You Are Amazing

A friend, who is amazing, sent me this video today.

I am grateful.

Made me smile and feel good about myself. And about people. And about my life.



Ray

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 8

Yesterday early in the evening they were all back in the Refuge Le Gouter.

Elliz felt sick, very sick, and showed symptoms of altitude sickness, having a severe headache and feeling nauseous all the time.

This early morning it had not changed much. Fortunately they descended quickly.

Around 2.30pm they arrived at the little train going down, and in the afternoon they were back in the Gite Le Vagabond.

The sickness was vanishing slowly but surely. She hadn't felt ever so terribly sick in her life.

In the evening they had a closing dinner.

Tomorrow morning after breakfast they will head for home.

It was a big adventure, with many obstacles and constraints, without making the ultimate goal, however, in many ways crossing bounderies and creating lifelong memories.

See further details of the overnight stay at Refuge Le Gouter and the technical difficult descend to Chamonix at Expeditienet.

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 7

Refuge Le Gouter (3817m) - Source: guide-ilhero.com

Refuge Le Gouter (3817m) - Source: physics.syr.edu

Bad weather. Rain and snow. Windspeeds of over 90 kilometers per hour.

This early morning the girls started from Refuge Tete Rousse (3167m) to Refuge Gouter (3817m). The plan was to rest here till midnight and go for the summit.

It was a dreadful stage. No sun, no blue skies and definitely no pretty views. Just the sight of their shoes, rocks, rain and an occasional drop of snow.

At Refuge Gouter the weather condition worsened. The team changed plan and decided to set off for the summit just after noon, with only an hour of rest. For some this was a terrifying outlook. Remember, they had still to go at least 7 hours to the summit and a bit less back.

The weather gods were not good to them. At 4250m they had to turn back. It had become too dangerous, with windspeeds of over 90 kilometers per hour.

See more details of this adventure at Expeditienet. Go to 15/9 at the left hand side of the page.

Refuge Le Gouter (3817m) - Source: st-gervais.net

Refuge Le Gouter (3817m) - Source: visoterra.com

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 6

View from the Flegere - Planpraz trail at the Mont Blanc rage - Aug 2009

Start for the summit of the Mont Blanc (4810,90m - Wikipedia).

Probably they will do it in three stages: (1) Refuge Tete Rousse (Monday), (2) Refuge Le Gouter (Tuesday) and (3) Summit Mont Blanc (Tuesday-Wednesday). However, all depends of the weather. Lots of clouds and rain forecasted, so, most likely no clear skies and sun, so, no beautiful pics at the summit as they will be there in the early morning when it is still dark.

Refuge Tete Rousse

Refuge Tete Rousse

Today they will go up to Refuge Tete Rousse at 3167m and stay there overnight, ready for the hike to Refuge Le Gouter (3817m) in the early morning of Tuesday. At night from Tuesday to Wednesday they will go to the summit, and hopefully back in one piece ...

7.55am. Elliz and the girls are up for breakfast. They heard that they will be escorted by five professional Italian guides. What a delight!

In the Chamonix valley the weather is bad. A bit chilly and raining.

The team is really excited, not only because of the Italian flavour, but if it is possible to go to the summit within 48 hours? Again, it all depends of the weather. And it will be Wilco's call at the end.

9.04am. Elliz has swithed off her mobile. To save power. Just send her an SMS that we love her, and believe in her, Bella and I.

Yesterday evening Bella asked me how many nights she had to sleep before Mimmy comes back. 'Just four, dear!' She feels a bit pressure in her stomack, as she explained. 'It is oke. I have it too', and took her in my arms, and pressed her close to me, taking away a bit the queezy feeling we had both.

Before she went to bed, she had made a big heart with kisses and the text 'We missen je heel erg, Mimmy', and layed it on Elliz' bedside.

After an hour having rolled over a thousand times she finally got to sleep ...

Bella's Heart for Elliz

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition

Una Giornata Particulare or Citysurfing

A typical display of citysurfing

Today Bella had her usual swimming lesson at Silvester Swimming School in Zoetermeer, at 9am. She is doing well. I like her backstroke and butterfly movement. It is beautiful and powerful at the sametime, but her start dive from the block needs improvement.

The evening before Bella slept over with Barry and Jan, and I visited Jantien's party after having drinks - well ... tomato juice :-) - with Annemiek. She is an extraordinary woman. Actually, both, Jantien and Annemiek, are. At their own right and merit.

De 'Arty'-gang naar 'Het Haags Kinderatelier'

Just after noon I dropped Bella off at 'Het Haags Kinderatelier' or 'De Knutselclub' as we may call it. It is a creative arty&farty center for children, where they can make stuff from wood and clay, and other materials you can think of - today the theme was 'ijsberen op schotsen van witte scherven' (?), and paint, or do other creative things. It is a great place to be, not only for children, and Marijke and Rashid are really super with the kids. A lot of love and care, and they give the children a lot of creative freedom.

Watching an old animation movie in 'Het Filmmuseum' - Vondelpark

After I picked her up before 2pm, we went to Amsterdam. To 'Het Filmuseum' in 'Het Vondelpark', cause they have on Sundays art movies for children. But we were too late. We bought a 'Alice speurtocht in het Vondelpark' and had some drinks in the restaurant while reading out loud the 'speurtocht' cartoons.

Today was 'Open MonumentenDag'.

Hall way 'Hollandsche Manege'

Horses Playing In The Pen - 'Hollandsche Manege'

Watching, No Touching - 'Hollandsche Manege'

We visited the 'Hollandsche Manege', not far from the filmmuseum. Bella was really hypnotized by the beautiful horses, so elegant and strong. The light brown one with a white spot on the forehead, without the white socks and without the black stockings. See our video at YouTube.



In the late afternoon we stumbled upon live music at 'Dish - Global Kitchen', Overtoom 259.

Bella was a bit intimidated by the loud music, however, found the drums, bass guitar and keyboards fantastic. She felt the music in her belly and heart, she said. What she meant was the vibrations of the rather loud live music. I told her that's the way these musicians communicated with her and other people listening, through the sound of their music instruments. She bought it.

Not only the music got her attention. I ordered a few small dishes, from different regions in the world. The dish with the shrimps she ate completely clean. I had a variety of baked mushrooms and grilled vegetables. It was lovely.

'It vibrated into my heart'

Dish - Global Kitchen

African Shrimps Dish

Eat and Enjoy Foreign Dishes

On the drive back home we had a chat with Elliz. We missed her, and she missed us.

'Ik mis je, mimmy', zoals ze Elliz liefkozend noemt. Ik hoorde Elliz een snik wegslikken :-)

Just four nights sleeping and she is back.

Hopefully with the summit of the Mont Blanc in her backpack.

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 5

Sunday, Sep 13th 2009.

Elliz has not slept well. Ten girls at a few square meters in the attic of Refuge Albert I at 2700 meters, snorring, sneezing, sighing, coughing and breathing up your ear is not helping, despite the wax earplugs.

Her glucosemeter is not working. This doesn't help either. It gives extra aggrivation she can do without. Well, it is what you have to deal with if you have diabetes. Doesn't change a bit at this altitude. It is worse actually.

Early rise and shine. Clean clothes and a hot shower ... NOT!

They slept with their clothes on. It was cold during the night. And they kept their clothes on, without cleaning up themselves properly. Maybe just a splash of water in the face.

In the morning they exercised with their crampons on, and had a walk on the glacier, with harnasses and icepick.

In the afternoon they hiked back the trail Le Tour - Albert I. Was a lot easier than yesterday and took a lot less time.

Back in Chamonix, in the Gite Le Vagabond, it is raining. And it doesn't look good for tomorrow.

Most likely they will go up to Tete Rouge and Le Gouter (3800m), awaiting for their summit to the Mont Blanc on Tuesday most likely.

At Refuge Albert I - Sep 12th 2009

Miriam & Elliz At Refuge Albert I - Sep 12th 2009

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 4

First stage of the Le Tour - Albert I trail via the moraine ridge alongside the glacier - Sep 12th 2009

First stage of the Le Tour - Albert I trail via the moraine ridge alongside the glacier - Sep 12th 2009

Saturday, September 12th 2009.

The girls woke up not all too early. At breakfast around 8am Wilco van Rooijen had another little surprise for them.

This afternoon they would go for an acclimatization stage to the Refuge (hut) Albert Premiere (1) (2706m) and stay there overnight.

Wilco instructed them to pack light, with emphasis on 'light'. Just only the neccessary things for a mountain walk from 1200 to 2700, and on Sunday a training day hiking on ice, with crampons, pickets and harnasses. He would check out their gear.

When all were packed in the late morning, he checked upon them, one by one.

It was hilarious.

He came across many superfluous things like deodorants, extra clothings, books and other little obvious things if on vacation, however, not of any use at this stage - keep the imagination going on the stuff they had to leave behind cause I don't mention here a lot of other things, for obvious reasons :-).

They all had a great laugh. Some girls somewhat less enthused than others ...

After lunch they went to Le Tour (1200m) by car, about 11km up north-east from Chamonix.

Today's mountain hike was a tough one. Especially the last half an hour, just before arriving at the top. It is a very steep and diffult trail at the moraine ridge between glaciers.

Starting at about 1200 meters, they had to go up 1500 meters, with an average ascent of 1 hour per 300 meters. It is all the way up, without any descents and some very steep and technical parts. The trail is at the moraine ridge along the glacier, very narrow (less than a meter), covered with rocks and stones, and chilling steep valley views of a kilometer down. I am sure that one or two of the ladies did not dare to shift their view during walking as it can be pretty daunting.

They started with dry but gloomy weather, however, half way it started to rain and the temperature dropped quickly from 15 degrees C to just above zero. Hands were cold and rusty.

Around six in the evening they arrived at the Refuge Albert I. Most of them oke but pretty wasted. Even one of the ladies was beyond 'wasted'. Hope she will recover overnight.

They went immediately to the attic of the refuge. The girls installed their place to sleep for the night, with their headlights up and on, as darkness had fallen.

Ascent at the moraine ridge to Albert I - Sep 12th 2009

Elliz & Miriam - Sep 12th 2009

Sunset from the Albert I trail, almost at the top - Sep 12th 2009

In the attic in Refuge Albert I - Sep 12th 2009

By the way, the weather forecast looks oke but not all too favourable for an optimal summit stage to the top of the Mont Blanc:

OVERNIGHT (SATURDAY - SUNDAY)
Low cloud - clear high up - getting noticeably cooler
SKY CONDITIONS (cloud) : cloudy at first - clear or partly cloudy later, low cloud or fog patches might persist down in the valley.
PRECIPITATION : none.
WIND - aloft : N -> NNW light to moderate.
TEMPERATURE : +6°C.

TOMORROW - MONDAY SEPTEMBER 14
Changeable and cooler - sunny spells in the morning - showers later
SKY CONDITIONS (cloud - sunshine) : partly cloudy to cloudy with sunny spells in the morning - cloudy or locally mostly cloudy in the afternoon due to cumulus cloud growth - period of sunshine close to 40%.
PRECIPITATION : scattered showers in the afternoon - rain-snow limit towards 2200 m.
WIND - aloft : N -> variable light -> SSW moderate.
TEMPERATURE : min +6°C - max +16°C.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 15
Gloomy morning - improving during the afternoon
SKY CONDITIONS (cloud - sunshine) : overcast or mostly cloudy in the morning - becoming cloudy with sunny spells in the afternoon - period of sunshine close to 40.
PRECIPITATION : scattered showers in the morning - rain-snow limit towards 1900 m.
WIND - aloft : SSW moderate.
TEMPERATURE : steady.

Link: Weather Forecast Chamonix

Here below some pics from our week, Elliz and I, in August when hiking the Col de Balm (2100m) - Albert I (2700m) trail.

Col de Balm - Albert I trail - Aug 2009

Col de Balm - Albert I trail - Aug 2009

Col de Balm - Albert I trail - Aug 2009

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 3

Set and ready to go at their first official expedition day - Friday, Sep 11th 2009

Friday morning at eleven they - ten ambitious and excited girls - were set and ready to go for their first mountain hike. To their surprise the expedition leader had other ideas for the team. No guided tour in the Mont Blanc massif today. They had to do it all by themselves. A little adventure on this official first day of the expedition ...

This first walk was not unfamiliar to Elliz. In fact, in the first week of August, Elliz and I have hiked this one, from Chamonix, 1040. to PlanPraz, 2000m. From here you can go to Le Brévent at 2525 m. During this stage we discovered a south-facing, far-reaching view over the Mont Blanc range. Truly impressive. Takes your breath away. One of the most exciting views in the area.

View from Le Brevent_PlanPraz trail at the Mont Blanc range - Aug 2009

In August it was our first day in Chamonix, and thought to take it easy. From a 50-mountain-walks-in-the-Chamonix-Mont-Blanc-range-guidebook we chose an easy-walk to PlanPraz. We chose this one, fully geared, with our day backpacks, Polar training computers activated - with heart and GPS sensors - and in high spirits. Starting from Chamonix centre (1001m) via the Chamonix-PlanPraz-Brevent station - not taking the cable cabin but walking straight up, we made our ascent. Up, and up, and up. After 10' our heartmeters were hitting the 130bpm mark. An easy walk? We should have stayed around 100bpm, or even below. Wow, if this was described as easy, what was waiting for us on the less easy trails?

The first half hour we walked through forest at the moutain slope, on a small path, sometimes just less than one meter wide, covered with stones, and water sparkling down, crossing our path. It was still going up, with soem steep and rather technical parts. The computer showed we were moving at a modest pace, making meters up gradually. However, our heartrates were still relatively high and we were sweating as running at 10km per hour speed. We were a bit mesmerized, however, determined to reach at least our goal, the station PlanPraz, not knowing that it was at 2000m, and thus still a long way to go. After two hours we had reached PlanPraz. After a ten minutes rest we walked down the trail, to Chamonix, thinking that this should be more easy than the ascend. We couldn't have been more wrong. After a few hundred meters our legs were trembling and burning. This took us more than one and a half hour. We were wasted.

Back in Le Vert hotel we discovered that this was one of the difficult and hard trails of the area! The rest of the week, the Albert I trail, the Plan de L'Aguille to Montvers - Mer de Glace were easy compared to this one ...

From Chamonix (1040m) to PlanPraz (2000m) - August 2009

Today the girls wanted to walk the Chamonix - PlanPraz - Brevent trail, but chose the PlanPraz - Col de Brevant stage, because of time issues, as they started rather late in the afternoon. Elliz was a bit relieved obviously. This would be an easy walk in the parc. Cause a hike as we had done in August, would have strained the team in many ways at this first day of the expedition.

So, they took the cable lift to PlanPraz, and walked up to Col de Brevent, at about 2525m, and back to the station PlanPraz. This was definitely a nice start, Elliz and Miriam were thinking, with big smiles at their faces.

Girls4Girls at Col de Brevent - Friday, Sep 11th 2009

View from Le Brevent at the Mont Blanc range - Friday, Sep 11th 2009

Irma, Jeannette and Elliz - Friday, Sep 11th 2009

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition; Walk Planpraz - Brevent.

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 2

'It fits well, those new shoes' Elliz & Miriam - Sep 10th 2009

A few pics taken on Wednesday, traveling to Chamonix, and yesterday, meeting the other Girls4Girls. Truly a tough bunch!

Yesterday they all made it to Chamonix and gathered in Gite Le Vagabond.

Elliz and Miriam met Wilco van Rooijen, just back from a summit with another team of 10 people. They all made it, however, all nearly had frozen feet cause of the extreme cold at the top (minus 25 C degrees). Both, Elliz and Miriam, immediately bought class D mountaineering shoes :-)

The girls sleep in small bunkbed 4 person-rooms.

Elliz has slept well, despite the 3 other people snorring in her room :-) Obviously she used earplugs ...





Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition

Elliz' Expeditie Mont Blanc - Dag 1

Mont Blanc Massif and Chamonix valley taken by Ray & Elliz Aug 2009

Gisterenochtend vroeg is Elliz vertrokken naar Chamonix.

Ze gaat op expeditie naar de top van de Mont Blanc, samen met negen vrouwen onder begeleiding van beroepsavonturier Wilco van Rooijen , nadat ze Mirjam in Amsterdam had opgepikt. Bella en ik waren best wel wat droevig, en misten haar al op het moment dat ze wegreed. Bella pinkte wat traantjes weg ...



Ze rijden in een Ford station, gesponsord door Ardea Auto. Het was een ontspannen en rustige trip naar Chamonix. Met wat keet onderweg natuurlijk. Lachen!





Ze waren voor achten in de avond in de Gite Le Vagabond en wandelden direct het centrum in, voor wat window-shopping bij Intersport, Peak Performance en Ravanel.




Vanochtend hebben Bella en ik even met Elliz gesproken. Ze lag nog in bed, in een kamer voor vier personen.

View from bedroom Gite Le Vagabond taken by Mirjam today

Links: Elliz @ Facebook; Elliz @ Hyves; Girls4Girls Mont Blanc Expedition