SUMMIT '08
Last weekend, the Flemish Klim- & Bergsportfederatie (Climbing & Mountaineering Federation) held its first big annual fair, called SUMMIT'08 to promote its activities in the field of mountain sports (in dutch: stagebeurs)
All trainings, educations and expeditions were introduced to the audience, people were able to subscribe also, clubs presented themselves and workshops were given.
Next to that, there was also an active part, with a mountainbike tour, an adventure circuit and at least 3 different indoor climbing walls! There was a boulder wall, a simulation of artificial climbing, and.... an iceclimbing/drytool wall.
I was asked to cooperate for that last one, so together with partners in climb Gerrit and Geert, and a bunch of workers from BVLB, we built a slightly overhanging 6.5 meter high wooden wall from scratch on saturday, created 2 routes on it with wooden "holds" saturday night, and belayed and let people try climbing with axes on sunday. Those who brought their boots or who were lucky enough to fit in one of the few pairs of boots we had with us, could also try climbing with crampons.
Plenty of people passed by to try, and of course we hadn't made the two little routes too difficult (but there was a nasty "missing" foothold in one of them - grin) so everybody with a little bit of climbing experience was able to top and ring the cow bell I had found on my parents attic.
Next to that there was of course the opportunity of seeing back a lot of people, meeting new people, and "networking" in common. I got a nice tip of where to sleep in Canada, and guess what, C1sc0 had booked a couple of nights in that very spot the day before! Speaking of coincidence...
Another part of the fair was an exhibition about the history of Belgian climbing & mountaineering. Due to the fact I was "on duty" I didn't have time to visit this exhibition extensively, but I briefly walked through. Most of it I had already seen a couple of years ago on another fair.
But it was very interesting indeed! Those of you who know a little about Belgian history, or have been climbing in the Alps, might have heard of Ernest Solvay, a Belgian industrial who sponsored the Solvay bivouak on Matterhorn, or our fromer king Albert I (grandfather of Albert II) who gave his name to the Refuge Albert Premier in France, and died in a climbing accident in Marche-les-Dames, near Namur in Belgium. Also his son king Leopold III was a good climber, well known in the Dolomites.
Don't be afraid, I'm not going to write down Belgian climbing history(link in Dutch) here! But holding the Kings Ice Axe was a strange experience indeed (it was behind glass at the exhibition, but yeah... the day before... :-) ) and to my pleasant surprise, one of my photographs -about iceclimbing- was used at the exhibition too.
If anyone's interested, I can do a next post about how we set up our iceclimbing wall, with some more pictures.
All trainings, educations and expeditions were introduced to the audience, people were able to subscribe also, clubs presented themselves and workshops were given.
Next to that, there was also an active part, with a mountainbike tour, an adventure circuit and at least 3 different indoor climbing walls! There was a boulder wall, a simulation of artificial climbing, and.... an iceclimbing/drytool wall.
I was asked to cooperate for that last one, so together with partners in climb Gerrit and Geert, and a bunch of workers from BVLB, we built a slightly overhanging 6.5 meter high wooden wall from scratch on saturday, created 2 routes on it with wooden "holds" saturday night, and belayed and let people try climbing with axes on sunday. Those who brought their boots or who were lucky enough to fit in one of the few pairs of boots we had with us, could also try climbing with crampons.
Plenty of people passed by to try, and of course we hadn't made the two little routes too difficult (but there was a nasty "missing" foothold in one of them - grin) so everybody with a little bit of climbing experience was able to top and ring the cow bell I had found on my parents attic.
Next to that there was of course the opportunity of seeing back a lot of people, meeting new people, and "networking" in common. I got a nice tip of where to sleep in Canada, and guess what, C1sc0 had booked a couple of nights in that very spot the day before! Speaking of coincidence...
Another part of the fair was an exhibition about the history of Belgian climbing & mountaineering. Due to the fact I was "on duty" I didn't have time to visit this exhibition extensively, but I briefly walked through. Most of it I had already seen a couple of years ago on another fair.
But it was very interesting indeed! Those of you who know a little about Belgian history, or have been climbing in the Alps, might have heard of Ernest Solvay, a Belgian industrial who sponsored the Solvay bivouak on Matterhorn, or our fromer king Albert I (grandfather of Albert II) who gave his name to the Refuge Albert Premier in France, and died in a climbing accident in Marche-les-Dames, near Namur in Belgium. Also his son king Leopold III was a good climber, well known in the Dolomites.
Don't be afraid, I'm not going to write down Belgian climbing history(link in Dutch) here! But holding the Kings Ice Axe was a strange experience indeed (it was behind glass at the exhibition, but yeah... the day before... :-) ) and to my pleasant surprise, one of my photographs -about iceclimbing- was used at the exhibition too.
If anyone's interested, I can do a next post about how we set up our iceclimbing wall, with some more pictures.
posted by Nonkel V at
9:47 AM
