May 13, 2012 at 18:20
Today, I would like to announce my new plans for 2012. In September and October of this year I will take part in an expedition to the summit of Manaslu. Manaslu is 8156 meter high and that makes it the 8th highest mountain in the world. Last year it was climbed for the first time by a Belgian when Jean Luc Fochal reached the summit. In total, only 400 climbers have ever stood on the summit of Manaslu. So climbing this giant is more exceptional than climbing Everest or Cho Oyu.
So at the end of August, I will leave for Nepal again and hopefully I will reach the summit of an 8000-er for the 4th time. If I’m succesfull, I will match the 20 year old Belgian record of Ingrid Baeyens. The plan is to climb Manaslu without supplementary oxygen just like I did on Broad Peak. I have registered myself in the mean time with an international expedition under the leadership of Russell Brice.
During the next month,s I will keep you posted via this website about the progress of my preparations. And in September and October, you will be able to follow the expedition on a daily basis. I will also add more pages with background information about Manaslu in the next few weeks. So keep an eye on this website !
May 5, 2012 at 23:56
This week, I was informed that Jacques Pirenne completed his last of the 7 Summits. If I’m not mistaken, that makes him the 6th Belgian that has succeeded in doing so. A great accomplishment by Jacques. Jacques works as a surgeon in the university hospital in Leuven. He has climbed Kilimanjaro with a number of his patients that have a transplant.
April 30, 2012 at 22:01
Time for another short update about my projects in Kiva. This month, another 453 $ in outstanding loans was paid back. 6 loans have been totally paid back in the mean time. This amount I have reinvested in other projects in Pakistan.
in the mean time, I have also invested another 500 $ in Kiva projects. This money comes from my sponsors. That brings the total invested amount to 3287 $. This additional 500 $ was invested in projects in Ecuador. Ecuador is the country where I really started mountaineering. In 1998, I climbed Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, my first mountains above 5000 meter.
Slowly the Kiva fund is growing. You can also invest in Kiva yourself. For more information about Kiva and the projects I support, I would like to refer you to the Kiva page.
- Total invested amount: 3287 $
- Repaid amount: 2813 $
- Reinvested amount: 2750 $
- Not reinvested amount: 89 $
- Number of projects totally repaid: 6
- Number of supported projects: 63
- Total value of support provided to these 63 projects: 6100 $
April 23, 2012 at 10:45
I’ve just added a worldmap to the expeditions page. This map clearly shows my track record in expeditions.
April 15, 2012 at 22:24
Time for another short update about my projects in Kiva. This month, another 440 $ in outstanding loans was paid back. The man in Peru that was behind on his repayments has paid nicely on time as well. Not only did he fulfill the amount for this month but he has also repaid the amounts he owed for the previous months. In other words, nobody is behind on the repayment schedule at this moment.
I have reinvested the repayments in new projects in Pakistan. For more information about Kiva and the projects I support, I would like to refer you to the Kiva page.
- Total invested amount: 2838 $
- Repaid amount: 2360 $
- Reinvested amount: 2350 $
- Not reinvested amount: 10 $
- Number of projects totally repaid: 0
- Number of supported projects: 54
- Total value of support provided to these 46 projects: 5200 $
Next month, I plan to invest more than the usual repayments. The fund will grow with an additional 500 $. This additional money will not be invested in Pakistan. Most likely, this 500 $ will be invested in projects in Ecuador or another South-American country.
April 4, 2012 at 15:37
My lecture for BIKAS this Saturday was very much appreciated by the audience of about 70 people. It took place in a small but very well equipped theater in Wijnegem. During the break, I was able to catch up with some members of the audience. The next lecture is planned for the 8th May. I will be speaking – in Dutch – for the Davidsfonds of Aartselaar. More information about this lecture can be found on the events page.
Yesterday, I received some really sad news. In 2009, I met the Austrian Gerfried Göschl on K2. And in the summer of 2011, I bumped into Gerfried again in the Karakoram. Yesterday, I read on the internet that Gerfried and two other mountaineers disappeared a few weeks ago during their attempt to climb Gasherbrum I in winter. Helicopter flights were organized in an attempt to locate Gerfried and his colleagues but with no result. Gerfried was a top mountaineer, father of 2 little children and a great guy. His accident is a tragic loss for his family, friends and for the mountaineering world.
March 25, 2012 at 13:47
Last week Thursday, I gave a much appreciated lecture in Brussels on an event organized by KMO-IT. For an audience that consisted of entrepeneurs, I talked about my experiences in the mountains and about the similarities between “mountain projects” and “IT projects”. The key message of my lecture was the importance of trust, both in the IT-world and at high altitude. Trust between a client and his IT-supplier will significantly increase the chance of success in IT-projects. And trust between climbers, sherpa’s, weather forecasters, … is just as important at 8000 meter.
Giving my lecture
Before my lecture
Next week on Saturday, I give another lecture in Dutch. This time the event is organized by BIKAS. BIKAS is an NGO that supports projects in Nepal. These projects focus on basic eductation, ecology, health care and infrastructure. This year, BIKAS is supporting the construction of a trail that will connect a village called Kalipul to a road to the market, the school and medical care in the valley.
During my lecture I will talk about my expeditions on 4 8000-ers: Cho Oyu, Everest, K2 and Broad Peak. I will make a comparison between these 4 climbs and will tell more about expedition life. You can find more information about this lecture on the events page.
March 11, 2012 at 22:09
Nog even een herinnering dat ik nu donderdag een voordracht geef over project management en bergbeklimmen voor KMO-IT. Ik zal uitleggen hoe vertrouwen en transparantie de steunpilaren zijn die mee leiden tot een succesvol IT-project. Geinteresseerden kunnen zich nog altijd inschrijven via deze link.
March 5, 2012 at 17:42
Time for another short update about my projects in Kiva. This month, another 375 $ in outstanding loans was paid back. For the first time, someone has missed a repayment. The loan I have outstanding in Peru is running 8 $ behind on the repayment schedule.
I have reinvested the repayments in new projects in Pakistan. That wasn’t easy this month because for a number of days/weeks no project in Pakistan were available on Kiva. So I’ve had to be patient. For more information about Kiva and the projects I support, I would like to refer you to the Kiva page.
- Total invested amount: 2818 $
- Repaid amount: 1980 $
- Reinvested amount: 1950 $
- Not reinvested amount: 30 $
- Number of projects totally repaid: 0
- Number of supported projects: 50
- Total value of support provided to these 46 projects: 4800 $
February 29, 2012 at 11:05
On a regular basis, I give lectures where I talk about my adventures at high altitude while using spectacular photographs. These lectues do not only cover the story of one or more of my climbing trips. I also talk about the vision, passion and persistance that are required to complete these types of expeditions succesfully. And these lessons can also be applied outside of mountain ranges. For those that are interested in organising a lecture, I have added a list of topics and a short description on the event page.
You can limit your audience to members of your organisation. But you can also invite a wider audience to the lecture and use the evening to collect funding for your organisation. I can support this evening through my contacts in the press, an announcement on this website and a mailing to people that have been following my adventures for a while.
I can also give lectures to the personnel and/or clients of your company or I can organize workshops. In your company and on an expedition, you will be facing many similar challenges with regards to motivation, teamwork, communication, … The combination of my experience as a mountaineer and my experience as a manager in an international IT company, offers lots of possibilities to support your company with a interesting lectures based on your specific needs.
If you are interested, feel free to get in touch with me.
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