finally, some Siurana pics

Het heeft even geduurd, maar nu heb ik toch even de tijd gevonden om enkele foto's online te zetten. Met het slechte weer en het steeds klimmen met 2 heb ik er deze keer niet veel, maar toch Siurana is een beauty en hopelijk is dat met een paar foto's duidelijk genoeg... ;-)

It took a while, but now I found some time to put some pictures online. Due to the bad weather and always climbing with one climbing partner I don't have many pictures, but Siurana really is a beauty and hopefully will a couple of pictures show its beauty... ;-)

enjoy!

de refuge

"panta de Siurana"

Het kasteel of wat er van overblijft | The castle or what's left of it

Supergezellige keuken/living met slaapkamer op de achtergrond | supercosy kitchen/livingroom with bedroom in the background

Nu komt de grote verdwijntruc... | Now the big disappearance-tric

TATAAA! Geen special effects... | No special effects...

Thomas uit Nieuw-Zeeland in 7a in sector Can Toni Gros | Thomas from New-Zealand in 7a in sector Can Toni Gros

Bistec del biceps 7b+

korte update...

Hola todos!

korte update (want heel veel valt er niet te vertellen).
- vrijdagnacht is het beginnen te regenen
- zaterdag heeft het geregend
- zaterdagnacht heeft het geregend
- zondagochtend heeft de regen opgehouden
- zondag ganse dag bewolkt, mistig, koud en vochtig
- zondag tegen de avond een blauw gat in het dikke wolkenpak, een goed teken?
- maandagochtend miezeren
- maandagnamiddag toch gaan klimmen met ne Nieuw-Zeelander
- ik klim slecht in koud en vochtig weer ;)
- nog steeds geen foto's. blijkbaar kunnen Spaanse pc's nog minder usb-poorten hebben dan Thaise en als ge steeds met 2 klimt is het niet evident om foto's te nemen...

hopelijk volgende keer meer en beter nieuws!

short update (because there isn't much to tell).
- friday night. it started raining
- saterday. it rained all day long
- saturday night. it kept on raining
- sunday morning. it stopped raining
- sunday it was chilly, misty and cold all day long
- sunday evening. a blue hole appeared at the sky. could this be a good sign?
- monday morning. still shitty weather
- monday afternoon. I went climbing with a guy from New-Zealand
- I climb bad in cold and moist weather ;)
- still no pictures. spanish computers tend to have less usb-ports than thai ones and it's kind of hard taking pictures when you're always climbing with 2 persons...

next time hopefully more and better news!

Ciao!

N.

de gulden middenweg...

gegroet allen! Hola todos! Hi everybody! (english below)

bij deze zoek ik een nieuwe oplossing om toch mijn zeg tegen iedereen te kunnen doen... ;)

Het leven hier in Siurana begint te vlotten en ik begin mijne Spaanse draai te vinden. Mijn stulpje en bijbehorende living, keuken, voorraadkamer, ... beginnen gestaag uit te breiden. Da gaat hier nog een villa zijn tegen dat ik vertrek ;) De volgende keer probeer ik er een paar foto's bij te zetten maar het tot nu toe er nog niet zoveel kunnen nemen en er ook nog niet zoveel tijd voor gehad.

Het klimmen op zich gaat eigenlijk ook vrij goed. Gisteren 2 7a's a vue gedaan tegen alle verwachtingen in voor nog maar de 2e klimdag te zijn en vandaag de 1 van de mooiste 7a's ooit gedaan (wel niet in ene keer, crux is een sequentie die je uitwerken maar heel zeker de moeite). Eentje om voor terug te gaan. En een andere primeur: geklommen met Belgen! Wel nog steeds geen Nederlands... ;)

Nu beginnen de vingertoppen toch stillekes aan om rust te schreeuwen (lees: de Spaanse rots eet bijna letterlijk het vel van uw vingers) maar ik ga er morgen toch nog proberen een klimdag uit te persen om overmorgen een dagje recup te nemen ;)

I'm getting used to the spanish life and I must say, it suits me well! by the time I'm leaving my tent will be expanded to a real mansion ;) next time I'll try to put some pictures online but as a matter of fact, I didn't have much time yet to take some but I'm working on it.

climbing facts: against all odds climbing is going very well. Yesterday I onsighted 2 7a's on my second climbing day, so I can't complain. And today I did one of the most beautiful 7a's I've ever done (I didn't do it in one time because the crux sequence is a sequence you've to work out on very small crimps but almost 30m pure pleasure). One to go back for.

My fingers are starting to require some rest but I'm going to try to squeeze out one more climbing day tomorrow and take a day off the day after.

Hasta la proxima!

N.

Hola Siurana!

the first message from Spain, hooray!

I arrived yesterday evening at the campsite which is full of very strong climbers and very friendly people after being ripped off by my taxi driver. There aren't many buses going to Cornudella so I had to take a taxi, but I found out that I paid almost 20€ more than some others climbers did! I sure hope I won't see that guy again at the airport...

I had to choose my place for my tent rather fast because it was already getting dark. Followed by a lasagna and a good night rest because the first day was a really long day (being awake from 3:30hrs).

This morning I took a nice walk to the small village of Siurana and then I met a guy from Norway who looked pretty familiar... He climbed in Tonsai in february as well! pretty small world I should say... I went shopping together with him and his friend in Cornudella, otherwise this would have been 6 hard kms on foot but now it was pretty cosy in the car: :)

Afternoon: first climbs. For my first day I was planning on doing some eay climbing to warm up and to get to know the place. So we decide to do a 6b+ which turned out to be at least 7a+... Some warming up... After that an attempt in a 7b which felt really good so I'd like to try that one again.

And that's about it for now, I can't say a lot more right now except that I'm in the middle of nowhere but also in the middle of the largest playground I've ever seen in my life! ;) The potential is so huge here. There are already over 600 routes and they say that until now maybe 20 % is used... Do I need to say more?

There's only one more thing for me to say and that's:

A MUERTE!

Ciao!

N.

2nd stop : Siurana, Spain

This week I found some not too expensive tickets to fly to Reus, so the 2nd leg of my very extended vacation is coming in sight. 

The downside is that I'm flying with Ryanair, meaning that I can only take 15 kg of luggage. When travelling to Tonsai I already had 10 kg of climbing gear and now I have to take some additional, but very much required gear ;) Such as a tent, a sleeping bag and cooking gear. I guess I'm going to wear a lot of clothes when leaving because I think there won't be much place left to take some clothes with me. I can always shower with my clothes on! ;)

The plane is leaving monday the 23th at 06:50 hrs (yesss, in the morning...) @ Charleroi airport (with a stop in Dublin because there are no direct flights between Charleroi and Reus during the week) and coming back the 4th of april at 22:05 hrs (arrival in Charleroi). People who wake up very early or people who haven't made plans for the 4th of april and willing to make a little trip to Charleroi can always contact me and eternal gratitude will be yours ;) otherwise I have to leave my Twingo WRC for 2 weeks at the airport and this is emotional very hard to cope with (and it also costs a bit) :)

I guess that's it for now, just looking forward to the spanish spring and I hope I still have some Tonsai power left.

Ciao!

N.

Goodbye Ton Sai

This will be my first message I'm posting in english due to the fact that my blog is going international :ahum ahum:   :)

It's been almost 2 weeks now that I'm back from one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life... And I must say, I sure miss that place! The weather, the crags, the flora and the fauna, the food (even with the tonsai tummy that comes with it...) and most of all: the people, as well as the thai people as all the climbers and the atmosphere! I can't imagine a place where everyone lives to together in peace and happiness (without any cops in sight!). Gosh, this sounds all so cheesy but the truth is... It's just the way it is!

But you can't stop and keep on looking behind you because there are still a lot of beautiful experiences to come... So now, I'm looking forward to go to (according to the 8a-yearbook) one of the top 10 crags in the world, being Siurana in Spain. I sure hope that my "shape" I built up in thailand will still be present... :) My departure date isn't determined yet, but hey, I'm flexible! ;)

As I'm flexible so is my planning. Because in life not everything turns out the way you thought it would, things might change overtime. So now I'm announcing that my planning slightly changed. For more information, stay tuned! ;) Probably by the end of the week I'll give some more clarity about the future...

But as for now, enjoy Tonsai!

Ciao!

N.

- the people I climbed with my last 1 1/2 week, or as we call it, the tonsai family :)

- the "real" monkeys 

- my pet (look carefully)

- the "main" road

- Deep Water Solo-action

- DWS-picknick on a deserted beach (an Expedition Robinson look-a-like island)

- !nbev-competition by Singha ;)

- Dukes of Hazard in Thailand??

-  one of my favourite views = the hammock-view!

- Fabien, nice french guy on a world journey (with also a blog http://fabienautourdumonde.blogspot.com/) working on a 7a

- a moment of inspiration ;)

- mental route preparation (and if you look carefully, with "a lekstok in my bakkes") :D

- making the clip (and many thanks to Mathieu and Geneviève for the great pictures!)

- long reach...

- shake shake shake! shake shake shake! shake that lactose acid away! as a song, this wouldn't be so great... :)

- route preparation was apparently not sufficient enough...

- Ton Sai sunset, a picture just can't capture all the different and beautiful colours of the sky

- and last but not least, Ton Sai party people with NielfisK pounding through the speakers

laatste dag...

de laatste dagen zijn nog super geweest!

- eerste 7c gedaan, nl K1
- op mijn laatste avond heeft NielfisK gespeeld in Ton Sai, niet live maar wel de mixtapes die ik gemaakt heb en die op mijn iPod staan en Ton Sai werd helemaal wild! mss is de internationale carriere gelanceerd nu ;-) t was alleszins vreemd maar tegelijktertijd zeer aangenaam om uwe eigen muziek te horen en er zowel thai als toeristen allerhande op zien wild te doen

nu ben ik ah wachten op de bus naar de luchthaven, tzal deze laatste uren vooral wachten zijn dus ik moet zien da k nie te snel lees of k moet nog ne boek bijkopen :-)

tot in de week!

N.