New experiences are coming!

Hellow everybody!

A lot of people know where I am right now but still for the ones that don't know. Yesterday morning at 8am my flight from Brussels towards Madrid left nice on time after I said goodby for the third time for a long while (4 months) to everybody at home. From Madrid I flew straight towards Venezuela, Caracas, where my trip is starting.

After my last trip in the US for seven months I've been in Belgium for about 5 months. Those 5 months where some months with lots of movement. After I had found a place to live I started working for Greenpeace Belgium. This was a really interesting job, I learned a lot of it. While working I tried to climb and train a lot for this expedition in Venezuela. In the mean time I also spent lots of time with my girlfriend what was really great. The last month at home I didn't work any more and I prepared for this trip.

The 5th of january I got some bad news. Jorn, my good friend and trainer for 6 years died of his brain tumor after he was sick for about 2 years. This is hard and I've a hard time putting words on this los of an amazing individual in my life! Jorn had a really special meaning in my life, he learned me everything just until who I am right now and even where I am. It's because of him I'm here and everything I'll do and I'll climb the rest of my life is with Jorn. With this blogpost I will start a new way of travelling and climbing for myself and especially for Jorn.

About this trip:

This trip is starting where I am right now, Venezuela! This evening 3 friends of mine are arriving here in Caracas. Those friends are going to be my climbing team for the next month: Mason Kinloch Earl (USA), Sam Farnsworth (UK) and George Ullrich (UK). Our expedition is bringing us towards the Tepuy mountains in Canaima. The Tepuy Mountains are known for the biggest waterfall in the world who is storming down one big Tepuy of 1000 meters high, Salto del Angel. A Tepuy mountain is a sandstone mountain with a flat top, also called Table Mountain. The only natural way up this kind of mountains is climbing steep vertical or even overhanging Big Walls.

So now you know what I'm doing in this country. Our expedition is going towards a Tepuy of 600 meters. The special thing about this wall is that it isn't vertical, it's overhanging! (Overhanging 35 degrees like we heard, not sure.) Another big challange is the jungle, we have to walk some days through the jungle to get to the base of the wall. Once we're there the climbing can begin and we're planing to open a new line in this 600 meter overhanging wall! I'm not going to say more then this about this project.

After this expedition I'll go south towards Buenos Aires, Argentina. From there I'll go to Tuzgle and Bariloche. Maybe more areas but that part of the trip is still unclear. One thing I know, it's going to be amazing! I return the 25th of may, not as long as my past trip but still long enough.

Now I'm in the hotel waiting for my friends. It's really hot here, I think it might be almost 30 degrees Celcius. I went outside just for about 20 minutes and I think I'm already burned a little!

The people are amazing here, everybody is really friendly. People start talking to each other really fast and I feel good around most of them. Just arriving in Caracas was a little scary but not as bad as I expected. If you think about what you're saying and doing there is not much that can happen. The best thing I did to prepare for this trip is following Spanish class at CLT Leuven the last five months. I love speaking Spanish! (the little Spanish I know.)

I'm so psyched for this expedition and I will keep you up to date when I can! In the jungle we don't have internet so a next blogpost shall be in a month or a little longer I think. Maybe I can write something in two days in Ciudad Bolivar. I'm exited to go and get my friends at the airport this evening.

This following small text is for Jorn!

"In 2004 verscheen er plotseling een man in de klimzaal.

“Siebe, stop eens met snoepen en eet minstens 5 stukken fruit per dag en drink 2 liter water.” Dat was de stem van Jorn.

Ik was 13 jaar niet altijd gehoorzaam maar volgde zonder twijfel jouw goede raad op.

Sinds die dag kwam jij in mijn leven en zal nooit meer verdwijnen.

Jorn, je hebt in jouw leven een weg afgelegd waarvan velen in mijn omgeving niets weten. Maar wat iedereen wel weet, is dat deze weg heeft gezorgd voor een prachtig mens.

Jorn , je was geïnteresseerd en nieuwsgierig. Je stapte de klimwereld binnen en werkte je onmiddellijk op naar een waardevolle trainer en vriend van velen. Je had een doel voor ogen en nam dit uiterst serieus. Je trainde mij en vele anderen, las enorm veel trainingsboeken, reed duizenden kilometers door het land en verder voor specifieke trainingen en competities. Kortom, je gaf je volledig voor anderen, je gaf en gaf nog veel meer.

Jorn, ik kon voor alles bij jou terecht.

Je begeleide me in het klimmen, in het trainen, in het leren accepteren, in het studeren, in het omgaan met verdriet en tegenslag , in het omgaan met pijn en ongeluk en in het lliefhebben en omgaan met mensen. De boodschap die je me steeds gaf was dromen en doorzetten om deze dromen te bereiken.

Jorn je leerde me gedurende 7 belangrijke jaren in mijn leven alles tot wie ik nu ben. Van al die kracht en energie die jij had, gaf jij zoveel aan mij door. Jij gaf me kracht, ervaringen, energie en hopen geluk.

Jorn, ik wil je bedanken voor alles wat je voor me betekende. Om je te bedanken zal ik alles wat je me leerde verder zetten en alles wat ik doe zal ik doen met jouw waarden en jouw inzet.

Read More