This morning when I drove to work, I had in mind to go and try "Coup de Force" in the evening.
I knew that I still had the moves of the first part in me after having done "Coup de Faiblesse" not long ago, so it was just a matter of linking the start into the other exit, the one of "Achoppement Libre".
It was still very hot, there was a lot of humid-like pressure in the air, and I didn't set my hopes high.
However, on my first attempt, I immediately made it through the start easily but fell out of the link-up.
It took me only one separate try of the link-up to find the method again and prepared for another complete attempt.
Little did I know that I would finish it right there on my second attempt, but everything came together and I worked my way fluently to the end.
It climbed like a charm!
Fontainebleau - Rocher Guichot - Coup de Force 7C(7C+)
Having done that so fast, I still had more than enough time left to walk over to Rocher du Potala and do the correct version of "Icare".
Very nice dyno with a hard to stick slopey edge!
With 29°C when I left work this afternoon, it was really hot! Nevertheless, I stopped at Rocher Cailleau on my way home.
I wanted to try the recently opened "Le Tnuh" on the backside of the boulder behind and to the right of the "Vandale" boulder.
My hope that it would be mostly in the shade quickly dissipated when I arrived. Most of the boulder was in the sun and felt warm, but at least the start of "Le Tnuh" was in the shade.
It's a short line, harder than it looks at first, but I can imagine it being easier when it's cold.
For a moment I even played with thought having to leave empty handed, but that didn't take long.
Overall a very nice and fun little problem!
I had some more time this evening and most of it was spent in the back of Franchard Isatis.
After lacking enough motivation to really try hard in "Burn to Shine (gauche)", I quickly gave up on it and moved over to the nearby "Iceberg" boulder.
I remember looking at it for the first time many years ago, thinking how "Iceberg (raccourci)" could be 7A+. It just looked to easy for that.
Boy, did I have lesson in humbleness there!
It quickly became clear that "Iceberg (raccourci)" was not to be underestimated. It even sank the Titanic!
A couple of short sessions later spread over some years, I still hadn't managed to climb it, but last time was a long time ago, so why not.
Finally this evening, after quite some tries, I figured out how to move in it and topped it out not long after.
Some delicate moving in this one!
Despite being plagued by a constantly slipping right foot, I soon after also topped the sitstart, "Iceberg (raccourci assis)".
The sitstart doesn't make it much harder, but the extra moves at the start make the line much nicer!
Yesterday afternoon, I worked in the garden and for at least two hours, I cut bamboo in pieces small enough to burn in our fire bowl.
My fingers and body felt wrecked this morning, but still eager to climb, I went to the nearby 91.1.
I had left early to avoid the crowds and because more garden worked was planned for the afternoon.
As a warmup and with soar fingers and skin, I flashed "L'Américain" with relative ease.
Opened as a 7B, but adjusted to 7A+(7B) after today.
Still for 7A+, it felt kind of soft in my opinion.
Fontainebleau - 91.1 - L'Américain 7B
I couldn't find enough motivation to go really deep in "Le Bowling", to the left of "L'Américain", so I decided to have a look for the isolated boulder of "Défi Supplémentaire".
I found it quite easily only by looking at the picture and using some common sense.
Basically it's located at about 150m to the East-South-East of the main area of 91.1, to the North-North-East of Le Bilboquet on a tiny hill.
Looking at the picture and standing in front of it, "Défi Supplémentaire" looks like you would flash without blinking your eyes, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
The many pockets and hold are mostly oriented wrong as opposed to the move you want to make.
I really had to go deep for this one, but finally managed to top it out too.
My fingers and skin were completely wrecked, it was the end of the line!
When I parked at the buvette of Apremont, it was already almost 10h, but still I had the feeling that I was already late.
Yesterday evening I couldn't make up my mind about where to go today, and it was only this morning that I decided to go try "Welcome to Tijuana" in Apremont Envers.
When I first tried it a few years ago, I had the impression that I lacked continuity or just plain strength to still do the crux at the end, despite moving quite well through the first moves.
It was exactly 10h when I arrived at the boulder and started working out the moves separately.
A mere 45 minutes later, I made it through the end crux, using a method that I hadn't seen before, and finished "Welcome to Tijuana".
I felt a great relief sending such a beautiful classic!
Fontainebleau - Apremont Envers - Welcome to Tijuana 7C
Some other boulders that I had put on my list to try today, were "Hadès" and "Compresse Nez", the hard left exit.
The very wide compression in "Hadès" was pulling the split in of my fingers open again, so I didn't try that one for long.
I passed by "Compresse Nez", only to find it already taken by other climbers and I as I didn't feel like climbing in a group, I continued my way, wondering where to go now.
Walking towards the buvette again, I was thinking to go to Apremont Bizons or Butte aux Dames until I noticed the boulder of "Priapisme" sticking out above the ferns at my left side.
I had already done the standing start "Priapisme (debout)" about a year ago, but wasn't strong enough for the original sitstart.
I did get stronger compared to last year and on top of the boulder was completely in the shade and totally isolated, so I headed over and started inspecting the holds of the slow drying boulder.
Everything was perfectly dry, so I gave it a chance and surprised myself that I was able to do the first couple of moves up to the crux.
This boosted my motivation and I focussed on working out the crux.
A lot of energy and some hard work later, I surprised myself even more by topping out "Priapisme".
It was still quite early when I parked at Le Chalet Jobert, but Sepp (Breesch) was already there seemingly just finishing breakfast or simply enjoying a moment in the sun.
Once again, I was going to try the crux of "Lanceur d'Alerte" in La Fontaine Saint-Bernard and Sepp joined me for a couple of minutes to have a look at the boulder before going to Maunoury.
Sepp had told me that he receiced news that the bivouac of the Hippodrome in Fontainebleau was completely full, which I kind of expected on again a long weekend where Monday is a public holiday in many countries.
I quickly made some nice progress in sticking the crux of "Lanceur d'Alerte" at least a couple hundreds of milliseconds and hurried to Mont Simonet before the crowds would appear.
I made a quick ascent of "Le Requin Blanc", in which I chickened out last time.
Very nice problem on a beautiful boulder!
Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - Le Requin Blanc 7A
I then wandered through the main area for a while, trying some problems on the way and ended up at the huge boulder of "Duke Nukem" near the bottom of the hill. All that without seeing a single person.
On the backside of that boulder I managed to finish "Modulation", a beautiful problem opened by David Evrard and François Louvel, which is unfortunately often wet for a long time after rain.
In fact, it was the first time that I found it completely dry and I took advantage of the occasion.
Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - Modulation 7B(7B+)
The rest of the day was spent working in the garden ...
Yesterday evening I had spent almost an hour working out the moves of "Coup de Faiblesse" in Rocher Guichot.
It all went better than I had expected and in the end, I even even fell off the last moves a couple of times, coming from the start.
I was out of energy and out of time to take a longer rest. On top of that, I had pulled a deep split in two of my fingers, which had started bleeding.
The whole day today, I had "Coup de Faiblesse" on my mind, and I was determined to finish it off after dinner ... with two fingers taped.
There were two other climbers that had arrived just before me, but they were there for "Guichot Business" and they didn't mind me when I asked.
Already on my first attempt this evening, I arrived at the point where I fell off yesterday, but made a wrong move and fell out.
Every attempt after that I fell off the same last moves, but now it was the tape that started to bother me and didn't give enough friction on the slopers at the end.
I had to make a choice between preserving my fingers, or substantially increasing my chances to send the problem.
I chose the latter and topped "Coup de Faiblesse" not long after.
Beautiful problem with some great moves!
Now "Coup de Force" comes into my radar
All my fingers survived by the way ... more or less.
Oh yeah, and thanks to Maxime for the encouragement.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Guichot - Coup de Faiblesse 7C(7B+)
I hadn't planned on climbing this evening, because in Montereau, where I work, it rained for a long time in the morning and it stayed wet all day.
I was pleasantly surprised, however, to see that the closer I got to home, the dryer it was.
So after dinner, I went to Gorge aux Châts without a plan, but with a lot of motivation.
The conditions were far from good enough to try something real hard, but "With Love" looked doable.
On the boulder of "Plats de Saison" and facing "Rubis sur l'Ongle", you can't really say that it's hidden, remote or isolated, but still, up to today, it only had ten registered repeats in total on bleau.info. Which is not much for a popular area like Gorge aux Châts.
I had tried "With Love" already quite a few times, but never got far and gave up on it quickly.
Now I wanted to spend some real time on it and twenty minutes later I finally made it.
Definitely 7A+ and for sure not even the easiest one!
A very nice and, according to me, underestimated problem in difficulty and beauty.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - With Love 7A+(7A)
I'm not a really big fan of Bruce Lee and Martial Arts movies in general, except when it comes to climbing it.
On the top of the neighbouring hill of Justice de Chambergeot, but included in the area, lies the isolated, hard to find boulder with "Bruce Lee".
A small boulder, hidden between several others just beneath the plateau, and behind some trees, but good for some shade, despite being on the South face of the hill.
I had tried "Bruce Lee" several times already and last time was more than a year ago, but I remember well how each time I was hoping that the big and very steep approach would be the last time.
Today was no different, only this time I left knowing for a fact that I don't have to that steep and slippery approach anymore.
I had just done "Bruce Lee" and "Bruce Lee (gauche)"!
The first move and hanging on during or after the swing is crazy hard and is what took me the most time.
I was hoping that it would have been nearly over after that, but I was dead wrong.
What followed were some more quite hard moves, but well controllable when executed nearly perfectly.
It did take me quite a while before I had figured out the method that suited me most.
I had to use, for the example, the momentum of the swing to move on to the right and lock a toehook (which can be better seen on the video of the left variation).
It kind of looks like a Kung Fu move and I was wondering if the name was maybe derived from that move. However, on the video I have ever seen from "Bruce Lee", Bart (Van Raaij) did it differently.
Anyway, a first class problem which is definitely worth the effort of the approach.
Fontainebleau - Justice de Chambergeot - Bruce Lee 7B+
Knowing all the moves really well now, it only took me two more attempts to finish "Bruce Lee (gauche)". Still the same crazy hard start, but a slightly easier exit.
Fontainebleau - Justice de Chambergeot - Bruce Lee (gauche) 7B
Maybe, I might still go back to "Bruce Lee" when some friend wants to try it and we happen to be together, but then I'm not carrying the crashpad!
Another public holiday for a lot European countries, which for most means a long weekend, and it was to noticeable on the streets.
The majority of cars that crossed my way going to Rocher Saint-Germain were either Belgian, Dutch or German.
If the English would have been there too, you could have fooled me into believing it was the Easter weekend.
I parked at the Belle Croix on the top of the hill as I wanted to try "OSS 117" first, just above the boulder with "Délire Onirique".
Knowing that I would have to hike up all the way up the Route de Luxembourg, was a problem for later. First climbing.
"OSS 117" is a lowball boulder and looks somewhat awkward at first, but it's a really nice problem!
Two very hard moves, especially the first one, followed by keeping body tension and staying calm, and it's over.
Really fun problem despite having to avoid the small boulder behind you.
My next goal was "Jump" further down the hill along the blue path. A huge dyno out of a slight overhang to a very far big marbled hold.
I had already tried this one numerous times on numerous occasions, but never with success.
Until today ...
Before going back to the car, I played a bit in "Rencontre du Troisième Type" and "Pointe à Pitre", but I didn't find enough motivation to really try hard.
To go back, I didn't follow the blue path but the infamous long and very steep Route de Luxembourg.
I looked up while walking and kept saying to myself to take it step by step.
Looking up the steep Route de Luxembourg. Halfway ... almost there ...
Thierry (Hardy) was back in the forest, with his girlfriend this time, and we met up at "Rocher de la Reine" where he wanted to try the very long 7C "Mahknovtchina".
This one starts all the way down in the back of a small cave, climbs the whole roof of that one on quite good holds but with physical moves, to finish in the 7A+(7A) "Voyage au Centre de la Terre".
I only did the latter, which starts with an almost perfect pinch.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Reine - Voyage au Centre de la Terre 7A+(7A)
Yesterday morning I went to La Fontaine Saint-Bernard, across the road from Dame Jouanne, and Mont Simonet.
My body had at last become too tired and I had to give up early and go back home empty handed. I needed a rest.
Today was a normal working day, and having mostly a desk job, it allowed my body to recover somewhat, but still to the point that I felt ready for another short session after work.
I stopped in Gorge aux Châts, only to find out that the first move of "Magneton" is way too far for me, and I tried quite a few times.
Still eager to climb, I moved over to the nearby boulder of "Le Pare Dessus" as I was interested in trying "Pare Dessus le Sanglier".
This one starts in "Le Pare Dessus", traverses to the left as for "L'Ami Sanglier (du fond)", but once in the kind of cave, reach for a far crimp and exit as for "Le Pare Dessus".
Knowing both lines quite well, it went down on my second attempt, but I was totally out of breath!
Very nice and quite physical problem!
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Pare Dessus le Sanglier (sans convention) 7B
I was packed and ready to leave when I decided to have a quick look at the exact name of the problem I just did, and it was only then that I noticed that the description above ended with "exit as for Le Pare Dessus without using by convention the jug on the right (both for feet and hands)".
I was still catching my breathe a bit and for a moment I doubted, but in the end I decided to unpack again, took a short break to recover and went for it again.
Again, it went down on my second attempt, but not using the jug for the foot, prevents you from having a good rest after taking the swing.
It adds a little plus to the problem.
Maybe another convention could be added, allowing you to rest in the sort of cave for only two seconds, adding another plus to it ? Oh, those conventions sometimes.
Still, a nice, fun and physical problem.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Pare Dessus le Sanglier 7B(7B+)
Yesterday evening, Bart (Van Raaij), was so friendly to send me a picture from his new topo "5+6" that shows the location of the boulder with "La Fouine".
As Tuesday is a public holiday in France, we were making the bridge today so this morning, I was eager to change plans and have a third look for "La Fouine".
The morning started on a somewhat negative tone when Tim's car for some reason refused to start and despite having tried starter cables, it took a while and some friendly external help from some climbers who happened to have a Volt meter with them, that it was the battery after all.
After insisting some more with starter cables, the car finally managed to start.
Thierry (Hardy) and I didn't need much effort to convince Tim to still join us to "La Fouine".
Thanks to the picture that Bart sent me and with a small help line, we finally managed to find the beautiful prow suddenly sticking out between the immersing ferns.
Soon, the boulder will be even harder to find, so well hidden.
Despite a small peak from the sun between the leafs, the overhanging prow lies perfectly in the shade and is an ideal spot for hot days.
We all started with "La Belette", but were a bit overwhelmed with how hard the start was.
Each one of us tried many different methods, but I turned out to be the only one to find a suiting one for my style and was able to top it out.
Fontainebleau - Roche d'Hercule - La Belette 7B
While Thierry and Tim were still trying to find their way through the start of "La Belette", I quite quickly did "La Belette (gauche)", which has a harder exit to the left of the prow and deserves that extra plus as opposed to the exit on the right of it in my opinion.
Fontainebleau - Roche d'Hercule - La Belette (gauche) 7B(7B+)
Soon after, with Tim ready to go back to Belgium and Thierry still struggling, I also managed to do "Madrox", of which the hardest part is the first two moves.
Fontainebleau - Roche d'Hercule - Madrox 7B
Thierry still tried desperately, but had to throw in the towel.
On the way back to the car we both still managed to do the 6C+, "La Balise Perdue", which didn't feel harder than 6C once we found the right method.
Thierry also decided to drive back to Belgium and I went back home for about an hour to take a break.
My oldest son, Anthony, had climbing lesson in the climbing of Buthiers, and as they normally finish at 19h30, I still took some time to try "L'Écureuil Fou" again in Buthiers Piscine.
I had done the direct version not that long ago, but didn't manage to make through the original left exit on very bad slopers. Beautiful slopers though, those typical Bleau ones!
At the start of the session, I didn't believe that I would finish it, but after changing method and desperately fighting through, I finally did manage to tick it off.
This felt like at least like a 7B, and a hard one too!
Fontainebleau - Buthiers Piscine - L'Écureuil Fou 7A+(7B)
Last night I woke up with an itch on the backside of my knee, where the skin folds together when bending the legs. Immediately I knew that it was a tick.
It was just before 4am, but still, I got out of bed to remove that pesky insect right away. The sooner you remove a tick, the less the chance of being infected with Lyme disease if the tick carries it.
Let this be a warning and a reminder to everyone going out in the forest. The tiny bastards are back!
I only repeated some problems today, but still nice ones.
First I met Tim (Collier) in Buthiers, who was hoping to finish off "Magic Bus".
I repeated it on my second try today, Tim needed some more time, but with the right motivation he was able to tick it off. Good job!
Afterwards, I showed him around in the small, relatively unknown area of Villetard in the neighbouring village.
It didn't take me a lot of tries to repeat "Le Surplomb de Villetard" and "Le Surplomb de Villetard (sortie gauche)". Tim however, couldn't find enough energy anymore to give it some real good tries, but he noted them down on his project list.
Finally, wanting to meet up with Thierry (Hardy) in Rocher de la Reine, I quickly repeated "Boby (assis)" two times.
I already had a video of it, but back then, I had started sitting on a crashpad and already had the bidoigt right hand.
As it wasn't conform with the original sitstart from the ground and with the right hand not yet in the bidoigt, I decided to record it again.
I repeated it twice to be sure that I had done a correct topout, but both went on my first attempt.
Soft for the grade and maximum 7A in my opinion.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Reine - Boby (assis) 7A+
It then became too hot with temperatures flirting with 30°C, and I went home and washed the car with the kids.
This morning, I met Tim (Collier) at the bivouac of the Hippodrome and he agreed to go look for the new boulder with "La Fouine" in Roche Hercule.
While unloading the car on the parking, I sadly noticed that I had forgotten my long brush stick at "Infithèse" the day before.
If anyone should have found it, or taken it, it would be much appreciated if it could be returned to me somehow.
The boulder with "La Fouine"should be located in a small chaos in the sector towards Mont Ussy, but no matter how hard we looked, we couldn't find that specific boulder.
We found the small chaos and another boulder with "La Balise Perdue", but not the one with "La Fouine" which should be at only 50m from there.
If anyone can share some more details about its exact location, please do.
As we were already near Mont Ussy now, I proposed to go try the hard classic "L'Être Hâve" upon which Tim confirmed positive.
"L'Être Hâve" is one of those problems that I stood before the first many years ago, looking at it and thinking that is in no way possible. At least not the start.
Out of curiosity I did try it before a couple of times, but was never able to get past the starting holds.
For some reason however, this morning, even though my first two tries were hopeless, I suddenly found the way to move into the problem like Alain Dupas did on his video.
I found my way past the hard crux, jumped off and installed the camera.
It went down on the next attempt, albeit with a desperate topout.
Truly happy with this classic!
Fontainebleau - Mont Ussy - L'Être Hâve 7C
I noticed that there is also a direct exit possible, which is probably the same exit as for "Help (où ça?)", but that one starts with a jumpstart that I never understood.
I did the same direct exit, but started as for "L'Être Hâve" (so without a jumpstart).
For the time being, I named it logically "L'Être Hâve (direct)", but please correct me if it's named differently, because I'm quite sure that it has been done before.
Anyway, I think it deserves a separate mention as the topout is completely different than for "L'Être Hâve" itself.
Fontainebleau - Mont Ussy - L'Être Hâve (direct) 7B
Tim proposed to move to Cuvier and despite it being a Saturday, I agreed to join him this time, as I was secretly hoping that honest souls would have simply left it where it was.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly at all, it was gone, and it most likely will be forever.
Tim wanted to finish off his project "Holey Moley" and strangely enough, especially for a Saturday, the whole boulder was free from climbers.
Strange, because the boulder was sitting perfectly in the shade, which is much desired on hot days like today.
I was able to repeat "Holey Moley" quickly, and soon after did the sitstart on the left of it.
Not sure if this is the same as "Holey Biceps", which has the same sitstart, but seems traverse more to the right before going up.
I simply continued from the sitstart into "Holey Moley", so also for the time being, I logically named it "Holey Moley (assis)".
Jan (De Smit), if you happen to read this, please let me know if this is the same or not, you can know as the first known realisation was apparently by you.
Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Holey Moley (assis) 7B
Tim needed some more tries, but was also able to finish "Holey Moley".
A beautiful today, and it's definitely not over yet! The whole weekend will be sunny and very warm, but hopefully not too warm.
A usual working day for me, but luckily on Friday we stop earlier and I had a good hour that I could spend climbing.
I decided to stop by the Cuvier area and use all the time I had to try "Infithèse".
After having done "Infidèle" a couple of days ago, my eye had fallen on "Hypothèse" and "Infithèse"to the right of it.
It was only a logical decision to move over to the right and start with "Infithèse".
Quite a hard jumpstart to a bad sloper from where it continues on bad slopers.
I had almost given up on it because I was running out of time, but managed to finally top it in the last couple of minutes.
When there's a lot of people around, like in Cuvier, I always do my best not to swear or curse. Not always easy in the course of battle.
It was back in January 2011 when I tried "L'Étoile de Mer (gauche)" for the first time, and it was together with Ivan (Moreels) and Steven (Demets).
I remember that none of us was able to finish it, but it was at the end of a long exhausting climbing day.
However, it was immediately clear that coming out of the roof into the wall was the crux, and a hard one too!
I had tried it a few times since then but I was never able to let go of my right foot and keep enough body tension to catch the swing and hang on. But that was already a while ago now.
With not that many possibilities left for me in Gorge aux Châts, I decided to spend some time in it after work.
The problem, and the start in particular, are faced North and can feel humid for some time after a rainy period, but apart from the damp starting holds, the problem was dry.
Didn't take me many times to stick the swing this time, but getting up into the wall proved to be not as easy as it might look.
Very nice line!
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - L'Étoile de Mer (gauche) 7A(7A+)
I also did the original exit over the prow, but this somehow didn't feel very hard and not like a potential 7B.
I'm giving it 7A+ at most, but that's maybe thanks to my big reach.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - L'Étoile de Mer 7A+(7B)
It's rare for me to go to Cuvier one a public holiday. Especially when it's finally sunny after two days of nothing but rain.
Cuvier is one of those areas that I usually avoid then, but the Grimbergen crew wanted to go there as it's easy for them to join the road back to Belgium from there.
Without having a project in mind, I joined them there and waited for them to decide where to climb first. It became the "Carnage" square, where surprisingly not many people were climbing yet.
While the others were climbing some of blue circuit around the area, I warmed up in "Cortomaltèse", climbed what I thought was "Picon-Bière", but turned out not to be.
But anyway, I was warmed up and my fell on the classic "Infidèle" on the same boulder around the corner.
I had never tried "Infidèle" before. I had stood in front of it, but only briefly, thinking that it looked way too hard.
To my surprise, I realised after a couple of tries that there was a possibility and decided to spend some time on it.
It was some time indeed, because all in all it was about an hour and half later until I suddenly topped it out.
It felt strange to have come to Cuvier without a plan and then suddenly, completely unexpected, doing such a great classic! It felt great too though!
Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Infidèle 7C(7C+)
Due to a recent update on my MacBook Air, the built-in video editor, iMovie had stopped working or kept crashing.
After having spent almost four hours trying to fix the problem, I had to work around it by quickly using MovieMaker on my laptop from work.
Not knowing that program, and being in kind of a hurry, I forgot to cut the end. But at least it worked ... on good old Windows!
