Mud & rain

Last weekend was the 5th edition of De Kuitenbijter (Calf Biter), a yearly recurring event organized by De Bergpallieters, providing a unique combination of all weather hiking, team spirit and orientation.

This years edition was quite... muddy and a bit wet, but as always the weather could not stop us. The slippery mud may have slowed us down a bit though, or at least made us feel our calfs a little more than usual.

Most participants agreed that the orientation part was not a big challenge this year, and prefer more technical (orientation) difficulties above more distance..

I believe I am the only one having completed the trial all five times, making it a bit of a habit to me now, more than a challenge. To avoid the routine of it in the future, I decided not to participate anymore next year, but volunteered for the organisation committee instead. Let's see how we can push the needed orientation skills to a higher level!

Late fall & early winter in Switzerland, part 1

I'm sorry to see this blog seems to fall asleep, we're back from a week of hiking and (little) climbing in Switzerland for two weeks and still no tale or picture about it!

So...
Something like 10 years ago, it was kind of a tradition among some parts of the Belgian Alpine Club to go to Grindelwald somewhere in early november, to do some hiking and/or climbing. I believe it's mainly weather conditions that time of the year that made this habbit fade away: too much fresh snow already, or otherwise bad weather, made the "real" climbing not a good idea, and most people don't like a seven hours drive to do "some walking".

But we did have a lot of fun those days, and it might be us getting older, but Geert and I got the idea of returning to Grindelwald, to have some kind of a reunion with the friends who also where there before, and remember the old days. That was the original plan.
But as it turned out, we were the only ones supporting this idea. Modern times with overfilled agenda's, lack of holidays and changed interests played their role... and at the end even Geert was prevented to participate due to a new job!

Lucky for me, C1sc0, who wasn't there in the old days, joined in, and with some preparation for Canada in mind, the two of us spent an intense week of mainly hiking and some climbing in the Berner Oberland.

Story to be continued..