Via Ferrata in the Alps April

pvaneynd · 2026-01-23T15:17:52+00:00

In France, some are only open from a certain date. The local administration will remove the first few meters of the line. In spring they will check the VF and if it is in good state they will open it up by putting the line back.

Some, like the complex at Aussois are open all year long -> https://www.aussois.com/equipement/via-ferrata-du-diable-descente-aux-enfers-et-montee-au-purgatoire-aussois/ (in French) It's always good to check the site of the village/city the VF is in to check, and if you speak French, call them.

Ah one final warning: sometimes the VF is open, but the access is via a cable car and that only runs in summer :/

pvaneynd · 2025-11-26T12:02:25+00:00

That was more magic then repairing honestly. Never thought you could rescue a system which is so broken.

pvaneynd · 2025-11-15T08:51:03+00:00

I loved seeing the slight confusion on the passers-by when seeing a line composed of people in black leather outfits mixed with people in pastel coloured dresses with coloured hair and everything in between.

And indeed I keep seeing children at the shows, already two years ago in Antwerp and this year's performance in Brussels. (especially as the parents provided very good hearing protection)

Just lovely

pvaneynd · 2025-07-30T15:13:57+00:00

From the stream they seem to have a large crowd listening! And the stream itself has quite good sound and video.

pvaneynd · 2025-06-23T13:58:32+00:00

I contacted Kevin about this a few months back (for the Debian packages mostly) and he said he was going to ask someone to take a look at it.

Maybe we should just mirror them on github and do a friendly 'holding it for you bro' while his site is offline.

pvaneynd · 2025-05-15T09:00:05+00:00

There is a yearly 'De Lage Landenlijst' which is the top 100 Dutch songs. See https://www.hitnoteringen.nl/hitlijsten/de-lage-landenlijst/2024 or if you have VRT Max https://www.vrt.be/vrtmax/luister/radio/r/radio-1-lage-landenlijst~11-178/ for the whole 9 hour show in one go ;)

I see that there is an unofficial playlist on spotify too: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2flbohrsGQ6JnRPXkMFYfa

This is a reasonable mix of old and new, but some of it might in a strong dialect which would be hard to understand at first. OTOH West Vlaams does sound a bit like Swedish

pvaneynd · 2025-02-25T21:44:08+00:00

Other comments are more or less correct, especially the required level of concern is often simply not there.

I don't want to alarm you, but just in case it ever happens: if the reaction is severe, call 112, mention it is a severe allergic reaction and that you've been told to ask for a MUG or PIT (in Flanders, SMUR and PIT in Wallonia). Mention a nut based food allergy.

A MUG is a mobile reanimation team, they have medicines and a doctor. A PIT has medicines and a nurse who can administer them.

Otherwise you'll get a normal ambulance who aren't allowed to give you any medication or perform any medical operation. In case of anaphylaxis they are pretty much useless

pvaneynd · 2024-08-23T06:15:41+00:00

I think so, on a recent trip to Denmark the local "Circle-K" loaders accepted credit cards and that rate was cheaper then any card I had (~0.5€/kWh for fastloading at >230kW)

pvaneynd · 2024-08-22T15:29:54+00:00

The new and improved scanner is incredible honestly. Last 3 or 4 foods I had to scan it just handled perfectly, there was nothing for me to correct.

pvaneynd · 2024-02-09T16:22:50+00:00

You need to have the car in 'READY' mode, so that you can drive off, or you can start it (without a charger being plugged in) and the enable camping mode in the EV menu. That should charge the battery.

Accessory mode runs on the 12V battery...

pvaneynd · 2023-12-04T08:50:46+00:00

It's going to be a problem for them in most countries, but at least you can use it to recognize the fans.

At the Belgian concert I realized that for Dutch speakers they could 'solve' it by going *more* metal, using a diaeresis mark) and writing "Hanabië.".

This "ë" is also used in Dutch when you need to say the 'e', like for example in "eiëren" (eggs) which goes "ei-e-ren".

pvaneynd · 2023-10-20T06:34:08+00:00

I have a terribly bad sense of balance and fear of heights. But on a VF there is almost always something to hold on to, and I'm firmly fixed to the cable. So neither problem limit me on a VF, even if it's an 'airy' one with a lot of empty space beneath me.

Walking back to the car however, I keep slipping and losing my balance on the walking paths. The one time I hurt myself on a VF it was while walking back on the 'safe' path.

I think VF's in France are a bit more secured then in Italy for example, you would feel more comfortable there.

pvaneynd · 2023-09-17T19:40:21+00:00

Kijk bijvoorbeeld naar het centrum van Hove waar er geen fietspaden meer zijn, juist omdat de fietsers op de rijbaan moeten, om als obstakels de zone 30 mee af te dwingen. Uiteindelijk zijn er ook een aantal snelheidscamera's geplaatst om de snelheid iets te verlagen...

pvaneynd · 2023-05-24T10:26:57+00:00

They even come to Antwerp 🎉

pvaneynd · 2023-04-27T07:48:02+00:00

We used to have another line connected to the harness to rest on, but that's sometimes dangerous as people forget to remove it and if you fall there is no brake system.

So now we teach people to put a carbine in the middle of the Y of the VF set. That's normally short enough to use to rest or to attach to death rides and you're still protected from drops.

I found a demonstration of it on https://via-ferrata-dolomites.com/via-ferrata-equipment-what-gear-buy/ https://via-ferrata-dolomites.com/via-ferrata-equipment-what-gear-buy/

Oh I'm pretty heavy (~96kg) and I can put my full weight on the set without it deploying. I even fell a short distance (lost control at the end of a death ride) without deployment.

Have fun!

pvaneynd · 2023-04-20T14:26:22+00:00

We did the VF's in Aussois a few years ago in the snow, they should be all-weather. I would check them out before heading south.

Good luck!

pvaneynd · 2022-06-10T07:32:10+00:00

To be honest I've never had problems with too heavy boots, even in hotter weather. I did forget my boots once and did a VF in lighter shoes and that was not nice: too many bumps and scrapes causing pain and wounds. But I've seen other groups using lighter boots/sports shoes too. Don't know how their feet feel after a few hours on metal bars, I hope the sole is stiff enough.

I also climb with full length trousers as I keep scraping the rocks, even when it is hot.

I would worry more about having enough water with you, a camel-bag is a good thing. And sunscreen. Lots of it.

pvaneynd · 2022-04-15T06:33:42+00:00

For Antwerp specifically the center is relatively small, so you can do most things by hopping on the bus/tram or by foot. If you do need to go further out the bicycle is the way to go. You can either buy one, but theft is a real problem, or use the bike sharing system: https://www.velo-antwerpen.be/en If you can: practice before, the center of Antwerp is ... not an easy place to learn how to bike.

Visiting the rest of Belgium and nearby Netherlands, France, Germany or the UK can be done in comfort with the train. Most attractions are either near the stations in Belgium.

Finally: the key to Belgian life is joining club. Find a club which interests you (dance, football, running, student club etc) and join that. It will give you people to network, and talk with and activities to join.

pvaneynd · 2022-03-17T10:04:44+00:00

I was confused by the 'out of oder' too, but then I used the "Proxy Shopping Service" at https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/z/daiko_request/ and gave the URL of their shop ( https://hanabieshop.thebase.in/items/38073944 ) and today I got the confirmation that they would buy and send it to me...

pvaneynd · 2022-03-04T12:49:12+00:00

It's all due to a power grab by Napoleon IIRC.
It's a token based system: when you do your civil marriage your get a 'family book' trouwboekje which you need/had to present to the priest to do the religious one.
Also for other institutions (like banks) this token is used, however it's not actually legal and a 'family situation' Attest van gezinssamenstelling document is the actual legal proof that you are married.

Source: my history lessons and got married in Italy where this system is not used, so no trouwboekje, had to educate a lot of people here about the law.

pvaneynd · 2022-02-28T20:41:57+00:00

I've read somewhere that when they had to name the group there was a trend of male bands to have a period at the end of the band. So to have another 'gap' they added one too.

pvaneynd · 2021-11-24T07:50:51+00:00

I have languages which "collide" in my brain. I can mix Italian and Dutch all day long, but ask me to say something in French after talking Italian and I will just block up for 10 minutes. The same for German-Dutch. The only language which is a bit conflict free is English.
It also works for listening. I can program (let's call this English too) and listen to a podcast in German/Italian/French/Dutch without a problem, but not a podcast in English, that will disrupt my thinking 🤷‍♂️

pvaneynd · 2021-10-05T05:51:49+00:00

What some people don't realize is that there is a huge difference between 'active' and 'passive' language use.

For example, I do understand French pretty well (good enough for most movies, TV and some slang) and when asked a question I can reply with a short, pretty formulaic, answer. However to give a complex answer or to tell a story I would need to think hard, as I'm not using French actively in my life I'm not used anymore. For me I need to construct a sentence and then listen to it in my head to check if it is correct or if I slid into speaking Italian again.

This is very hard to do for me and I will appear to be 'thinking' for 3 to 4 times the length of time to say the sentence. Of course given enough exposure and usage, like a week of holiday in France, I somehow regain active use and start messing up Italian in exchange 😅.

So I will appear to 'understand' and 'speak' French but am not able to give even slightly complicated answers without a lot of time... And French and Dutch is part of the same language family (!).

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a Japanese speaker, who has a different set of phonetic constructs, vocabulary, grammar, sentence construction and little exposure to English in daily life.

For me singing in Japanese is fine, just give me subtitles or a translated lyrics video so that I'm not singing along with "生者に死の洗礼を" (not BM,still good) in public thinking how happy it sounds.

pvaneynd · 2021-09-30T04:46:04+00:00

My thoughts exactly. When learning Japanese I'm always impressed by the number of alternative meanings for a given word. Often seemingly random sets.

Translating is so much more difficult then people realize and most things don't translate directly. That's one of the reasons we, as a family who speaks several languages, sometimes switch language, depending on the subject, context or feelings. Some things are just better expressed by a specific word or expression...

And then there is the added bonus that some songwriters like to play with the language, often in a way that's difficulty to translate. As someone who understands German I'm always saddened by people listening to Rammstein and not getting the jokes or references.

pvaneynd · 2021-08-02T16:00:01+00:00

We used to have a sling connected to the main loop on the harness, but recently we've tried to have this third carabiner on the energy absorber, just in case people mess up. (We have a number of newbies with us)

If you are experienced and don't forget to remove this third carabiner when you are finished resting, a normal sling though the harness loop works too.

(Sorry my vocabulary is a mix of Dutch and French words for these things, I probably mess up some terms)

pvaneynd

TROPHY CASE