Still at home...waiting for Summer holidays

There I am, still at home.

Now bad to be here though, enjoying my garden. Just ate my first home-grown carrot. But, I'm living here because I have a mission. That mission involves a thing that most call 'hobby', some call it 'sports', and for me it's a way of life...

And I really wanted to be abroad now. Climbing! I actually had a chance, Fontainebleau with a new friend. Canceled work, changed appointment days, changed the job interview date, skipped climbing with Dennis, that all to get one day of climbing in Font. But, I sort of blew it. (Long story that makes me sad).

So here I am, still at home, in the rain, being bored, not motivated to do any of the things I actually need to do (filling in tax forms, learning for my exam on Thursday, putting together a little photobook for the Outdoor Fair in Fridrichshafen...)

I'm still lying on bed, thinking of what I actually want.

What I want is pretty simple, but it just doesn't seem to fit in this world: climbing.

But every time when I want that more and more I get into a vicious circle: climbing > no work > no money > no climbing > still climbing > not accepted by 'normal people' > less money > less climbing > less understanding by 'normal people' > more work > less climbing > more money > more climbing > less work > no work at all > ...

I wish I was a millionaire. I'd climb, all over the world. Live in a cave, as close a possible to all climbing areas, find friends to climb with, eat pasta with tomato sauce for weeks, cookies for breakfast and lunch and when I take a restday, once every two weeks, I feel my fingers, stiff but satisfied. Again another great route finished.

Talking about fingers, Martin Fickweiler has a crack climbing course in Ettringen in September. Wanna join and learn more about how to stick cracks? Read here more on his blog.

And, as bored as I am? Interested in new fruitboots? On 'Cold Thistle' more about how to make them.

Millionaire I said, yes, that's what I'd do with money. Use it as a tool to build up life experience. No big house, big car, big husband...Just freedom and see the world as it is. Figure new cultures, new habits, new thoughts, new food, new nature, new roads. Roads that can lead me to freedom in my mind.

Santiago de Compostela

Now you thought I'm active and venturous. True, maybe. But I learned that somewhere. From childhood on actually.

My parents, both PE teacher and fanatic sporters decided to do something different this year.

They'd been to China, walked through Iceland, been in alpine climbing but now, they're into cycling.

They decided to cycle all the way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain! They'll do the pilgrimage. Not that they're very religious, it's just the magic around it that they love.

My mum writes, my dad is photographer. So, expect some nice pictures from their trip here on their blog: hs75muiden.blogspot.com

! GriGri 2

Unfortunately the new GriGri 2 has a problem... (In Apple terms: As it turns out the GriGri2 has an issue...)

Under serious force the handle might block, causing failure in the automatic breaking system.

So, I have to sent mine back and get a replacement.

Maybe you have to sent yours back too? Check out the details on the Petzl website here.

Petzl says: "Because the safety of our users is our primary concern, as a measure of precaution Petzl has decided to take the following actions:

- Increase the mechanical strength of the handle on all GriGri 2's since serial number 11137.

- Recall all GriGri 2's with the first five digits of the serial number between 10326 and 11136, and replace with a new revised GriGri 2.

Petzl will pay for all shipping costs to complete this replacement."

For Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg please contact Alpitec by e-mailing to recall.grigri2@alpitec.be

For Iceland, please use to contact form on the Petzl webpage.

Living in another country? Check the Petzl website here.

Want to know how to use your GriGri2? Check out the 'technical notice' here.

Curry that makes you...

Okay, I like cooking. And I prefer to cook simple (one pot, one frying pan meals). Today I was up for some Thai food.

I opened the curry pack, added it to the coconut milk and suddenly saw the name of the curry company. Do you spot the name?

So, does this curry make you...?

Worldcup Boulder Eindhoven 2011

The day after. Or actually already two days after the finals of the Worldcup Bouldering in Eindhoven.

Because of a mistake. (Won't tell you any names or details) I was climbing in Ettringen during Dutch the qualifications last April. At that time I was pretty quiet and light about it as I thought 'well, just happens and outdoor climbing is better then indoor climbing'. But somewhere in my brain there is a little voice that keeps on telling me 'Girl you're stronger then last year, you should have been there. And why don't you just write it down or say it that it's not your fault that you weren't there on the walls.'

And now I just told you.

I was told only the best three climbers would go for the 'Wildcard' for the Worldcup in Eindhoven. Later, after the qualifiers in April I figured it was the best 4 after the national team members. Bit painful...

I have no idea where I'll be next year (Yosemite, Iceland, Canada...?) But if I have that chance to qualify again, I'll try to do so :)

So, no competition climbing for me last weekend. Though I suddenly still got involved.

I'm national judge and the organisation was short in judges, so suddenly I was there.

I had 'to get into' the rules and system, but that was quite easy. And the positive thing was, that I had a first row view!

On Saturday evening I had so much engery after seeing all the climbers, that I decided to go and climb as well. And Monk it was. A full evening with all kinds of funny, strange, difficult, slopey, long, short boulders. Satisfied I left for the hotel in Mierlo.

Saturday, semi- and finals-day. The Dutch only had Vera and Nicky in the semi's.

Though, it was a busy day.

Mountain Network, a Dutch company that owns several climbing gyms in the Netherlands, was responsible for the venue (structure and the stage). And as the Netherlands is quite unpredictable weather wise you always have to count on at least some rain. This weekend was not just forecasted with 'some rain' but with LOADS of rain. So you'd expect a proper roof above the climbing walls and isolation. But nope...some sail that flappered in the wind was the only thing to protect the climbers and boulders from the rain.

There were even rumours that the competitions would be canceled because of it!

And then there was the structure itself. Four times I found a little pin on the floor under the walls. It was not just a little pin, it were crucial little things that work as locks and so basically keep the structure together. With such a pin missing, the structure can basically drop down with just a bit of wind. So four of these missing...

I climbed up with the excuse to fix the holes in the roof and also placed two pins back...

Now I can go on and on with complaining about the structure and safety (for example how to work with scaffold-hooks and how this was all a perfect example of how not to work with it...) but, I was writing about climbing and not about safety issues in stage building. (Though...hopefully it will all be better next year...)

This post is not finished (yet) due to some internet problems here, it keeps on disappearing. Really annoying. So tomorrow I'll write some more :)

Via Ferrata clinic

Jeroen, Monte Cervino ('de berg' in Dutch, the mountain) manager, routesetter but most of all climber, asked me to help him with the Monte Cervino/NKBV Via Ferrata clinics that he planned.

I'm more into leadclimbing trad routes then walking iron paths but I was up for this new kind of teaching.

All around you hear people landing in serious accidents on Via Ferrata's. Last August 2010 a helicopter flew out when Dennis and me were climbing the Salbit (CH), it turned out to be a serious Via Ferrata accident. A couple weeks later we heard the news that climbing legend Kurt Albert died in a Via Ferrata accident.

And I remember me with my brother and parents on a Via Ferrata with a guide over 15 years ago. Just attached on a sling and a screwgate krab. Clipping over to the next wire? 'Just hold tight and move over the krab.'

When you don't know any better you'll never know that it's actually quite dangerous what you're doing.

With that all in mind I thought it's very, very important to have Via Ferrata clinics, especially in a country as the Netherlands, where we don't grow up with mountains around us.

Our focus in the clinics was not as much to learn all Via Ferrata skills (as for that you need to build up general experience with climbing Via Ferrata lines and that's not what happens in just 3 hrs. time) but more make people more conscious of all potential factors on a Via Ferrata.

We started with some theory involving the use of a Via Ferrata set and a helmet, a bit of Via Ferrata history and preparation in the valley before you attend a Via Ferrata.

Then we focused on short-term preparation involving weather forecast, topo, what to pack in your rucksack and more.

And finally we could start climbing. First half-way the wall. Abseil down and try again.

Then higher, all the way to the top of the wall. Most had never been so high, so it was quite an experience.

We practised all kinds of skills like passing other people, how to help with mild accidents, what to do with severe accidents, what to do with thunder and lightning, and we tried to teach consciousness with answering together questions like 'why do you have to wear a helmet', 'what happens when a 30kg child falls in an Via Ferrata set', 'do you know how to get back when you're on the top of a Via Ferrata climb', 'where to go with lightning'...

The participants were all very happy to gain that much information in just 3 hrs. time.

So, Jeroen and I were satisfied. Via Ferrata clinic take 1: great success :)

Hopefully we can keep on giving this kind of courses and so prevent accidents and teach the beauties of outdoor activities.

Interested in a clinic? Please contact me to see what we can arrange on Monte Cervino.

Were you on the course? All pictures Jeroen and me took are on Picasa here.

Do you use a Petzl Scorpio? Some are being recalled for inspection, click here for more information on the Petzl website.

Live to climb, born to climb

Dutch climber Michel Kleinjan and his wife (? are you actually married or should I say 'girl' or 'woman' or 'chicka'?) Leonoor just decided to sell their house and live in a 'wooden shed' close to the biggest and best climbing gym in the Netherlands. (Mote Cervino, Bergschenhoek)

Their idea after years of 'hibernation': work to live instead of just work to work to pay off rent and mortages...

Here his blog (in Dutch)

It's inspiring and motivating!

Good luck guys, it's worth a big, big pie! (With fruit, without raspberries ;)

Picture: one of the pies we chose in a bakery in Elbsandstein, on Gerkes birthday. When I'd just met Michel and Leonoor for the first time.

Advanced First Aid for Industrial Rope Access

What I do besides climbing, is educating myself into safety issues.

This week a 3 day training in first aid on heights. Suspension trauma's and more...
Soon a little movie about this weeks training I'm doing at Orange Access.

Ibbenbüren climbing weekend

Been quiet on my blog lately.
Sorry for that.

Been busy with...climbing.

A competition in Arnhem (5th, quite okay but should have been better) and last weekend I was involved in family business with Dennis' family (which was quite nice actually) and of course...climbing. This time another area in Germany, not Ettringen but Ibbenbüren was our destination. For the first time.

Eveline told us to go there and borrowed her topo to us. (Thanks)

It was quite okay. Pretty friendly area, good for families, beginners, semi-beginners and even for us there was something to climb.

Though, when you get there for the first time without any guidance it might be hard to figure the right path to the climbing sectors. The 'treasure map' in the topo only helped just a bit...

And when it's as damp and hot as it was this weekend, it's quite hard to climb without chalk!

Most is bolted but I had the chance to play again with my 'Elbsandstein knots'.

Fun and worth another weekend!

Ettringen instruction weekend

This weekend not just Ettringen climbing, but something more.

I was invited by the Dutch climbing federation (NKBV) to help with the course for trad-climbing instructors. So not just climbing, but teaching climbing as well this weekend.

And when it's about something more then just teaching how to belay it's fun! The group was motivated and ready to learn.

Together with UIAGM guide Michiel Engelsman, almost-trainee-guide Jelle Staleman, Arnoud, Sjors and Dennis we thought the group the refined skills of tradclimbing.

And where else should we go...Ettringen is perfect for such a course.

The weather was 'ok', rain on Friday, sun on Saturday and more rain on Sunday.

All 'students' are already trad climbers so I even had some time to climb as well.

Tried some beautiful cracks and even had the time to project...Flirtin' with disaster, just an 8+, but I don't understand the last moves! So if anybody can explain me how to stick the moves after the last bolt...?

And...for all who climb more often in the area here the route-updates for the topo.

Mayen

Ettringen

Kottenheim

You can print the PDF's and add them to the topo.

Pictures thanks to Sjors Verbrugge, René and Ernst.

If you think you're on one of the pictures in the video/on my blog, please mail me so I can sent you the picca :)

Grímsvötn

One of my interests is geology. Actually I'm more then just interested in the subject. I get 'hyper' when I talk about volcanism, and the Earth's activity underground.

Last year I was in Iceland at the time of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. This year I'm not living in Iceland anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't follow the Icelandic news anymore.

Every day I try to keep up with the language and culture and watch the Icelandic news.

And so I found this lille video about all the dust and ash erupting out of the Vatnajökull glacier.

For all journalists, photographers: if you need someone who knows quite a bit about Iceland, speaks the language and more and who is free to travel to Iceland right now, please contact me on der.steen [@] gmail.com

Clean routes, no bolts...

Climbing routes on bolts or climbing routes on trad gear is a difficult ethical issue in climbing.

In some countries people only tend to climb on bolts, in some it's mixed (some area's are bolted others are clean) and in some trad is the only way to climb.

Climbing trad or bolts involves not just the issue of a 'pure' route, but also has a safety issue, an access issue, habits, quality and experience(s) of local climbers and much more.

So deciding to bolt or not is, I find, a hard decision.

To my opinion bolting routes should be avoided when it's possible to climb the route on trad gear. I even think it's even not necessary to bolt a route following modern techniques when the 'old' way of bolting is actually not really 'safe'. Climbing safety is something relative I think, and it's part of the beauty involved in the sports: it's your own personal decision to climb a route or not.

Some climbers are very active in this issue. And even chop away bolts.

In this movie a little example of a route that doesn't have to be bolted: The Doors, and 8b (French grading). Matteo Della Bordella climbs the route.

Also others already climbed the route on trad gear (Jeff Mercier and Eric Jamet)

Chillin'

After a week of climbing in Elbsandstein (Germany) and a hit&run to the annual Petzl meeting in Belgium I needed a 'day off'.

I woke up at 5 yesterday and was home again around 2-ish in the night. Long day...

So, updated my vegetable garden with maïs, carrots and other seeds and little plants, did some house cleaning and watched loads of short climbing movies.

Tomorrow 'work' again: the national lead competition in my home-town Bergschenhoek. Fun! But, strange after a week of outdoor climbing on scary protected sandstone :)

Soon more about my Elbsandstein adventure with a little video and some pictures.

And for now, No Pain No Spain, a video of Spanish Boreal/Petzl team-members having fun in the rocks. That rocks ;)

(Picture by Leonoor: Michel & me climbing one of the Elbsandstein pillars; Ostkante VI, RP VIIb, Chinesischer Turm, Bielatal)

Fitness

It's sunny, warm and I wanted to pick up an 'old' hobby. Running.

I used to run 5 days a week next to all my other activities. But, since I live in the Netherlands again, I got a bit lazy. No dog to accompany me, no forest to run some trails.

So I decided to set myself a goal: run 24km before I go to the Alps this Summer and run the Rotterdam Marathon next April 2012.

But, it's nothing compared to what a goal one of my friends has...He just celebrated his 50th birthday and now wants to run 50 miles! (Calculate that to Kilometres...and you get 80,5 km) So what am I actually complaining about, 42 is piss easy, try to run the double distance, thats the real thing!

Now that I just wrote this down I can't go back :)

So far it's going okay, ran 10km yesterday and run about 4 times a week now at least 6km per day. And all that running next to my climbing hopefully makes me fit enough for the Alps.

Two days ago I replaced my 7-year-old Asics with beautiful, comfortable new Nike running shoes (see picture)

Next to the running I try to keep up with fitness classes like Zumba (I'm a really bad salsa dancer as I don't have any Latin American blood...), Yoga (really relaxing, would recommend it to you all) and 'Back to basic' (very tough body pump practice) in my favourite fitness school in Weesp. Fitness Center Weesp is fan of iceclimbing resulting in two A3 autographed pictures of me hanging in the fitness room. So cool! (see pictures)

From this Saturday I'll be hanging on little knots in Elbsandstein (Germany) and then hopefully working again. (Anybody suggestions for work??)

Values in my life

Today, May 4. is a special day. War memorial day.

My grandparents are the key to this day. I consider them to be the ones that actually made it possible for me to live my life as it is.

2 Minutes of silence.

Today May 4. is the day to remind the ones who are not with us anymore because of the values they had. The ones who fought for our freedom. For the values that sound so logical today.

I think it's important to remind ourselves to what freedom actually means.

As it's a bit difficult to say 'thanks' to people that are not alive anymore.

But I just want to try. That's why I wrote this little piece of text.

It's a I-can-not-translate-this-thing-into-any-language

Het lente gras in Muiden waait in de wind

Als glanzend groen zijde aan een waslijn

Stil rij ik voorbij het landschap

M'n hoofd vol

Gedachtes

Ideeën

Plannen

Hoe zou het zijn als ik alles dat er in mijn hoofd zit

niet meer aan mijn waslijn van waarden kan hangen.

Als ik mijn gedachtes, ideeën, plannen, moet laten waaien,

met de verkeerde wind?

Pictures: very old pictures of my granddad/grandma coloured with PS

Sweden, the video

Our mini-holiday was so relaxed...

So just made a relaxed video clip.

Most of the times we don't call our climbing trips 'holiday' as alpine/ice climbing is just hard work and at the time that we're home again we need restdays. But this time our climbing trip had other 'key words': sun, nature and fairly easy climbing :)

Sweden

Easter, hot weather, actually warmest Easter ever measured in the Netherlands.

So, where do you go? South? Chamonix? East? Ettringen? Freyr? Pfalz?

We had no idea, wanted to go for something new, something different.

Dennis' was once told that Götenborg had amazing climbing.

So, the car already packed with iceaxes, crampons, chalk, bikini and trad gear some Google calculations we decided to drive North (really we decided to go to Sweden in just 2 minutes time).

And what a choice, it was one of our best trips so far: beautiful cracks, even better weather, nice people, and the surroundings...Sweden is amazing!

Soon a little video and we want to write a report so you all can find the climbing there.

But, as I really need some money, I now first have to focus on work again...

IRATA in the Zoo

Except from just climbing, climbing and climbing I'm also....working...

Although it was basically a 'high-class cleaning job' it was still better then most work I can imagine.

Together with Rob, Robert, Thimo, Sjoerd, Carl and Michel I was literary hanging around in the zoo.

Cleaning a big cloth that represented a sea view in the area called 'Ocean'. (Big fish tank full of tropical fish).

The climate was, guess what, tropical. So we were hanging there in our shorts.

It's sort of finished. And we we sort of finished as well :)

The little boy on the picture next to the 2m tall guy iz me...:)

The two guys cleaning are Robert and Rob

CEAT Meeting Ettringen

Last time when I visited Ettringen was during the Autumn meet of the Commission Expeditions Alpine Topsport (CEAT).
This weekend was warmer, sunnier... And it was again the CEAT meeting.

We climbed so much that I forgot to film. But, still some nice things to show.

Ettringen is such a special area. The hard but silky smooth basalt, the dirty ditches you climb in full of rubbish that's been taken back by mother nature, the trees growing leaves again, the cracks...

It was so good, a bit painful though on my hands and fingers ;)

I tried a really cool 9- (French 7b+) worked it once on lead, climbed it afterwards on toprope and red point it hopefully next time! The route is called 'Einsichten eines Morphinisten' and is located in the relatively new area Schwarze Zirkel.

I missed the "I love Problems" bouldering comp in Steep Part (climbing gym in Rotterdam) so I missed the chance to qualify for the Worldcup Boulder in Eindhoven. But, that all didn't matter as outdoor climbing is what it's all about and that's what I did this weekend. I love it!

Congrats to Rachel, Roelien, Rianne, Mirthe, Hans, Jesse, Melle and Wolter!

And all Dutch team members who will join the Worldcup in June!

And it wouldn't be succesful without a "little" video...

I selected some beautiful climbs and I wanted to show just the beauty of the area. So not much talking, but a lot of climbing. Enjoy!

CEAT Meeting Ettringen, Germany from Marianne van der Steen on Vimeo.

Das Auto

I sold my beautiful Ford Transit van.

And since I'm back in the Netherlands I try to do everything by bike, train or borrow my parents car. But I calculated all and figured it's more expensive to go by train then by car (why???)

So...the car search was on.

And this is the result: a really old (older then I am) Volkswagen Golf 1.

Diesel, sports style ;) pretty original colour, and road tax free. I drove all the way to the furthest corner of the Netherlands to buy it...

This weekend will be the big test: Ettringen. How will it do on the German highway?