August 31, 2024 - Old and new.

It was a fun and chill session today in Restant du Long Rocher. I met up with Matti (Faes), owner and host of the Sticky Tips podcast, available on Spotify and YouTube. Even though Matti is also Belgian, he now lives with his wife and dog in the South of France, near Tautavel. Matti is a climbing coach (www.coachmatti.be), but together with his wife, they also own and rent out a guesthouse, so if you should be in the region and looking for a nice place to stay, with nice hosts, consider supporting them and stay at their guest house (www.casa-tramuntana.com).
Also joining the session, were Brent and Quinten, both Belgians, from the younger generation. Even though the older generation didn't fail to show them how it was done (wink).
The session started with a quick ascent of "Le Papillon", featuring a beautiful shoulder move. Even though I wasn't able to do it back in 2018, I now only needed two attempts and repeated it again for the video. Matti followed soon after, on his turn followed by Brent, who unfortunately fell off the mantle on his flash attempt. Quinten tried it too, but decided to save his energy for "U751", a decision that might have turned out in his favor.

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - Le Papillon 7A

In between, after watching Quinten trying the nice 6C, "La Pirouette", and advised by Matti, I couldn't resist and went for it as well. Only needed one attempt for it, but it was nice. Quinten followed in my footsteps.

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - La Pirouette 6C

I had done "U571" six years ago, in 2018, and I completely forgot how it went. Matti had done it yesterday on his second attempt, and Quinten and Brent had worked in it for a long time then, but failed to get the send then. Both were eager to hopefully send it today. 
I fell off the mantle on my first attempt, but was able to repeat it on the second. 

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - U751 7B

Not long after, after taking some advice from Matti, I also managed to do "La Boule d'Epaule", also on my second attempt.

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - La Boule d'Epaule 7A

I saw Brent and Quinten falling off the mantle of "U751" a couple of times, but just before I left, still watched Quinten top it out, making it his first 7B. Always nice to see the happiness when someone sends a 'first of the grade'. I was happy for him and realized that I didn't even remember what my first 7B was, but imagined that I must have felt the same way like Quinten did.