After watching my son's school spectacles, attending the school feast, working in the garden, and having a swim in the pool, I had some time to go for a climb around the hottest time of the day. Aiming for shade, I drove to Buthiers Nord to either try "L'Elu" or "Blozone". There was only one other climber and as he had the intention of trying "Blozone", I decided to go for "L'Elu". I had tried "L'Elu" very briefly on all my other handful of visits to Buthiers Nord, only to every time quickly conclude that I was trying a wrong method or it being way too morpho. There is a video posted now on bleau.info, and it seemed that the same method was used as the one that I had in mind. According to his profile on bleau.info, the climber in the video is 15cm taller than I am, so I was certain that it probably was going to be too morpho for me. I focused on trying the crux and on my first few attempts, it indeed did seem to be way too morpho for me, but after improving my technique and changing minor details, I did end up suddenly doing the crux, and got to the edge of the more or less 35° overhanging face of the boulder. Knowing that the moves from the sitstart aren't hard, I turned on the camera and went for a real attempt from the start. I was able to immediately get to the edge again, but didn't expect the topout to be so slopey, sandy and covered with pine needles. I hung on though and swung my left foot over the edge to start the mantle. It felt like I could fall off any second, but I managed to push through and reach a far and better hold, enough to pull myself on.
Last weekend was one of those that one would start doubting about himself, but I realized that it was mainly due to painful skin and swollen hands because of the heat that it was not very productive. Nevertheless, I was happy about the progress I had made on "Tous les Couples sont Permis" in Videlles l'Abbatoir, and going back to it with fresh skin didn't leave my mind the whole week. My youngest is performing on two spectacles tomorrow at school and as I wouldn't to miss that, I didn't immediately see a chance to go back to it tomorrow. At least not in the most ideal conditions, given that it will be a very hot day. Today was hot as well, but it had rained quite a lot the last few days, so the boulders in the shade must have had the chance to cool down. When the opportunity presented itself to go for a climb in the evening, I took and set off to Videlles after diner. It was still very hot when I walked between the forest and the open fields, but as soon as I entered the dense forest, it felt much cooler. Unfortunately, the air felt humid because of the rain of the last few days. When I walked past the beehives close the boulder, I was welcomed by a strong smell of honey. The bees had been doing good work since last week apparently. Unfortunately, to the mosquitos, I must have smelled like honey too, because they were all around and over me merely seconds after I arrived and took off my T-shirt at the shady spot in front of the boulder. I still remembered the moves very well and could do all of them separately immediately as a warmup. I could almost smell the send between the honey. It still turned out to be a hard fight, and I even had to take a longer break after falling off over and over, but slowly making progress along the way. Then suddenly, while focusing on my breath and executing the moves without thinking, I was able to hold the small crimp right hand while holding on to a bad slopey pinch left hand. I knew that I I stayed focused there, I would top it out. I took the arete, looked at and aimed for the good hold left hand, reached for it and only had it with my fingertips. For a split second, I had the impression to slip off, but I tightened the hold as a crimp and then I knew it was done. Really happy with this beauty! One that can easily fit in with all the other 84 7C's that I have done in the forest.
Fontainebleau - Videlles l'Abbatoir - Tous les Couples sont Permis 7B+(7C)
Yesterday I spent a good session with Pieter in the shady Videlles l'Abbaotoir where I wanted to try "Tous les Couples sont Permis" and Pieter "Cadeau pour un Pote". Despite not ticking off our goals, it was a productive session despite the heat, even in the shade. This morning, we decided to get some of the shade in Eléphant Ouest. We wanted to try many problems, but due to painful burning and swollen hands because of the heat, we only got away with the quite nice "Désengagé". As I had bought my wife a ticket for Sting who would be performing on the Fblo festival in Fontainebleau this evening, I had to be home early so she could leave on time. She left on time, only to arrive there and find out that the decision to cancel was made just moments before. The risk for storm with heavy winds and rain was too high. By the time she got back home, it was storming so hard that the cancellation seemed like a wise choice. Sad, but so be it.
Hot weather, but still eager for a climb after work. I wasn't in a hurry to finish my session, but I was in a hurry to get from the start to the topout of "Nature Farceuse" in Bois des Hauts de Milly. The crux being at the end, I had to hurry to preserve energy and, equally important, enough friction for the last part. Having tried it last week, I remembered the moves and did on my first warm up attempt of the day.
Fontainebleau - Bois des Hauts de Milly - Nature Farceuse 7B
After a short break, I also topped the easier version, finishing with the top holds instead of the cruxy downclimb at the end. Also on my first attempt of the day.
Fontainebleau - Bois des Hauts de Milly - Nature Farceuse (par le haut) 7A+(7A)
In the search for some shady climbing this morning, I decided to go to Boissy Le Goulot and passed by the Boissy aux Cailles graveyard first, suspecting that Jan (Gorrebeeck) had spent the night there and still was drinking his morning coffee. My suspicion was correct and Jan didn't need any convincing to join me to climb in Le Goulot. After a short warmup, we turned to "La Morille", which I had tried already several times, but somehow never figured out the whole problem and unable to top it out. This morning though it all came quickly and I was finally able to top it out. Jan used had another method in mind and I even repeated it quickly doing what he had in mind, followed by Jan soon after.
Fontainebleau - Boissy Le Goulot - La Morille 7A
After a short break, we turned to "Ségovia", an ascending traverse that I had tried one session a month or two ago, but couldn't finish it off due to lack of energy, despite having done the problem in two overlapping parts. We both did the topout first to make sure we didn't have to think about what to do when coming from the start, and unknowing what got it into me, I somehow was able to do the whole beauty barely ten minutes later. A really nice boulder with perfect texture and even with the heat of today very doable thanks for being in the shade all the time. It was a perfect shady spot. Even though Jan fell off the last crux a few times, he hadn't been able to finish it before I left, but as he mentioned that he still had another attempt in him after going to take a long break, I do hope that he was able to send it as well. It would be a deserved effort.
Fontainebleau - Boissy Le Goulot - Ségovia 7B+(7B)
After a lousy late morning session where I had made a wrong choice going to the South facing sector of Montrouget, I still felt like climbing in the early evening and drove to Bois des Hauts de Milly to have some fun on the boulder of "La Boule à Frédo". It started with an easy flash of "D'Œil et de Pif", which felt like easy 6C at most.
Fontainebleau - Bois des Hauts de Milly - D'Œil et de Pif 7A(6C+)
The right to left traverse "Les Farces de la Nature" needed two attempts, but with a long break in between them. The heat was on and I felt pumped after falling off near the end of my first attempt.
Fontainebleau - Bois des Hauts de Milly - Les Farces de la Nature 7A+(7B)
I then still tried the left to right traverse, but after falling off twice right after the last crux at the end, I was too pumped and didn't feel like taking another long break. It's something nice to come back for on an evening after work.
