2 Video Interviews

Posted on 15 June 2017 by Anak

With Solid Rock Climbers for Christ – January 2017:

With Sport 40 – June 2017 – In my mother tongue Flemish (Dutch):

https://vimeo.com/221383788

A short rock climbing trip

Posted on 11 May 2017 by Anak

Somewhere in the middle of my preparation for the upcoming season, I took a little break from training and headed to France for a few days of rock climbing.

I had hoped to get a lot of sun on my face while being in the south of France, but instead I had to battle a lot of cold and windy days, wet holds and even a heavy thunderstorm right when I was climbing. Most of the time my down jacket was one of my best friends. 😉

Amazed by this rainbow which came after the storm

Despite the difficult conditions, I was able to do some hard climbs and I could return home with a thankful heart.
I didn’t do any onsight climbing during the trip. Every time I tried a route, I worked it out first and then did an attempt.
In Saint Léger du Ventoux:

Rêve de poutre 8c – 1st attempt
Le Nabab 8b+ – 1st attempt
Idéal chimérique 8c/+ – 1st attempt (probably first female ascent)
Le concept 8b+ – 2nd attempt

In Les Auberts:

L’émêché 8c – 1st attempt (1st female ascent; new route opened by Guillaume Lebret)

Check out this nice article on Grimper.com (in French) by Seb Richard. Thanks Seb for the pictures!

L’émêché 8c in Les Aubert, Drôme region

Climbing Le Concept in Saint Léger du Ventoux

Belgian Championship 2017

Posted on 25 April 2017 by Anak

On April 23th I won the Belgian Championship in my home gym Klimax in Puurs. Celine Cuypers took the silver medal. The bronze went to Laure-Anne Stevens. Congrats!
The new Belgian Champion on the men’s side is Simon Lorenzi. Loïc Timmermans and Nicolas Collin were 2nd and 3rd.
There were amazing performances by the paraclimbers as well, with for example Pavitra Vandenhoven and Elodie Orbaen being strong as always!

Nice article and pictures on the Climb2Climb website (in French).

This is the upside down version of a poster made by Peter Cuypers (Celine’s dad) in 2011. Same girls, just a little older now. 🙂

One week in the USA…

Posted on 20 January 2017 by Anak

… to meet up with Solid Rock Climbers for Christ.

After the training camp in Canada, my North American journey was followed by a trip to the States.

I stayed in Bend, Oregon, where I did a presentation and a clinic at the Bend Rock Gym and met a lot of great people.
Thank you Solid Rock for the support and the prayers, it means a lot to me.

With Calvin and Jaxon Landrus at Smith Rock

Climbing at Smith Rock with Calvin Landrus

A few things I’ll remember about the amazing week I’ve had:

A lot of sweet people.
Encouraging talks: about everyday things and, more importantly, about our faith in Jesus.
Climbing at the Bend Rock Gym and meeting its owner Jim Stone.
An article in the local newspaper about my visit, so nice!
Lots of snow: everyone was telling me how exceptional it was, but I loved it.
Going to Smith Rock and doing some climbing there, in the snow! What a beautiful place.
Being introduced to the American culture. I hope I’ll go back one day. 🙂

Thanks to Calvin Landrus, director of Solid Rock Climbers for Christ, and to Jim Stone for inviting me.

To find out more about Solid Rock Climbers for Christ, go to www.srcfc.org.
And if you happen to be in Bend, go climb at the Bend Rock Gym!

Smith Rock from above while flying back home.

1 week in Canada…

Posted on 15 January 2017 by Anak

… for the 2017 IFSC world climbing camp in Victoria.

My journey started on the 1st of January with a nerve-racking experience. My parents had dropped my off at the national airport, but as I wanted to check in, I was told I didn’t have the travel authorization for Canada and wasn’t allowed to leave the country (it had only recently become mandatory). “So here my trip ends”, I thought. But to make a long story short: thanks to some computers downstairs, a kind man and a quick response from the Canadians, I was able to check in and leave Belgium after all.

The rest of my first-time-flying-on-my-own experience was marked by 3 delayed flights and a very upset stomach. At the end of the long flight I ate a sort of warm pizza-like sandwich which turned out to be a poisoned gift. In Calgary airport I started feeling bad and during the next flight I had to grab the sickness bag several times (something I’d never experienced before). Buh. I suppose it was a food poisoning.
Thankfully I was allowed a rest day the next day. And I was being looked after by Kimanda, the climbing camp’s organizer, who bought me some wholesome food. Once I was able to eat again, this definitely made me feel better. 🙂

The IFSC training camp itself
I had a great time working together with other world cup athletes and I got to do a lot of things I don’t do very often:
give a presentation about my competition routine, coach the teenagers in my group during mock competitions, set a route and even demonstrate one.

It was great hanging out and working together with other talented climbers, outside of a competition.
I hope the camp’s participants went home having learned a lot and being motivated to keep going and never give up in order to reach their goals!