Help me become Iceclimbing Worldchampion

I never dared to start this. Because I’m in the opinion you should spent your own money on your own adventures. Not mine.

It took me “just” 13 iceclimbing Worldcup Seasons to write this, start this.

Here I am, taking a huge step asking you openly to please support me this competition season.

*update*

And within just 2,5 days I reached my modest goal. I'm hugely impressed, feel flattered and privileged to have you all in my community!

Now, as you can read in the lower bit of this statement my minimum calculation for just the Worldcup and World Championships was €7000,- just for me. I have decided to raise the value slightly to make it more realistic. Read more about my cost-breakdown here below.

This year I realised I maybe could. I’m so close. Maybe I can actually reach the podium. I upped my training in all ways possible. Get help from professionals and I’m putting everything aside to train full time. That is sometimes even 3 trainings a day. At least five days per week.

And it’s clear the steps are paying off. Repeating D14’s and currently even climbed D15! (only two other women in the world have climbed this grade once, so far). On my home wall I do laps on what were the hardest routes ever at the end of the season.

Agenda

Soon the competition season starts with the first training in Brno, Czech Republic (October 24-29), the first Continental Cup in Žilina, Slovakia (November …) and in December we even have a Continental Cup in Utrecht, the Netherlands! (Come watch!)

Last season I won all these comps except one where I got second. This year I’ll try to use these comps as practice tests to finetune my skills for the Worldcups. Try different techniques, tactics, food schedules, trainings, take risks. Perfect all.

To be ready for the BIG Game. The Worldcup series ánd the two-yearly World Championships

And, I want to win these.

What are my chances?

Last season I won almost all Continental (European) Cups (4 first places, 1 second place). I reached the finals on all three Worldcups in Korea, France and Switzerland. Best place: fourth. Just, just a hair off the podium.

With my current training, dedication and focus I’m much stronger and fitter.

So my chances are high.

How high? That’s always a guess. Everyone is training, everyone improves and you can always have bad luck or good luck.

What I do know is that with your support my chances will increase significantly. As I currently don’t even have the finances to go to the Worldcups at all.

With my tiny low paid work I do next to my trainings, and not having any financial sponsors, no savings, I don’t have the base.

What finances do I have?

From our national Federation we get a budget up to €1500,- to spent on the competition, if I reach the finals, if I win the national championships, if I’m in the national team. I’m quite sure I can reach these requirements, but there’s always an “if”. The city of Tilburg (where we live) has a funding, I applied for the funding but only know in December if I’ll get any and what the amount will be. It can be anywhere between zero and €670,-

Every year a few friends do support me, they buy me a coffee or, like last season; made sure we could pay a ticket to Korea and to Scotland. Without this support I would not have been the winner of the series. But this year we don’t only have a comp in Korea but there will be a comp at the other side of the big sea too!

I’ve covered the costs of shoes, and most other equipment, trainings, advice of specialist and local travels.

Thanks to Fysio Stofberg Brabant for example I have 3 free special trainings a week, thanks to Scarpa I have my iceclimbing shoes, thanks to Monte Cervino I have weekly lead climbing.

I will have to buy new picks (€120,- per pick) for my tools and would like to invest in a new pair of iceaxes (€375,- per tool)

So, what do I need.

Support in plane tickets, fuel costs, hotel expenses and other travel expenses.

Every little bit will help. A coffee is already a great support.

In the end I’ll need to cover the following:

- Training Camp Brno. Training costs €100,- accommodation €75,- travels €100 (we share the costs as I take my training group with me) food €50,- = €325,-

- Continental Cup Žilina. Travels €150,- (we share the costs with two other strong Dutch climbers Tom & Annick), accommodation €200,- we need a longer period as I won’t travel back home) competition costs €50,- food €100,- = €500,-

- Continental Cup Brno. The weekend after Žilina. Travels €150,- accommodation €200,- competition costs €50,- food €100,- = €500,-

- Continental Cup Utrecht. December 16, as the comp will be held in Utrecht we only have local travel costs €50,- and subscription costs €30,- = €80,-.

- Worldcup Korea. Plane ticket €1000,- (of we can book now, €1500 if we have to book last minute), hotel costs €350,- (most food included), local travel costs €15,-, subscription costs €100,- = €1465-1965,-

- Worldcup Saas Fee. Travel with our camper to Saas Fee €250,- stay at the SaasFee campsite instead of the insanely expensive hotels €50,- , Subscription costs €100,- food costs €50,- (as we’ll take most food from home in our camper). = €450,-

- Worldcup&World Championships Canada. Plane Ticket €750-1200,- hotel stays €400,- local travel costs €50,- food costs €100,- subscription to the competition €100,- = €1400-1850,-

- New picks and iceaxes €750+240=990,-

Potentially I could add a local/elite competition in Canada after the Worldcup, or add one or two final Continental cups in Scotland and northern Finland to close the season in the beginning of March.

These would add roughly €2000,- to the needed budget to for fill.

Adding these costs will give me a total amount of €5710-6660,- with the optional €2000,- is 7720-9670,- of needed budget. As said before with the budget of our federation I can take off a potential €1500,- leaving €6220-8170,- as request.

I have not added any of the costs for my husband Dennis. He’s the one getting me this far, the one sharing his experience and skill (he won the Worldcup Speedclimbing! He’s 8 times Dutch champion, 2nd on the European cup series, climbs D14 and is a product engineer and designer specialised in climbing equipment) and he’s my coach. It would be fantastic to share the Worldcups with him as climber and as coach. But we’re very aware we might not reach the budget needed to take this journey together.

Only with your support I can manage these comps.

Only with your support I can have a chance on the podium.

What else do I do for our community?

First of all I think it’s my duty as national team member getting a budget from our federation to give back to the community.

So we organise a drytool event (we do not get paid to do this), teach courses and clinics for just travel and equipment costs. We for example ask only €5,- for our weekly competition trainings.

On social media we manage multiple iceclimbing pages and share our knowledge to no costs.

I’d love to hold lectures to inspire others (I can be booked through Sport Speakers for example) but unfortunately this doesn’t run very well.

I’m not a mountain guide so I can not take people out on an iceclimbing adventure. I am certified rock climbing instructor though.

But there's much more I do:

- invite fellow climbers and enthusiasts for dinners and tell all about our lives, and how the competitions go.

- I take climbers for a session on our training wall or at the competition wall in Utrecht.

- I go for walk and talks. Motivate to chase your own dreams.

- I sign a posters (for years we share posters, children with my poster in their bedroom are now as adult in the Expedition Academy, inspired by that iceclimbing poster from ten years ago, how cool is that?!)

- we make special drytool holds to improve training

-we (Dennis and me) started a website providing specific equipment for a bigger audience and when needed improve designs and sell them for fair prices

I think that's the least I can do for the community besides trying to become one of the best

Want to help me keep on growing our sports and share my passion? Please consider a small donation

Following the GoFundMe policy I have to state this request to donate is not linked to a raffle, sweepstake, giveaway or any returns on investment.



Thank you for reading this all, hope you can help

Want to follow me? I can be found on Instagram @verticalmarianne