6 days of the Eifelsteig

Last week we had the opportunity to hike six days of the Eifelsteig. The Eifelsteig is a 300 KM-trail from Aachen to Trier in Germany. It is one of the top-trails of Germany. And did it meet expectations? Yes! Most definitely!

The first time we heard of the Eifelsteig was about 4 years ago. We were on holiday in the Eifel and visited Manderscheid,Beautiful start of on of the Eifelsteig stages a beautiful tiny village with a ruin of an ancient castle. We walked around the village through the woods. We noticed there were signs everywhere of the Eifelsteig. Back home, we found more info of the complete steig on their excellent homepage. At that point we decided we needed to hike this steig at least once!

6 days of the Eifelsteig

Since we only had 6 days, we did not have enough time to do the whole Eifelsteig at once. So, time for some decisions; what stages would be most interesting? One important thing was we needed to be able to get back to our starting point, where our car was. After studying the map for a while, we decided to depart from Gerolstein. Trier would be the end of our 6 days. Exactly 6 stages and the possibility the return to Gerolstein by train.

But not just hiking..

As you might know, I am preparing for something. Just hiking around in the Eifel for 6 days would not be enough to continue my preparations. Following this, we decided we where going to camp as much as possible. So, taking a tent, sleeping bags, food, stove and everything was an excellent way to train hiking with a 20kg+ rucksack.

The days

Hiking was great! The steig itself is very beautiful, I was surprised by the low amount KM’s we needed to walk over tarmac. Most paths lead through the forest. Views were stunning, and we fully enjoyed the (lack of) sounds in the forest. The Eifelsteig definitely met my expectations!

Was all great? Almost! In the end, we only camped two nights (Schalkemehren and Manderscheid), partly because of the rain. But mostly because campsites seem to be really rare at the Eifelsteig. Wild camping is forbidden in the Eifel, so we were reluctant to do this, even though I saw some really beautiful spots.

The summary, movie-style

During the hike I experimented somewhat with my freshly bought actioncam. I summarized the 6 days in a movie of over a little more than 120 seconds, see below. Enjoy!

-110 degrees at Freezlab

Last week I broke a record… twice! I did summit some pretty cold mountains last years. But I was pretty sure Denali’s going to be the coldest place I ever went to. Until I learned about the coldest place in the Netherlands: Freezlab.

The people at Freezlab are experts when it comes to cold places. They believe Cryotherapy, exposing your body to extreme low temperatures, helps boosting your immune system. And since Denali is not exactly the warmest place on Earth, I decided this is a great test for me.

The Freezlab experienceVisited Freezlab. The -60 room

Visiting Freezlab for a cryotherapy session is easy and takes a surprisingly short amount of time. After registration you need to take a blood-pressure test, because cryotherapy with a high blood pressure is not a good idea. Surprisingly, it took me 3 takes to pass this test (need to keep an eye on that!).

After I successfully passed the test, it was time to get (almost!) naked. Wearing only my underwear I was escorted to the Freezlab itself. My ears, hands, feet and mouth needed to be protected, because I was about to enter a room of -60 degrees Celsius.. almost naked! After 20 seconds Freezlab decided this was not good enough and they told me to enter the next room. And this is the magic place.. -110 degrees Celsius and one needs to stay there for 3 minutes.

Getting cold

These 3 minutes are very interesting. I cannot compare it to any other place. Yes, definitely, it’s cold. But there is a very low humidity in that room, which makes your stay a little less uncomfortable. I could feel every hair on my arm erect and my arms and legs started to tickle. This is because your body starts to protect your vital organs against the cold. And your body does this by cutting the blood supply to your limbs.Freezlab. The -110 degrees room!

The three minutes passed by surprisingly fast, so time to exit. The best thing to do next is to get your blood flow start again. This is why Freezlab has some trampolines to jump on. So after 10 minutes of jumping I was nice and warm again.. and feeling very refreshed!

Was it worth it?

Yes, most definitely! I visited Freezlab twice now and am certainly more aware of temperatures. I can feel warmth and cold more intense and have better control my body’s reaction to it. And this will definitely help me to bear the cold on Denali!

Want to visit?

That’s a great idea! Freezlab is located in the Olympic Stadion in Amsterdam. A reservation is mandatory before visiting. But this can be done using their excellent website, read all about it here.

Look back and forward

Around new year is always a great time to look back and forward. What was 2016 for me and how do I hope 2017 will be?

Look back: 2016

Usually, I’m not the kind of guy that makes big plans for the year to come. For some reason, I made an exception for 2016. There were two things I wanted to accomplish this year:

  1. Climb Denali
  2. Become a freelance privacy/security consultant.

By now I can tell, none of the above happened!

Climb Denali

I did not (yet!) climb Denali, but I am sure I’m going to try! Does this make me feel dissatisfied on my climbing in 2016? No, certainly not! I knew I had to gain a little more experience to be welcomed in a Denali expedition. For this I made a great plan covering 2 weeks in the Alps. The main goals where to climb Grand Combin (Swiss) and Mont Blanc (France) from Italy. As you might know, this route to the summit is longer and more demanding than the normal (Gouter) route.

The plan was good, but I did not expect to be home again after 3 days. Indeed, things didn’t work out. Time for plan B. In spring 2016 I had some thoughts to climbing Mount Elbrus as preparation for Denali. Alpine Ascents also recommended this. However, after reading about Elbrus South face, I decided this was not for me. Too crowded, too easy, no fun. So at that time, I cancelled the idea.

Climbing in SwissBut, after my failure in the Alps, I needed an alternative and I needed it fast! So I decided to climb Elbrus north face, and summited! This was, without doubt, one of the best trips I ever made! The Caucasus are so magnificent! My fellow climbers were great, and this all made the trip a very emotionally intense experience .

Become freelance

The second one, become a freelance privacy/security consultant is not in scope of this blog! Sorry about that.

Look forward: 2017

Looking forward is always better than looking back! Since summiting Elbrus, I decided to start this current project: 7-Summits in 7 years. The goal is ambitious, but I fully believe I can do it. Time isn’t my biggest problem, money is. 5 of the 7-Summits are payable for most people. But this leaves Mount Everest and Mount Vinsion. Those 2 mountains are really expensive, and are hard to fund without support. I haven’t sorted this out, but am making some good progress. I met some great people who might be able to help me find a way. The challenge of climbing the 7-Summits is not just climbing those 7 mountains, it involves a lot more. I see this as another part of The Thin Line, and finding my own limits. Running this project  is just a total new experience for me.

The coming months will be dominated by extensive training. I have posted my current training schedule, and this will intensify coming months. End February/begin March I’ll head to the Eifel for a week and do a part of the Eifelsteig. This will hopefully include some wild camping, snow and low temperatures!

Tappenkarsee 201617th May is the big moment. I will catch a plane and will only get out when I’m in Anchorage. Yes, my Denali expedition will begin on 20th May! I’m really looking forward to this and am doing the best I can to be fully prepared. A lot of things can go wrong, but my shape and my gear will not be one of the things that might go wrong.

Currently, I’m looking for a little extension of my Denali trip. As said before, Elbrus was an intense experience to me, and kept me (emotionally) busy for a while. It changed the way I look at the world, myself and my life. Since the Denali-trip is longer, tougher and more extreme, I expect I need some time to think things over again. But, more on this later!

After Denali, preparing for Aconcagua starts. I did some research on this mountain before. The normal route, or the traverse are not that hard (but still not to be underestimated!), so I might go for a non-standard route. But, I haven’t decided yet!

So what do you think?

Look back and forward. Something I don’t do every year or day. But, to summarize this blog; it’s not bad.. at all!

I think I got all the ingredients to make 2017 another great year! There will be tough challenges, like climbing Denali or running the 7in7-project. Hopefully there will be a great success; summiting Denali!

I will, again, come closer.. to my thin line between pleasure and pain.