Sunday, May 8, 2022

May 08, 2022 - Complicated.

There has been a lot of unclarity around "Vire-Volt" and "Volt Face", especially around where it actually starts and how the lines exactly go. After a phone call with Jean-Hervé (Baudot), it became clear that the original start also starts low under the roof, but more in the middle, to the right of where I thought to have opened "Volt Face (du fond)". It should be mentioned though that besides some vague lines making it hard to determine where to start, there was no description of the lines available at all and I did have to substantially rebrush most of the boulder. The left slopey side of the boulder didn't even look like it was ever brushed at all, not even on the original picture.
The original start is with a very low pocket left hand deep and in the middle of the roof, and right hand in a small three finger pocket higher in the roof. "Vire-Volt" uses the left arete and exits left of the prow, in the slab, while "Volt Face" stays under the roof without using the arete and exits on the prow.
This morning, using the original start in the middle of the roof, I used the left arete as for "Vire-Volt", but traversed back to the right under the roof  to exit in "Volt Face". Still being unclear about which one of both I now actually did, I'm calling it "Vire-Face" for now. It seems complicated, but to me it was the most logical line when coming from the original start.
Even though the boulder remained officially unrepeated since 2004, it did gain some popularity since I went and rebrushed it a few weeks ago. There is now even a small path that leads from the road directly to the boulder. No more need to search for it for fifteen minutes.

Fontainebleau - Oncy-sur-École Sud - Vire-Face 7B+

No comments:

Post a Comment