New movie from BigUp Productions - Progression

At the BigUp Productions site I read they are shooting for a new film named Progression. The footage from the 2nd ascend of Luminance by Kevin Jorgesons will be a part of it. Can't wait to see it ! See for more info this link.

Rjukan Ice Climbing February 2009 - part 2

This day we decided to do a multipitch route in the Mael amphitheatre. Several WI3 and 4 routes seemed in good condition so we wanted an early start. The approach turned out to be a 'little' longer than the topo stated but we arrived warmed up anyway. This said we were only at the end of the road and we had to 'dive' into the forest to get to an abseilpoint from which we would descend into the amphitheatre. The abseil turned out to be unneccesary and we arrived at the bottom after an 20 minutes of bushwhacking or so. Here it became clear that we better should have abseiled anyway because now we were way to low and had to tramp a long way up to the start of the actual routes. All in all we arrived there two hours after we had left the car. So far our early start...

(Hans ascending to the start of the route)

But here the scenery was truly awsome as several icefalls and one spectacular free hanging pilar in particular surrounded us. Four pitches in the grade of WI3 awaited us but the ice conditions made it a bit more serious undertaking than itnormally would have. Straight forward climbing turned out in sustained and good ice it probably was when the writers of the topo visited the area. Now loads of snow and thin and/or incoherent ice were our company on the way up.

(Me ascending the last part in the cirque with the Isroser being the left cascade...

(..and taking the first pitch)

(Hans arriving at the end of the final pitch)

A little battered we arrived at the top but still with enough daylight to orientate our way arount the amphitheatre. The only thing was that we had to plough our way through sometimes waistdeep snow. At the end our navigating skills turned out to be sufficient to get us to the road by which time it was completely dark. With our headtorches on we continued down where upon arriving at the car we considered it as a 'great day in the outdoors'.

Rjukan Ice Climbing february 2009 - part 1

This winter we decided to go ice climbing somewhere with a 100% chance of ice. OK, ok a 100% would be a little too high but Norway it became nevertheless. Tim suggested Rjukan, where he had climbed a while ago. A cheap flight with Ryan Air would take us cheap and fast to the land of the long, long winter.

Specially after our disastrous experiences in Scotland and Austria we decided a climbing area a bit more northern and easterly would be best. And to give us the best of luck and even better circumstances my daughter gave me her mouse as a mascotte (see pic above).

Our cabin at the Rjukan Camping og Caravanpark

Tim in Hjemreisen (Lower Gorge - WI 4)

Tim in Svingfoss (Upper Gorge - WI 4)

...and Hans also.

Me in Hjemreisen.

Hans perfoming the famous Low-hanging figure of Four....

To be continued...

New Ice Climbing Route (Mello's Moon) Valle di Mello

On 16/01/2009 Fabio Salini and Manuel Panizza carried out the first ascent of Mello's Moon, a rare ice formation in Val di Mello, Val Masino Italy.

Woah, this thing seems way more difficult than 5+. Actually it looks downright scary. On the picture above I can see bits of rock protruding through the ice, indicating it's pretty thin and fragile... Chapeau for the climbers !

Mello’s Moon is one of those evanescent icefalls which you need to wait for and which, when they finally form, is never in condition to enable you to remain calm. You need to watch it carefully and choose just the right moment for the climb. This is exactly what Fabio Salini and Manuel Panizza did, placing 5 bolts to climb this 180m beautiful and frightful "crust" of ice which goes at III-5+. For a detailed recount of the climb see link.

(source: planetmountain.com, pics by: Fabio Salini)

Paschnampook nu ook op Bladoverklimmen.nl

Op de site van Bladoverklimmen.nl staat een zeer mooie lijst van bloggers die over klimmen en aanverwante zaken schrijven. Mijn mail met een aantal nog niet opgenomen sites werd tevens beloond met het opnemen van Paschnampook in diezelfde rotsklimblog lijst. I'm honoured !!

Frank Zappa lookalike Toni Lamiche

Searching for Frank Zappa, being one of my favourite guitarplayers/concertmasters/conceptual thinkers/song writers, I stumbled upon Toni Lamiche who, intensionally or not, transformed himself in a Frank Zappa adept.

Looks great, but does he has an idea?

Nice Ice in Italy (Val Malenco)

All pics are from the previous winter (feb.2008). This time we go to the Scandanavian ice climbing mecca Rjukan. Støtt førsteklasses is på førråd.

(All pics by Paschnampook)

Climbing Holds Shape Contest - MONK (Netherlands)

Even in the climbing scene the fever of contests has stiken. The contests on TV alike (Dou You wanna be a popstar, Idols, Project Catwalk, etc.) now the climbers have their own skill-showing-ability-scene.
In MONK, the one-and-only (but certainly biggest) boulder facility in the The Netherlands, you can show your climbing holds creating skill. The one who makes the best climbing-bit wins, amonst otherer things, the production of his own grips, which will be used in MONK !! Niiiice.
AXIS will be there to assist the future creative hold designers with their knowledge. Be there or be square, or preferably round like the holds...
(source: monkbouldergym.nl)

Wrong Perspective

It's just how you see it. Perspective can be seen 'from another point of view' just from which side you look at things. Bill Waterson made a very funny comic about it, perhaps inspired by how architecture sometimes is designed.

Rock Climbing for Kids

Last sunday I went to the climbing gym with my nearly 4 year old daughter. We were going to try a climbing harnass this time to see if how she would cope with that. Arriving at the 'klimmuur Haarlem' it was first of all time to bounce up and down the crashpads and run around the place. Before she only climbed bouldering style with me as a spotter. But now I was curious if she would have fun climbing a bit more higher. Once securely hoised in her harness she scrambled up half way and immediately wanted another route with other colours.

Being there with friends and their kids, they climbed (and had fun running around) for two hours!! I turned out to be big fun. The only downside was the harnass she climbed with. The leg loops were not adjustable and quite inconveniently crept into her behind.

A little search on the internet learned there are plenty harnasses with adjustable leg loops. So perhaps in due time we have to buy one. Let's see if they have climbing shoes in size 9....

Sheep Art Telephone Part(s)

In these times of Iphones and other digital gadgets this sheep art is a fine memory of the old days. If sheep are the perfect subject for phone-humour remains to be seen...

Boulderblok Rotterdam en Den Haag - Outdoor Boulder Structures Netherlands

That's the way!! Finally the Lowlands will have their own outdoor boulder rocks. Bart van Raaij, famous in the Netherlands for his love of climbing combined with his skills in designing, has made a preliminary design (above) for a serious bouldering construction in Rotterdam. Right now decisions have to be made about which constructor has the guts to take the challenge of building the rock.

Den Haag has a head start over Rotterdam because the construction has already begun. It's a combination with a skatepark (pic below) which probably made it easier to realize anyway.

Rotterdam has choosen a freestanding boulder rock with 20 logical lines and loads of possible variations to climb. This project is not yet in the realisation phase but has a good chance of becoming real. Keep U posted or check http://www.bladoverklimmen.nl/

bron: bladoverklimmen.nl

competition mountain climbers reaches new level

Yuk, yuk a fine cartoon with some indepth illusion to the mountaineering society

Copy Boulder block Fontainebleau Germany

Look at this. So many boulderstructures are being made all over Europe. In Germany, Gilching, they made a copy of a boulder block from Fontainebleau. Freestanding in the open air the block has a dimension of 4m high, 9m wide and provides 139 m2 of boulder fun. The company Entre-Prises even build in a cave of 45 degrees. OY! when is this going to happen in the Lowland !! Not that the weather is better in Germany or what ?!

source: hallen.climbing.de

Ice skating v.s. Ice Climbing

This is it !! The weather gods have made this a memorable winter for the Dutch Ice skating fanatics. The pic above wat taken during my first tour at the Naarder Meer (the Netherlands). Four days of ice skating on other lakes (Oostvaardersplassen, Nieuwkoopse plassen, Ankeveen)
have made me a very, VERY happy man.

BUT !! the winter ain't over yet. Another adventure awaits us in Norway. In the Rjukon area many ice waterfalls long to be climbed by us. A convenient flight from Düsseldorf to Oslo replaces the 16 hour drive that we normaly would have to endure (Thnx Timmie !!).
And, considering the very good performance from the video camera in de Dutch freezing conditions, this time I am going to make some footage from the action. Tim "figuring-of-fouring", Hans "heelspurring" and me: dangling on some Blackie's to make the most memorable shot and get to the core of the action.

Anyway, let's first get our gear and buts to Europe's mecca for ice climbers.
(R)jukon Ho ! here we come !!

Uitverkoop in MONK

Januari is gewoontegetrouw de maand van de uitverkoop, sale, rebajas of soldes. Op 11 januari bieden in MONK de merken Nihil, Arc’teryx, Moon, Evolv en AXIS een groot aantal spullen met stevige korting te koop aan. En oh ja, alle artikelen (behalve die uit de MONK-shop) kunnen alleen cash afgerekend worden.
Geen zin om te shoppen; ga dan fijn boulderen. Want daar is MONK ten slotte voor !!

(bron: monkbouldergym.nl)

More Dutch Ice Skating - Schaatsen Oostvaardersplassen

Gisteren ben ik wezen schaatsen op de noordelijke Oostvaardersplassen. Iedereen was er bezig met een smile op z'n gezicht gebeiteld. Wat een fijne schaatsplek. Normaal nooit toegankelijk als er geen ijs ligt krijg je nu een uniek kijkje op een gaaf natuurgebied.
De opstapplek op de knardijk was redelijk bepleisterd met auto's maar het rondje was lang genoeg (ca.12 km) om het op het ijs niet druk te laten zijn. Her en der nog een klein zwak plekje maar voor de rest mooi dik en strak ijs. Af en toe het pwoing-geluid van het zich zettende ijs van de lange scheuren die dwars over het meer lopen. Maar het is allemaal sterk genoeg.
Ondanks de berichten dat je niet op de grote plas mag schaatsen wagen we het er toch op om via het riet een doorgang te vinden. Zie het filmpje van het resultaat.

Totaal een kleine 70 km geschaatst die dag en aan het einde is het goed rusten bij een van de vogelobservatiehutten. De zon laag aan de hemel en een tevreden gevoel met de wetenschap dat het zeker nog een dag of 5 schaatsbaar weer blijft. Toertochten 'here we come' !

Dutch Winterfun - Schaatsen Naarder Meer 2009

Skating on natural ice for the first time since 1997. It was awesome !! Ice as black as ink and as hard as concrete. And there is more to come. Tonight -15C and tomorrow night -12C. Haw, haw that means more and thicker ice and longer skating tours.

The naarder lake is well known for freezing up fast. It is shallow and best of all it's a natural reserve. No pollution with warm- or waste water and certainly no fertilisers. Perfect conditions for the forming of ice.

It was awesome and the smile on my face says it all.

Fresh Start for 2009

Yahoo !! Winter and ice skating at last. There has been no decent ice in the Netherlands for the last decade. But now in several places the skate fevered dutch can quench their thirst of skating on natural ice.

No official skating tours are being organised but that doesn't bother anyone. Take your own thermosf with tea and off you go !! Tomorrow they have to do without me at work, that's for sure.

New Years Resolution (high !)

Some new years resolution: be inspired by as many climbers as possible. To start with Chris Sharma. And to share that feeling, have a look at his latest project: Golpe de Estado. A beauty as we are used from him.
Al the best wishes for a sporty 2009 !! Greetz, Edwin