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Ever wanted to go to World Cup?

climbingjac

18-Oct-2005
2:10:47 PM

Hi everyone

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Europe to represent Australia in the UIAA World Cup. If you've ever wondered what World Cup is like, I'm hoping to bring you a bit of an insight.

OK here we go:

World Cup is a circuit… there are several events held throughout the year. Competitors gather points at each event, and the person with the most points at the end of the year is the 2005 winner. The World Cup attracts the best climbers in the world, and demands an onsight capability of at least grade 29/30 in the womens final, as I understand it. It is going to be truly awesome to have the privilege of climbing World Cup routes, and I hope to be climbing at my best on the day - and do my bit for raising the profile of Australian climbing.

I am intending to compete in events in Valence (France) late next week, and Kranj (Slovenia) in mid November. When you are all sleeping in the early hours of Friday morning Australian time, I will be touching down in Paris. I'll spend a few days recovering from jetlag, training, and acquiring all the relevant supplies, before I head south to Valence.

Stay tuned on this thread for updates throughout my trip!

Missing everyone already!!!

Jac

gfdonc

18-Oct-2005
2:16:08 PM

Good luck!

MichaelOR

18-Oct-2005
2:54:31 PM

Enjoy your trip Jacqui and I hope the World Cup routes are all steep and thuggy! Good luck.
Michael


manacubus

18-Oct-2005
2:59:58 PM

Best of luck Jac - have a great time.


The Elk

18-Oct-2005
4:50:06 PM

Ever wanted to go to the World Cup? Why yes, Yes I have!
Good luck!


Nick Kaz

18-Oct-2005
9:49:06 PM

What an awesome opportunity. I'm shure you will do fine!


Mikey

18-Oct-2005
11:17:50 PM

Good luck Jac - looking forward to reading your trip reports.


mousey

18-Oct-2005
11:21:40 PM

,|^,| crank mah lady, crank crank mah lady, have lotsa fun and kill'em. baby. ,|^,|
making up new words to songs is fun. so is climbing. :P good luck!


Rich

19-Oct-2005
12:26:59 AM

you ROCK Jac!! represent! :)


cheesehead

19-Oct-2005
12:32:17 AM

Missing you too already Jac. Best wishes sis!
Hey, other Jac aint here either. We miss you too dreadlovesista.

climbingjac

20-Oct-2005
12:38:08 AM

Good evening Australia :-)

Cheers for your messages of support. I'm on my way now - writing to you from the convenience of the free internet terminals in Singapore airport. I am on a dream flight - it is virtually empty. I have a whole row to myself. Woo hoo! Lots of space to spread out and relax.

I'll write again soon

jac


Jackie

21-Oct-2005
3:53:51 PM

Hey jac congrats chicki, keep us all posted on how your going and what the events like! Post pics if you have the technology with you, would be great to see all the young euro boys ;) and what the event looks like
x

(cheers Mat, I miss you and all the other bums too! x)

climbingjac

22-Oct-2005
5:34:39 PM

ok i am on the groung in Paris and i have already hit the gym. there are a lot of very strong nobodies over here!!!!!!

climbingjac

23-Oct-2005
6:50:23 PM

Hi everyone,

I hope life in Australia is treating you well!

It is Sunday morning and I am still busily gearing myself onto the World Cup timezone. This means getting up at 5.30am, because isolation report time is 7am (!!) this coming Friday morning. Note that the World Cup timezone is very different from the French timezone. I assume this because the French girl in my dorm room at the backpackers in Paris appears to sleep until midday.

It is bitterly cold this morning, which is very necessary, because it means you appreciate the aromas and the warmth coming from the bakeries. As a result, I've already been to the markets this morning and tried a variety of French bakery treats :-)

I've based myself at the "Antrebloc" climbing gym here in Paris. It has plenty of bouldering which is important for the solo traveller. After a blinding jetlag snooze on Friday afternoon, I had a quick boulder and was a little sad because noone spoke English. Yesterday I headed back there again, treated to some local talent on the Metro (otherwise known as people playing weird music and then passing the donation cup around). It was really bizarre, because they were playing "When the saints go marching in" on the tuba and marraccas. Not what I expected to be hearing. However, it was completely hilarious and I was pondering what the reaction would be if the same thing took place on the Melbourne trains. I was trying to suppress my giggling, because it is rude to laugh at a performer, and an old French lady nearby found my attempt amusing and launched into a lengthy conversation with me. Sadly I understood nothing of what she was saying, and wished I had, because I really wanted to know what she was saying.

Training yesterday was much better - my body wasn't trembling quite as much from jetlag, and I made a couple of friends. Yay! Now I am a local :-)

Anyway, must go - there is training to be done. If I don't fall asleep this afternoon I am thinking of going to the crazy intersection (near the Arc de Triomphe??) at which everyone has the right of way all at once and there are perhaps 10 close calls per minute. I think I could amuse myself by watching this madness all afternoon!

Talk soon

jac


DaCrux

23-Oct-2005
9:30:40 PM

On 23/10/2005 climbingjac wrote:
>If I don't fall asleep
>this afternoon I am thinking of going to the crazy intersection (near the
>Arc de Triomphe??) at which everyone has the right of way all at once and
>there are perhaps 10 close calls per minute. I think I could amuse myself
>by watching this madness all afternoon!
Crazy indeed - and very amusing. Funny... I was there exactly 2 years ago :)
I don't recommend trying to cross the roundabout - although it was fun :)

climbingjac

25-Oct-2005
5:30:04 AM

It is forbidden to use personal chalk in the bouldering gym here in Paris!!!

That's right kiddies, it is compulsory to use the chalk provided by the gym. It is stored in massive containers that look a lot like garbage bins. The reason for the ban on personal chalk is if everyone is using it, and falling onto their backs all the time - as you do when you are bouldering - there are lots of puffs of chalk floating up into the air around the base of the climbs, and this is not good for our lungs. Therefore, "chalking up" is carefully contained in designated areas away from the base of the wall. The chalk bins are a special design with their own special circulation system. I've taken photos so I can show the owner of Melbourne's forth-coming bouldering gym.

I've made some more climbing pals here in Paris - I am grateful that a few of them speak English, as training is more fun when you can talk to people. They too have lots of routes in the gym that have not been changed for ages. They laughed for about an hour when I explained that we refer to such routes as "classics". They laughed and laughed and laughed, and made a point of using their new word as many times during the evening as possible.

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a lot of strong nobodies over here. They span a variety of age-groups too. I was bouldering with an old guy just the other day who was initially declining to attempt certain routes because he hadn't climbed in two months. He then proceeded to show up several of the strong young chappies. Some of these chappies looked about twelve years old to me, but one of them had a motor scooter - with a "blip" installed on it, no less - so I assume they were at least of driving age (sixteen???) Either way, strong kids with lots of potential to become stupid strong.

Yesterday I visited the Champs Elysees - one of the most famous shopping strips in the world. I am proud to say that I made a purchase there. I bought chocolate. The fancy kind :-) On of them had a mint centre. And it wasn't the kind of mint centre like you'd find in your Cadbury block. It actually tasted exactly like the aroma of a mint leaf straight off the plant. It was bizarre, and I am still trying to decide if I liked the taste or not. Either way, the flavour contrast to other choccies I've tried this lifetime was big, so well worth the purchase.

I also went to the Arc de Triomphe - a big structure at the end of the Champs Elysees. And yes, the crazy roundabout was there. Woo hoo! Oh my time is running out, so I will submit this post for fear of losing the lot.

climbingjac

25-Oct-2005
5:31:57 AM

As for today - it is officially a rest day from training, so I did the tourist thing with some backpackers. My goodness I think I walked 300km today and I am exhausted!! Saw some great stuff though, and got to know some cool people.

Time to cook dinner and sleep.

Good night Australia!

jac


Richard

26-Oct-2005
1:12:23 PM

Holly crap, check out how many people can spectate .. here is the wall at Valence!!

Hope they don't put you off Jacqui !!


NEW2THEGAME

26-Oct-2005
1:46:11 PM

Good luck Jac ,all the best , glad you are following you're dreams I'm envious and will be scanning the reg sportz pages for hopefully your exploits to slip through the football/cricket centric sports filter,as well as keepn tabs on this thread .


Sabu

26-Oct-2005
3:56:58 PM

damn those are huge walls, and the size of the audience, wow will make for some good cheering!
good luck jac!

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