Like hiking up a mountain

Doing art can be challenging, the last few days just felt like I was hiking up a mountain.. And that’s because.. I WAS! And it was very fucking cool!

No but seriously, this week I feel like just chatting about the trip that I was on last weekend with the whole 3D Hubs team. Last year we went on a ski trip in Val Thorens and this year we went in hiking in the area of the Mont Blanc. And now you might be thinking, wow.. This must be a really fit team and Robin must be one-in-shape guy! And you would be completely.. Wrong..

I mean, what did you expect? I sit behind a desk all day and when I get home from work.. I just sit behind a different desk.. I do run a lot though.. In Overwatch.. And even there I mostly just use a Jet Pack to fly around! “DEATH FROM ABOVE”!

So, on the first trip to Val Thorens we went skiing… This was my first time skiing ever.. I borrowed all my things and I looked absolutely ridiculous. (see picture later on) I decided I would go for the snowboard simply because that way I only had to control one big ski, instead of two smaller ones that move individually.. Makes sense.. Right?.. Right?!?!

Well.. that was my first mistake.. Second one was.. I assumed it would be freaking cold if you’re all the way up a mountain in the snow… So I dressed up warm.. And I mean.. Reaally warm.. First experience snowboarding was during my lessons where we were supposed to learn how to get up.. So we did that..

And again.. And again.. And again.. And after about 15 times of sliding down a bit.. Falling over and getting up again.. I was completely soaked and my head was boiling and I had an insane headache.. So much for that..

The second day however.. I found out they also had sleds.. NOW THAT WAS COOL! Sledding isn’t that much different from go-karts and seeing how my dad and my uncle build those together.. I know how to fucking go in a cart! So, needless to say.. With my “build” I was by far the fastest and could not get enough..

Yes.. I am the guy with the very red nose and the ridiculous outfit...

So, this year’s trip.. As I mentioned, I am not the most fit guy in the world but I was very curious to find out how the hiking would go. The schedule was as follows. I had to get up at 5:45 on Friday morning in Amsterdam and by 11:00 I was in Chamonix France. The first day would be free to spend as everybody pleased. There was a pretty amazing spa in the hotel so needless to say about half of my colleagues took that option. Another quarter went to explore the town and local bars. 8 of us remained and decided to go on a hike straight away.

For me this felt as a good little test and a way to test out my new boots who I started wearing for an hour on the day before. And I have to say after a first steep climb to the cable-cart and having walked around for a couple of hours, it was absolutely amazing. To be in the cold fresh air of the mountains, chatting to colleagues outside of work and not about work, very very nice.

The first hike definitely felt like a good first challenge and the Sauna and ice-room afterwards felt really really good. That night, one of my colleagues arranged a club to open up early for us and at 11:00 we had an empty club all to ourselves.. And this is what I think of night clubs:

The next day would prove to be the most challenging hike. We left with 31 people to go on a 4 hour track up the mountain and seeing as some of my team-members are quite fit, the first 20 minutes was basically us running up the mountain instead of walking and if that was going to go on for much longer, I would have had to call it quits.

But thankfully, we decided to take it a bit slower after that part and the rest of the trip proved to be amazing. Our hotel (and the entire city of Chamonix) is located at around 1000 meters above sea-level. We hiked that day from about 1000 meters to 2300. And with the constant rainy-ness that we had in the days that we were there, the entire mountain was covered in a thick fog which made everything extremely quiet and eerie, I can't wait to do it again!

On the third day, we took a cable-cart up the mountain to about 2300 feet and we had a loong hike that went up at time and descended others. Again, the weather was the same as on all the other days and we had to go through the rain and the fog until we reach Lac Blanc where I had some colleagues who were crazy enough to go swimming in the lake with water of 2-3 degrees. The hot chocolate milk at the nearby "refuge" is probably the best I've ever had.

Finally, on the fourth day we wanted to go and take the cable-carts all the way up the mountain to an elevation of 3842 meters. And I'd like to close of this loooong report with these images. Next time, back to some artsy stuff!

Have a great weekend guys!
- Robin