Thursday, January 19, 2017

January 19, 2017 - Mister Freeze.

It was only -7°C when I left to Fontainebleau city this morning. I had an appointment at 10 am for having my laptop repaired.
By the time I arrived the appointment got postponed until tomorrow same time, so I found myself earlier than planned on the parking of Cassepot. It was 10h30 and still a freezing -4°C.
At least there was no icy wind like yesterday in Villecerf, so the layers of clothes were doing the job.

It was still too cold to immediately my main goal, "Triple Axel", so I walked up the hill to Cassepot Roches Oranges.

A lizard guarding the boulders of Cassepot Roches Oranges.

The walk was a good warmup and "Spirit of Cadeau" was lying mostly in the sun so it seemed like a good first problem to try.

Nice problem, but soft for the grade. Flashed it quite easily.

Fontainebleau - Cassepot Roches Oranges - Spirit of Cadeau 7A




Flashing "Spirit of Cadeau" gave me confidence and I decided to go back down to Cassepot Roches Grises and try "Triple Axel".
I had done the standstart "Double Axel" not even a year ago and I still remembered the moves very well.

The problem was in excellent conditions and I knew that I would be able to do it as soon as I worked out the moves from the sitstart up to the stand.
Not even fifteen minutes later (breaks to warm up the hands and toes included) it was done and then done again just for the fun of it.

The sitstart adds some moves, but I didn't find them hard enough to add a full grade compared to the standstart. Top class problem though!

Fontainebleau - Cassepot Roches Grises - Triple Axel 7B+




On the same boulder, to the right of "Triple Axel", seemed to be also another 7A+ that I never noticed before, "Banzaï (bas)". A low start of "Banzaï", graded 6C+ but given 7A by 83,3% of the registered repeaters.

It looked much easier than it turned out to be. I really had to fight for this one and it actually took me longer than "Triple Axel".

Fontainebleau - Cassepot Roches Grises - Banzaï (bas) 7A+




"Banzaï (bas)" had taken a lot of my energy so I needed a short break but had to keep moving to not become Mr. Freeze.
I didn't have a real plan, but crossing the road and to walk through Rocher Saint-Germain and decide on the spot what problem I feel like trying.
One of them was "Rosetta".

Even though the topout was really scary because of all the moss on the top and the right side of the boulder, I did it on my second attempt and found that it could in no way be a 7B(7B+) but at most 7A.
After checking bleau.info, it turned out to be with a sitstart.
I didn't feel like doing that scary topout above a small boulder again and decided to continue my walk.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain - Rosetta (debout) 7A




I wasn't far from "Éjection Précoce" anymore and decided to try that problem again to finish off the day. Fighting against the cold and trying to keep warm takes a lot of energy and I started to get tired.

"Éjection Précoce" is a dyno in which I spent maybe five short sessions already, mostly alone, once with friends, but I never saw anyone doing it in real life.
Today, my first try felt better than all of the tries that I ever did in that problem and I decided to setup the camera.
I have no idea how, but today it felt easy. I only had to find my deadpoint on the sloper after the dyno and it was done.
It's a quite technical dyno with as good as no footholds.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain - Éjection Précoce 7A+




The cold and physical efforts had gotten the better of me now and I went back to the car, using the Route de Luxembourg, a straight flat path up to the parking.

The Route de Luxembourg in Rocher Saint-Germain.

1 comment:

  1. Seems to be great workout again mate and I'm glade to see some activity again.
    I'll be honest, I got a bit worried in the first few weeks of the new year...It was bit a too quite for comfort! I was a bit anxious you may got stuck under a rock or perhaps had to find shelter under a nice cosy boulder ;-) With candle lights of course just for setting the right 'ambiance'!

    I can't wait to come back again to Font... the sooner the better!

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