My climbing trip in Springtime 2016 ended with the send of Bronx in Orgon Canal.
It was not the first time I visited this crag in the south of France. 19 years before I had already discovered the place…
… and enjoyed myself while playing in the dust…
… while my parents showed me how to climb.
Some years later my activity became a little different. 馃槈
A video about my first ascent of Ma belle ma muse (in Romeyer) and Bronx (in Orgon) made by Seb Richard:
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. 馃槈 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:聽where to go? Our French friend Seb Richard, suggested a project in Romeyer, a climbing spot聽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聽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
Thanks to Jean-Elie for giving me his b猫ta even though he was very close to succeeding himself. He topped it right after me. Congrats! 馃檪
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聽few more details:
Ma belle ma muse (grade to be confirmed)聽– 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
On March 16 I won the Belgian Lead Climbing Championship in Louvain-la-Neuve. Congrats to Celine and Laura for taking silver and bronze and to Marie and Charl猫ne from youth B who became 3rd and 4th even though they were still too young to officially participate.
Thanks to the organizers for making it a nice and well-organized competition.
On March 31 2016, I managed to climb a project named ‘Ma belle ma muse’ in Romeyer, a French village in the Dr么me 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
Thanks to S茅bastien Richard for the photo and the movie, Quentin Chastagnier for the route, Jean-Elie for the b猫ta, my parents for the encouragements and the belaying and God for teaching me how to persevere.
Full story coming later.
The season is over! This competition in Slovenia marked the end of the international Lead season.
Unfortunately, it ended with a dissapointment for me.
On Saturday 14 November I topped my first qualification route. In the second one聽my heel slipped off a hold without friction. I was on a provisional 11th spot, enough for the semifinal later that evening.
After a little break in our appartment, my mother and I returned to the isolation zone for the next round. I knew I had put way too much pressure on myself during the qualifications, so before the start of the semifinal I decided to stop being fearful. I wanted to trust instead.
The聽first move of the women’s semifinal route scared many of us; it was a little jump. It couldn’t be extremely difficult, but surely it was risky enough to make you fall. This happened to Tjasa Kalan from Slovenia. I still don’t know the reason why routesetters set such traps…
I was relieved when I stuck this first move and while climbing I felt that the rest of the route was quite weird too. But since I had decided not to give up I tried to keep going even though the moves were strange.聽I finally ended up on a provisional 3rd place. I felt tired after such a long day, but very thankful for a good climb.
The next evening all finalists met again in the isolation for the last worldcup final聽of the year.
During my climb I had some difficulty with one of the first quickdraws. I finally managed to clip it from a higher position. Since this had cost me some power, I tried to recover in the middle of the route. When I reached the end of the overhang I wasn’t too tired and I wanted to climb on to the last vertical part of the wall.
I reached for a big yellow hold and realized that it was worse than I had expected. I replaced my feet and made a toehook with my right foot. Then I went for the next hold… and fell.
Maybe the toehook had prevented me from grabbing the hold high enough. I wasn’t sure. But anyway, it was a dissapointing way to end the season.
Thankfully, I was able to have peace with the situation despite the grief I felt.
Kranj 2015 (Flickr IFSC)
There have been very painful moments this season. I’ve had to cry several times, thinking of the weeks and months of preparation and of ‘what could have been possible’. But I know these kinds of moments shape a person’s character. I believe nothing in my life happens by chance.
As a human, I cannot look further than the present. But the Almighty God can. Only He knows what the future will bring. When I loose control, He is always in control. That is why I can trust Him. Even in the hard times. Even in the questions.
I’d like to thank my parents, friends, members of the club in Puurs and others who supported me throughout the season. And of course I want to thank my Savior, Jesus Christ.
On 18 and 19 October the 6th World Cup of the year took place in Wujiang (near Shanghai).
City trip to China, just for the weekend. 馃槈
Qualifications went well with a double TOP. I was tied with Jain and Jessica.
In the semifinal my left heelhook slipped just before the roof. Luckily I still made it into the final with a provisional 7th place.
The final went well until a good rest at hold 32. Then a powerful move from 33 to 34. But once I had 34 with my right hand I realised I should have had it with my left hand, even though we had all decided to go with right during the observation.
Making an attempt to reach 35 would certainly mean a fall, but I was still fresh enough to go on. While I was searching and resting in the meantime, I thought about changing hands on 34 but that seemed not the way it was meant. So I decided to return to hold 32. Unfortunately my foot slipped off and I fell.
Katharina had fallen on 33+ so I found myself sitting in the winners seat (or in the ‘winner of the seat’ as the Chinese sign said ;)). To my surprise Magdalena also fell at 33+, so did Mina, Yuka, H茅l猫ne and Jessica. The last climber, Jain, made the move to 34, changed hands and climbed on to fall on 40+. Congrats Jain!
Two years after my first worldcup final, there was a worldcup held in Puurs again. That is the climbing gym where I always train. For the people from our club it meant a lot of hard work, meetings and e-mails. But the result was a great comp with an outdoor festival, great food and fun things to do. And on top of that, we received splendid weather!
But for me, things did not turn out as I had hoped:
Friday, the day before the competition, I start feeling sick.
Sick. Just now.
A competition on home soil, I have trained so hard and all my fans are hoping for a good result…
Several TV companies ready to record a great show…
The only thing I can do is to give everything to God.
If this had happened a week before, I would have stayed in bed and would have skipped a training.
But now… I have to climb a world cup… Jesus help me!
The qualification day starts. During warming up I feel weak. But instead of falling early, I top both qualification routes!
Then some interviews, autographs for sponsors, pictures being taken and finally, some rest.
Sunday morning, semifinal. I feel worse.
I have to climb second last. The route looks alright, but I have no idea how I will feel. I have nothing to put my trust in except for God. So that is what I do: I give everything into His hands.
I climb without paralizing pressure since I have nothing to expect. And,聽 somehow, I am able to top the semifinal route! The speaker says: ‘And just as Anak would say, thank You Jesus’.
Photo: Alan Cuypers
My home crowd is impressed. People hope that I will win. Now the pressure is getting higher.
I try to rest in our van. Meanwhile there is a fun competition: Guinness record DYNO. My friend Celine shatters the world record 7 times!
I go back into isolation for the final route. Even warming up is difficult.
Finally it is my turn. I climb well, the crowd cheers me on. It seems like I am able to top out.
Photo: J茅r么me Vervier
But then, nearly at the top, I miss a hold. I go back to the previous one and try again. But I don’t have enough power left and… fall. The dream is gone.
Both Mina and Jain climb really strong and top out. I am in 3rd place and a little disappointed.
Photo: J茅r么me Vervier
But hey. Wait! Before the comp started I felt so bad that I didn’t want to compete. Still, God gave me the bronze medal!
As a christian, I am like a soldier, a servant of God. The enemy, satan, tries hard to discourage me and make me stumble. I believe that this illness which struck me on the exact weekend where I hoped to be fit, was no coincidence.
But God is faithful. And I believe that His plan for my life will happen. This time, the right place for me was 3rd. Yes, thank you Jesus! 馃檪
Comforted by Celine (J茅r么me Vervier)
Podium with Mina and Jain (Photo: ERTS)
Photo: J茅r么me Vervier
Photo: J茅r么me Vervier
Photo: Marc De Schryver