Aquarium... and more.

We recently has a spell of bad temps in Chulilla. Cold and windy ( gusts at 100km/h ). So we hit the aquarium in Valencia. Its pretty rad. Here a couple pics. Lev and his girl are staying with us for a couple days. Nice to have a teammate here with me. BAM"É

Ocean Gravity

Pretty fucking cool...

OCEAN GRAVITY from Les films engloutis on Vimeo.

La Calle...

Being on the road takes it toll. It seems everywhere I go, almost constantly, I get the " your living the dream " schpeal... But in reality, like a wise man once said, there is no free lunch on this great blue yonder.

I left Montreal in October, after being home only for a month, and hit Lebanon. I spent the better part of a month bolting, breathing in rock dust and speeding through red lights. We then flew to Spain where I have been getting my as kicked for 2 months now. The weather changes. Days are cold, tips are frozen, clothes dirty, and more rope dangling to edit a film. Nights spent in silence with headphones on for 5 minutes of vimeo action for all.

Where is the balance, the center of it all where we find a reason for what we do and a love of who we are? I have yet to conjure up an answer. Maybe you can. Who knows.

We have little to do with the rest of the population. Why then, do people want to live like this? Why are we wanting to be so different and so apart? I lay in my bag sometimes, looking up at the stars, and wonder, maybe, if I should not be a wheel pusher. Cubicle, all in vacations in cancun, and the car payment! then i snap, and realize, that will never be me. never be us. cause what I do, what we do, serves to push the wheel as well. hopefully, we drive you to exemplify what you are in a good way, and produce yourself at the crag early on saturday, and work that project or ski that ridge.

We are all part of this lifestyle. Weather you buy the magazines or make them. We are all culprits and all doing are part to make headway.

I miss home this morning. I miss it very much.

My little brother has two kids, my niece and nephew are my pride and joys. I miss them very much. he keeps me posted on them via the web, but its really not the same. I hope to see them soon and I hope to see them grow up strong and do what they want to do, however they choose.

Submersible

Islam you fucking assholes...

I would like 10 minutes in a room with no windows with any one of these fuckers... Take away there guns and bombs and give them to me...

Isis and the islamic state is a joke and only features on control and degradation of women and circles around money and power. I laugh and spit in the face of anyone who tells me different. All regions are a joke and ALL are responsible for the world atrocities happening right now in far off lands while we chat on Facebook and complain about slow internet speeds and winter storms...

Religion is the cause or catalyst of every major war or conflict since the beginning of time, and we seem not to do anything about it.

I am ashamed to be a human today. A person. I am ashamed that I cannot do anything other then watch the worlds richest at the helm care little about the suffering and horrible dilemmas happening all around us every day.

Klemen Becan

For those of you nice to enough to keep tabs on me and flirt with danger, here is an exclusive. Only if you check my blog can you know this is up.

I will make it public tomorrow, or maybe someone will embed first, but whatever, you get it first.

Thanks for committing, and thanks for being part of us.

Ulric

Dedicated: Klemen Bečan from Ulric Rousseau on Vimeo.

Chulilla with the new Cine Lense... Take it in...

Puppy and owner.... :)

Eva ties in and laces up for another cool 7a.

Locals put up the routes, so don't forget about em...

Eva sports the Climbtech bag, Thanks CV and the crew.

AT the house with the strangers from Austria...

Bluetopia...

Upcoming...

Make sure you stay tuned cause the first episode of

[ded-i-kay-tid]

featuring  Klemen Bécan will be up soon.

Subcribe to my Vimeo channel to make sure you get it when it comes out in a few days...

Chulilla, Spain

I was on the wall, filming Klemen for the second time and thought I would share some of it with you. The movie will be out soon, but here are some shots from Goran on a 7c+ onsight attempt and the crew hanging at Pared Blanca yesterday. Another great day in Paradise. Valle.Ciao

Goran sneaks his way up the crux first pitch ( 7c+ ) of an 8c+ 70m madhouse...

Eva cleans up after Malik

Sebastian, EL LOCAL fired up everyday. We will climb together one day, I promise :)

Hangin at 80m...

Goran aka Gogo shoulder deep and grunting...

Dec 24...

I've been writing again. Though not in the normal sense and in french nonetheless. Its one day to Christmas, and although I do not endorse or admire any religious holiday, it does bring to mind romantic elements of the past, and possibly the future. I miss the snow somewhat. Not enough to move to the arctic and see it year round, but there is something about walking on sturdy snow, hearing it beneath my shoes and breathing in the crisp air. It does bring back nostalgic moments.

Feel free to use anything I wrote to get laid this holiday season.

Have a good one. Merry "whatever" to all, and to all a good send next year.

( Sorry. for some reason the font function is not working. had to highlight )

Un Petit Froid. Par Ulric Rousseau

Je pense beaucoup à marcher avec elle dans la petite neige de l'après-midi, main dans la main en amoureux. Le silence de l'air froid autour de nous. La neige qui tombe sur nos épaules lentement. Me retourner ver elle. La regarder dans les yeux. Embrasser ces lèvres doucement. La tenir au chaud contre moi. Ecouter le son des soulier sur la neige fraîche sou nous pied... engourdie.

Main dans la main...les amoureux marche sous les arbre du parc. Les branches fraîchement vierges des feuilles de l'automne. Encore plusieurs d'entre elle peu être ressenties sou la neige nouvelle de novembre. Brusque. Paisible. Simple. Tous blanc au contour de noir des arbres au dessous de deux amoureux. Le canapé couvert de petit glaçons qui coule d'eau translucide sou les percé de soleil de l'ouest. Légèrement est le temps. Rien ne dérange cette peinture parfaite d'amour. Les deux aussi son parfais. Leur main entre eu, les doigt exposer au petit froid ce réchauffe ensemble. Leur bout ce touche doucement, ce frotte l'un contre l'autre. Il marche épaule coller. Tète ver l'un et l'autre. Tranquillement. A demi vitesse sou le canapé de neige glacé et le blanc froid qui étourdis leur sentiment.

Des yeux qui percent le soleil, qui fond fondre le métal, qui abaisse même le regard de vampire. Il urge une passion mais encore plus, une détermination constante et dramatique. Une dévotion toxiques d'amour et de désire qui rend son homme fou, sans pitié,  elle le dévore d'une seul bouchée,  son sang légèrement,  brutalement deviens le sien...

Une soirée passer avec toi. Une chambre tous noir enluminer par des chandelles.  Un bain chaud. Des bulles. Blanches. Une bouteille de Champagne coulent doucement sur ton corps, moi qui goute et bois tes sien, tes fesse, tes jambe, ton cou, tes lèvre, tes épaule, ton nombril. Mais main qui glisse sur toi. Dans toi. Tes yeux fermer qui vie en temps réal le rêve parfais. Un homme qui aime la femme parfaite qui fais l'amour a la femme qui aime l'homme fort qui la protège a tous moment de la noirceur et du mal. Qui dépose les fleure a ces pied, qui demande juste de lui faire plaisir...

La lumière fond leur âme ensemble. Il s'embrase longtemps. Il la regarde avec amour pur. Il la caresse. Il la prend avec ces muscles fort mais gentiment. Elle le regarde puis ce laisse prendre. Tombe dans ces bras. Presse sa tète contre lui. Son corps nue repose sur lui. Il la tien. Embrase ces partie sensible autour de son coup puis ces lèvre. Son corps commence a sué. Elle glisse contre lui. Elle ferme ces yeux...

Quand je pense a elle ces un souvenir. Même si le temps n'y est pas vraiment responsable. Juste un petit moment. Elle étais a moi pour une fraction de second. Tout a moi. Disponible. Belle. Généreuse. Attentive. Son désire ma réalité. Ces demande mes action. Elle troublait mes rêves. Elle me réveille des cauchemars puis ajuste la lumière de demain pour le jour de hier. Ces souvenir son mes réalité. Son amour pourtant caché démontre une sincérité absolue. Nous demandons du silence pour réveiller les morts avec nos cris. Nous demandons le bruit pour encourager les belle nuit de sommeille paisiblement ensemble. Seul. Personne. Le secret. Tout a nous. Rien ne peu déranger.

Ce qui m'excite ces de ne pas avoir de pouvoir. De filtrer les mensonges puis les vérité des phrase. Etre totalement pris au poignet. Elle parle puis je fonds. Elle me demande est je commande. Pourtant. L'heure  approche ou elle verra que tous sa penche a païenne la balance quand a l'amour qui séparera elle et lui par moins de un centième  de millimètre. Quand elle pourra  goûter  ce que elle désire elle sentira pour la première fois ces quoi être vivantes. Respiré. Sentir  son sang pomper  dans ces viennes. Lui il la prendra  a ce moment volatiles puis la portera dans un orgasme magnifique digne de un homme presque  parfaits...

De la...

Boreal and John Bachar

We swung by the Boreal factory today for some shoes for kids in Croatia and got a cool chance to see the factory and man, what a cool last stop in the private showroom of the owner. ( This might sound odd or cheesy ) but it was really inspiring to be in the presence of this particular pair of shoes. Man. My breath actually slowed to a gasp when I saw em. Jesus ( Boreal owner ) told us that he had boxes and boxes of used pairs from every climber who ever wore Boreal in the last 39 years including Wolfgang and Lynn Hill and the list goes on... Cannot wait to stop by next year to see the actual museum they are building.

Thanks again or all the shoes for the kids Jesus. Many smiles to come and thanks for supporting a La Sportiva athlete. Jesus, like me, knows that in these kinds of situations, loyalty is only skin deep and what matters is the end result in helping others less fortunate. Kudos man.

Off topic...

Spain

We took the day to stock up at the Mercado on food and booze... @ 2€ the bottle, why would we not spend 300€ on a grocery run. Meat, fish, cheese, pasta, veggies ect. The house is stocked and the gear is unpacked from toting 5 22kilo bags and 4 carry on through two planes, a bus, two train transfers and a rental car pick-up. After 30 hours up eva and I fell asleep like babies... tomorrow we start warming up. One week of endurance to get used to the 50m routes here and get my fingers back after 6 weeks of bolting and almost a year from hard climbing. My project is to climb as much as possible and have as much fun as I can. Anyone doing any different can suck it... LOL

Climbing Beyond Borders...

My boy Rory started this thing a few years ago and its getting pretty loud.

Check it out...

Lenny morning...

Good morning... Perfect song for a perfect start of a day...

10 days.

In 10 days, I get my first 4 month CLIMB ONLY vacation. No drill. No emails. Just a 100m rope and 5 pairs of solutions to tear up. BAM



veteranos from mugiwara on Vimeo.

Lebanon...Last call.

We, I and Eva, and recently Emlie, have been held up in Jezzine, in southern Lebanon, for about 3 weeks now.

When I got here, I was faced with 4 days of rain. Starting the engines was a little hard. I would bolt only a few hours a day. Finding the correct lines to start a wall is crucial. Those prime lines lead the future development of the wall for others.

I bolted 8,12 and 14 first. Took about 6 days in all, due to the massive cleaning these routes demand.

I had a small army of warrior cleaners come and go. Soon, with those guys hacking away, I was able to get a couple more lines up ground up.

When Eva and Emilie shoed up, they went to work on their own, alongside Nicolas, a local climber and guide. Armed with two drills for them, they put up a couple more routes while I was stuck with the dangerous end of the stick: Moving from anchor to anchor on lead with my gri gri as partner.

We where able to put up over 20 routes. Most of them ground. Most of them with massive blocs the size of Volkswagens as my enemies. Side stepping and high stepping past these beats with RB's and Mexi-Pins (TM).

All told so far, we have put in about 380 bolts. bust out the calculator... Yup. That means on average, the routes here have about 20 bolts. This was my vision. With Uber safe distances between bolts, guides, classes, beginners and self taught experts even, could enjoy safe zone climbing and learn at their rhythms...

After all this effort, its nice to the rain come down and clean the walls, freeing the dust and earth from the pockets, roofs, slabs and jugs that make up some of the features.

The wall is really cool. most routes have multiple roof systems, with big jugs and good feet to lend to easy terrain. Some lines, like Meridian, have this amazing exposure, but with bolts at every meter. The climbing has been referred to as " Mountaineering " or " Alpine " or " Yosemite " without the cost of the plane ticket and the scar of death or dismemberment.

To recacp. This is a great crag. 3 min approach. Lots of new potential for even easier climbs on the right side and a small " School " crag on the left. All anchors are chained and fully equipped for ease of lower and no twists in the rope. ( The way it should be ).

Below, you'll find a short video of the area, and the topo so far. There are a few corrections to be made, but I am in a rush. I want to bolt another line before the rain moves in.

I also need to emphasize that none of this would be possible without the huge support and love from the following people.


Marc, Chloe, Lena, Rami and Ellie @ Lebanese Climbing Association
Jano @ The North Face
Rob and Beth @ Maxim Ropes
Evertt and Jim @ La Sportiva
John @ Petzl USA
Chris, Eric, Grear, Stacey and Karl @ Climbtech
Kati and Rob @ Big Agnes
Daniel @ So iLL
Jure @ Morpho
Eva Moya Prado
Emilie Pellerin
Nicolas
Samir
Khalil and the Town of Jezzine for the Hotel and Laundry
Guy Parent and Francois Sebastien, my mentors :)
Jean @ Urock
Eddy
and all the climbers, friends, supporters, Facebook likes, blog hitters, pats on the back, keep going stories, instagram feeds, pro climbers I learned from (Lynn, Alex, Chris, Danny, Jason and the list goes on )

And really, my mom. Without whom I would not be able to wake up everyday, faced with overwhelming opposition, evil doers, negative throwbacks, rage induced defamatory emails to sponsors, and impossible tasks, jealousy and egotistical fear, and then, walk RIGHT THROUGH THEM LIKE YOU DON'T EXSIST, because, at the end of the day, the ones who support me know I always take the ethical moral high road, and leave the table scraps to those who want and war for them and the ones who do not, only make me want it more.

What happens if you tell a 4 year to not eat from the cookie jar?

Because you believe in me and my passion, is the reason I can do what I do without fear of reprisal, disgust or losing a step.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

PS. Feel free to come and bolt, guide, take pictures, film, camp, climb and enjoy this area. There are no rules and anyone and everyone is welcome. ;)


DJI00035 from Ulric Rousseau on Vimeo.

Pretty cool footage :)

INSPIRE ONE : : SPONTANEOUS INSPIRATION from Spontaneous Combustion on Vimeo.

Lebanon Week 3

Another few weeks have passed. Eva has joined me and Emelie is arriving on the 16th to join Eva, Nicolas and a slew of helpers and motivated peeps to develop a new area in the southern region of Lebanon.

The area is located a few miles from the entrance to the Magnificent town of Jezzine. The area is hidden in the valley floor, and took a few days to find.

Habbib, a speleology pro and local contractor offered to drive me around to look at cliffs as part of the mayor initiative to develop the sport in the area. Of course, I jumped in. On the second attempt, we found this great area. Its about 300 meters wide and 90 meters tall. Most routes are 35m.

Like I have stated before, I was not in Lebanon to bolt 14's ( 8c's ) but to try and help the sport grow. No better way to do that but to get down and dirty and find an area we could put in 40 or so routes of beginner and intermediate range. I have been working the wall for 10 days now. At first alone, but now, more people are showing up daily, armed with drills and hammers, eager to bolt or clean or tread trails.

My drill has been pounding the walls for 10 days now, including 4 days of rain. We have 10 routes up. Mostly lower 6 grades, and one 7c+ or 8a. That was a fluke, I wanted to go under the roof and tread right to avoid the overhang, but the rock was not solid and safe enough, so I finished the tufa line up straight through three roofs. It over hangs about 5 meters over 20. Its pretty rad.

Eva and I started a new wall yesterday and I think we can get a few lines up on this area that will be in the 5 grade which will be great practice wall.

My goal, as it has always been, is to help expand the sport. This area is for everyone. Anyone can come and learn with me, or alone. You can guide, take pictures or film and climb when you want.

If you don't have a drill, you can use mine. If you do not have bolts or hardware, you can use mine. As long as it goes up on the wall in a safe and correct manner, then everyone wins. And like I told everyone who has shown up, if they are not sure, they can ask and its my pleasure to guide you in the safe direction.


I think we will succeed. :)

Here are a few shots of my first days here and the new wall.

Small crag in Bierut. Pretty cool. Kenny and Jess playing around.

Dinner des Con... After a hard day at the new area, beer sounds pretty good to me.

Kenny, Jess and ( sorry, forgot your name ) smiling...

View from the hotel, paid for by the city, in Jezzine. BAM.

A pics sent to me in FB. In Beirut. We will surly put up a couple lines there before leaving this year. :)

My stitches before I pulled em out during my layover in Istanbul.

Bolting the second line at the new area. Ground up. BAM.

4 batteries should suffice...

Turkish Airlines were so cool to accommodate all my 150 kilos of gear on the flight, for free. Much thanks :)

Eva bolts the first line on a new part of the new area. :)

THE AREA. BAM BAM"

Where we are...

I miss my friends. I miss them immensely.

Although I have friends all over the world, and I have met thousands of people in my years on this great blue marble, I feel very alone.

I am in Lebanon today. Tomorrow, who knows, but right now, on the balcony of the hotel, I stare out into the rising sun to the east, watching it creep over the mountain side and cast light onto the valley floor. The coffee mug steams on the banister. I roll some tobacco. Its silent. In the distance the morning chants of the Koran ( not sure what the term is ) clash against church bells. A sort of a war fo sounds. Its actually quit nice. Rhythmic.

I wish all my friends were here. Jai and Marin would bake bread on the burner. Kelley would navigate to the hospital. Jimmy would chatter on about conspiracies. Mike ( RIP ) would sit there with headphones flipping his knife open and close in his black Carharts.

Eva would still be sleeping or washing dishes. Jeb would stand over the battery charger and inspect any gear that would be laying around the room. Jeff would be writing, Jim shooting everything with his camera. Paya would roll and joint and Carlos and Fer would just sit in silence watching us. Ramon would be making vegan food and sorting out the trash into categories.

I wish everyone was here with me. We could climb and have fun and smile. But we are all in other parts of the world right now, doing other things. It saddens me.

I wish we could all be together.

:)

New area and some mud