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I'm back!
Back to writing, back in the Netherlands, back to school.

[June 2018] After my last blogpost I've spent a full summer climbing. Starting off in Bohuslän (Sweden), enjoying the red granite cracks in between the super green forests. Suddenly realizing that the world isn't only black, white and blue (like winter in Northern Norway). Suddenly realizing that taping is actually a super important climbing technique. Realizing how much I love climbing. The temperature was as high as the stoke, and the days were spent climbing line after line and going for swims in the sea. Life was all about friends, some rock and loads of icecream. Since basically all climbing in Bohuslän is singlepitch trad climbing, it was the perfect start for working towards my main goal that summer: free climbig Store Blåmann. Bohuslän taught me how to work on trad routes, getting the details right, making airmiles and trusting gear. It also taught me how much tape was needed for small blue cam sized cracks, and how much more tape was needed for grey cam sized cracks. With all these new skills under the belt, I went back to Tromsø.

Vegard trying hard in Hassan Chop - Bohuslän

[end of June] Back in Tromsø however it had been snowing and the world was black-white-blue again. Instead of going climbing the skiing season continued with some more gullies filled with lovely spring snow.

Spring skiing! Picture by Anders

[beginning of July] After the snow came the sun, in full force. Soon all snow was melted and I went a bit south to Lofoten to hop on some beautiful long routes with Belgium boss Lander. We repeated some not so often climbed but beautiful lines, making the best out of the midnight sun by climbing day and night. The crack climbing skills from Bohulän were in full use, the ocean delivered fresh fish and the cinnamon rolls from Henningsvaer made up for long days in the mountains.

Lander enjoying one of the perfect cracks in Lofoten

[mid July] Over the last few weeks my skin had turned brown, my hands rough and my brain ready for Store Blåmann. Fresh from the Netherlands Youri came. With a huge amount of stoke he more than compensated for his lack of trad climbing experience. Within a few days climbing classics at Baugen he got to nail trad climbing fantasticly, not afraid to fall on the smallest gear. To relax the brain before heading to Blåmann we did some climbing at Gullknausen, a cliff known as the end of the world because all you can see is ocean. In the evening the rock colors gold, and it was at this magical place that Youri met his feature wife (fairy tail story, but a true one!). For me it was also a good place, since I finally managed to climb Fidel (8a), after falling at the end the year before and falling at the very last hold in my second last attempt.

Unfortunately at this point some rain came in to challenge our plans to free climb Blåmann. Our initial route we wanted to climb (Atlantis), was soaking wet for days, so we decided to go for Ultima Thule. I've tried that route twice before in winter, bailed both times. I've climbed it once in summer, but artificial (using gear to pull up). Every time I was on the route I had been thinking how impossible it would be to free climb those small cracks, and I got obsessed by the idea of how cool it would be to actually free climb it. With heavy backpacks full of gear, food, drinks and excitement we walked up to the base of the wall. I kicked off the climbing. Protection in the beginning was sparse and I was intimidated by the amount of rock towering above me. Slowly I climbed till the end of the first pitch. Number one done free, many more to come. Youri was up next, cracks got even smaller and the walls sometimes overhanging. After a big battle Youri topped pitch 2 without falling. The rest of the climbing was summarized by small cracks, some overhangs, some even smaller cracks and some corners. We managed to free everything, until we got stopped by a wet, slimy crack. Two meters of aiding were necessary to bypass this, after which we continued our free climbing style. 13 hours of climbing later we stood on the summit. The midnight sun was smiling to us, congratulating us with the ascent. We danced on the music of Paul Kalkbrenner, we ate chocolate and I cried silently by the beauty of this world. How the sun could light up the night, how the sea can kiss the feet of the mountains, how two human beings can have so much fun by suffering to get up a steep granite north face.

Me climbing in the sea of granite, picture from Youri

Summit happiness

[August] The very next day after Blåmann we drove to Lofoten for more long routes. A heat wave had arrived, and a rithm of climbing during the night, sleeping during the day and swimming whenever was developed. Highlight was the ascent of Storpillaren, a classic and long tespiece, with a descent that is just as memorable as the ascent. The first half of the route is characterised by some hard pitches, steady climbing and beautiful cracks. The second half is harder routefinding, and the semi-last pitch is an awful slab with bad protection (more fair to say: no protection). The descent is steep, grassy and loose rocks. Terrain you shouldn't fall in and terrain that you couldn't really protect. There is no path down and it takes quite some route finding to get to know the way down. After getting pretty stuck Lander came to show us the way and about 24 hours after we left camp, we arrived at the tents again. For another classic we had to drive down a bit more, to Stetind. Teaming up with Jussi this time we started climbing in the rain, but after some hours the sun came through, the walls dried and we had big smiles on our faces.

The beautiful Lofoten as seen from Reine

[End of August] Time to head back to the Netherlands. Leaving Northern Norway behind for some time to do my master in Wageningen. Leaving the place that stole my heart. Back to the place were this adventure once started. Who knows what other adventure(s) Wageningen will facilitate?

[december] Some months had passed by and finally it was time for holiday again. Wageningen had treated me as if I had never been away. Most of my friends were still here, university life was busy with long days. The Netherlands were flat as always, bike thieves as active as always and climbing gyms my second home as always. I picked up doing competitions again, made it to the Dutch finals of sport climbing were I ended on the slightly disappointing 4th place. The national student championships bouldering went surprisingly good, and I could take a gold medal home. But then, in december, it was finally real play time again. First of all I spent the self-study week in Tromsø/Lyngen. Visiting my friends up north again, going wild in the fresh powder and kicking of the skiing season with some awesome couloir skiing.

After 2 exams and a 2nd place at the national ice climbing championships, my brother and me went to Margalef, Spain, to catch some sun and climb loads of rock. We managed to hitchhike to a tiny tiny village in the middle of nowehere (accomplishment 1), I managed to send 2 8a's (accomplishments 2 and 3) and we managed to get rid of all our skin (accomplishment 4). Not bad for just a short week!

Back home, back south, to France this time. A week of skiing with the family. Unfortunately there wasn't so much snow, but enough to have loads of fun and to enjoy some beautiful touring!

[January 2019] I decided to take a month off from studies, to go to the Alps, do loads of ice climbing and compete at 2 worldcups. I found in Aldo a perfect partner in crime, and we decided to head off to the Ecrins. Just as with the skiing week with the family there wasn't much snow, but we came for the ice and ice there was! No all too much tho, which resulted in sometimes a bit thin lines. In the Ecrins you have the luxury of choosing between many valleys with each many waterfalls to climb. We started around La Grave, then went to the ice climbing festival around St Christophe and in the end went back to La Grave area. We combined ice climbing with some ski touring on icy slopes every now and then. The ice climbing festival was a 3 day festival, every day you could sign up for an activity (all ice climbing or skiing) and then you'd go out a whole day in a group with a guide. The first day I went ice climbing and got some nice tips from the guide. The second day there was a small ice climbing competition, on which I manage to finish 2nd. The third day I went for a skiing clinic from two professional freestyle skiers. They were just as good in giving skiing tips as in skiing themselves, which made up for a super learnful day.
The temperature in the ice climbing valleys was about a freezing cold -14, but as soon as you got into the big valley the sun was shining, bird were tweeting and you could (more or less) climb rocks in t-shirt. With this lovely contrast I climbed a 7c 2nd go to prove ice climbing doesn't harm for your rock climbing skills.

[February] After loads of ice climbing it was worldcup time! I actually had hoped to do more drytooling in the Ecrins to prepare for the worldcups, but the ice was simply too good. What?? Isn't ice climbing the best method to get ready for an ice climbing worldcup?! To increase the difficulty and to keep conditions equal for everyone, ice climbing worldcups are usually held on wooden structures, where you hook behind holds and kick with your feet in the wood. It is a super atletic and precise way of climbing, graceful and at the same time so powerful. I actually think it is one of the most beautiful climbing disciplines to look at. Ah well, as soon as a snowstorm started in the Ecrins, I headed to Milano, where I'd meet up with Enni from team Finland for the first worldcup in Rabenstein (Italy). The snowstorm was taking over the whole alps, which made the travelling quite a challenge, and 8km before the climbing structure the car didn't manage to get up the road... Team USA came for the rescue, and we arrived just in time (or actually: too late but not too late to be troublesome too late). A review of this worldcup could be read on the website of the NKBV: https://nkbv.nl/actueel/uitslagen/het-ijsmonster-van-rabenstein.html
After the disappointment of just not reaching semi-finals due to time-outs, we went to Arco to enjoy some shopping and rock climbing in the sun. With batteries loaded we arrived in Champagny for the next worldcup. Here, Line joined the Dutch forces. A review of this worldcup could also be found on the NKBV website: https://nkbv.nl/actueel/uitslagen/line-ijsklimt-in-champagny-naar-de-halve-finale.html (written by Line). I again just missed the semi-finals due to time-outs, guess the 4 minute climbing time is 4 minutes too short for me. Line fortunately did better and managed to climb herself into the semi-finals. I enjoyed a last day of skiing, and then headed back to the Netherlands to continue studies.

[april] Spring had arrived and that means the time of climbing trips! All trips so far had been to Ettringen, a super sweet crack climbing area in Germany. It almost felt like the season start last year, in Bohuslan, but then in a closer-by area. Among many other nice routes, I managed to send the first 8a of this year: a small fingercrack named Hydra.

[may] I just started the last course of the year, after this it will only be internship and thesis (and probably 1 course in Norway). I'll definately miss the self-study weeks, in which I basically was just having holiday and out climbing or skiing. At the same time I'm pretty sure I'll find some ways to get my necessary dose of outdoor. Let's see if I can make that come true!