November 03, 2024 - Good vibration.

There was much less to almost no fog yesterday morning, and I decided to go back to Montrouget Est. The conditions were somehow worse than the day before and on top of that, my body didn't seem like it wanted to work, so I didn't stay long and went back home do some work on a wood project that I had started on.
This morning, no fog at all, but I didn't leave very early. I was meeting up with Victor (Burger) around Larchant, but he could only come in the afternoon. Viktor's broken heel has completely healed, but unfortunately he tore the tendon of his pinky finger almost immediately after he was freed from the cast of his heel. He had an operation during which they reattached his tendon, so still recovering, we planned on doing only some easier blue and red problems as soon as he would join me.
It was almost noon when I arrived in Maunoury, and walked straight to "Pars Pro Toto". I had done the left version already back in 2017, but I was never able to really try the more direct version because the starting crack right hand was always wet. There was a climber from Lyon working in it who didn't mind that I joined him and told me that conditions were really good on it. Indeed, the starting crack was dry and the slopers felt sticky. I had a quick warmup attempt, using a bad method which made me come off, but was surprisingly able to finish it on my second attempt already.

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Pars Pro Toto 7B

The area was quite busy, so I looked for and found some solitude at the "Baloo" boulder, but as the conditions weren't very good on it, I walked on to the big boulder of "Apophis" where I was alone as well. Being alone, I checked out one of the easier lines, "Good Vibrations (du fond)", and after inspecting the holds and imagining the movements, I was surprised to be able to do the whole long line on my first attempt.

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Good Vibrations (du fond) 7A(6C+)

As it was almost time for Victor to arrive, I walked back to the main area where I was still able to make quick work of "Serendipity". 

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Serendipity 7A+

November 01, 2024 - Gamble.

Being in full Autumn, the weather has been very grey with a lot of dense fog in the morning, lasting well through the day. It makes choosing where to climb a bit of a gamble. Leaving the house, not knowing if it will be dry in the area of choice is suspenseful, but it looks like last weekend and today, I have been quite lucky. 
Today's choice was Montrouget Est and even though there was still a lot of fog, no wind and a sky covered by grey clouds, I was lucky again. The boulders were dry, but I left the main area and continued up the hill towards "Figure de Style", which I had chosen as a main project for this session. I had tried this problem back in 2017, but couldn't even do the first move feeling very uncomfortable with the left heelhook for the start.
Even though the boulder was dry and I soon managed to do the first move, the conditions weren't ideal, and I slipped off the bad sloper right hand a lot of times. I persisted though and ended up with finishing the boulder. 

Fontainebleau - Montrouget Est - Figure de Style 7B

October 26, 2024 - Micro climate.

Last Tuesday evening after work I repeated the problem next to "Sale Mioche" in Roche aux Sabots. I had done it a first time thirteen years ago, before I even had a camera, the same day that I did "Sale Mioche". It was undocumented back then, but as I didn't even had to clean anything, I figured that this very logical line must have been done before by someone. I was gladly surprised that I saw it being published on bleau.info two weeks ago. Theo (Konstantakopoulos) had rediscovered it and named it "Sale Galoche (assis)". 
When I went to repeat it last Tuesday, I did it on my first attempt. Is that what they call a 'retro flash' ?

Fontainebleau - Roche aux Sabots - Sale Galoche (assis) 6C+(7A)

This morning, after an apparent rainy night, everything was wet and it made no sense to leave early, which was a good thing, because I had to pick my oldest son at the train station at 11h.
Around that time though, the sun came out and it looked like there was going to be some potential for climbing. Aiming for something quick drying, I went to Maunoury and walked straight to the far end on the top of the hill. Almost everything lower down the hill was still wet, but "Microclimat" was perfectly dry. It was as if there was a micro climate around that boulder. 
I had already spent two short sessions trying "Microclimat", and as I never managed to do a first move, I kind of had given up on it. When I saw a video of someone doing it using a heelhook on the right, it had drawn my attention again, only to get disillusioned  almost immediately again. There was no way that I could place a heelhook and reach the starting holds. Looking up the measurements of the climber in the video, I soon realized why. He is thirteen centimeters taller than me and had a six centimeters longer arm span.
As I was there again, I didn't let it get to me and managed to find a way using a bad toehook instead of the heel, but the few other moves still gave me a very hard time. Quite some time later, I had finally done each move separately and surprisingly only needed two attempts as soon as I turned on the camera. Always fun to get away with a problem that I had already given up on. Definitely a good 7B+ with my height and span.

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Microclimat 7B+(7B)

October 20, 2024 - Still standing.

The four of us, me, Alberto, Jan and Pieter, made the decision to go to Apremont Milan today. It was a bit of a risk after the rain yesterday evening, but most of the interesting boulders are on the South face of the hills and there was a nice breeze. It worked in our favor and we all warmed up doing the easier problems on the boulder of "Pintonesque", all while having a good laugh.
I flashed the 6C+ "Pintonesque", immediately followed by Pieter and Jan. Unfortunately Alberto, even though moving quite well, had to let it go after a multitude of attempts, and we decided to move to the boulder of "The Seneca Effect".
After inspecting the line of "L'Effondrement des Civilisations", Jan topped it out on his second attempt, immediately followed by myself and then Pieter, who flashed it while following our indications.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Milan - L'Effondrement des Civilisations 7A+(7A)

Having done that line, it only made sense to also do the longer version "L'Effondrement des Civilisations (en traversée)", which we did quickly.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Milan - L'Effondrement des Civilisations (en traversée) 7B

October 19, 2024 - Long time no see.

After just over a year of not having seen Pieter, he finally came back to the forest with Alberto, who I hadn't seen for even longer, closer to three years. I let them decide on where to climb and Pieter came up with Apremont Vallon de la Solitude, "Mandela" more in particular. Pieter had deliberately chosen a boulder that I hadn't done before, and there was a reason for it. I did spend two sessions on "Mandela" in the past, and I found simply too hard. There was no way that I could more than two moves in that problem. With the three of us, there would be more possibilities and maybe a slight chance to finally climb it.
The weather had been quite bad with a lot of rain the days before, and even this morning there was a slight drizzle. Everything looked wet, but the boulder of "Mandela" and the surrounding boulders were perfectly dry and even in very good conditions. It was a pleasant surprise.
Before trying "Mandela", we warmed up in "Madiba", right next to it. After working out the sketchy top part, I was able to get the ascent.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Vallon de la Solitude - Madiba 7A(6C+)

Pieter tried more, but was missing something. Not having been here for over a year had taken its toll and he was getting tired quickly. Before getting too tired, and in need for a change, we decided to start with "Mandela". 
It didn't take long before Pieter and Alberto realized why I had never topped out this problem. Being the three of us though, we didn't give up and tried a lot of possibilities. When Jan (Gorrebeeck) joined us too, we had a fourth opinion and some new ideas, but we were still stuck and a hard time making progress. 
Then after about two hours being stuck, Alberto made a good suggestion changing a minor detail on one of the methods that seemed to work best for me. Changing that minor detail finally got me further to the point where I was able to go for the top slopers, but I missed the best part of it and still fell off. Two more attempts after that, I finally was able to stick it and top it out. I had already turned off the camera by then, but I had witnesses. Jan was getting close too, and while he kept trying, I decided to try it again for having a video of it. Still having the muscle memory, I topped it out again immediately, followed by Jan about fifteen minutes later.
It was a great session with even greater company.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Vallon de la Solitude - Mandela 7A(7A+)

October 13, 2024 - Subside.

I spent a weekend with my sisters at a gite in the Belgian Ardennes, but after a four hour drive back home today, I was eager to head for a short climb, despite feeling stiff and tired from the drive. 
I had tried "Subside" in Vallée Ronde two short sessions already, but each time it was in the morning in Summer, and the sun was full on the boulder, making it quickly too hot to stay there. Now in Fall later in the afternoon, it was perfectly in the shade. I arrived at the boulder and didn't expect anything more than just having a good time there in solitude and hopefully manage to at least do the crux this time.
When I somehow managed to do the crux move, I became somewhat hopeful and did some attempts from the start. To my big surprise, I only needed a handful.

Fontainebleau - Vallée Ronde - Subside 7B

October 05, 2024 - Execution.

It was nice to receive a message from Jan (Gorrebeeck) this morning, asking what I had planned. He agreed to come with me to Les Mammouths, where I wanted to especially try the new "La Pervenche Citronelle", suggested to me by the opener. A nice looking boulder with toehooks, so I definitely was game for it.
With the toehooks being completely my style, I was able to do it on my third attempt. I would have almost said that it could rather be 7A+, but as Jan needed to work out another method and needed almost two hours to get it done, I'm thinking that (soft) 7B could be right.

Fontainebleau - Les Mammouths - La Pervenche Citronnelle 7B

As Jan had almost even given up on "La Pervenche Citronnelle", his morale had gotten a boost after finishing it after all, after some encouragement, so he was in for another 7B, "Dragon Skin", where we joined Jerome (Hergle).
Both Jan and I only needed a handful of attempts to get it done. 

Fontainebleau - Les Mammouths - Dragon Skin 7B

We said goodbye to Jerome and moved over to one of the new problems of Laurent (Darlot), "Solinidée". We both executed it quickly but agreed it was a very nice one.

Fontainebleau - Les Mammouths - Solinidée 7A+