen and I made 20 (!!!) routes this week. Some are super fun and 'adventurous' with big tyres and wood. Others are hard with long moves and tiny footholds.

The main wall today. With the finals and two of the other hard routes .

Goal is to have something for everyone.
If you've never climbed with iceaxes before you should be able to climb at least 2 routes.
And if you are a semi-pro with your axes you should fall off at least 2 routes ;)
This day should be the most awesome introduction to drytooling for you.

And yes, we have a final round too. Only the best 6 will get there. The route will be around M10 (+++) with technical, long, and tiny things to hang on in between of course.

Facts:

Sunday November 25. 2012 >> That is this Sunday!

10:00h       Registration:
10:30h       Start + explanation of all the routes & more
13:00 - 13:30h Clinic iceaxe/icescrew sharpening and hardwear care
16:00h       Finals
17:00h       Movie

€12,-         Costs (incl. iceaxes, helmet, snert and free clinic)

Address: Hoeksekade 141, Bergschenhoek

More info and updates on our Facebook Event Page.

No excuses: The weather is good, the iceaxes are good, the food is good, the music is good and you are good!

Competition weekend

Yay, third place on the national lead competition!

Okay that said, I can write about what I did this weekend :)

Last week Roeland van Oss succesfully passed his final guiding exams. Meaning he's now an official UIAGM mountain guide!
So if you want to get into the mountains and you're looking for a passionate, driven, enthusiastic, energetic and friendly mountainguide: mail Roeland!

Some days of work and a 'jetlag', I drove off to Namur (city in the South of Belgium)
Petzl sponsored the annual rope-access rescue event/competition that takes place on the Citadelle (castle) of Namur: Grimp-day
Petzl International filmed the whole event, so soon we can watch a proper movie about it.
And, one of the teams, Fire brigade Rotterdam had been trained by Ascent. Ascent is a Dutch company that provides specialised rope work/rescue training. I also work for Ascent.

Reason enough for me to take a close look at the rescue teams from all over Europe.

It was interesting to see how different countries have a different approach on the rope-access.
Some were 'caving orientated' others more 'alpine orientated' and there were also more 'industrial orientated' groups.



It was good to see how proper the Germans and Swiss were with their techniques. All ropes properly sorted, all team members with their known positions, and proper handling with the ascender/descender devices.



That compared to a French team which still used a figure-of-eight and prusik to descent...
Most Germanic-speaking countries were more industrial orientated (Dutch, Swiss, German, British) compared to the Latin countries that were more caving orientated and the Eastern Europeans that were more Alpine orientated. Interesting...
Though, Werner said the skills have been improved in the years. A couple years ago he wouldn't want to get rescued by any of the teams and now he'd consider calling a rescue team in emergencies.



This Sunday I had my own competition.
In my hometown Bergschenhoek.

Climbing gym Monte Cervino hosted the national lead-climbing competition. The third (out of 3) competition of the season, resulting in a National Championships.
I'd been competing on this series before. Last year I joined all comps, but I decided that outdoor climbing was much better.

The 2011 competition was not too much fun. Horrible climbing gyms who still owe me a price I won last year (Dear Mountain Network Nieuwegein, am I ever going to get the shoes I won over a year ago?) and some judges that act like little dictators.

But this competition was different. Same judges but awesome routesetters (Jeroen, Dimitri, Arvid), my favourite belayers (Arvid, Rens and Tineke) and good supporters (Michel, Rutger, Bos and the whole Monte Cervino crew).

I'm always incredibly nervous on competitions. Resulting in being totally disorientated in routes, soggy-sweatty hands, squeezing holds like my life is depending on it, and a mind that keeps on talking to me whilst I'm busy climbing.

It was all the same this time. Nervous, insecure...
I was not the only one. Tineke was one of the climbers to show the qualifications of the womens (qualifications are flash, finals are onsight). I saw her face before she stepped into the route and I know how she felt... Really nervous...
So proud of her! She managed to climb the route, did it all just perfect!

I had to climb that route as well (of course) and with my nerves I was totally disorientated, but managed to top it.
The yellow, second qualification route was harder (I knew that) meaning it would be harder to top the thing. But also harder to keep my mind focused.
I got so extremely pumped! I had to rest on every move, had to regain my focus again and again... I fell just after the big sloper... I was down on the ground again before I knew it. Almost tears in my eyes because I was so insecure.
So disappointed!
Apparently it was good enough to reach the finals. So I should have been happy. But my mind was telling me I should have done better.

So I had the finals.

Arvid belayed me. I really trust him and he's very motivating as a climbing partner. 

That helped quite a bit. 

Nevertheless I was still really nervous. Sweat was dripping off my hands. I had to chalk on every move and then I made a mistake. 

One I make more often: stepping too high to reach a hold. Resulting in lack of body-tension and so I missed the hold...Although I felt the hold was just good...

Geatan, a French friend described it: "It's like when you work a very hard route, you know that you can send it but it is so hard that you also know that you can fall at the crux. Everything is in your mind."

And that's what it is. The whole route is in your mind. Just your mind. Or at least, that's how it seems to work in my mind...

Apparently the other girls didn't get that far. They didn't even get close! And that whilst they're members of the National Team...

So far I was first with just three climbers to go. 

One fell before me, so I was already third. 

Then Nikki had to climb. She did so good! 

After the comp she told me she just wanted to finish the route. No nerves, no pressure, just her and the route. And it worked, she topped! 

Then Tabitha had to climb, she clearly had more difficulties with the route then Nikki. But she got higher then me.

So, was was third. Nice!

The men did good as well. Tim Reuser just missed the top-hold in the finals. But that was more then good enough to become first. Tim is strong, really strong with just a few years (5 years?) of climbing experience he's doing really well. 

It's so motivating to reach something you can be proud of! It gives me energy for all the next steps. 

I know, I was not as good as Nikki, I was not first but still...happy to get this far now, with more training (motivation for training) and a better focus (less nerves) I could do even better I guess.

Something to work on.

Now back to the outdoors, back to France I guess :)

More pictures soon.