City Zoo - Man made MONKey business

A nice example of contemporary cities which are no longer just accidental homes for animals that have been displaced from their natural habitat. They can now be seen as hotbeds of evolutionary change, shaping the adaptations of their resident fauna.
As we begin to view our cities as worthwhile ecosystems this project investigates the possibilities of a symbiotic relationship between two different systems of organization- technology and nature.
And did I see that correctly? Are climbers seen as a breed of animal who should, by means of their sport, be integrated in the urban jungle? I see possibilities here. Loads of them. So where are all those investors who are going to realize these ideas !

(source: tomorrowsthoughtstoday.com)

Wake Up Call - Comic

After having celbrated the dutch folklore 'Sinterklaas' three times at a row and a 10 mile run on sunday I feel a little knackered. Although I did the 10 mile in a (for me) reasonable 1hr 10min 49sec, I woke up a little like Calvin in the comic above. Waking up in your own dream twice, urgh....

Climbing Cartoon - Deepzly Motivated (Route Grading)

(Cartoonist: Mike Meijnhard - Netherlands)

Nieuw klimblad BLOK

Kort en krachtig. Er is nieuws aan het klimbladenfront in Nederland. Met BLOK willen Bart van Raaij en Arnold Pippel, met steun van de NKBV, een blad vormen over sportklimmer en boulderen. Het eerste nummer (84 pagina's !!) zal een serie dubbelportretten bevatten en verder hopelijk veel foto's, nieuws, betá en wellicht kan Mike Meijnhard gestrikt worden om zijn klim-X weer leven in te blazen !

Voor info over een introductie-aanbieding kijk op de site van BLOK.

(bron: climbing.nl em bladoverklimmen.nl)

The Story of Stuff

If you have seen or heard about the Cradle-2-Cradle concept the Story of Stuff will be very recognisable. I got the link from a friend of mine friend in New Zealand (thanx Niels !) and although most of the subjects debated weren't new for me, many things gave me a deja-vu-feeling. What happens before you buy a product? How many energy (literately and figuratively) has been put in it? and even more important: what happens with it after it turns useless?

Many things do have a similarity with the C2C-way of thinking but in this case is emphasises more on the dark side of the consumers. A BIG difference with C2C who actually wants us to consume more, because in their eyes waste equals food.

The Story of Stuff gives you a little insight in the madness of consuming and the effects it has on a global scale .

Sinterklaas Humor

Van de hand van de fotostripmaker Ype Driessen twee melige fotostrips over activiteiten rond S'niklaas. Klik de de foto's voor een directe link naar de twee strips.

Andreas Bindhammer repeats Big Hammer 9A

The brother of Christian Bindhammer now has a redpoint ascent of the until now unrepeated hard-crux route in the Pinswang, Austria. After that he also repeated the 9A/9A+ rated PunktX in Gorges du Loup, which was repeated after that by the route-consumer Adam Ondra.
Check this link for a video of Andreas climbing Hotel Supramonte.
(source: planetmountain.com & christian-bindhammer.de)

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)