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.

Worldcup Puurs

This weekend the IFSC sports climbing competition circus landed in Belgium, more precisely in my neighborhood, Puurs. Given this and the weather not really inviting for an outdoor climbing or hiking trip, this was a nice alternative.

I have written before about the place the event was hold, where I also noticed my former role as president of one the now joining climbing federations in Flanders. I guess it is this past that gave me a VIP badge, which was not only interesting for access to food, drinks and a seat with a nice view, but mostly for being able to talk to "other climbing VIP's" while watching the competition.

The climbing was breathtaking to watch, especially the lead (or difficulty) climbing. I may be quite biassed by being a climber myself, but in my opinion sports climbing is one of the more spectacular and aesthetical sports to watch, and in that point of view very underestimated.
From a spectator's point of view, I think you could compare lead climbing most to figure-skating or gymnastics, although it is easier to follow and more suspense because the one reaching the highest hold wins, instead of a jury giving points.

But if you're more into quick action, go watch the speedclimbing! While it still isn't very popular and widespread in western Europe -it's almost completely dominated by Russia- the exploding power for sure is comparable to athletic's 100m sprint, and because of the daring -jeté- jumps, at least as spectacular.

Of course none of them doesn't beat iceclimbing & drytooling though... but I guess that's just my opinion.

(and it will take more than a while before that circus ever comes to Belgium...)

Climbing in Teutonia

After moving to Germany I was initially a little disappointed with the climbing potential around Bielefeld. It's kinda flat here. Nice forests but very little rock potential. Until last week I had a quick look at the Halleluja Steinbruch. It' a damp, wet, low old quarry but at least there is some real sandstone rock to climb. From the pics it seems there is even some 'winter' climbing. There's always the indoor climbing place Speicher which looks nice albeit a little claustrophobic.