April 30, 2022 - Stretched out.

After having done some work for the job this morning, it was a little later than usual that I was able to leave for climbing. I met Pieter on the parking of J.A. Martin, where also Jan (Gorrebeeck) and some of his friends were climbing.
Pieter and I started with "Couleur Feu", of which I repeated the standing and the sitting start fairly quickly after having done both back in 2015. Pieter was about to give up, but thanks to my motivation, he did get away with the standing start before we moved on to the Eastern sector of the area. On our way to "Déformation Professionnelle", we bumped into Jan, Bram, Laurent, Marijke and kids. Jan joined us at "Déformation Professionnelle", soon followed by Laurent and Bram. Even though for me it was a repeat, we all managed to top it out. For Laurent it was his first 7A and he was understandably happy with it.
Jan, Pieter and I then started trying "Déséquilibré (du fond)", on the same small boulder. This one turned out to be a tough one for its proposed grade. 
We spent almost two hours trying with breaks in between attempts. This one really sucks out the power out of you. Even though I had worked all the moves, it was only after taking a long break that I finally managed to top out, followed by Jan, who also needed a much longer break to recover first. This felt like a good 7B in these warm conditions. Much nicer than expected at first.

Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - Déséquilibré (du fond) 7A+(7A)

April 27, 2022 - Wrestling with a boulder.

I had been wrestling with "The Wrestler" in Boissy aux Cailles for three sessions already and I was hoping to finally win the battle today, on my fourth session. It's a very slopey problem with a very hard mantle as topout and I had fallen off many times on the mantle on each of my previous sessions. Being slightly exposed, I always carried two crashpads, but still my first attempts have always been a bit hesitant. Today was not different. As the last session was a couple of months ago, I had some trouble finding my method again and when I fell off the mantle again after finding back my sequence, I feared for a moment that today would be just the same as the others. I tried to not get distracted by that thought and started each attempt with the intention of it being the good one. The joy and relief was great when it finally came together and the battle was won.

Fontainebleau - Boissy aux Cailles - The Wrestler 7C(7C+)

A friend of mine, Cedric "Cee'tje", his wife Giorgia and their ten month old baby, Margot, joined me not long after. It had been a few years since I saw them last time, so we only chilled a bit, catching up, and walked around the beautiful surroundings. It was nice to see them back after such long time, and especially to see their beautiful baby. I wish them nothing but luck and happiness!

April 24, 2022 - Down to the blood.

It rained during the night and some parts of the streets were still wet when I driving on my way to the isolated lesser known area of Moulin de Roisneau. I had visited this area only once a few years ago on a rainy day just to scout the area and locate some of the boulders, so I hadn't climbed there yet. A lot of the boulders being on the North-Western side of a hill, I feared that also today it would be only scouting and no climbing due to possibly wet boulders.
I left the crashpad in the car after parking it, so I could more easily look for any dry boulders, if any, in this chaotic area. One of the first boulders that I passed, the one with "Desperados" was surprisingly dry, and as happened to be one of the problems that I wanted to try, I went back to the car to get the crashpad.
It didn't take long before I was able to do the first part, but the very slopey topout was a bit sandy and somewhat mossy. Not feeling completely at ease up there, it nevertheless went down unexpectedly fast. I must admit though that I was a bit scared when pulling myself up onto the top. A very nice problem that seemed to have fit me quite well. Did loose quite some skin there though.

Fontainebleau - Moulin de Roisneau - Desperados 7B+

Looking around for other potential problems, I also found "Le Sabre" completely dry. The low deep start of "Le Sabre (du fond)" was a bit annoying, trying to squeeze into position, and almost felt like the hardest part of the problem. Catching the violent swing when relasing the heelhook from way back was harder though, but a move that also seemed to fit me. I only needed a handful of attempts to top it out, but the skin on my fingertips was so far gone that small drops of blood were coming out of them. It was a bit a forced end of the session, but I was happy with what I had achieved.

Fontainebleau - Moulin de Roisneau - Le Sabre (du fond) 7B

April 23, 2022 - Out of memory.

It didn't rain during the night, as previously predicted, but apparently it was postponed to rain later in the afternoon. It gave me enough time to drive to the small and isolated area of Villetard where I wanted to avoid the crowds and try "Le Toit de Nanteau (direct)". I had tried this briefly a few times before and couldn't even do the first two moves. That was a few years ago though and I think that I did get stronger since then, so it seemed to be worth another shot.
As expected, I was alone in the tiny, but beautiful area and started with working out the moves one by one. Despite slight disbelief of being capable of doing it at first, I kept on trying until I was able to do all the moves separately. That process alone took more than an hour, but I was motivated and wanted to get it done. Linking up all the moves turned out to be quite physical and I needed a few breaks in between multiple attempts. Being able to do all the moves, I knew it was only a matter of time and hopefully enough remaining power and energy to be able to finish it.
It was a hard fight and a struggle, but a huge relief when I finally made it to the top. Just in time apparently, because when I moved the camera under the roof just minutes after the ascent to get another angle of the first couple of moves, it suddenly stopped recording due to insufficient space remaining on the memory card. The feeling of relief that it didn't happen minutes earlier was almost as big as topping out "Le Toit de Nanteau (direct)".

Fontainebleau - Villetard - Le Toit de Nanteau (direct) 7B+

April 22, 2022 - In time for dinner.

As they are predicting rain for tomorrow and Sunday, I definitely wanted to go out for a climb after work today. I warned my wife that I might be late for dinner and left for Rocher Cailleau with the intention of finishing the original sitstart of "Esthétique (gauche", opened by Tony Fouchereau.
I still knew the moves by heart and fell of the last far move to the left on my first attempt. Same thing happened on my second attempt, but the third was good. Despite the warm weather, the conditions were great and there was a good amount of excellent friction.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Cailleau - Esthétique (gauche) 7B+(7C)

Having done that much quicker than I had hoped, I still had time to try the slab on the other side of the boulder. "Le Mycélium" went down fast.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Cailleau - Le Mycélium 7A(7A+)

The sitstart followed immediately on my first attempt. Both the standing start and the sitstart also opened by Tony Fouchereau.
I had a double feeling realizing that I have now finished all the lines on this beautiful boulder, it is one that I liked to back to. 
I was back home sooner than expected, but still in time for dinner.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Cailleau - Le Mycélium (assis) 7B(7B+)

April 20, 2022 - Out of credit.

I had planned to check out some of the new boulders opened by Manuel Marquès in Franchard Ermitage, but when I was walking on the route Amedée, in the valley between Franchard Druides and Ermitage, I decided to walk on to "Mort à Crédit" to try its sitstart instead. It wasn't far away and being on the North side of a hill, it would be probably be less warm there. I had done the standing start back in August 2016 and had returned only once to try the sitstart. I had a vague memory of it being too reachy, but hoped that maybe this time I would have longer arms.
Of course, my arms aren't longer, but after working the far move to the small vertical crimp left hand, I figured out how to reach far enough and do the next move. Coming from the sitstart, it proved to be not convenient and needed quite some attempts to do it again, only to fall off the slopey topout again. The more I tried, the more physical it started to feel, but after persisting for some time, I finally made my way to the top.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Druides - Mort à Crédit (assis) 7B

I still went to look at few of the new boulders in Franchard Ermitage, but it was starting to get too warm on that South side of the hill on the other side of the valley, so I chose to spend some time in the cool shade of the big roof of "Le Toit", of which I still had to do the harder exit on the right, "Le Toit (droite)". I came pretty close to doing it, but after many attempts, had to throw in the towel. My skin, fingers and arms were out of credit. It will be a good problem to go back for during another warm Spring or hot Summer day.

April 18, 2022 - Three out of three.

Still trying to avoid a crowd, I went to Apremont Brûlis this morning. I had only noted three problems to try, two that I never tried or even saw before and then "Fake Karma", on an isolated hidden boulder in the area. This last one had I had tried briefly one day.
First stop was at a boulder at barely 30m from the elephant shaped boulder of Barbizon, where I wanted to try "Mûmak" and "Oliphant". "Mûmak" went down on my second attempt with relative ease.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Brûlis - Mûmak 7A

I needed some more time and a handful of attempts to figure out how to do "Oliphant", but once I knew how to start, it went down quite easily as well.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Brûlis - Oliphant 7B

Much sooner than I expected, I was able to move on to "Fake Karma". I still remembered more or less where it was, but nevertheless, I spent about ten minutes looking around before I found it again.
When I started trying the moves, I remember wondering why I thought last time that there was a possibility, because it seemed almost impossible and too morpho for the first fifteen minutes. I did slowly but steadily made progress on the crux move, the dynamic one to a far bad sloper right hand, and only when I was finally able to stick that one separately, I started to believe in it. Working out the topout wasn't easy neither, nor was getting into position for the dynamic move when coming from the start. The successful attempt was a bit surprising, but it was a pleasant surprise. Lost a lot of skin on that one.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Brûlis - Fake Karma 7B+

April 17, 2022 - Undisclosed.

What better way is there to avoid the Easter crowd than visit an undisclosed area? Indeed, where I climbed with Pieter today is on privately owned forest land and hence will most likely remain undisclosed, or at least not be published to the open public.
It was there that I brushed a few boulders with Jan and Gina a few weeks ago, and another one alone last Wednesday when it was raining. Besides one small deforested sector, it is a dense part of the forest and I was hoping to climb the freshly brushed boulder after a few sunny and dry days.
Before going to the new boulder we stopped at the small deforested sector where I was keen on trying a boulder featuring a thin crack and a seemingly hard mantle, as far as I know, opened by David Evrard and/or Stéphan Denys. With no trees offering shade, it dries very quick, but at the same time made it a very hot place to, even before noon. To my great pleasure, I did what I call "Fissure" quite quickly, but must admit that it wasn't a give-away, it definitely felt hard for the proposed 7A. To me it felt more like 7A+.

Fontainebleau - Undisclosed - Fissure 7A+(7A)

It was starting to get too hot there for Pieter and he preferred to move on to something else in the shade. The small corridor between "Fissure" and the boulder next to it was shady and allowed for a small refreshing breeze to pass from time to time. We did a few easier slabs, each about one meter apart from each other. The fourth one, was the hardest, very technical and required very subtle moving. It's the only one that I repeated again for the video, just because the moves were so nice. Slab masters might disagree, but being my anti-style, it was hard to put a grade on it, but I will go with 6C, at least that's how it felt for me. 

Fontainebleau - Undisclosed - Dalle Technique 6C

After showing Pieter some of the huge still unopened boulders in the far part of the small valley, we finally stopped at the boulder that I brushed last Wednesday. I was highly motivated and did a direct version fast. It didn't feel too hard, but as Pieter wasn't able to do the first move, I gave it a personal grade of 7A(6C+), the grade probably depending on how hard one likes to pull on crimps.

Fontainebleau - Undisclosed - Regletterie 6C+(7A)

The right variant is slightly harder, and somewhat eliminate, but it was fun to do.
Once again, very hard to grade, but we had fun and that's what counts, especially knowing that there are hundreds of other climbers packed in other areas and we didn't see a single soul.

Fontainebleau - Undisclosed - Regletterie (droite) 7A(6C+)

April 16, 2022 - Bad in hats.

Apparently, the rumor goes that I'm tall and look bad in hats; I wouldn't know, because I have never worn more than one hat at the same time. Even if I look bad with just one hat, I couldn't care less. When people for any reason whatsoever like to make fun of me, I'ld just join the fun and laugh along. Even if it would be behind my back, I'm glad for people to have their fun, I even encourage it if it makes their day. After all, laughing is healthy and one should not lack good health in these Corona spreading times. Personally I find it more funny when I'm not wearing a or several hats, the bald spot in the middle of the top of my head, making me look like a wannabe monk, is hilarious at times.
As for being tall though, with my 172 cm, I don't quite consider myself to be so.

Anyway, Pieter was one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of other, mostly foreign, climbers that made their way to the forest for the traditionally crowded Easter weekend. Trying to avoid the bigger crowds, we met at the less popular and small area of Rocher Brûlé. There were only two other cars parked there, but of course, the boulder of "Crème Brûlée" was occupied by a small group. Not wanting to get in anyone's way, we walked on to the small boulder of "Régime Obligatoire".
After warming up and working out the moves, we both did it pretty quick.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Brûlé - Régime Obligatoire 7A+(7A)

Working out second part of "Régime Obligatoire" took a substantial longer time, but once we found a working sequence, I was able to do it on my first try when coming from the start. Pieter came really close, but unfortunately decided to let it go before his energy levels went into red.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Brûlé - Régime Obligatoire (gauche) 7B

"Crème Brûlée" still being occupied more than two hours after we arrived, we decided to move on to the isolated boulder of "Plats Malins", which turns out to have a ridiculously hard first move. Despite being able to to do all the other moves, the first one shut me down. 
To avoid the crowds even more tomorrow, we'll be going to an undisclosed part of the forest, one of many that only a few people know about.

April 15, 2022 - Chaos warning.

With Good Friday being a public holiday in some countries, the Easter weekend has started. I had to work, but went for a short climb in the evening. The parking spaces that I passed on my way to Rocher Guichot were already and still crowded. With sublime weather forecasted for the weekend, it promises to be chaos in the forest, or at least in the known areas.
I didn't let it get to me, and walked through the crowded Rocher Guichot, on to the isolated boulder of "Propulsion Imposée", located on the West side of the hill, and not the East side as mentioned on the English description on bleau.info.
What I thought would be a quick done deal, turned out to be a harder fight than expected. It could be that the slight morpho aspect played a role. Nevertheless, a very nice problem.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Guichot - Propulsion Imposée (assis) 7A

April 14, 2022 - Dinner postponed.

Last weekend, Pieter was here again after quite some time, so on Saturday, besides some repetitions in Boissy Vallée de l'Eglise, I only finished the not so difficult but exhausting traverse of "Bijou, Caillou, Genou" and didn't even bother to film it.
Sunday, I showed Pieter the yet unpublished boulder of "Esthétique", of which we both did the standing start as well as the standing start of "Esthétique (direct)", merely because the first two holds for the right hand on the sitstart were wet. I had already both sitstarts in May of last year, but still had the left exit to do, "Esthétique (gauche)". I had tried it a few times last year, but got stuck with a wrong method and sort of forgot about it since. Pieter and I started working on that standing start and he was able to find a better method. We got close then, but I had to bring my oldest son to Paris and had to leave early. It didn't bother me too much, because it's a perfect boulder to come and try after work or even after dinner when the days are longer.
Yesterday, it was raining the whole morning and there was no option for climbing at all. After cleaning the house though, the rain had almost stopped and I decided last minute to go scout an undisclosed nearby area and hopefully clean some boulders. I did end up cleaning one and will probably go and try it this weekend, the oh so crowed infamous Easter weekend.
With beautiful weather announced for today, despite having to work some overtime, I decided to postpone dinner and go back to Rocher Cailleau to try and hopefully finish "Esthétique (gauche)". It was still, but the air was dry and the conditions not too bad. It turned out however, that my skin needed to warm up before I could start feeling the good friction on those slopers.
The sun was setting and there was a nice sense of total peace out there. I ended up doing the standing start and enjoyed being out there, it was as if I was one with the forest and the boulder, it's hard to explain.
Even though the sitstart adds a couple of very nice moves, it barely adds half a grade, but I could start feeling that I hadn't eaten anything yet today, so I didn't come closer than falling off the before last move a few times. I didn't mind, because there will be much more after work or dinner sessions to come.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Cailleau - Esthétique (gauche debout) 7B+

April 06, 2022 - Infinitely privileged.

Due to wrecked hands and a not so good weather forecast, it wasn't sure if it would be possible to climb today, but that changed when I got out of bed this morning. It was grey, but dry and the skin of my hands had started to heal slowly, but steadily. Only one finger required to be taped to keep the skin together.
I decided to go to Rocher de la Salamandre and try "Infinite Jest", hoping that it wouldn't be too demanding on the skin. It was still early when I arrived and as expected, I was the only one there in that beautiful part of the forest.
I used to like the kind of dyno's like "Nouvelle Vague", jumping backwards to an invisible hold, but it was long ago that I still did such a problem. I used to be pretty good at flipping the switch and just going for it, and it turned out that I didn't loose it yet. My first attempt was hesitant, but after flipping the switch, I went for it and had it on my fourth attempt. Really nice dyno with a big swing when you catch the flat ledge.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre - Infinite Jest 7B+

Even though I had visited the area a few times in the past, I never made it to the boulder of "Sublime Privilège", so this time, I decided to spend the time and go look for it. I didn't find it immediately, and when I finally did, I was glad that there is another easier line on it as well, "Petit Privilège". After briefly checking out the line, I went for it and flashed it with relative ease.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre - Petit Privilège 7A

It took much more time to work out the moves of "Sublime Privilège", but when I was able to find a sequence, I started the camera again and executed the moves without error and much quicker than I expected, worked my way to the top. This very nice problem totally fits my style.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre - Sublime Privilège 7B+

I walked up to "Menhir", but with the crux move being about 5m above two small boulders on the ground, I had to think of Pieter and wished he was there too. This is definitely a boulder that he would like as well. I left back home without trying "Menhir", but determined to come back one day with Pieter.

April 02, 2022 - Fooled by snow.

Melting snow mixed with rain almost the whole day yesterday made my hope for some climbing today as good as vanish completely. When I woke up this morning though the sky had cleared, the sun was shining and there seemed to be a good wind. It made my hope rise again and when I looked out of the window I was delighted to see that the whole garden had as good dried up. There definitely was possibility to climb, with maybe even good conditions depending on where I would go. Knowing that "La Croix (gauche)" would be in the sun and catching a lot of wind, it seemed like the way to go. I had tried "La Croix (gauche)" in Summer once, but it was too hot and I realized that I would need it to be colder.
Walking through the area of Rocher du Potala, the boulders were dry, it was mildly clouded, cold and there was a  strong wind from the North. It was so cold that I actually needed quite some time to warm up, especially my hands. Nevertheless, I immediately started with "La Croix (gauche)" working out the moves again before giving it real attempts. Some of the moves are quite morpho though, and I couldn't do them all every time, I was counting on some luck to be able to make a successful ascent. About an hour later, luck was on my side and I topped out, quite exhausted, but satisfied.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Potala - La Croix (gauche) 7B(7B+)

My next plan was to go and try the new "Eau de Vie", opened by Laurent Darlot, in Grande Montagne. It's only a small additional walk from the end of Rocher du Potala. The indication to find the boulder was that it was about 50m North-West of "Roncevaux", so I dropped the crashpad at that boulder while I looked around for "Eau de Vie". Having found it quickly, I decided to try "Roncevaux (assis)" first as the crashpad was still there and "Eau de Vie" being down the hill.
It was only when I was back home, that it apparently starts with a sitstart on the left, according to the line drawn on a picture of the boulder. I started more right on the arete, but the grade is about the same. 

Fontainebleau - Grande Montagne - Roncevaux (assis droite) 7A

I spent about two hours trying "Eau de Vie", can do all the quite hard moves, but the skin on my hands and fingers got wrecked during the process of finding a method. Despite falling off the last move many times, I had to throw in the towel as my last attempts started to get worse. It's a boulder that I will gladly return for, so added it to my wantlist.