Monday, I received a new Mondo and Drop Zone crashpad from Black Diamond, but due to bad weather and priorities at work, I hadn't been able to put any of them to use, until today.
The past two weeks were made of typical Autumn ingredients. Cold, fog, grey clouds, plenty of rain and an almost constantly 100% air humidity.
It felt a bit weird to change from my old to the new Mondo, but must say that there quite some improvements on the way the belts are fixed and the materials used. At least, that's what it feels like.
It also felt lighter, but that was until I packed the rest of my stuff in it.
The new Mondo and Drop Zone.
From old to new.
Finally today, it barely rained since yesterday, and I was able to take a few hours off, so I decided to go the open hilltop of 91.1, a place where the boulders usually dry quite quickly.
Recently, "Le Gardien de But" was published, but I had the impression that it was done already long ago. Or maybe it has been an unfinished forgotten project for a long time.
Reason why I write that, is because I remember looking at that line almost ten years ago, thinking how impossible it looked.
Little did I know that after such a long time, I would come back to this and add it it to my done-list moments later.
Fontainebleau - 91.1 - Le Gardien de But 7C
On my way back I stopped at Roche aux Sabots and got shut down in the new physical problem from Tony (Fouchereau), "Ventri Lock". Something I will come back for soon.
It was freezing cold this morning, but after doing some household and cleaning, the sun had warmed up the air to an enjoyable 6°C, on top of that, the wind, even if mild, came from the East, which usually means dry air.
My fingers were tired from yesterday, but as always, of course I couldn't withstand the call of the forest, luring me in like singing mermaids on the Lorelei.
I decided to go back to Rocher du Guetteur and see what I could make of "Énergie d'Activation (direct)". A version that Pieter and I had been trying last time, but didn't get far.
The conditions were much better than last time and I was able to work out a method to comfortably take the high vertical crimp left hand and touch the tiny sharp one with the right. From there it's only one, but again hard, move to the top of the boulder.
It was during one of my longer breaks in between tries, that I decided to go see if the holds under the roof of "Backdraft" were dry. Last time, with Pieter, they were humid and we didn't want to risk breaking any of them.
To my surprise, they were perfectly dry and I decided to move over to that boulder.
On that one, I started with "Les Anges Dansent", which I flashed, albeit with a small portion of luck.
Fontainebleau - Rocher du Guetteur - Les Anges Dansent 7A
It took me a while before I found a working method for "Les Anges Dansent (gauche)", the left exit, and even was able to do it two overlapping parts, but I had ran out of energy and had no choice but to let it have this dance for now.
The whole week was foggy, rainy and humid all the time, but as I had to work anyway, I didn't care too much.
The weather was supposed to clear up yesterday afternoon, so I took a few hours off to go climbing.
It didn't clear up though, and it remained foggy and humid all day.
Eager to climb, I went to the isolated boulder of "Shikantaza", knowing that at least the lower part stays dry in the rain. I knew that because I worked that part out last weekend when it was raining. It probably was the only dry piece of boulder around.
When I arrived at the boulder yesterday late afternoon, I wasn't alone. Apparently Kaddi (Lehmann), Scott (Noy) and a friend of theirs, had found their way to it too.
I was able to work out all the moves, but as it started to get dark and the conditions were becoming more and more humid, I decided to come back for it soon when the air would be dryer.
This morning started grey, but there was nearly no fog and the mild ENE wind had dried the streets outside, a good sign.
I waited for a bit, but as soon as the sun came through, around 10h, I set off and immediately went back to "Shikantaza", knowing that it would be nicely drying in the sun.
I was alone when I arrived and warmed up by doing the standing start a few times and felt that the conditions were near perfect.
It felt great when I was able to grab the jug, because from there I knew that wouldn't fall off anymore as long as I kept focussed.
You need strong fingers for "Shikantaza" and it is graded like most boulders opened by David Evrard, hard! Might as well be 7B+ if you ask me.
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Shikantaza 7B+(7B)
In the meantime, I was joined by two French climbers, Seb and Yo (not sure of this spelled correctly), who did "Shikantaza" respectively on their second and third attempts. Strong fingers, but maybe the beta that they got from me had helped.
I was glad that they were there, because being three of us with several crashpads, we moved over to the boulder "Lalaland" to try the very exposed but beautiful "Yin Yang". The one that I didn't dare to try when I did "Lalaland" next to it.
Thanks to Seb and Yo for the extra pads and the spotting. Glad to have finally tried this line and make it to the end.
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Yin Yang 7A
Yesterday afternoon I had to drive to Belgium, but after a long drive back again this morning, I was again home just before noon. Well in time to join Pieter in the not so popular area of Rocher du Guetteur.
I found Pieter warming up in "L'Attaque Massive", but the conditions were quite bad, not to say wet, and we quickly decided to find the what could have been the only completely dry boulder of the area, the overhanging wall of "Énergie d'Activation".
Even though the conditions felt quite good at first, the air humidity was very high and the friction dependant small holds became dark and fast.
I felt quite tired from the long drive just earlier, but after having slept in his small car, an Audi A3, for a whole week, Pieter was in much worse condition than I was, so we took it easy and allowed some time between tries for the holds to dry out.
However, again Pieter impressed me by finishing "Énergie d'Activation" before me, especially because it involved a dyno near the end, something that he would have passed for until not long ago.
It took me quite a few tries more and already started to accept the fact that I wouldn't be able to top it out today, but after taking a longer break, and allowing the holds to dry even more, I activated the last bits of energy I had in me and unexpectedly stuck the dyno to the jug.
A very nice line this one!
Fontainebleau - Rocher du Guetteur - Énergie d'Activation 7A+
It's nice to have a long weekend, but yesterday, it started with not so good morale, climbing wise at least. Luckily, the good company of Pieter, who arrived last Saturday already for a short vacation, made up for it.
Looking at the weather forecast yesterday, we knew we only had the morning to climb before it would start to rain again.
Knowing that the beautiful boulder with "Onde Sensuelle" in Apremont Mare aux Biches would dry quickly after the rain from the night before, it didn't take much to convince Pieter to go there.
I was delighted because I have been wanting to try that beauty already since my first visit more than two years ago.
"Onde Sensuelle" really does justice to its name, and is visually simply one of the most beautiful boulders I have ever seen in the forest. The line however, is severely exposed and I had never dared trying it on my own. It was frustrating to stand there in front of that magnificent boulder and not being able to let myself go on it.
After a while of working out every move separately and building up confidence, we finally managed to do every move and I even climbed the problem in two overlapping parts.
Sending it from the start was something else though. After having spent so much energy already in working out the moves and being afraid to fall at first instance, we got shut down a couple of times on the very last move before reaching the final jug.
I felt really bad having to leave it unfinished, but we will definitely come back soon and at least Pieter took a nice picture of it.
The beautiful "Onde Sensuelle".
Today, the weather was forecasted to be very sunny, started with a dense fog and everything was still soaking wet from the rain that lasted until late last night.
There was practically no wind anymore so Pieter and Alberto, who arrived late last night, agreed that the area of Maunoury would be one of the better chances to find dry boulders. Especially in the sunny sector with the very nice "Oasis" of which I was keen on trying the sitstart.
After a small detour, we feared the worst when we saw most boulders still wet, but that feeling changed when we noticed that the sunnier sectors and the boulders that already caught some sun, were dying quickly.
We had to wait a bit for the slopers of "Oasis" to dry, but after barely twenty of minutes of walking around and scouting for other dry boulders, they looked to be in good condition.
How good, was shown by the fact that I repeated the standing start of "Oasis" on my first attempt and as the very first boulder I climbed on today. That could as a warmup and certainly boosted up my morale.
Pieter needed some more tries, but impressed by topping out with a dynamic move!
My morale was boosted even more when I soon after did the sitstart, "Oasis Oasis / Oasis (assis)".
We finished our projects up there just in time, because in the meantime, several other groups of climbers were eager to give that beauty a try.
We joined Alberto at the boulder of "Movement Activated", where he was trying "Envergure", red n°11. The crack near the top was humid and gave him a really hard time.
I only needed a few tries to repeat "Movement Activated (droite)", followed by Pieter who again impressed with a real dyno this time!
Nearly immediately after, I showed Alberto the 'long arm' method of "Envergure" and quite easily did its sitstart.
Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Envergure (assis) 7A
To finish the good session, I showed Pieter how I had done "L'Oeil de Boîte dans l'Épaule (droite)" by repeating it, but Pieter was convinced about his own method and topped it out not long after.
It was a good session that really boosted up my morale after yesterday's defeat.
After having driven for almost nine hours yesterday, to Belgium and back, I felt stiff and tired this morning. The hour had changed to Winter time during the night, but I was awake and up as usual. Only this time I had to wait longer for the supermarket to open and do some shopping.
To my pleasant surprise, the predicted rain had stayed away and made place for quite hard and freezing wind.
It would have been a great opportunity to go and try a hard project, but I felt too tired to motivate myself to climb anywhere but nearby. On top of that, I was meeting some friends from work who are on holiday for a week and wanted to borrow one of my crashpads for that time.
We were only supposed to meet on the parking of La Croix St Jérôme around 11h30, but I was there well before so I could try "Squeeze Me" again at only 50m from there, before joining them to Rocher des Potêts.
Long before the beautiful, but ethically contested roof of "Haute Trahison" was officially published, Ivan (Moreels) had opened a hard line with the arete and a hard pinch on the other side of the boulder.
He named it "Squeeze Me" and if I remember well, had given it the grade of 7A at that time.
For some reason, this was quickly downgraded to 6C, despite only two registered repetitions, by both tall climbers.
After many sessions, spread over several years and in all kinds of conditions, this morning I finally managed to top out the standing start of "Squeeze Me" and still it had felt hard.
According to me, this should have stayed the well deserved 7A that it was.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Souris - Squeeze Me 6C
There was still time left for me to try the sitstart, and I remember thinking that it would be a quick job immediately after doing the stand, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
Unless you have really big hands, that pinch right hand is so hard to hold.
I really can't understand why this is graded only 6C+. It deserves to be a full grade higher in my opinion.
Nevertheless, a very nice underestimated problem with surprisingly few repeaters, being so close to a big and very popular parking.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Souris - Squeeze Me (assis) 6C+
I was done just in time and joined the friends I was waiting for, to Rocher des Potêts. Most of them are beginning climbers or even first time ever in the forest, so Rocher des Potêts is like an ideal starting area for them.
For me, however, there is not much to do if I want it to be a challenge.
Grade wise, there are only four problems in the '7' range and after today, I can say I have done half of them.
The only problem that I had ever tried there very long ago, was "Snoopy", but it were the bad footholds to start with that prevented me from standing long enough on them for the dynamic and only hard move of the problem.
It doesn't look like it, but it's still quite nice.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Potêts - Snoopy 7A
It was quite crowded in Rocher des Potêts, so I was glad that the other 7A, "Le Gueulard" was a on the outskirts of the area, and nobody else had found their up to there yet today.
"Le Gueulard" is far from a beauty, but even though it was already done on my third attempt, I really had fun with this one.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Potêts - Le Gueulard 7A
I briefly touched "La Traversée du Gueulard", but it was too dirty and mossy and I didn't feel like spending time cleaning it. It didn't look attractive enough anyway.
It would have been nice to do the hardest problem of the area, the 7B, "Le Grand Vide", but it is way too morpho for me. At least, that's how I decided it.
I always feel extra motivated and strong after not having climbed during the week, and I notice that difference a lot when it's finally Friday late afternoon and time to go home without any meetings coming up anymore.
Seeing that two new problems in Apremont Butte aux Dames had been published on bleau.info yesterday, seemed like a perfect coincidence.
Looking at the pictures, they seemed to be in my style. Short and explosive, compression, slopers, reachy moves, and on top of all that, right next to the parking and only a five minute detour on my way home.
The first one, "La Renverse (assis)" didn't take me very long.
Stick a far bad sloper with the right hand, throw the left heel, hope the right hand will stick long enough on that bad sloper to do the next far dynamic move left hand to a good jug.
If all goes well, you end up hanging on the jug and climb out in "La Renverse", a 5th degree problem.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - La Renverse (assis) 7B(7B+)
At only 20m from there, I found "Tempête Magnétique" somewhat hidden between other small boulders, but upon inspection it looked to be much nicer than at first sight.
A very small boulder with a bad landing and desperate slopers and a tiny slopey crimp as a key hold.
It really felt like it was made for me somehow and in a way, I surprised myself being so motivated for such a small boulder.
In Dutch we have a saying for that, which roughly translated says that he who doesn't honour the small is not worthy the tall or something like that.
The slopers were really bad and I feared that tiny crimp, but after each attempt, I trusted it more until it nearly became a routine. Then suddenly it all clicked and I topped out.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Tempête Magnétique 7C+(7C)
It took a while to kick in what I just did, when I finally topped out and packed my stuff, but while walking back and standing high on the Butte aux Dames, I felt like the king of the hill.
It was only for a moment, but at least it's one that they can't take away anymore.
Alone on the top of Apremont Butte aux Dames, right next to the parking.
