Alpinism in Switzerland
Trekking through mountain scenery got me thinking how it would be to climb one of these giants, instead of just wandering by. So together with a colleague from Ernst&Young I decided to do one of these "rookie climber courses" in the Alps. It was a good combination of rock-climbing and "alpine" climbing. The course is offered by Edward Bekker (www.ebskialp.com)
There are no real hotels, so we stayed in a hut.
Now the weather looks pretty damn good here. You can even see some people venturing outside in sandals! However, the weather can really change quite rapidly. With clouds being pushed through the valleys, there can be a sudden change to rain or even snow. Just go inside, and enjoy a big serving of spaghetti, accompanied by a good beer. Yeah, climbing is not that bad.
Sitting together one of the first things is to get acquainted. Everyone has their own motivation to join the course. Some sound familiar, some are more aimed towards rock climbing - they come in all sorts. The guides were Edward Bekker and Jorg. Edward is quite famous for completing the Swiss Alpine Guide course. Usually this privilege is reserved for Swiss only. Besides that, Edward tried to climb Everest and some other Big Ones. To be honest, I don't know if he was successful. His company however has some success, since his courses are also sold and commented upon in Op Pad, the best selling Dutch outdoor magazine.
The course consisted of two parts. First some rock climbing, after that when weather allowed we were to climb the Dammastock. But first the rock climbing.
Elementary skills such as belaying and how to make knots were shown. Since this is not school, you put it to practice! Interestingly there are even such courses for parents with kids.
The man in the red pants is Jorg. Jorg doesn't have a history of scaling Himalayan peaks, but the story of how he got involved in climbing with Edward was interesting for me. Certainly at that time. He started life as a consultant. Guess what I was at that time... He decided he'd had enough of that. It was so much better to be outside, climbing and learning people new skills. Every day enclosed in an office, talking business talk: it's good for some years, but to enjoy life a change was needed. Why not see what he could do with his greatest hobby? At that time I didn't think much of it, except that he was very right in leaving the big consultancy firm. I was planning on the same, so what he told me was fuelling my thoughts. Remember though that this is already years and years ago.