The first day after my last post we’ve been one day to The East Spur, also with a guide. The day started really well with a nice and hard V8 on crimps named ‘Better eat your Weetes’. After that I tried ‘Hector’, a nice V9 but dangerous. I fell bad on my feet and twisted my ankle a little bit. That day I couldn’t climb anymore and took an obligated rest. I don’t want to have something serious with 7 months of climbing in the future!

The day after it went well. I went climbing with some Canadians what was a lot of fun! I did a lot of nice and hard problems. One of them was ‘Choir boys’, a V9 on slopers with a crimpy ending. The hardest V9 I ever did! The other problems I did that day where:
- V7 Daily Dick Dose
- V7 Choir Boys Light
- V7 Baby Face
- V7 (a new boulder, really high one on crimps)
- V9 Choir Boys
- V9 Pumped Full of Semen
A nice and long day!

After another lazy rest day we went with all of us on North Mountain in a new area! I and Nice did a nice V7 and V9. The V9 I did really fast, it was completely my style! After that we tried a V11, ‘Anal Intruder #10’. The name comes from the nice swing you make with the pointed rock behind your ass! Where number 10 comes from I don’t want to know!
I’m moving really good in this one and think I can do it! I just need a fresh day with good skin and it will work.

The weather forecast for the 3 following days is not so good. They expect snow and really cold temperatures going to -10°C at night! So we aren’t going to climb that many those days.

If the weather gets better I want to find myself a nice project to work. Something that doesn’t eat too much skin!

After a good first day of climbing and a lazy rest day, two days of hard bouldering followed
We climbed two days on North Mountain, there where you don’t need a guide and just can climb like normal. North Mountain is a really nice place, you can walk up the mountain and find a lot of caves far from each other. So you can always look for a nice quite place to do some problems without to many people. I also love the Hueco’s in the rocks. It are big holes in the ground, some of them are filled with water. Crazy because it’s right in the desert!
The mountains are only rock and you find those nice cactuses and other dessert vegetation who are all green in the orange environment.

Picture: Tim Brijs

In the first cave we had climbed I did a nice V9 with a lot of pockets and towhooks what induces a lot of body tension. It’s called ‘Big Nose Meley’.
The next little project was a perfect V10 called ‘Loaded with Power’. I did it after not to many try’s. It was a quite high boulder with a crimpy ending. We were lucky we had a lot of crashpads because of the high boulder and the cactus who was laughing underneath us.

That evening we went eating tons of vegetables at ‘Souper Salad’ for only 7 dollars. Some people say you can’t eat healthy, but that’s a lie. It was an ‘all you can eat’ restaurant with tons of healthy food.

After the usual morning coffee and the porridge we went to the top of North Mountain where we did an awesome V6 and V9 with a great ending of 12 meters high. It was an easy ending but a little bit chossy. I love those boulders!
Nico did a special V12 called ‘Tequilla Sunrise’. And Thierry did the stand start V10 ‘Dirthy martini on the rocks’.
On the end of the day I did one of the most exciting boulders in those 3 climbing days. It’s a V10 with a lot of slopers to a roof. In the little roof you need to turn your body 180 degrees with your back to the rock. From there the crux is following. This problem is called ‘Dean’s Journey’.

We already filmed a lot of nice problems so there is coming a nice little climbing movie!
Picture: Tim Brijs




If I look back at those climbing days I had already some good days. The hardest boulder I did before this trip was a V9 in Squamish. Now the boulders are flowing!
- V9 Big Nose Meley
- V9 Fun Roof
- V10 Loaded with power
- V10 Dean’s Journey
- V11 The Flame (V


The style of climbing is lovely! A lot of round pinches and flakes you need to crimp. It’s really morphologic and the movements reminds me at the gym. But you still need some more technical insight. The most of al I like the fact that we’re climbing in the dessert on some big boulders in the sun in winter!

Yesterday evening at midnight we arrived at the Hueco Rock Ranch (US time!) in Hueco Tanks! After a flight of 15 hours and some waiting time of 7 hours and always awake I was really tired. When I and Nicolas Mathieu arrived on the airport we had Jan de Smith and his girlfriend Natalie waiting for us. But there were even more Belgium guys, Tim Brys and Thierry Hardy where comming with us to!
The time Jan and Nat came to pick us up I finally saw the Chevy Van I'm going to buy the 18th of February.


Our first climbing day was really nice, we had a lot of sun and some nice little wind. Hueco Tanks is a state park and there are some rules we need to get used to. First of all climbers need to reservate to go climbing in the park. There are some different tours you can take, each tour has his drifferent guide. The guides are just climbers who have some more information about the park. Yesterday we took the commercial tour where you need to pay 20 dollars for. The other tours we'll take will be 1 dollar.
Yesterday we went climbing on "The Spur". I did some V6 and one V7. I did also "The Flame". In the guid book it's a V12 but I think that its more like a V10/V11. If it's really V11 or V12 I did my first 8 in bouldering!
After that I was quite tired like all the other climbers of our group and we did it easy the rest of the day.


Today we took a rest day because of the weather. At night there was a dessert storm comming up! We all woke up with our head in dust in our tent. Tomorrow we go to North Mountain.

I'll keep you up to date!

In oktober gaf ik een interview aan het jeugdtijdschrift ZAP over het leven als gemotiveerde klimmer! Het interview is nu uit in de editie van Januari. Je kan het lezen in het tijdschrift zelf of op hun website: http://www.zapmagazine.be/MAAND/Pages/Siebegaathelemaalopinzijnsport.aspx

ZAP is een tijdschrift voor jongeren over voornamelijk 'gezond leven'. Het thema van Januari is verslaving. Om een positieve verslaving te bespreken interviewden ze mij in verband met de klimsport.

Veel leesplezier!

Het is bijna zover. Ik moet nog enkele laatste weekjes werken en dan vertrek ik om in Amerika het leven van een outdoor klimmer te gaan verkennen en in een auto te gaan wonen!

Om aan iedereen ineens 'Daaag' te kunnen zeggen is er een afscheidsfeest in Klimzaal Hungaria op zaterdag 15 januari om 20u. Dit afscheidsfeest is niet alleen voor mij maar ook voor Marthe en Tim die ook voor een half jaar naar Zuid-Amerika vertrekken.

Iedereen welkom en met het gratis vat zal het feest zijn!

Alvast aan iedereen een geweldig (klim)jaar toegewenst!

Voor mij ziet 2011 er totaal anders uit dan andere jaren. Ik vertrek op 21 januari 2011 voor 7 maanden naar de VS. Voor deze roadtrip te kunnen financieren heb ik afgelopen maanden veel gewerkt en gespaard. Met een goed resultaat.

Ik begin mijn klimtrip in Hueco Tanks (Texas) met Nicolas Mathieu waar we Jan de Smit zullen vergezellen. Na een dikke twee weken keren Nico en Jan terug naar België waarna ik verder zal reizen. Ik zal waarschijnlijk de Chevy Van van Jan overnemen, dan heb ik onmiddellijk vervoer en een slaapplaats om een half jaar in te leven.

De gebieden die op mijn lijstje staan zijn Hueco Tanks, Red Rocks, Bishop, Indian Creek, Red and New River Gorge, Yosemite, Tensleep, Squamish en Bugaboos.

Hoogstwaarschijnlijk zal ik nog in vele andere klimgebieden klimmen. Ik zal zien waar de mensen die ik tegen kom en mijn busje me heen brengt!

Om de tien dagen zal er zeker een post komen op mijn blog, dus voel je vrij om mijn blog met regelmaat te bezoeken.