Banyan Treehouse

Although this towering concrete treehouse isn’t really green, (no matter what grows on top of it), you must be awestruck by its sheer craziness. I thought it worth a post, just for the picture. The Naha Harbor Diner in Okinawa, Japan is a life-size rendition of a banyan tree, also known as gajumaru. The aptly-named Banyan Town shopping center near the entrance of Onoyama Park features a twenty foot tall tree with a pan-Asian restaurant nestled amid its branches. Accessible by a spiral staircase around back and an in-trunk elevator, the restaurant specializes in locally grown and organic harvested foods fresh from the farm.

(source: inhabitat.com)

Dave Graham - The Island V15

Dave Graham in Fontainebleau is a guarantee for beautiful boulders. And this V15 one. It almost looks like he is climbing in slow-motion. Such a controlled moves and precise and deliberate dead points. I wish I had the ape-factor he has.... (Click the pic for movie).
(source:youtube)

Sinter(klim-clausule)klaas

ahum, locale humor, maar toch.
(bron:gespot.at5.nl - foto door Claudia Klein)

Not my Fault - Mountain Cartoon

(source:cartoonstock.com)

World Record Dyno for men

ok, OK! he makes it as a two-step-dyno but nevertheless, awesome technique. Watch 'nd weep this Youtube link.

TEVA Hand Rock Art

I made this during the last summer holiday in France. We resided at an arti-ecological camping called Ecolonia were it was common to have these fits of expression.
I just took little rocks from the path before our tent which I laid out in the pattern of the TEVA logo. When done I borrowed the watercolour paintbox from my daughter and finished the rocks with rainbow colours.

Shallow Water Soloing

That's what you get if a swimming pool is combined with a boulder facility. This wall is the most true to the original deep water soloing: a concrete rock at the rim of the pool at the new Student Aquatic Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. The website says: “The challenge will be great, but we wanted to simulate a real-life climbing experience as much as we could," Vaughn said. "I think we are very close to that”. And: "The wall is a 40-foot wide, 14-foot high bouldering wall that spans the west side of the facility's leisure pool. The wall, (...), was formed upon dozens of concrete fabricated panels mounted on a steel cage. The process took more than four weeks to complete, and the results are impressive, he said."

The sheer size is stunning, and it makes me wonder if the Netherlands, with its increasing number of climbers, is up to such a wall to!!?

The examle below is more convenient for the kids-playing time; although it looks like fun to me too.

Public Boulder Walls

(above: blackpool boulder wall)

Yesh, they are real and existing. Some examples of boulder walls which are public domains of the urban climber. The best example I have found so far exeeds my imagination. Specially because the rock was 'simply' lifted from it's surroundings and transported to it's destination !! That's something we Dutchies dream of !! No reel rock to be found here, but hey ! let's go to Belgium and buy some rock to be placed in a park somewhere (preferably the Vondelpark in Amsterdam ;P). Anyway check the site of the Shoreditchboulder and see for yourself. (pic directly below: shoreditch, 2nd pic: ?, 3rd pic: wall-wanaka-lge New Zealand).

Jorg Verhoeven bij Holland Sport

fff een tip voor de Nederlandse klimmers. Jorg Verhoeven meldt op zijn website dat hij a.s. maandag bij Holland Sport te zien zijn. Jorg zelf heeft het over 'hoe een arme klimmer in de zeik wordt genomen', maar dat lijkt me sterk. Gewoon kijken dus, maandagavond 17 november, 20.30 uur bij VPRO op Ned 3.

Art Bouldering Wall Badami

Beautifull rock structure to climb/boulder on. Comes from a fine website with stories about climbing/bouldering in the following countries:

Montenegro 2008
Russia 2007
India 2006 / 2007
Sahara 2005 / 2006
Kirgisien / Karavshin 2003
Marmolata 1999

It's fun to read and makes you want to go to these places !!

(source: geoquest-verlag.de)

Trick Or Treat

Although we do not celebrate trick or treat in the same way as in the US or UK, in the Netherlands we also walk down the streets asking for sweets. Supposedly there is no connection between the trick-or-treat and here it is a celebration of Sint(= saint) Maarten, in origin a religious tradition.

For many (older kids) in the Netherlands it is just a reason to gather a year-load of sweets (or fruit for the more nature minded amongst us). For the little ones it's an adventure to walk in the evening with their lanterns, bring some light in the dark months and sing funny songs. Tonight I will be opening the door many times, assuming they dare ring our doorbell...

Anti Boredom Commercial

I found this in the archives of my digital storage. Don't be as crude as is displayed here, but otherwise the effect will be a few smiles that day.

(source unknown)

Street Art Toast

Ahhh, just a bit of toast with marmelade to start the day....

(bron: stumbleupon.com)

Make Art = Climb Art

The Burning man Festival has been held in september this year again. A 'monstruous' big and very arty festival where everything seems possible. This pic I found in the records of previous years. Looks like a crossover of an eggplant and a pear to me, but climable nevertheless.

In the photo below (shot bij Maurice Licher; thnx mate!) Tim van der Linden masters the in- and outside 3D wonder in France. The people who recognise it know where to find it. For U other guys, keep searching :-P

Little girls do Boulder

Yep, last sunday I took my 3 year old daughter (Maru) to the Climbing Gym Haarlem (Netherlands that is, not Harlem-NY. Although it is situated alongside a river too ;-P). My friends Tim, Mirjam and Maurice were there too, so I thought: what the heck I even might boulder a bit and show Maru what fun it is. I new she liked the falling matrasses a lot so she would certainly be enjoying that.

But it turned out that she mostly wanted to climb those colourful 'thingies' on the wall. Although it shouldn't be suprising to me (kids do climb in everything) I was elated nevertheless. The time flew by, and even Wendy came over to have dinner there. At leaving the Gym she acclaimed "Ed, can we go here sometime again?". Ahhhhhh, the magic words came from herself. JOY !!

(p.s.: the pics are taken at our own bouldercorner in the back garden).

Powers of Ten - A film about a comparative look at live

This is a (old) video by Charles and Ray Eames about relative size and distance. Journey from a sub-atomic molecule to the far reaches of the universe and back again...
The film was popular as a example of scale during my physics classes at high school. Click picture to start the film.

Comic Strip Mutts in Metro Netherlands

WOW !! Mutts as a regular comic in the dutch version of the Metro newspaper. That's news which makes my day more colourful.

The comic revolves around Mooch (the cat) and Earl (the dog) who reflect on our (peoples) daily lives. It contains a sense of humour that is a mix of the brilliant simple but effective drawing style of Patrick McDonnell and the lingual pun's he let them make. Besides the cat and dog other characters (all animals) do have a regular appearance.

Check www.muttscomic.com for more info about the comic and the maker.

Get the most out of your period

Humour for the ladies.
(source: www.s1ngle.nl/idx_strips.html)

Bouldernacht 2008 Klimhal Haarlem

Don't forget! Zaterdag 1 november 2008 wachten er weer meer dan 100 nieuwe boulders om beklommen te worden op vette muziek van twee DJ's! Je kunt er naast het boulderen fijn eten van Kantina en er is een klimmersmarkt bij Fuerza Climbing met vele aanbiedingen. Haarlem is niet zo'n nachttreinstad dus je kunt in de hal blijven pitten (wel fff slaapzak meenemen) en er is ontbijt de volgende ochtend. Check http://www.bouldernacht.nl/ voor als je nog mee wilt doen, maar de inschrijving nadert zijn limiet.

Bouldering Art Block

Could we have this in the Netherlands, please?
(source:www.forestresearch.gov.uk)