Wednesday, December 23, 2015

December 23, 2015 - Not Any Other Day.

My main goal for today was to go finish off "Pierrot" in Marion des Roches.
On my way there, I stopped at Rocher des Princes to warm up in "Albatros Royal", a 6C+(7A) dyno.
Last time I stopped there, it was wet, even though the weather was nice. It's on the North-East face of the hill so apparently really slow drying.
Anyway, we had some good conditions lately and quite some wind, but to my surprise it didn't look as dry as expected. Certainly not wet, but humid the least.
A quick inspection on the top of the boulder showed that luckily the most dry place on the edge of the boulder was there where you have to jump to. But still not in good conditions.
I could grab the edge at my first attempt, but slid off due to tiny sand particles spread out over the hold. I went back to the top to clean it as good as I could, but these tiny sand particles are really hard to get rid of. They always keep on coming back somehow.
Now at least I could stick the hold, but just barely.
The mantle out proved to be a bit scary because besides that one hold, the rest of the top was pretty humid and also sandy.
In these conditions, it felt at least like a soft 7A for me. Maybe it's more a Summer problem.
But I was warm now.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Princes - Albatros Royal 6C+(7A)




Next stop, at a 2 minute drive from there, was Marion des Roches.
About 10 days ago I made myself the promise that I would soon go back there to spend some time in "Pierrot" to finish it off.
I didn't need much time, because it only took me about 15 minutes to tick it off. That was faster than I had expected!
When I arrived at the problem, I first practiced the crux move. For me it's the one where you go to the jug. Surprisingly this went much easier now and I did the crux at first try.
The conditions were much better than last time, and for me it was a sign it would be done today. I still had the complete sequence in my head, so all I had to do now was to execute all the moves, one after the other and don't fall out. Sounds simple huh ?
I think it was my third or fourth try that I was on top. Even though, I missed the last hold at first and was afraid to still come out. Luckily I corrected quickly and came out clean.
If I would have fallen out there (it was past the crux), I'm sure they would have heard me swearing miles away!

Fontainebleau - Marion des Roches - Pierrot 7B




It all went so fast, so I now had to think of what to do next.
I was thinking of a project nearby that I could try, now that the conditions were in favour and me on a roll.
"Basta (assis)"!! Rocher d'Avon is not far away, and I still had the moves in my mind as I tried it not that long ago.
When I arrived there, I first repeated the "normal" crouching start again very quickly (2nd go). I wanted to make sure to have the dyno in my body again.
It still took me a lot of tries for the sitstart, because for some reason, either my toehook let go, or the move towards the crouching start didn't go.
When I finally got that working again, I was able to get to the point of the crouching start, but failed every time on the dyno.
I really had to force myself to take the time to get my hands in the same position like where they are at the crouching start.
Once I had it all together, I was ... there, but ethics were not, or didn't follow.
Anyway, it was done. Phew!!

Fontainebleau - Rocher d'Avon - Basta (assis) 7B+(7C)




On my way home I still stopped at Coquibus Grandes Vallées to try the problems in the big roof, "Perle de Crête 1" and "Grimpe Etait Toi".
I practiced the topout of "Perle de Crête 1". I got there, but it was with shaking knees. The last holds of the topout, right above the small boulder, are flat. Not slopers but flat. Certainly not the kind of hold that you grab and think "Yes, it's done". You still really got to keep your act together until you really stand with both feet on top.
I started the camera and began. The holds under the roof are all positive, but I could feel the power fading in my arms while holding on to them. I knew that I was not going to be able to finish this one with the small amount of strength that I still had in me, and the topout was still to come.

I quote myself from a couple of days ago:

"I didn't feel like taking any risks, even though any other day I probably would have gone for it."

I wisely made the decision that today was "not any other day" and went home.

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