Same bad conditions as yesterday, and probably even worse, but I tried my chances close to home, and went to Cul de Chien.
Kind of a similar story as yesterday, only topped the warmup problem, but this time, I flashed it with relative ease in humid conditions.
Opened recently and proposed as 7A+, but I can't make more than a 6C+ out of "Chimney Pot".
Fontainebleau - Cul de Chien - Chimney Pot 7A+
I had never tried the beauty "Eclipse" and despite the humidity and condensed roof, was able to work the moves up to the crack, but that one was too damp to pull hard on it without slipping. Still not my luck.
From Monday to Thursday, the conditions were just perfect. Cold with a blue sky and a breeze from the East make a perfect recipe for best conditions.
Sadly enough, it was just not my luck as I had too much going on at work at the same time and had a deadline to make. There was no room to take a few hours off work during the day and get my share of conditions that are exceptional.
The 8C's and 8B's were being sent like flies on a turd, but I didn't even come close to touching any sandstone, it was not my luck.
Yesterday though, the temperature started rising again and the breeze was gone; which resulted in the air humidity going up to 100%, making the sandstone and, causing it to lose the best friction.
This morning was hopeful when I parked in Le Vaudoué and set off to Rocher Fin, stopping briefly at Rocher de Diplodocus to get a sense of how it felt. It weren't the good conditions from earlier this week, but the first impression was not too bad.
The harder problems that I wanted to try in Rocher Fin felt still too damp, but with "Hackebärli Fin" in the isolated North part of the sector, I had found myself a nice and fun warmup.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Fin - Hackebärli Fin 7A
With the rising temperature, there the nightly frost started melting though and gave the boulders an even more damp feeling. Slopers that feel sticky at first became fast humid, leaving dark traces where the hand came in contact with them.
"El Kift" and "La Micholeg (assis)" felt too slippery after a while, so I left in search for some more luck, but unfortunately, it was not mine and the warmup stayed remained my only top for the day.
It was cold and little humid this morning, but sun was out and the weather looked promising. However, by the time I arrived at J.A. Martin after doing some household, light grey clouds had taken over and the sun couldn't get through. It didn't bother me much, as long as it didn't rain.
I didn't have any particular problem in mind that I wanted to try, but was more focused on trying some of the many new lines published recently.
Not everything was dry enough, but "Le Syndrome de Kessler" was, and I felt like trying the 7A "Le Syndrome de Kessler (du bas)".
I hadn't watched the video of it online, but according to what I remembered, it started from the ground with crimps; not from the small boulder in front of it. Apparently, it does start sitting on the small boulder, in the middle of the wall and then goes to the right arete.
I thus renamed the video to "Le Syndrome de Kessler (du sol)", of which the grade will be about the same.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - Le Syndrome de Kessler (du sol) 7A
On the boulder directly above "Le Syndrome de Kessler", the traverse "SolarStratose" was completely dry.
Normally I wouldn't immediately go trying a traverse, but this line looks so natural and logical to follow that it hardly feels like climbing a traverse.
A very nice line.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - SolarStratose 7A+
Even less, I would start trying a traverse that has a "rallongé" to it, an extended version, but here also, besides my arms being totally pumped on the top, I really liked doing those moves.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - SolarStratose (rallongé) 7B+
Recently, a new boulder named "Bleautiful" in Cuvier Merveille had been published on bleau.info, and the name alone already spoke to my imagination.
Finally, after being patient for weeks, the conditions were in favor and I left to Cuvier Merveille, leaving several options open.
I couldn't immediately find the boulder, which looks to be quite hidden according to the picture on bleau.info, so I went to the beautiful and classical "Bleau's Art" boulder first. I wanted to finish its right variation, "Tina , Hier Kommt die Sahne"; which basically is German for "Tina, here comes the cream". A ridiculous name that was probably more funny when you were there when it was chosen, but it's such a beautiful line!
I kept on sliding off the slopers, but with each attempt, I got closer, so I gave it some time and sent it on a rather unexpected moment.
Great boulder, great line!
Fontainebleau - Cuvier Merveille - Tina, Hier Kommt die Sahne 7B+
After a short break, I looked for "Bleautiful" again and found it well hidden in a stunningly beautiful small chaos of green mossy boulders.
Bleau is beautiful!!
Despite having been published only a few days ago, the boulder must have been opened quite a bit before. The slopey topout was covered with needles and there I wiped them, it left a big wet spot.
Patience helped and I managed to top this beauty on my third attempt. The much harder sitstart had become mossy again though. After all, it does start in quite a humid pit.
Fontainebleau - Cuvier Merveille - Bleautiful 7A
I decided to walk back using the blue path that crosses Cuvier Rempart and made a first stop at "Vu".
Tried this one a few times already, but only needed two attempt to tick it off this time. Albeit not very elegantly.
Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Vu 7B
Still had a few good attempts in "Manolo" to end with, but will need to come back for it. Some day.
The reason why I chose to go to Maunoury today, was to increase my chances for dry boulders in good conditions.
Just like the days before, the weather was beautiful, but there always remained a light low fog that kept everything humid again, which unfortunately also turned out to be the case in Maunoury.
I decided to simply follow the blue towards the top of the hill and come back the other way, hoping to find some climbable boulders of interest on my way. Looking down from the viewpoint on top of the hill wasn't promising. The light low fog was clearly visible from above.
The low, light fog seen from the top of Maunoury.
Strangely enough, "Rituel", a boulder that is mostly humid and in bad conditions looked quite okay and for the lack of something better, I went for it and sent it on my first attempt.
Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Rituel 7A+
I tried some more harder problems here and there, but the humidity was ever present and made the holds slippery after only one attempt or two.
If 2019 was a splendid year, then keep it going in 2020; if not, than hopefully it will be better from tomorrow on.
Still not the good conditions that I was hoping for, so left to Franchard, more with idea of strolling around and see where I end up.
I had never climbed in Franchard Meyer and neither I did today. After a good walk, I noticed that all boulders are located on the shady North face of the hill and in need for more time to dry.
I decided to walk back through Cuisinière and ended up at "Le Bleurb", which was in surprisingly good conditions compared to most of the other boulders. It has been a project for quite a while, but I never managed to get that final hold.
Somehow, today, I did manage to "bleurb" my way up.
Fontainebleau - Cuisinière - Le Bleurb 7B
The stroll continued via Cuisinière Crête Sud into Franchard Isatis, where I worked my way up in "Free Tibet (assis) / Sissi la Famille". I had the impression doing "bleurb" again.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - Free Tibet (assis) / Sissi la Famille 7A+
The weather forecast looked promising for good conditions, but the air humidity was still too high all day for it to be true.
Despite the visibly humid conditions, I was packed with two crashpads when I was walking towards Rocher du Potala. I was hoping to try the beautiful, but exposed "Pierre Ponce".
The slopers on the left side hadn't gotten any sun, but were dry and good enough to do some tries and get a feel of the moves. After a few tries though, the slopers were becoming darker with humidity and I had to let them dry out from time to time to keep some friction at least.
Almost two hours later, I had to let go of it, but at least had worked the sequence and kind of determined that I would prefer to have a spot for the dynamic move to the right arete.
I moved over to the nearby boulder of "Samarkand", where I took a longer break and worked out "Samarkand (rallongé)", which I topped at the end, with the tips of my fingers until the end.
Fontainebleau - Rocher du Potala - Samarkand (rallongé) 7B+
