The sky looked grey and dull, and it still looked humid from yesterday's rain. Nevertheless, I decided to do the long walk to Rocher de Corne-Biche and dedicate some time in "Chatrang", if it was dry of course. I had briefly tried it before a few times, but either it was humid, or at the end of a session spending time on something else. As I never was able to figure out the start, I always gave up quickly. This time though, I decided to stick with it. With the time dedicated to this boulder today, I was finally able to figure out a way to start and do a first move. After working out the other moves, which took longer than expected, I was able to finish it.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de Corne-Biche - Chatrang 7A
Next up had to be "Chatrang (direct)" of course, and when I did the last moves separately, I thought it would be a quick done deal, but that turned out to be false. It still required many attempts, hurting my back badly after hitting the boulder behind me when falling off, but after a slight change in foot placement, I was able to extend my reach and top it out as well.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de Corne-Biche - Chatrang (direct) 7B+
First of all, I would like to clarify that the three problems starting with a so called 'bat hang' in Diplodocus mentioned in my previous post a few days ago, didn't feel harder to me personally. I like and am quite good with toehooks, so I realize that for others it can feel substantially harder. The statements I made were a 100% personal observation. Anyone out there trying the problems, should definitely try both possible starts and decide for him or her self. I must add that the bat hang start is much more fun, even though less logical.
This morning, after my youngest class singing show, I had a small window for climbing before the start of the rain. My eye had fallen on the nearby Rocher Guichot, where I though that I had already done all the problems on the "Coup de Force" boulder, but it turned out that there was another variant that I hadn't done yet. I was pleased by that discovery, because when I did a walk with my kids last week, we passed by that boulder and I remember regretting that I had done everything on it already. It's such a beautiful boulder. "Coup Fourré" was my goal, and even though it was a few years ago when I climbed on the boulder, it didn't take very long to quickly work out the moves before making a real attempt. I turned on the camera and sent "Coup Fourré" without hesitation. Mixed feelings, because now I really have done all lines on the this magnificent boulder.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Guichot - Coup Fourré 7B+
On my way back, I noticed that "Hanneton" was dry and I realized that I hadn't done "Hanneton (gauche)" yet. I could feel the the first drops of rain when I was putting on my shoes and hurried to have at least an attempt before it was wet. I didn't fail though and flashed it with relative ease. Not a second too early.
I was made aware yesterday that the opener of the problems in Diplodocus that I did on Tuesday, apparently started with both hands on the low sloper under the overhang and claimed to be slightly more difficult. I was given the link to the Instagram of the opener, where it showed the original start. It was hard to laugh out loud, because the opener apparently used the exact same starting holds, but just with different body parts. As it happened that I have to work US hours again today, I decided to go back this morning to avoid any further sometimes pointless discussions. Clear conventions can be a good thing sometimes, but I had the feeling that some were picking nits in this case. Using the original start of the opener, I repeated the three problems on my first attempt and all within the short timespan of barely fifteen minutes. I like toehooks, which may have helped, but I can't say that the original start adds anything whatsoever to the difficulty. Even though I did like the start with the toehook, it basically defies all logic, and that's just my own humble opinion, for what it's worth and meaning no offense at all to the opener. Original sitstart of "La Pousse-Rapière (droite assis)", doesn't change anything to the difficulty.
Fontainebleau - Diplodocus - La Pousse-Rapière (droite assis originale) 7A
Original sitstart of "Magic Rambo (assis)", doesn't change anything to the difficulty.
Original sitstart of "La Pousse-Rapière (assis)", doesn't change anything to the difficulty.
Fontainebleau - Diplodocus - La Pousse-Rapière (assis originale) 7B+
To finish the session, I did "Blablatix(direct)", something that I somehow had never noticed before on previous visits. Its name funnily seemed to fit the day, with a wink of an eye.
I have to work US hours today, which means that I can start early afternoon, but until midnight. It will take me out of my rhythm, but at least it allowed me to go for a short climb this morning. Even though it had rained during the night, with the boulders warmed up from last weekend, I estimated my chance of finding some dry boulders pretty high. The few new problems in Diplodocus seemed like a good choice. Indeed, even though the conditions weren't great, the boulders in the area were dry and I walked straight to "La Pousse-Rapière (droite assis)", which I did on my second attempt.
Fontainebleau - Diplodocus - La Pousse-Rapière (droite assis) 7A
"Magic Rambo (assis)", which exits a bit further on the right took some more attempts, mainly because of the quite morphological aspect to it. Very nice climb though.
I finished with "La Pousse-Rapière (assis)", which felt quite soft for the proposed grade. It's all about getting the body over the tipping point. Looks easier than it is, but probably not 7B+ in my humble opinion. At least it adds some harder problems to the area. I will have to go back some day to try and finish the much harder "La Pousse-Rapière (gauche assis)".
Fontainebleau - Diplodocus - La Pousse-Rapière (assis) 7B+
I had inspected "L'Epiderme de la Terre (assis)" the first time a few years ago, right after Tony (Fouchereau) had opened it, along with many other boulders in the Eastern part of the J.A. Martin area. It didn't appeal to me as the sitstart looked weird and unattractive and I had forgotten about it since, until last week. Last Sunday we had arranged a late birthday party for my youngest son, Noah, and the plan was to have the party with nine other kids from school that he had invited for a treasure hunt in J.A. Martin. Having not a lot of time to climb, it was obvious that I would climb at the area and decided to give "L'Epiderme de la Terre (assis)" a chance. It took a few tries before I started to appreciate the moves and have to admit that even the much easier standing start was fun to climb. By the time I had worked out all the moves though, it was time to pack up and start making preparations for the party and treasure hunt. Being so close last Sunday, I went back on Tuesday evening, thinking that it would be a quick deal knowing all the moves, but I left before dinner, meaning that I hadn't eaten anything yet all day, and already after the first attempt, my arms were pumped. Quite a lot of attempts followed, but due to pumped arms and low energy levels, I fell off the last move many times. It was a shame to admit to myself that I would have to come back for it again, especially having been so close many times. I was determined to come back today, the hottest day of the week, but leave early in the morning. Yesterday the thermometer topped off at 41°C and as they predicted today to be even hotter, with already 28°C announced at 10h in the morning, it was a necessity to leave early, which I did, but not after eating a small bowl of muesli. Despite leaving early, it was already warm, but I knew that at this time of the day, the boulder was shaded by trees around it. Nevertheless, I was sweating hard already after warming up with the standing start which I did on my first go, which gave me confidence for doing the ending when coming from the quite powerful sitstart. The first couple of moves are not difficult, but the slopers are pretty bad and require quite some power to stick on them. It went down quickly today, and I felt relieved. My forearms were glad as well as those warm slopers were a bit of a torture for them. The early bird gets the worm, and it was good one.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - L'Epiderme de la Terre (assis) 7B+
It's the first day of some really hot days coming up again, so I went to Boissy Le Plaid this morning even though it was already starting to get really warm. My intention was to try the new "La Faufilade", and that's also what I started with. I could work out all the moves, and fell off the last move a couple of times when coming from the start, but by noon, the boulder caught some sun and it had become too hot to continue trying. I didn't want to stop climbing yet, so I moved to a more shady boulder, "A.C.A.B." on the other side of the small sector and at least managed to top that one out before leaving.
I was in a need for a short climb after work; I didn't really care what, as long as it was nearby. The small nearby area of La Ségognole was an obvious choice. My first intention was to try "Upa", but being exposed to the North and after some heavy rain yesterday, I had a feeling it would be still wet, which it was. Therefor, I used the occasion to finally spend some time in the 6C "Réflexion Interdite", the pillar just left of "Lamia-San", on the same boulder. As it always looked way too morpho, I had never really given it some real attention. "Réflexion Interdite" is indeed a bit morpho, quite technical, but a beauty. Grade wise, it is no less than 7A in my opinion. A must try when in the area.
Fontainebleau - La Ségognole - Réflexion Interdite 6C
I didn't feel like trying any of my projects or anything too hard, so I went to Franchard Sablons Carriers this morning with the intention of starting with "Tread Lightly" and then see where to go from there. "Tread Lightly" is located on an isolated boulder in the recently developed sector in the East part of the area. Being there alone, as expected was a nice surplus. There is only one hard move on "Tread Lightly" and I was able to do it quickly. Linking it from the relatively easy sitstart though, proved not to be a give-away. Nevertheless, it didn't take very long before I topped it and had to start thinking about what next.
The very nearby boulder of "Arachnologue" seemed like an obvious choice given there were multiple lines and variants to do. Of course, I started with "Arachnologue" and did it on my second attempt, albeit not without a struggle on those bad slopers.
I lost a lot of skin, and a bit of air, on my first attempt trying "Arachnologue (rallongé)", but bagged it on my second. My arms were pretty pumped though after yet another struggle on those same bad slopers.
It rained a lot last night and everything looked soaking wet. Nevertheless, I left on a dry moment just before noon, hoping that the boulder with "Que Fais-tu?" in Rocher de Corne-Biche would be dry. It was apparently a good choice, because despite the few drops that fell on my way there, the boulder was completely dry thanks to a nice wind coming from the South-West. I did the 7A crouching start quite quickly as a warmup before trying the much harder 7C sitstart. It was a good thing that I didn't leave home ten minutes later, because not even fifteen minutes after doing the crouching start, it started raining cats and dogs and I had to seek shelter under the small roof, waiting for the pouring rain to pass.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de Corne-Biche - Que Fais-tu? 7A
The weather forecast for today wasn't looking good at the start of the week, but the closer today came, the further out the start of weather was being pushed. Instead of whole day with rain, it turned out to be a hot sunny day, with a thunder storm only starting in the evening. As it was going to be really hot today, I left early this morning to Boissy Vallée de l'Eglise to try "Faux Pas" before the sun started heating up the boulder. It did rain yesterday and with the forest ground not completely dry yet, it felt a bit humid and the conditions were far from perfect. Some weeks ago, when I was there with Pieter, I had worked out the moves of "Faux Pas", but somehow this method didn't suit me today. After carefully observing the possibilities, I changed a few moves, worked them out and sent "Faux Pas" fairly quickly, mainly using the right thumb to push down on a small sharp spike.
Fontainebleau - Boissy Vallée de l'Eglise - Faux Pas 7B(7A+)
I then spent some time trying "Cliff Hangar (assis)", but when it started to get too hot, I left and walked over to the Boissy aux Cailles area, with the intention to try and hopefully do "Boule de Nerfs" on the big "Hip Hop" boulder. For some reason, I had never bothered trying it before. This one too went down pretty fast, but I will have to go back one day for the sitstart.
Fontainebleau - Boissy aux Cailles - Boule de Nerfs 7A(7A+)
