Making my puzzle with new objectives ~ Siebe Vanhee

Vertical Jeep Trip - Kleisura - Greece

Back in Belgium… a chaotic puzzle? Or just a multitasking life?

I wake up… I think: ‘Should I go running or immediately make myself a porridge and drink a green thee’. With a sleepy face and my arms destroyed from training the day before I go to school and follow class, I come back home and I study or do some schoolwork, read papers and write some papers. During the afternoon or in the evening, I go training in my local gym with some friends, back to basic. In the weekends Freyr is calling, except for those days when nature decides to poor water from the top of Al’legne (main sector). Then there is the other thing about climbing, the planning. Planning new trips or expeditions. Hours I can spend reading books and searching the internet, what a luxury. Your next expedition might be right on the internet already…

This is how my life here in Belgium looks like since I came back from the ‘The North Face Kalymnos Climbing Festival’ in October. It was only four weeks ago, but it looks like ages. An amazing climbing festival it was; good atmosphere, fun people, great climbing, great weather and I could smell the motivation to climb in the air.

Vertical Jeep Trip - Kleisura - Greece

One year ago I remember myself saying: ‘I would love to combine my climbing and travelling with higher studies but still go full on in both disciplines’. Now, one ‘try out’ year to reach the goal of developing my climbing and developing myself with knowledge and education in higher studies as a social worker past by and it worked out fine. Although it wasn’t the easiest task, in Belgium I managed to combine training and studying quite well. When I left Belgium in my (extended) school vacations I managed to go on some great trips and have a good time out climbing. Although I couldn't forget my studies and filled my rest days opening my school books. It’s not easy to combine both disciplines like this. Mentally I feel it can be heavy sometimes to be on the road a lot and still have a lot of duties back home. Switching from one world to the other can be tiring or confusing sometimes. But uh… what… am I complaining? NO!

But what am I actually saying then? I think it’s a thing of our time, it’s globalisation and the goal is to learn how to deal with the freedom and uncertainty we have. For example, a lot of us can choose to go study what they want and when they want, is that freedom or just scary? Maybe freedom, but on the other hand society expects us to make the right choices and perform to fit in its context, so sometimes pressure is on. All this freedom makes us sometimes hesitate about what we’re doing and what meaning we have, it’s the luxury problem of our time who brings a lot of questions. I guess it’s hard to deal with this much freedom, but if it works it’s a good thing. Or maybe stop thinking like this and follow your feelings and live in the present. :)

Training time… and time for new objectives

Chamonix - July 2013

Last winter I did some training in the climbing gym, I could feel progression but I felt I could do more with the basics of climbing I’ve in my body. This winter I decided to train a bit more seriously, so searched for a coach. I found it, for the moment I’m training together with Tijl Smitz in the climbing gym of Leuven. The first objective is to get some more strength and specific power. With a good basic fitness, specific power is the first thing I need to improve. This allows me to gain more resistance afterwards. So this winter will be a winter full of bouldering and some campus trainings.

DWS in Ha Long Bay - Vietnam 2013

Besides the specific climbing training with Tijl, I work together with a sport specialised osteopathy and physiotherapy centre near my hometown, ‘Groepspraktijk Vanden Auweele & Sportpraktijk’. These super nice specialists, Koen and Frigyes, are both fascinated with climbing and what climbing does with our bodies. For the moment I follow their program for stabilisation of the imbalances of my body, some fine treatment I would say. I would like to thank those guys already for there support!

I got several new goals in future that allow me to find the motivation to train. I also have to say that I’ve always had the training spirit. I don’t mind spending time in gym if needed, definitely not with some good objectives lying ahead. After my exams in January I will go to Spain to push my limits in sport climbing again. I feel I got more strength in my body then some years ago when sport climbing was the main goal. Now, I would like to see again what I could do and what my limits are again. It’s fun to push it sometimes! But still my main goal stays to climb hard cracks, this training period is an investment for the month of April when I will go back to the US to search for some fine and hard cracks back again! And yes… I think I’m not the only one when I say I’m looking forward to the next summer and am already busy planning a trip. The big dream is still there… getting out high in the mountains and see what kind of walls are possible there…