Sam's Climbing Blog: The story goes on, Part 1: "Il pleut, ça mouille, c'est la fête de la grenouille"

Sam's Climbing Blog is back on air. It has been a while since my last post - 8 months actually. Not that I didn't make any trips or didn't climb - there was a trip to Geyik Bayiri in Turkey in december, we spent easter holidays in the Verdon with some guys of the team, and a weekend in Berdorf - but it's just fucking boring to write about performances, especially when there are none in times when the ageold wisdom "Il pleut, ça mouille, c'est la fête de la grenouille" by the hand of King David's grandmother is put into effect. Shitloads of rain and frogs - a dangerous combination to spent a day safe and succesful on the rocks. Then you start thinking about 1-dimensional objects and how men are transformed into women and vice-versa, eating tons of savoury traditional hand-rolled gözleme and drinking sugarbomb tea's, waiting for better weather that never comes, helping local Ridvan to transform a buildingplace into a campsite - something doomed to fail; nothing wrong with the guy's motivation, but one needs an organized mind and a spirit level to do such things - and making a nature documentary about a sex addicted rabbit with an annatural predilection for helpless kittens. One final remark, I was superproud about the 7c that felt like 7a. They should import holiday grades everywhere so I can feel much stronger and tougher in the future, and can collect more points on 8a.nu. That's what's all about: ......

A lunchpavilion at height

Before the gözleme are served

Anomaly by nature or copying Ridvan?

Guided by the hysterical yelling of Turkish grandma's

Bijschrift toevoegen

Rain⁵

and how to solve it

Tim discovering his marsupial skills

In Gorge du Verdon the malicious rainbitch-witch came along with us. A lot of classic routes were left untamed. Nonetheless we managed to do Servir et punir, an ulttraclassic 7a(+) or so with some drilled pockets, but still very esthetic. We climbed some other stuff, most of it unfinished due to forced retreat because of thunderstorms and rain. One time me and Tim had to descend the whole slope down into the canyon following the trail through some old mineworker tunnels with the light of our cellphones as only guide as where to go. Not for claustrophobians. Another time we fucked around in a 4 or 5 pitches long route with 7b+ as the hardest pitch with bolts spaced like 6-7m. Halfway Tim lowered me to put his balls on the slaughterbank, mine were more or less squeezed. Stupid as I was, I untied the rope and pulled it, realizing something was wrong when the rope came down. Now Tim had to do everything again. LOL
One day I surely come back to this magnifcent place to climb for real. Climbing Tom et je ris and La Ramirole are lifetime dreams, and if there's rain, I'll go ask the army boys on the other side to aim their mortars above the gorge. The Chinese do it. Should work to get rid of the clouds.