You need to be a dwarf (Zwerg in German, so ice dwarfs the route is called, the journey in the land of the ice-dwarfs, lovely name) to climb this route, wiggle yourself through a hole and cramp up whilst traversing the wall. Such an adventure, almost exactly 25 years after it’s first ascent we climbed…
We still had enough to discover at the big roof. So, back to the semi-cold dripping hole :)
Now we expected to just be there and train. Of course we’d try our best. But this? Really? Who would have known this :)
Sometimes you just want the swing the tools, use them for their true purpose. The simplicity, the pureness, the honesty of the game. As remedy for the successes and losses.
The comps can be such a rollercoaster! From the biggest succes to the just-miss. From the high to the lows, the love for the game, the hate for the failure. My gosh!
Thats one cool thing! Between all these sportsman in his town, between all these results, performances, presentations they chose the big ice climber. Whilst Dennis was climbing the Speed finals, back home he got the award of Sportsman of the Year. A small word from the winner:
And what do you do to finish a good week? Attent a real comp! The Swiss welcomed us to their home comp, the finals of their National series. And we had fun!
A thing we noticed with the Dutch is, they only climb toprope back home. We’re all a little scared for the real stuff due to the lack of realistic training scenario’s back home. So it was good to simulate a bit more ‘realness’ in the training.
Ice, is what it’s all about, not the first ice they (and we) climbed this season but sure it was something. It just feels great to climb ice :)
We were on a mission. We are on a mission this season. Broaden the sports, not just on the broader level, but grow the highest level in the Netherlands. And thus we train the new. Here, their first day with us. And it was cold, really cold, brrrrrrr :)
Finally, after everything that let us down (car mechanics, finances, unexpected obligations, anything…) we’re finally ON THE ROAD! We’re feeling insecure, the freedom, the performances that are expected, the new environment. We have to get used to it all. Hopefully we adapt fast :)
This year is new for us. For the first time we have a big group of enthusiasts that want to become stronger, better, learn more and more. To get them ready for bigger challenges we took them for one of their first outdoor training venues. Starzlachklamm, Germany. A dark hole, wet, moist and cold, but…
And we are off, ice climbing season 16/17 kicked off. Also the world cup started today in Durango US. Unfortunately a bit too far off for us but no tears: we have the second Dutch National Iceclimbing championship! We have been training from August onward with a steadily growing crew that also became stronger every training. Last week…
This weekend the Dutch National ice climbing championship will take place in Utrecht. The mixed climbing wall was closed for the last 2 weeks for route setting. So we took the climbuz to Starzlachklamm in Germany for training with upcoming talents. A short docu about the long weekend: Vertical Life – mixedklim training in Starzlachklamm…
http://www.smitskamp.nl/
http://www.sapor.nl
http://www.fotowim.nl
A week full of things happening: car issues, a lecture, my heart on fire and the drytool event at Usine. My heart on fire. Read about it here: Tuesday November 15. We missed the movie premiere at Grenoble. So wished we were there. So great they managed to publish the new movie! European climbing: ice,…
OutDoor is THE trade fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Here you’ll find everything from anyone and anywhere. All that’s new, improved, changed or just so good it’s still there. As Dennis is Industrial Designer and I’ve been (professionally) into all climbing aspects and we’re both sponsored by a few brands; we just had to visit the…
