23 Oct
The weekend of 12 and 13 October was the day. Finally climb outside! But for this we had to get up early. But at eight o'clock, not exactly on time, we were on our way. The group was split in two, one group went climbing in Hotton and the other group went climbing in Les Awirs. We went to Hotton and once there, the home-baked cake was immediately caught and the climbing pass used properly. After we enjoyed the cake and everyone was present, the harnesses were put on and used!
It took some time getting used to climbing outside. There are no more colored handles that you can hold on to. You can sort it all out yourself. But once you were up you also had something: a nice sun, a nice view and if you were lucky a cave. If you were less lucky there would be bees and ladybugs. Lots of ladybugs. At the end of the afternoon it started to rain slightly. Fortunately everyone had climbed a lot of routes and we started to get hungry. So time to go to the house. This was a bigger challenge than expected. By a less strategic navigation decision we had taken a tractor path that was rather steep and bumpy. But in the end it was worth it because we were no less than 3 minutes faster.
In the house it was a bit cramped but in the end everyone had found a place to sleep. So we were able to collect wood for the campfire and prepare dinner. In the absence of good cooking equipment, a baseball bat also proved to be a great option for stirring. After a super spicy meal we were able to sit around the campfire or in the hot tub for the rest of the evening with a beer in hand.
The last day we went to Pepinster. That was a bit different because here it was partly slab climbing, but with enough sore toes you also came up here. In addition to this slab, there was a really cool overhang route. Besides that it was really far beyond my level, it was unfortunately also closed due to falling rocks. I have also been able to try multipitch once. It was only one pitch up but still nice to have done it once. At the end of the afternoon we drove to Verviers where we could enjoy a delicious pizza. And so the weekend was over again.