With the nice weather, comfortable temperatures in the evening and my back feeling better, I decided to head over to Gorge aux Châts Sud for an evening climb after work. Last Sunday, I briefly tried "Manon's Head (assis)", but didn't give much effort due to having severe back pain from falling on a small boulder the day before. After a short warmup working the middle section a bit, I almost did on my first attempt of the day from the start, but fell off the very end, the hard mantle. Luckily, I was able to do the attempt after, but not having eaten anything yet all day, my forearms were quite pumped when I topped out.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts Sud - Manon's Head (assis) 7B+
Still wanting to repeat "Machine Head", I took a short break while trying to shake out the pump as much as possible. Wisely, I tried the end of "Machine Head" first, just to make sure that I wouldn't have to think about what to do when I would pass the first part. I then repeated "Machine Head" from the start straight away.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts Sud - Machine Head 7B (repeat)
Just a quick and pretty short visit to Gorge aux Châts Sud, where I wanted to try one of the problems on the "Machine Head" boulder. The easiest being "Manon", I started with that one, but the extremely high heel hurt my back too much, so I quickly moved over to "Manon's Head". Starting as for the standing start of "Machine Head, but with a harder exit on the right.
The first few tries, I had a hard time figuring out how to move towards the right, but once I knew what to do, it was sent quickly. Not the hardest for the grade, but pretty nice. I briefly tried the sitstart, but with too much back pain, I gave up, keeping it as something to do on an evening after work.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts Sud - Manon's Head 7B
I didn't feel like walking too far, nor trying something too hard, so I decided to keep it simple and go and stay in the most Eastern part of Rocher des Demoiselles Est, right above the small parking. It's a small sector of the area, but with some nice problems very close to each other. I warmed with flashing "Basic", more 6C+ than 7A in my opinion, but ideal to wake up the body.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Demoiselles Est - Basic 7A(6C+)
Then, on the other side of the same boulder, I definitely wanted to try "Atmosphère", which I tried briefly many years ago, but couldn't get out of the small roof. My fingers weren't strong enough to hang on the tiny crimp under the roof and going dynamically left hand from the starting holds seemed to be out of reach. It turns out that my fingers have gotten stronger since then, because on my first tryout attempt, hanging on the crimp and making the next wasn't a problem. I turned on the camera and sent it immediately after.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Demoiselles Est - Atmosphère 7A(7A+)
The atmosphere was set, and now that I knew that the first part wasn't too difficult anymore, I stayed on the spot and started working in "Le Retour du Bonobo". Same start as for "Atmosphère", but with a much harder exit on the right. Instead of properly working out the end separately, I gave it goes from the start, thinking that any attempt could be the good one. On my third attempt though, I took a bad unexpected fall and fell with my back, the part just above my tailbone, next to the crashpad, directly onto the small boulder below. It hurt really bad and my first thought was to leave, so I turned off the camera and even had to lie down (on my side) for a moment. Luckily I didn't fall on my tailbone itself and after a short time, when the pain slowly faded away, taken over by adrenalin, I felt lucky that sitting wasn't painful. As I had fallen off the very end "Le Retour du Bonobo", I decided to give it another try anyway. Luckily I didn't fall anymore and was able to finish it then.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Demoiselles Est - Le Retour du Bonobo 7B
I had taken the day off today and climbing wise, as a regular week day can be enjoyable in Cuvier, I had set my main goal to the ultra classic "Le Biceps Mou". Indeed, after all this time, I had never done this must-do classic. Mainly because it's too mostly too crowded and a the few times that I did see a chance to briefly try it, I always gave up quickly because it felt like I was going to rip my finger off at the start. A few days ago though, I had seen a few videos with a start that avoids the painful mono, so I was determined to go for it this time. My oldest son Anthony had joined me and I politely suggested him to climb some circuit problems while I was trying "Le Biceps Mou", someone watching me and seemingly waiting for me to finish it, puts too much pressure on me and affects my focus. Barely fifteen minutes later, I made my way up to the top, glad having finished this classic.
Fontainebleau - Bas Cuvier - Le Biceps Mou 7B
I then joined Anthony, doing some blues and reds until the the place was starting to become crowded. Seeking some solitude, we walked over to the "Makhno" boulder in Cuvier Nord. There are so many lines on this boulder and it seems like there will always one that I haven't done yet. This time, I focused on "Dolus", which I did relatively quick. A nice bonus to my main goal of the day. Even though Anthony was waiting, I felt no pressure because he had phone coverage there, so he could distract himself while waiting for me to finish. The session ended with both being eye in eye with the most beautiful deer that I had ever seen in the forest. I always feel privileged seeing deer, and this one was a real treat.
This morning when I got out of bed, I could immediately feel that wasn't feeling great. The season change that seems to be early this year made my body start it's seasonal detox. I am of the opinion that what most perceive as a cold or even flu, is just the body detoxing the previous season. At least it's a more positive approach to understanding how I feel and why. No use to try any hard projects, so I scrolled through my 'wantlist' and decided to go to Rocher de la Salamandre Est to try "Bio-Nique". The fact that I know it to be a quick drying area helped with that decision. There was a mild wind with some harder gusts and the friction on the boulder felt really good. After a short warmup and a first attempt with a foot slip that made me fail, I did it quite easily on my second attempt.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre Est - Bio-Nique 7B
Looking for something else not too hard, and not being able to figure out the sitstart of "La Loi de Murphy", I contented myself with the standing start that went on my first attempt.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre Est - La Loi de Murphy 6C+(7A)
On the way back home, I stopped at Rocher de Cailleau, remembering that a new fun looking boulder was published recently. "Sit on That Thang". With all my respect to the opener, a contender for the being in the top ten of boulders with a stupid name. But then again, what's in a name, as long as the climb is good. Without too much effort, but almost slipping off a few times, I did manage to send it on my first attempt. The climb made up for the name.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Cailleau - Sit on That Thang 7A(7A+)
I remember that the first two times I went looking for the very isolated and well hidden boulder of "Into the Wild" in Boissy Le Goulot, I didn't find it, not realizing that I actually even stood on the boulder while looking for it. The third time was in the Winter of 2016, together with my good friend Maarten (Robays) who was visiting me from Belgium. I remember that it had snowed those days, because we were actually doing a snowy walk in the neighborhood of Boissy-aux-Cailles when we decided to go look for "Into the Wild" again. I almost can't believe that this is already almost eight years ago. As it turned out that the problem was dry, I went back to the car to get a crashpad and my climbing shoes while Maarten waited for me on top of the boulder so I could easily find it back. "Into the Wild" has not stolen its name. Back then, I could do a few moves, but it was unbearably cold and I couldn't spend too long on it. For some reason, it took me almost eight years before I decided to go back to it a little more than a month ago. It was near the end of my Summer vacation, in the beginning of August. It was very hot that morning, and the even though the dense foliage of the chestnut trees offered a lot shade, the heat of sun pierced through with ease and while taking breaks to rest, I had to sit as deep under the roof to find the cooler spot. It was a long session during which I was able to work out most of the moves, except for the crux, going left hand from a shallow two finger pocket under to roof, to a small knob above the lip of the roof. I just couldn't keep my feet far under the roof and always cut off, taking a swing, impossible to hold. Last weekend, I went back for my third session, along with Matti (Faes), Quinten and Brent. Again a pretty long session, but with good progress. that time, I did the last move, the dyno, and was also able to do the crux move, but with a left barefoot. I had come up with trying that move barefoot, as it allowed me to hang with my big toe in the small crack deep in the roof. Unfortunately, doing the whole problem barefoot wasn't an option, even though I tried. It made the part under the roof way harder. I then tried to do the crux again with shoes, and even though I was really close that time and actually started believing it was possible, I still hadn't done it with both shoes. Nevertheless, I felt that if I would be more fresh, it should be possible. I had a very busy and stressful week at work this week, but I always kept thinking about going back to "Into the Wild". The weather for the weekend doesn't look good at all, but as today was a beautiful day, I decided to go back this evening after work and stopped half an hour earlier. It was exactly 17h when I arrived at the boulder and despite I felt tired and a bit dazed from work, it was only tiredness in my head, but my body felt strong and fresh. Already when I only touched some of the holds, I felt that I was going to climb much stronger on it. On top of that, the conditions felt very good. During my first attempt as a warmup, I got to the crux, but fell off, even though I did have the small knob left hand. Without giving myself any false illusions, I knew that a send could be any time. On my second attempt, it all flowed, I stayed in control the whole time, did the crux as if I had done it many times, looked towards the top, set off and got it. Climbing on was only a formality and I topped out, not even fifteen minutes after I had arrived at the boulder. To top it all off, I immediately did it again, for having a video from another standpoint. I felt amazed and psyched and the crowd (in this case just me) went wild. A beautiful problem that I can finally get off my list.
Fontainebleau - Boissy Le Goulot - Into the Wild 7B+
