No climbing apart from indoorclimbing (more than 26 good big climbing-walls)...There is one very nice one called Monte Cervino, a kind of copy of the Matterhorn Mountain,..where you can climb outside (even multi-pitch) and inside...

Anyway, as said by other members,...you have the Apls about 7-8 hours with the car. Not so bad...one day driving and you have the place to be in front of your eyes!!

Good luck in the Netherlands,

sjarelkwint wrote:

Moni wrote:

Proterra wrote:
When Climbing Mont Blanc, you probably woke up at less than 1000 metres and went to sleep at 3800 that night...

Got that right! We went from Uelzen (30 M) to Zürich (I think 600M) to Chamonix to the Gouter hut. (wheeze, wheeze, especially after sprinting across the Grand coulior).

My point is, that you might not get altitude sick but surely you'll feel it, especially since gondolas and the like will get you high up quickly.

It's like me to forget how really little all this part of Europe is - that Düssledorf would be closer and better than Amsterdam to catch a cheap flight.

You can also fly with ryanair from eindhoven or with corendon ... Just check those websites out!

I've been in Califoria for some hiking and there's a big difference in the altitude between europe and california ... In california i didn't feel a thing at 3000m in europe i've had troubles at 2000m . Not troubles, just felt the altitude actually ...

Aye. From Eindhoven one can fly to Bergamo (near Milan, for the Alps), Girona (Pyrenees) and Madrid. Corendon isn't worth it, they only fly to Istanbul, as far as I know, although you could check Wizzair out, they fly from Eindhoven to Katowice, which is quite close to the Tatra Mountains.

Sjarel; about the mountains; you could actually be right about that because California is much further south than most places in Europe. The further one gets from the equator to the poles, the steeper the pressure gradient in the atmosphere becomes, due to the rotation of the Earth the atmosphere "bulges" at the equator.

skotty wrote:Help! I'm an avid alpine and rock climber and for work I'm moving to one of the worlds flattest, lowest countries, the Netherlands!

In California I currently spend almost every free weekend climbing in the Sierra Nevada or Joshua Tree, both about 2.5 hrs from my home. What am I going to do in the Netherlands!

Sure I can't wait to climb in the Alps, but that's about a 9-10hr drive from NL; not good for frequent weekend trips. Are there any rock or alpine climbing locations near south NL (Eindhoven) that are close enough for regular weekend trips?

Hey don't worry, I think Denmark is even flatter

As pointed out perfectly by Zeddicus, the belgian ardennes and germany are really close by and offer plenty of enjoyable climbing spots. Ideal for a weekend trip, or even a day trip. From Eindhoven, it's about 200 km to the ardennes. I've once cycled to the ardennes from Eindhoven even. So you should not be climb-starved, although it's no Switzerland here.

Skotty,

you already got good information on climbing in Belgium. A little addition: depending on how you got things worked out insurancewise, it might be useful to look into membership with the NKVB (Dutch Alpine Club) or the Belgian (KBF) or German (DAV) alpine club.

Next to several insurances, it will also get you some other things:
- you will be allowed to climb at the crags in Belgium;
- you'll get a discount on prices for staying in (most of) the huts in the Alps;
- you'll have another forum to find some people that you can climb with;

As far as I know, climbing at the crags in Belgium is allowed for members of NKBV (dutchies: correct me if i'm wrong) or KBF (the Belgian Alpine Club), not sure about DAV.

I live in the west of Belgium, a two hour drive away from the Ardennes, and starting from march/april, climbing can be quite nice (for training) over there. Be prepared for nothing compared to what you're used to though...

Thanks for the tip on the alpine clubs. I will certainly look into joining. I hope to do whatever I can to find some friends to climb with in Erupoe (otherwise I'm sure I'll spend a lot of time getting lost )