Lead 2

After a intense period at the university I didn't had that much time to train, which made me feel quite insecure about the Lead 2. Am I still good enough to reach the finals? How is it with my strength and endurance? With all those questions in my head I went to Mountain Network Amsterdam, where the competition was hold.

I don't know what exactly happened there. Maybe it was magic, maybe I am just stronger than I thought I am, but suddenly the climbing went great! The first qualification wasn't that hard so - as most other girls - I topped that one. The second route looked way harder and more dynamic. Not really my style but I made the best of it and really enjoyed the route. Falling high up in the route made me secure for a place in the finals.
The final route was a long route through the overhang. No far moves, new very grippy holds and movements which fit me pretty good. Perfect! After the overhanging part my foothook slipped off which made me come back to the ground. But I felt really happy with my performance and the 2nd place!

Results:
Woman:
1. Nikki van Bergen
2. Aniek Lith
3. Eva Vink

Men:
1. Tim Reuser
2. Mark Brand
3. Casper ten Slijthof

NSK 2015

Last weekend the National Student Championships (NSK) sports climbing were hold in Eindhoven. The really nice routes, all the happy, enthousiastic students and the big prizes contributed something which was a great event!

In the qualification round there were 22 routes, from level 4 up to a 7b. For every route you got 1 try and your best 4 routes counts for the score. By onsighting the 7b I managed to get easily in first place to the semi-finals.
Besides climbing there were also some side-events. One of them was coloring a drawing, so at one moment you saw all the tough climbers painting :) Other side-events were figure of 8, dynamic quickdraw and climbing in pairs. Although I was pretty horrible in them, they were very funny.

The semi-final was a pink route through the roof, it didn't looked so difficult and without any trouble I climbed it, as 4 others did. Hopefully they made the finals a bit harder!

And they did! There were some nice shaped holds in the route which I didn't knew before. I thought they were quite OK, but it turned out to be horrible slopers. After dragging myself through that sloper section my right arm was so pumped that I fell off the next hold.

This was enough for the first place! They made an awesome podium with for numbers 2 and 3 a big ball to sit on and for the number 1 a hanging chair :)

Looking forward already to the next NSK!

Lead 1, Nieuwegein

*English below*

De kop is eraf! Allereerst die van de (chocolade) paashaas in Odenwald, die een val van een rotsblok niet overleefde. Vervolgens ook die van het nationale lead seizoen, afgelopen zondag in Nieuwegein!

De paasdagen dus doorgebracht in Odenwald, Duitsland. Een prachtige omgeving met veel verschillende klimmogelijkheden. Helaas regende het de eerste dag maar de twee daaropvolgende dagen heerlijk geboulderd en trad geklommen. Conclusies die getrokken konden worden na dit weekend: een paashaas kan beter niet van een rots'glijbaan' naar beneden, van een oud matras kan je prima crashpads maken en van paaseitjes een standplaats!

Bij de eerste lead westrijd in Nieuwegein was het prachtig weer buiten, wat ik niet kon weerstaan. Op de fiets naar de klimhal dus! Na 50 km had ik een goede warming-up achter de rug en stond ik in de klimhal. De bouwers hadden mooie routes gebouwd en het klimmen ging lekker. In de finaleroute verloor ik halverwege echter mijn concentratie, waarna ik uit de route viel. Zonde maar tevreden over het algemene klimmen die dag.




The head is off! First the one of the (chocolate) easter bunny in Odenwald, who didn't survived a fall from a rock. Later also that of the national lead season, last sunday in Nieuwegein!
So we spent the easter days in Odenwald, Germany. A beautiful area with many different climbing opportunities. Unfortunately it rained the first day but the next two days where full of nice bouldering and trad climbing. Conclusions that could be drawn after this weekend: an easter bunny could better not been thrown down from a rock slide, from an old mattress you could make a nice crashpad and from easter eggs a anchor!
During the first lead competition in Nieuwegein the weather was beautiful outside, which I couldn't resist.So going by bike to the gym!After 50 km I've had a good warming-up and arrived in the gym. The routesetters did a really good job by making nice routes and my cimbing went well. Unfortunately I lost my concentration in the finals, which made me fall. That was a pitty, but I am satisfied about the general day :)

Winter in Berdorf!

All the nice outdoor climbing in Turkey, Switserland and Spain made me hungry for more, but with no more holidays on the planning for the coming period, there is no time to go far away again. Luckily there are also nice rocks pretty close to The Netherlands.

One of the most beautiful climbing spots is Berdorf, in Luxembourg. The forest there is magical and the sandstone rocks are great for climbing. So last weekend José (one of the guys I met in Turkey) and me headed to Berdorf.
After all the limestone climbing in Turkey and Spain I had to get used to sandstone again, but suprisingly that went pretty fast. I was really happy to climb in the rock again, no matter the cold (which wasn't that bad, because it created perfect friction). The first day I managed to sent Daïwel (7b+) in my second go. The next day we tried Ywene Ywene, a nice 7c+ with a lot of small crimpers. Not really my style but it was a really nice line. Unfortunately I didn't manage to climb the crux. In the night it started snowing, so no climbing on our last day. José took the quickdraws out Ywene Ywene, we enjoyed the view of Berdorf covered under snow and we drove back to The Netherlands.

El Chorro - Spain

Two weeks after the worldcup adventure, a new trip started at the airport in Malaga. This time Noël and me exchanged the cold and wet ice for the sun, warmth and rocks of El Chorro. The first day we were not so lucky with the weather. It started raining so we decided to go to the famous cave Poema de roca. This cave has some really nice and classic routes, but unfortunately most of them are polished.

The next day we went to the sector Suizo. Also here nice routes, much less polished than in Poema de roca. After this day we were used to the rocks and ready for a multipitch. We chose Café con bourbon. Four lengths (5+, 6b+, 7a, 6c+) of beautiful climbing with huge tufa's. In the last pitch we had to fight hard against the wind, which was trying to blow us away. But we won!

Bruno likes it :)

Next day was supposed to be a rest day, but the rocks were begging to be climbed, something I couldn't resist. So in the end I did some running in the morning and some climbing in the afternoon, which made this my worst rest day ever.

Everybody told us that Makinodromo is a really nice crag with a beauty of an 8a. Exactly where I was looking for! So after my "rest" day, Noël and me made a beautiful but long walk to Makinodromo and I tried the 8a (Lourdes). It was a very long and nice route with lots of tufa's in it, lovely! Unfortunately I didn't felt strong enough to climb it.

Next day the weather was shit again, so we decided to go to the Poema de roca again to try some hard routes. In the end of the day Noël was working in a 7a+ when it got dark. In the complete darkness we had to find our way back through the forest full of owls. We left last and came back the next day as first to do a 12 pitches long multipitch (4, 6a, 6c, 6c+, 7a, 6a+, 5+, 6b, 6c+, 6a, 3, 3+), all the way up to the face of Frontales, starting right of the cave. On our way up we saw vultures making spectacular acrobatic moves in the air. As a reward we ate pancakes on the top and afterwards we started abseiling down until our rope got stuck, so I climbed the first 6c+ pitch again... This took us 40 minutes more time than expected, so in the end we were in the wall for 10 hours and we had to walk back in the dark again.

The next day our arms felt they had done something so we had a relax start of the day and climbed a little bit in the rocks above our campside (Los Encantados). Then it was time to leave again. We had a great time in El Chorro with lots of free food, meeting new people and absolutely amazing climbs!