April 07, 2024 - Muramasa.

The first time I went looking for the boulder of "Muramasa" in Noisy-sur-Ecole, the village where I live, was back in September 2016. When I had finally found it, I was slapped in the face by it and couldn't even let go of my left hand when hanging on the tiny crimp under the roof and an extremely bad left heelhook. I was only able to the part right after a series of three cruxes. That part on its own was already worth 7A or even 7A+. Over the years, I went back two times, but still was never able to the first crux move. This was really hard!
I believe it was the need to avoid crowds, that made me decide to go back to "Muramasa" today, and I left home without any expectation to send the problem, but I was only hoping to be able to progress and hopefully do the first crux.
My first attempts were no different than the other times, but I was more motivated than ever and gave it all I had, trying to ignore the pain on my right fingertips and the split that had started to form on my middle fingertip. Suddenly, I was did the first crux, only to get into trouble with the second and third ones that follow immediately after.
After a while, I suddenly had done the first two in a row and decided to focus on the last part. It's not possible to work out the second and third cruxes separately, so I was forced to repeat the first one each time, but had started to become persistent with it. If I could do the last part again, I knew that I could have a chance when I would finally stick the third, and apparently the hardest, crux.
As soon as I did the last part again, I turned on the camera and started with some real tries, hoping for that tiny bit of luck and finally sticking the third crux. If I would, then I was quite confident to top out. If only I would remain calm enough.
Many attempts later, I was forced to tape one of my fingertips, where a painful split was keeping from trying hard enough. Thinking that the tape would be in my disadvantage, I started my next attempt without any expectation, but I noticed that now that the pain was muffled, I was able to crimp harder than before, did the first crux, immediately followed by the second. Now I was at the third crux again, where letting go of the right hand always made me swing out. On the spot, I found something under the roof to keep myself from swinging immediately by stopping the swing with a small right toehook and suddenly had my hand on the slopey knob. I let go of my right foot, took a hard swing, somehow didn't swing off, and threw my feet over the lip of the roof. I knew at that moment that I could top out, and did. I couldn't stop smiling for at least ten minutes after the topout. A great problem with beautiful moves, definitely worth five stars in my humble opinion.

Fontainebleau - Noisy-sur-Ecole - Muramasa 7B+