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.
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.
There were a few problems that I wanted see and maybe try when I was walking towards Apremont Envers. I ended up trying only two of them, but I was able to finish both of them. The first one, was "Apnéiste", which in my opinion is definitely 7B when you don't have long legs. It felt quite morpho, and I even didn't see it possible to do the first far move without a kneepad. Without it, my leg didn't even fit to establish the kneebar. The conditions were mediocre at first, but while working out the moves separately, it only got better. A nice problem totally worth the effort!
Fontainebleau - Apremont Envers - Apnéiste 7B
On my to "Electro Style" in the far sector of the area, I stopped at a few other problems, but didn't get further than only seeing them, keeping them for some other time. "Electro Style" though, looked really nice despite my first thought that I didn't have a clue how to approach this one. I was determined to work it out, but I couldn't find a way to avoid a painful hand jam, jamming the left pinky until it's almost torn off. A good layer of tape did a good job helping me cope with it and I soon found a way for the other moves to get out of the roof, after which the holds are good and the topout quite easy. When I got there quite unexpectedly though, a slight panic moment trying not to fall got over me, but I topped out, leaving aesthetics way behind me. I didn't care, I made it and was glad with the ascent. All in all, also a very nice problem well worth the detour!
Last Sunday I went to try the low version of "Brulaap", published just recently. Having done "Brulaap" itself a long time, I remembered it being just below the top of the hill, and it had a good chance of drying fast after rain. The boulder was indeed dry and even though I had dialed the moves of "Brulaap (bas)" pretty quickly, I lacked the power to finish it completely and fell off the last hard move a few times. My long session in "Hypo-Tonus" the day before had taken its toll, and I had to let it go. Determined to go back to "Brulaap (bas)" this morning, I hoped that the boulder would be dry after a few days with quite a lot of rain. To avoid being disappointed, I kept my expectations low, but was pleased to find the boulder dry with near perfect friction. I felt fresh and still remembered the moves well and after a short warmup trying a few separate moves, I managed to finish it on my third attempt from the start.
Having done "Brulaap (bas)" so quickly, it was still early in my climbing session. I felt stronger than expected and was still eager to climb more. I decided to walk to another sector of Franchard Hauts Sablons, knowing that I would pass by the boulder of "La Gauche au Pouvoir", a problem that I had done four years ago, but of which I still had the extended version on my list. Knowing that the left part of the boulder dries rather slowly and where the extended version starts, I had even lower expectations than before, but apparently not rightfully so. The whole line was perfectly dry. I took my time to do the regular version again until I got past the crux move. The hard mantle can suck out a lot of energy, so I jumped off there, but knew then that the extended version, "La Gauche au Pouvoir (rallongé)", could be done. Still having the crux move in my body, I only needed a few attempts to finish the extended version.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Hauts Sablons - La Gauche au Pouvoir (rallongé) 7C
At the other sector afterwards, I stopped at the boulder of "The Last Waffle", which I was able to flash without too much effort.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Hauts Sablons - The Last Waffle 7A
"The Last Waffle (gauche)" required a bit more effort, but also went on my first attempt. I was pleased with my session.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Hauts Sablons - The Last Waffle (gauche) 7A+
My climbing plan for today was to go to Coquibus Arcades, where I wanted to try a few problems, "Hypo-Tonus" on the boulder of "Sinus-X", "Le Chasseur", and "Yahtzee". It had unexpectedly rained yesterday late afternoon and evening, and I hoped that at least one of them would be dry. I walked straight to the "Hypo-Tonus", left my gear at the boulder and went searching for "Le Chasseur". Being a relatively new boulder located somewhere isolated, it was the only that I hadn't seen yet. Luckily I found it quite easily, pleased to see that it was dry. But first I wanted to do "Hypo-Tonus", which was dry as well, but of which the start required some rebrushing. Having done "Sinus-X" and its sitstart back in 2016 and 2017 respectively, and "Hypo-Tonus" supposedly having the same grade as "Sinus-X (assis)", I expected it to be a relatively quick deal. Nothing could be farther from the truth. "Hypo-Tonus" exits in "Sinus-X", but has a sitstart on the right of the magnificent prow. I soon realized that the first two moves were way harder than the sitstart of "Sinus-X" and only made slow, but consistent progress. What I thought would have been a quick deal, turned out to be long and hard battle. The consistent progress slowed down and I kept falling from different places and moves. There is not much room for error, and I had a hard time finding the flow, making small but stupid mistakes that threw me off the boulder. After at least twenty attempts, and probably much more than that, spread over more than two hours, I almost threw in the towel a few times, but had an even harder time letting it go. Then suddenly, having taken peace with the possibility of having to come back for it and going for an ultimate last attempt, I finally had a flow, kept it all together and made my way to the top. Supposedly 7B, but finding this much harder than "Sinus-X (assis)", which is also 7B, I would say that "Hypo-Tonus" is at least 7B+ in my book. I was exhausted, my fingers and hands felt hot and the skin on my fingers was wrecked, so I didn't go to any of the other boulders anymore, but walked back to the car. Everything felt much heavier than on my way here a few hours ago, but nevertheless, I felt good and was pleased with the send.
With the nice weather, comfortable temperatures in the evening and my back feeling better, I decided to head over to Gorge aux Châts Sud for an evening climb after work. Last Sunday, I briefly tried "Manon's Head (assis)", but didn't give much effort due to having severe back pain from falling on a small boulder the day before. After a short warmup working the middle section a bit, I almost did on my first attempt of the day from the start, but fell off the very end, the hard mantle. Luckily, I was able to do the attempt after, but not having eaten anything yet all day, my forearms were quite pumped when I topped out.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts Sud - Manon's Head (assis) 7B+
Still wanting to repeat "Machine Head", I took a short break while trying to shake out the pump as much as possible. Wisely, I tried the end of "Machine Head" first, just to make sure that I wouldn't have to think about what to do when I would pass the first part. I then repeated "Machine Head" from the start straight away.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts Sud - Machine Head 7B (repeat)
Just a quick and pretty short visit to Gorge aux Châts Sud, where I wanted to try one of the problems on the "Machine Head" boulder. The easiest being "Manon", I started with that one, but the extremely high heel hurt my back too much, so I quickly moved over to "Manon's Head". Starting as for the standing start of "Machine Head, but with a harder exit on the right.
The first few tries, I had a hard time figuring out how to move towards the right, but once I knew what to do, it was sent quickly. Not the hardest for the grade, but pretty nice. I briefly tried the sitstart, but with too much back pain, I gave up, keeping it as something to do on an evening after work.
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts Sud - Manon's Head 7B
