January 25, 2025 - Magical timing.

The forecast for the weekend looked terrible. A lot of rain to be expected, but warmer temperatures. When I looked out my window this morning, the sky looked threatening with a thick grey deck of clouds. No blue sky in sight. It wasn't raining yet though and everything outside still looked pretty dry. I took the risk and drove to Apremont, worried on my way by some rain drops falling here and there. By the time I got to Barbizon, it wasn't raining anymore and I was hoping for it last like this long enough to at least give me the chance to try some moves of "Abracadabaffe", a new boulder opened by Guillaume (Joubert).  
I went to have a look at the boulder on a rainy day a few weeks ago, and I remembered that it had an exposed factor to it. Expecting rain at any moment, I didn't bother to take a second crashpad, but was pleasantly surprised by two things when I arrived at the boulder. Firstly, it was dry, except for the first two holds of the sitstart, and secondly, it wasn't as exposed as I remembered and figured that what I had with me would be good enough to protect for any potential fall.
Without warming up, I immediately started trying the standing start. Careful and withholding myself the first few attempts, giving myself confidence about always landing perfectly where I had placed the crashpad when falling off. The conditions were surprisingly good and when I had the moves somewhat in me, I turned on the camera. I sent it on my second attempt after.
Just in time, because not even a minute later, it started raining. I don't even think that it would have been possible to do another attempt if that one wouldn't have been the successful one.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Abracadabaffe 7B+