Delfts Bleau

Finally, the moment is almost there! After months of hard work the official opening of Bouldercenter Delfts Bleau will take place September the 21st at 10:00! The press has been invited, the alderman for Sports, the director of the NKBV and YOU!

Two members of the Dutch Climbing Team,  Vera Zijlstra en Michiel Nieuwehuijsen, will ‘open’ the walls with a demo. A private christening of the boulders by the people who helped building will start at 11:00, followed by a lunch.

This weekend, Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd of September will be opening weekend, with free entrance on both days from 12:00 tot 18:00!

English version will follow soon..

Always wanted to go climbing in the Piedra Parada in Argentina? Would you love to join the best climbers in the world and learn from them? Do you have piles of beautiful climbing related photographs? Then participate in the Petzl Roc Trip photo contest, send in your best photograph and win that ticket to the Petzl Roc Trip!

Every year Petzl organises the Petzl Roc Trip to a location where climbing is not yet known nor popular. This year the Piedra Parada in Patagonia, Argentina has been chosen. In this area Petzl promotes climbing, puts up routes and opens the climbing area for the locals. A great number of the climbers sponsored by Petzl participate in this. As a main component of the Petzl Roc Trip is the promoting of climbing, routes are set out on various levels, from beginners to experts. Therefore you don’t have to be an expert climber to join.

This year is the tenth edition of the Petzl Roc Trip and therefore Petzl organises a photocontest with which you can win a ticket for the Petzl Roc Trip. All you have to do is sending in a climbing related photograph and sweep your agenda for 22 September + 22 up and until 26 November 2012. It doesn’t have to be a climbing photograph, but the photographed topic must be climbing related.

Bouldercentrum Delfts Bleau has been selected as one out of three Dutch centers joining this contest. Are you of age, do you live in the Netherlands, do you have that one special photograph and are you available on September 22 and November 22 up and until 26? If so, mail your photograph before September 7 to roctrip@delftsbleau.nl . September 7 we’ll select the best three photographs which will be forwarded to Petzl.  During the World Cup Lead in Puurs on September 22 September, where you will join the other European competitors, Petzl will announce the winners. There are three tickets available, one of which is for the Benelux competitors.

Excited yet? More information and the official teaser are to be found on www.petzl.com/roctrip. Wij look forward receiving your photograph!

We’re there! The Dino is closed up and the last part of the wall next to the entrance is also finished. This finishes the outside of the wall! And it looks awsome!

There has been a lot of progression the last few weeks; not only did we finish the outside of the wall, but we also reinforced a large part of the dino with a skeleton of wood. Besides a lot of progression is made in building the carcass of the dressing rooms, so we started adding the beams for the roof this week.

The main wall and the large wall to the left are already sanded, so as soon as the top is placed, they can be coated for the first time.

Heuvelman Hout is closed for holiday, but luckily Pontmeyer had the right size of wood in stock! Furthermore the materials for the completion of the dressing rooms were delivered by Bouwmaat, they even cut the plasterboard to the right dimensions for free! We are busy discussing holds with several suppliers and made a test mat to test the foam.

Meanwhile the banner with our logo, designed by Bart van Raaij, shines on the outside wall. The banner is made by Fastgood Reclame.

Dick, Ronald, Nick, Rens, Rolf, Ties, Jamie, Hans, Yvette, Michiel, Sytse, Sjoerd, Remmelt, Jan, Kristap en Rolf: Thanks a million for all your help!

Roger, Thomas, Lucas, Peter, Jan, Sjoerd, Wietse, Anouk, Herman, Bart, Rob, Esme, Kim, Gabrielle, Rutger, Patrick, Joris, Henri, Matthijs, Theo, Rianne, Hans, Yvette, Hans, Marina, Margreet, Rodger, Maria, Roderick, Tessa, Dre, Johan, Rudi, Manou, Marianne, Reginald, Joost, Mara, Dirk, Hanneke, Nynke, Nicky, Steffi, Lia, Mario, Conny, Guido, Jip, Tom, Thomas, Tineke, Karlijn, Gerco, Jelle, Robin, Marion, Martin, Geeske, Jos, Pieter….: it was nice you dropped by and thanks for showing interest and support!

Another couple of productive weeks. Last week was spent mostly by Frank, Erwin, Remmelt and Roel to build the construction behind the wall, after which we started building the middle part of the wall (the dino). Last Friday we completed the Arc, connecting the back wall with the dino.

The Arc connecting the back wall to the dino

Furthermore a large part of the carcass for the dressing rooms is built by Dick, Ronald, Quirijn, Joran, Jelle and Hans and it gives a totally different view. Last Friday Hans and Yvette, with a helping hand from Rolf, finished the baseboards around the concrete, so the sand used to level the floor under the concrete is now locked in.

Carcass of the dressing rooms with the baseboards in front

Dick, Ineke, Ronald, Nick, Rolf, Joran, Jelle, Steven, Rens, Hans, Peter, Quirijn, Hans en Yvette: Thanks a lot for all your help!

The first two full working weeks have passed and a huge part of the wall has been built in this last two weeks, as can be seen in the panoramic photo below made by Rens!

Panoramic photo of Bouldercenter Delfts Bleau

Last Friday we finished the last part of the main wall, meaning that not only the entire wall on the left side of the hall is there, but the main wall is also finished! Next to the entrance a small wall remains to be build and the entire wall needs more reinforcements at the back.

The main wall in all it

Last Thursday the concrete floor was impregnated and sealed by PrintBeton & Co, making the floor impermeable to water and because the floor has become a bit darker, it’s even more beautiful than before.

Dick, Ineke, Ronald, Sytse, Jurgen, Conny, Janita, Nick, Rolf, Wouter, Steven, Rens, Richard, Hans, Hans and Yvette: thanks a lot for helping!

Finally this weekend the letter I’ve been waiting for from the Council arrived: the permit is granted!!! The landlord needs to make some adjustments in the fire safety of the building, but the permit is there!

In the past weeks the sand-lime bricks have been glued to the floor as the first layer of the dressing rooms. Next week we start building the dressing rooms and later in the week we start building the climbing wall in the middle.

This week we won’t work on Tuesday evening, neither on Friday.

This week was another short working week, the last one for now, next week will be the first full week. Still, there has been a lot of work done this week and a big part of the wall was built. The first slab part of the wall has now been built too.

Another big part of the wall built this week!

To be able to run SketchUp during the built process, Frank from The 7 Adventures, responded to our request on Facebook and offered a laptop to use during the building, thanks Frank!

Thanks Dick, Hans, Ineke, Ronald, Sytse and Yvette for helping this week! And thanks to all the people that came by to watch the progression live.

Inspiration trip Munich & Innsbruck

During the inspiration trip to the Boulder World Cup in Innsbruck and the visit to Boulderwelt in Munich I got a lot of new ideas in the design and the organization area, no new ideas for the bouldering wall, as the one for Delfts Bleau is looking great already! I also had some very interesting conversations about holds and building routes, more on this soon.

Impression new layout boulderwall

Progress construction

All holes in the plates have been drilled, thanks to Dick, Ineke, Jamie, Jeroen, Jolanda, Joran, Mazin, Ronald en Wouter. Last week Frank was on holiday and Erwin had to go to Germany on friday last minute, but in spite of all the the construction of the wall gets on pretty well, partly due to the help of Ronald and Dick. In the meantime the first part of the wall is becoming 3D! Ronald, Sytse, Hans and Yvette have been busy scouring the concrete floor and Sytse drilled a large amount of holes for the floor anchors.

First part of the wall becoming very 3D!

Planning

This week I won’t be on location on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the construction work does continue, because Dick does the honours of opening the hall, so Erwin and Frank can get on with their work.

Starting next week, the working schedule is back to normal, meaning there we’ll be working every workday from 9.30 to 18.00. The construction of the changing rooms and the bar will start next week and we’ll be working on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 19.00 till 22.00 too. All help is very welcome of course, there’s always enough to do!