Category Archives: Rock Climbing

Ma belle ma muse – First ascent

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On April 2nd I promised to give the full story of my first FA soon. Now, more than 3 months later, I only give you a short story of the 3-week rockclimbing trip I made in Springtime. I apologize for that and hope to become a more up-to-date climber in the future. 😉 So here it comes:

After the winter break and a few months of indoor training, I was looking forward to feeling rock again. Now the question was: where to go? Our French friend Seb Richard, suggested a project in Romeyer, a climbing spot in south-east France. It seemed like an exciting idea, so I decided to give it a chance. The first time I would try a never-climbed route…

It turned out to be a rather short, traversing, crimpy and skin-eating project which was not exactly my style, but… it felt possible. And after a process of working out the movements, memorizing all the holds and footholds, starting to do real attempts, making good progress, falling about 4 times at the last hard move just underneath the chain and deciding to do one more attempt before the day was over, I finally clipped the chain. Wow, my first First Ascent!

Pic by Seb Richard

Pic by Seb Richard

Thanks to Jean-Elie for giving me his bèta even though he was very close to succeeding himself. He topped it right after me. Congrats! 🙂
Seb Richard was the passionate photographer next to me while I was doing attempts. Thanks for the pictures and videos!
And of course I don’t want to forget my parents who so lovingly support (and belay!) me whenever I need it.

And the grade? I personally thought it was a hard 8c+, perhaps an 8c+/9a. Some climbers suggested 9a, but I’m still not convinced that it is truly 9a. I’m looking forward to more sends and opinions about this route!

After this, the trip wasn’t over yet so I moved to Pierrot Beach near Pont-en-Royans to try another project. I was able to do all the moves of this route, but had to leave it due to bad weather. Rain, fog, a cold north wind, … I had 2 options left: going north (meaning home) or going further south. I chose the last one and went to Orgon Canal where I climbed Bronx.

A few more details:
Ma belle ma muse (grade to be confirmed) – 9 attempts – about 6 climbing days
Bronx (8c+) – 3 attempts – 2 climbing days

And some nice posts about my trip to France: Crush Crux – Siked! (in Dutch) – 8a.nu

My first FA

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On March 31 2016, I managed to climb a project named ‘Ma belle ma muse’ in Romeyer, a French village in the Drôme department. It is a fairly short, but intense route: some hard mouvements in a roof, followed by a traverse on crimps to the left and a long section of exhausting moves without a rest.
Since it was a first ascent, the grade is still to be confirmed. I think it is a hard 8c+.

Ma Belle Ma Muse, Romeyer, France

Ma Belle Ma Muse, Romeyer, France

Thanks to Sébastien Richard for the photo and the movie, Quentin Chastagnier for the route, Jean-Elie for the bèta, my parents for the encouragements and the belaying and God for teaching me how to persevere.

Full story coming later.

the Ultimate Sacrifice…

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After the worldcup in Imst I was looking forward to a 2-week rock climbing holiday! Together with my parents I discovered Gorges du Loup, a beautiful place in the the south of France. The first days I was longing to climb, but I was still tired and even a bit ill. So after some more restdays I could finally begin!

The first route I did was Hot Chili X, a nice 8c, which I knew was possible for girls. I really wanted to try the 9a which Muriel had done, Punt X. With the help of the locals I tried working it out. The second time I tried it, I was able to do all the moves, exept one. I was surprised and happy that it went that well. But the next day I woke up with painful fingers which hurted when opening a quickdraw. I think the guilty hold was a 2 finger pocked named ‘la fourchette’ (French for ‘the fork’) by the locals which tells quite precisely how it feels. 😉 I decided not to try the 9a anymore, in order not to get injured, and I took another restday.

In the following days I was able to sent ‘Last Soul Sacrifice’, an 8c which begins with an 8b. In my first attempt I fell very high. I had past the hardest sections and I had been so close. That afternoon, after the sun had gone, I did another attempt. This time I felt so much worse than the first time, but I knew exactly what to do and I did not want to give up. It was so hot and I was thirsty while climbing, because the sun had been warming up the rock. I had to fight really hard, but then I finally reached the chain! 🙂

The locals supported me to try Ultimate Sacrifice as well. This one begins with a very short bouldery 8b and then joins the 8c. I worked it out a few times and then I did an attempt. I managed to climb the start and arrived already quite exhausted in the route I knew. But because of what I had experienced the day I had done the 8c, I knew that even when I was tired I was able to do the moves. This helped me a lot and gave me the confidence to keep on going. It was the same kind of fight, but I knew I could make it and I did! My first 8c+, so great!

For me this is a very special name. It reminds me of the one who gave Himself as the Ultimate Sacrifice for me: Jesus.

A holiday is always too short and I really began loving the place, but we had to return home.
On the last morning and in the very last hours I climbed an 8c named ‘Qoussai, les Maux de la Fin’. I had worked it out a few times before and I wanted to give everything, because I knew that it was possible. I almost felt like a competition! I was so happy and relieved that it worked out well. 🙂

Thanks to my parents for the hours of patiently belaying and to the other climbers who gave me such useful beta! 🙂

Chamonix and Briançon

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I have many reasons for being grateful for my results in the last worldcups. This season I hoped to do as well as last year, but this is much more than I expected!
Briançon will stay in my memory for a long time. It was so special. Heavy rain, a shower of hail while warming up, flashes of lightning and no more light in isolation. That’s why the finals had to be cancelled. All of a sudden I realised how small we as humans are.

It was so nice to go to the worldcups with my friend Celine, who climbed her first worldcups and first semifinal. We had a great time training, swimming and relaxing in between the competitions.

My final route in Chamonix (1 hour 32 min 28 sec).
My semifinal route in Briançon (2 hours 30 min 30 sec).

 

Finally… rocks again!

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I have had great Easter holidays in one of my favourite countries: Spain! Splendid weather, very nice people and lots of beautiful rock. I really enjoyed the climbing and I was able to sent 2 8c’s. Full story coming soon! 🙂

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Worldcup Valence

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My parents and I travelled to France 2 days before the competition. We had a nice relaxing day at the rocks where my parents climbed and I studied and enjoyed the sunny weather.

The qualifications went very well. I did not feel totally warmed up in the 1st route, but I was happy that I fell quite high up. The 2nd route was very hard at the end. Although I felt really pumped, I was able to top out!

In the semifinals I really had to fight, but I was happy that I had been able to give everything. Then the speaker said that I would be in the finals!

I was so happy to be in the finals and to read the route together with the strongest female climbers! The beginning of the route was terrible, but it was amazing to climb with so many people cheering me on. The moves were really hard and I fell totally exhausted, but very happy. I loved watching the other climbers like Jain Kim who climbed the route so beautifully! 🙂

It was an unbelievable competition and I am very thankfull for this experience!

Mathilde became 17th and Loïc 19th.

Photo: H. Wilhelm 

Worldcup Puurs (20-21/9/13)

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It really was an amazing weekend… It was difficult to believe that a dream had come true.

From worst to best

I climbed a good 1st qualifier, but in the 2nd one I hesitated a lot, put my foot on the wrong place and slipped. Right in the beginning. So I climbed my worst competition route ever, in front of my home public. Very disappointing. I thought that my competition was over but, thank God, due to my good 1st route, I still was in the semifinal!

At home we luckily watched the movie again and I saw that I was not that stupid as I had thought. My foot had really stood on the wrong place, so it was obvious that I had hesitated that much. I already felt a little better…

In the semifinal I felt very good and I did not have a lot of stress. There were really hard parts in the route, but I did not want to give up and lots of people were cheering me on. I fell totally tired and I was very happy that I had been able to  climb well.

Seminfinal route (Photo: www.climb2climb.be)

There still were lots of strong climbers to come, but to my suprise I stayed on the 1st place for a long time. As time passed by I started realising that maybe there was a small chance of being in the final. To my surprise I just made it to the finals with an 8th place.

This was amazing. Lots of people came to congratulate me. I went to our camper on the parking lot and tried to sleep a little bit until our coach, Tijl, told me it was time to go to isolation.

Strange, as happy as I was, looking out of the window in the boulder area I could see the kids playing and having fun. I heard the dyno contest going on and I remembered the times when I was still too young to participate at the Worldcup that I had had a lot of fun. Somehow I felt like a bird in a cage but then I braved myself and started warming up.

Then the presentation, great. It was so amazing to stand next to all the top climbers  and it was all a bit strange. I did the observation with Hélène and later with Maggi. They are such nice girls and I really liked reading the route with them.

Then it was my turn to climb and I just enjoyed everything. It was the first time I really liked the climbing in a competition and I could climb without being too nervous. I decided not to take risks in the beginning. I could hear the crowd shouting at the top of their voices and it was amazing to climb with so many lovely people cheering me on. Somehow Helène and Maggi fell lower than me and I ended up 6th.

During the final route (Photo: www.climb2climb.be)

Jain Kim won the competition, Mina Marcovic was 2nd and Momoka Oda 3rd. In the men’s competition Jakob Schubert took the gold medal, followed by Sachi Amma and Sean McColl.

Thanks to all the people from the club who supported me and cheered me on!

I even got a picture from friends in Rodellar to encourage me before the competition. 🙂