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 …