The trailer is online! Thanks to Iwona Pom! Feel free to share!
In two weeks on the 23th of November, Tim and I will be guest speakers at the After Summer day of the KBF in Edegem. We will be presenting our stories, adventures, experiences, ups and downs together with some pictures and movies from 14h until 15h30. Entrance is free!!! For more information about the activities that 'Open' day of KBF check the After Summer 2014 Facebook page!
Reflection on the adventure!
An expedition is not a normal climbing trip. It’s long, divers, insecure and exhausting mentally, physically as well ass socially. An expedition requires organisation, preparation, thinking ahead and communication. Most of all it requires a good team, motivation and commitment. So, a proper reflection is a worthy part of the whole story.
In many ways we succeeded in those
requirements. Just some aspects were missing. From the start on we didn’t had one
obvious and particular goal, one wall or area. Cause of that is the change of
plans when we cancelled the Pakistan objective, this made us organise a new
expedition in only three weeks. What made it hard to find a remote area were we
could discover some unknown walls. Decisions like first going towards the
famous and known Tasermiut fjord instead of taking the risk going immediately
into the unknown towards the biggest walls could maybe be prevented if we had
one distinct objective. It’s sometimes scary to go into the unknown because
it’s uncertain what the future will bring. Reflecting, it might have been the
unsecure feeling about the future or the missing of an obvious objective for
the trip that made us decide going towards Tasermiut fjord first. With the
result experiencing low motivation and exhaustion when we arrived at that part
which we came for to Greenland. But maybe this few weeks were actually the
“preparation time” we missed before departure. People usually have time to
dream before starting a new adventure. Our minds were set on something
different then Greenland.
On top of that we had a different
team in Greenland, compared to our original Pakistan team. This made logistics
and decisions more difficult undertaking the objective of climbing a first
ascent big wall. Practically and physically it’s more difficult with two
persons because the amount of gear is still the same. But also when it’s about
decisions it’s more complicated. The key is to find each other’s interests and
reasons behind decisions.
Like I said at the start of this
story, this expedition succeeded in many ways. Just one objective we couldn’t
reach. For us, climbers, this objective was the main reason of the trip so
disappointment had struck us for the last few weeks back in Belgium. An
undertaking like this is a complex but integral experience. Even if the main
goal couldn’t be succeeded, the trip was still successful. Most of all we
learned several lessons we will carry with us in the future. The importance of
having a main and specific goal plus having the same mindset and clarity about
that goal is a requirement I will remember for the next project. It’s only
positive if the whole team looks in the same direction from the start and
expectations are clear for everybody.
This was the story of the two
Gingers who went on an optimistic Big Wall and Kayak expedition towards
Greenland. I hope you liked it and our experiences are shared with all of you. A
movie about this trip is on its way to the net …
I would like to thank all the kind
people we’ve met on our trip! Thanks to Florian for bringing us all the way to
Denmark and taking the van back. Thanks a lot to the Norwegians Marius, Ula and
Roger for bringing us into Tasermiut fjord and spoiling us on their boat! Thanks
a lot to Themo! Thanks a lot to the British crew; Simon, Tom, Tim and
especially Maddy for giving us treats like cake, scones and fresh baked bread
on the boat!
Last but not least I would like to
thank our sponsors Petzl, The North Face, Avventura, Five Ten, Millet, Trek'N
Eat, Care Plus, Brunton, kayakshop Arjan Bloem, KBF, BVKB, Klimclub Hungaria
and Sportpraktijk Vanden Auweele for all their support providing the right gear
and preparation for this trip!
Up to the next…
