The sky has finally cleared up and it's forecasted to be sunny but up to extremely cold for at least a week.
With about 6°C today, it wasn't that cold yet, but it was dry and I could almost smell that the conditions would be good.
I had to work though, so it was already close to 17h30 when I parked at Franchard Isatis. Not much, but still enough time of daylight left with this clear sky to be able to work a bit in "Sur-Prises".
At only 50m from the parking and the first boulder on the path when entering the Isatis area, it's probably the most known or most seen boulder of Franchard. Sometimes unnoticed, but seen for sure.
I really can't count for sure how many short sessions I had already spent on it without sticking the move to the second sloper, but it must be a lot.
For some reason, most likely the good conditions, this evening, after barely fifteen minutes of trying, I suddenly stuck it!
Surprised as I was, I tried not to panic when I realised that I didn't really know what to do next, but I remained focussed and topped it out.
Very glad and quite surprised with having done this classic!
Last weekend I had to let go of "Atome Crochu" because I started feeling ill and weak.
It was a shame, because I had fallen off the last move twice and an ascent was imminent, but the flue had decided differently.
Yesterday I had to go to Belgium, but being able to leave back home already early this morning, allowed me about half a day of time for climbing.
Upon arrival back home, I was surprised by the dense fog that was still lingering low above the ground and for a moment I worried that maybe nothing would dry up despite the predictions of a sunny day.
When I parked at Canche aux Merciers, determined to finish "Atome Crochu", I took precautions and went to have a look at the state of the boulders without crashpad first.
To my pleasant surprise, the boulder was dry, but the conditions needed to get a bit better.
I decided to get the crashpad and wait it out for a while.
By the time I arrived back, the sun had started peaking through the fog, which dissipated fast.
The boulder was catching some sun and the conditions were becoming very good.
I took my time in between tries but suddenly, about twenty minutes later, I made it up to the last move, prepared for the dynamic move, mumbled to myself to stick it this time, went for it and stuck without hesitation.
I had finally done "Atome Crochu".
Great problem, but quite morpho though!
Fontainebleau - Canche aux Merciers - Atome Crochu 7B+
I spent the remainder of the afternoon in Apremont Ouest and Apremont Butte aux Dames and I was able to climb the relatively new "Le Capitaine de l'Espace (assis)" relatively quickly.
Some nice moves, but I have my doubts about the proposed grade.
It felt more like a soft, but nice 7B.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Ouest - Le Capitaine de l'Espace (assis) 7B+
Just like I expected, I had to pay for the effort I made on Sunday to climb "Roche Métamorphique".
That same evening and night the flue really kicked in and I was unable to go to work the day after.
The doc wanted to write me home all week, but as I didn't feel that extremely bad at that moment thanks to the Paracetamol I took, I negotiated two days less, until Wednesday.
However, I had to promise that I would work from home if I wasn't 100% yet on Thursday.
Little did I know that the worst was yet to come.
On Wednesday I even felt that bad that I started doubting if it had been all worth it to have climbed on Sunday.
Thursday, after a bad night with high fever, it suddenly started fading and by noon I finally had no fever anymore.
As I had promised the doc, I worked from home yesterday and today to strengthen up.
Late this afternoon, after work, I had enough energy to go check out the recently published "Veuve Noire" in Roche aux Sabots Est, opened by, of course, Tony (Fouchereau).
Even though I wasn't ill anymore, I was out of breath after that short walk to the boulder, which was smaller than I expected.
It's a bit eliminate, so it took me a while before I found a method to get up, but in the end it wasn't as hard as I thought it would.
On the other hand, my heart was racing through my chest when I mantled up. It reminded me that I'm still recovering from the flue.
Walking back, I felt quite good again, thought about the past week and decided that it was worth it.
Fontainebleau - Roche aux Sabots Est - Veuve Noire 7C(7B+)
This week we had more snow here than the past four years altogether.
As long as the boulders are dry underneath the snow, it can create excellent conditions, but with the humidity from the weeks before, it was all wet.
It did create a beautiful white scenery in the forest though, however, I saw more trees that had fallen down under the weight of the snow than there were during the storms a while ago.
Yesterday, the sky finally cleared up and the sun started melting the thick layer of snow.
Hearing the constant sound of packs of melting snow falling from the trees, I had to look for a boulder that wasn't overshadowed by trees, and came up with "Atome Crochu" in Canche aux Merciers.
I spent some time in the morning wiping the snow off the boulder and drying it with my a towel that quickly became soaking wet.
When I returned a couple of hours later, it was in almost perfect conditions. The only boulder that was free from snow and dry.
The session lasted almost an hour and a half, twice I fell off the last move but I started feeling weak and had to give up.
At least, I had been able to climb on real rock!
Snow in Canche aux Merciers.
I had a bad night and woke up with a fever this morning.
My son who was struck with flue earlier this week, most likely passed it on to me.
The weather, however, was beautiful and a similar story like yesterday unfolded itself.
In the morning, I drove to Rocher de la Salamandre Est, knowing that the boulder of "Roche Métamorphique" is exposed to the sun and dries very quickly.
The boulder was indeed dry, but unfortunately, due to the rising air temperature, the small roof and the starting hold under it were condensed and very wet.
I dried the starting hold under the roof as much as I could with some toilet paper that I carried in my bag. Looking at the sun at that moment, it was only a matter of minutes before that hold would be exposed to it too.
The Paracetamol that I took after getting out of bed, was wearing out, and I could feel the fever coming back.
I decided to let the sun do its work and returned home for an new dose of anti-fever pills and put on some dry socks.
When I arrived at "Roche Métamorphique" again, a couple of hours later, it was perfectly dry. Even the starting hold under the roof.
I was delighted and started my session, hoping that I wouldn't be too weak because of the fever.
It took me a while and a lot of trying different methods, but in the end I found the one that suited me most and finished the problem.
Despite the flue that made me feel miserable, it felt great!
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre Est - Roche Métamorphique 7B+(7C)
I'm already paying for having climbed today.
My body weakened and gave the flue the occasion to attack even more, but hey, when you really want to climb, sometimes you have to do what it takes and suffer the consequences.
Every day since last Saturday was dominated by rain again, but today finally we had some sunny periods until late afternoon.
There was a 40% chance of rain and some of that had passed over the town of Montereau where I work, so everything was wet when I finished at 16h.
In the distance, I could see that the sky over the forest looked more clear and looking at the direction the clouds were going, I knew that the rain had passed there already. But there was still time to dry.
I calculated that the time needed to get to Gorge aux Châts would leave me with about 45 minutes of daylight left for climbing. At least, if it was dry enough already.
Arriving at "La Tour d'Ivoire", I was delighted to see that the overhanging boulder kept the holds underneath it perfectly dry.
The topout looked slippery but knowing that I was at least going to be able to practice the first part felt great on itself. I was finally going to move on rock again.
As a warmup, I tried the 6B standing start and discovered a method to do the dynamic move almost statically.
It motivated me, because I knew at that moment that a send could follow any time soon.
"La Tour d'Ivoire" has a really hard start with a small and painful undercling crimp and I remember that I once looked at it for the first time years ago, wondering how it was even possible.
It felt like a real victory standing on top of the boulder about half an hour later.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - La Tour d'Ivoire 7C
When will it stop?
A question that's on many's mind.
Even older Bleausards say that they have never seen such humidity and plain wetness for such a long time before. I can only agree with them.
For today it was finally announced to be quite sunny again, but when looking out of the window early in the morning, all I could see was a dense fog and a dark grey sky.
Another look at my weather app revealed that the predictions had changed into grey clouds all day.
I had planned to go to Apremont Désert to try "La Corne de Rhino", knowing that it dries quickly, but I had to be patient and started cleaning the bathrooms upstairs. Time passes more quickly when you're busy.
I was pleasantly surprised when Pieter wrote that he and Alberto were having a coffee in Milly-la-Forêt, because I didn't expect them to be in the forest this weekend.
The latest weather predictions they saw before leaving were those when it was still supposed to be sunny and they also were disappointed when waking up this morning and seeing all that grey.
They agreed to join me to Apremont Désert and we met on the parking a while later.
There was no need to hurry, because we all knew that almost everything would be wet anyway.
I was already warmed up from the long walk when I arrived at "La Corne de Rhino", it was already 13h and still the fog and grey sky were ever present.
The small boulder was as good as the only dry one in the area and even in remarkably good conditions as opposed to the previous session when I worked in it.
I took my time working out the moves again and in between tries I didn't touch the holds for a few minutes, to avoid them becoming humid, which can happen fast with this humidity in the air.
Almost an hour later, I suddenly linked all the moves and topped out.
A beautiful problem with some really nice moves! Fits quite my style.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Désert - La Corne de Rhino 7B+(7C)
Pieter, who was climbing some circuit routes together with Alberto to warm up, joined me and noticed that there was still a direct line to left of the start "La Corne de Rhino", called "Le Rhino-Féroce".
A 7A+(7A) with slopers that looked in good condition. I mean, it could have been worse.
I only needed two attempts and Pieter followed directly after.
It was a nice problem, but felt like a soft 7A at most.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Désert - Le Rhino-Féroce 7A+(7A)
Alberto, who is normally not good with slopers also made some promising attempts, but he had to let it go for another time.
Back in the main area, we worked a bit in "Jabbawockeez", but time went fast and I had to leave.
More rain announced tonight and grey clouds all day tomorrow.
The first half of the week I was away for work, but it seemed that I didn't miss out on anything.
Yesterday was dominated by rain, as was this morning, but late afternoon, the sun finally came through.
With the daylight slowly getting longer again in the evening, I still had time to look for something new after work.
Tony (Fouchereau), Thierry (Vasseur) and friends have been busy again lately and cleaned a lot of boulders, mainly small ones, between the classical area of Roche aux Sabots and the 91.1 area.
Enough boulders to create a new small sector called Roche aux Sabots Est.
A lot of new boulders to try in the lower grades, but also a couple in the seventh grade.
One of them is "Le Bélier", which attracted me the most and was basically also the only dry one.
Looking at the picture on bleau.info, I had expected the boulder to be bigger, so it took me while before I found it in the little chaos of small boulders.
"Le Bélier" is a small boulder, but it was new and visually it has something to it.
The typical wave textured slopers make it feel like you're climbing on a turtle's back.
It was quickly done, but I had some fun and at least I was able to climb something new.
Fun little boulder!
Fontainebleau - Roche aux Sabots Est - Le Bélier 7A(7A+)
