It's still extremely cold, but the sunshine yesterday made it very bearable. Unfortunately today, the sky had become covered by clouds again so there was no sun anymore to briefly warm up in again. In one way, I wanted to let my body rest and recover a bit, but the still very good conditions made me change my mind and I looked up a condition dependent problem on my list. I chose "Snak" in Cuvier Est. Very bad slopers require good conditions and this problem was nothing but bad slopers. I had tried "Snak" maybe two times, but only briefly because it was in the Summer and the sun was directly in my face and warming up the slopers. I knew that I had to come back one day in Winter with good conditions, but that was already a few years ago and I hadn't gone back for it for some reason. Today definitely was a good time. The conditions turned out to be not as good as yesterday, but still more than good enough. I didn't even need an hour of time for topping out this nice sloper problem. It's all in the details when trying to climb up a basketball-like problem. Glad to be able to tick this one off the list.
After having injured my ribs and the muscles around them on Monday, I was suffering from severe pain around the area where my wooden brush pushed through my ribs, or at least that's what it had felt like. Luckily, it was already easier to breathe the day after, but moving however, had to be done with care. Despite that, I did want to climb a bit on Tuesday, so tried to find something what looked a bit easier and I thought I had found it in "On the Road", in Mont Ussy Est, right next to the parking. Maybe it was because I wasn't able to move as freely as I wanted, but I have to admit that I had underestimated it. It took me some time before I had figured out how to do the separate moves given the condition I was in. Once I knew though it went down quickly.
Fontainebleau - Mont Ussy Est - On the Road 7B
On Wednesday, the temperatures had dropped significantly, the sky opened up again, revealing the nice blue that we had to miss for so long, and the wind was coming from the North-East. Perfect ingredients for very good conditions, the kind that I had been waiting for for so long. I was motivated, but couldn't find the right boulder that would fit for the day given the how I still couldn't move as much without pain, despite trying to ignore it. I regretted not daring to try my main project for this Winter, "Tempête Solaire". The day after, on Thursday, I was determined to go back to "Tempête Solaire", no matter how I felt. I had tried it for three sessions during Summer. It had taken me two sessions to just stick the crux move, the little jump to a very bad sloper, while at the same time releasing the foot and trying to hold the slight swing. On my third session in Summer, I was able to do the whole problem in two overlapping parts, but figured that I would need much better conditions than the Summer morning warmth to be able to stand a chance doing the whole problem. Thursday had exactly the conditions I had been waiting for. As by coincidence, Steven Demets, an old time friend, was on his way to the South and decided to stop at Bleau for a short day. We met up in Apremont Butte aux Dames and first tried some easier things, as he hadn't climbed for years and is still recovering from a broken arm, before going to "Tempête Solaire". With the pain still bothering me, my main goal for Thursday, was to to at least relearn the crux move and try to make it quite consistent. It went much better than that. After sticking the crux move a few times separately, I gave it some attempts from the start, and even made it to a new highpoint before slipping off unexpectedly. The body was tired and the pain almost unbearable, so I threw in the towel, knowing that the good conditions would last for a couple of days more. This morning, I woke up, still in pain, but slightly better. I was determined to go back to "Tempête Solaire" and left around 11h after a short warmup at home. I tried to not set the expectations too high, but I felt nervous while driving there. After yesterday, I knew that the full send would be just a matter of time, having that one good go. Even though I had felt a lot of pain while warming up at home, somehow, it completely went away as soon as I as warmed up trying the crux of "Tempête Solaire". It only took me a handful of attempts to stick it. Not wasting any time or energy, I felt ready, but nervous. I turned on the camera, got ready and set off for my first attempt of the day. The first part up to the crux went smooth, like almost every time by then, I stuck the crux cleanly and threw my foot around the arete hoping to not slip off like yesterday. It stuck. Once I had the higher crimp, I knew that I couldn't fall anymore and went on. I had reached a new highpoint, the top of the boulder. It was quite some time that I felt so much joy and relief after topping out a boulder. The problem that I was secretly hoping for to still finish this year, was done.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Tempête Solaire 8A(7C+)
After a rainy night, on Saturday I went to Rocher Saint-Germain for a walk in the wet forest and to have a look at the relatively new boulder "Les Fossoyeurs Insoumis". Even though the forest was soaking wet, it wasn't raining at that moment, and I decided to take my climbing bag and my thin Black Diamond gapstopper pad, just in case. I didn't carry it in vain, because to my pleasant surprise, the lower holds were perfectly dry and even in very good conditions. The top was soaking wet, but at least I could start trying the moves from the start up to the last harder move of "Les Fossoyeurs Insoumis (gauche)". I spent about two hours of climbing, trying the lower section and made very good progress. I fell off the last harder move a couple of times, but that was okay, because with a soaking wet top, I didn't see myself finishing it anyway. At least I had been able to climb and I was determined to come back as soon it was less wet. Yesterday, Sunday, it rained all day long, only to stop at around 22h. It gave me at least a bit of hope for today.
This morning, it looked pretty dry compared to yesterday and after some house chores, I went back to try "Les Fossoyeurs Insoumis (gauche)". The top was dry enough now, but unfortunately the lower holds were not in as good conditions as Saturday. Still remembering the moves from two days ago, I progressed quickly again and started getting close quickly. Unfortunately after an unexpected slip on one my better attempts, I fell hard, with my ribcage right onto my bigger wooden brush that was standing up straight in one of my shoes. I could feel the brush go in between my ribs and screamed out from the pain I was struck with. It hurt like crazy and I had a hard time breathing, making me fear that I might have broken a rib. Being so close to sending, I wasn't ready to give up though and kept on trying. Despite the pain, climbing went okay, but after each attempt, in need for air, I wasn't able to breathe deeply because of the pain. After a short break, I went for it again and somehow executed everything perfectly and stuck the last hard move. I struggled my way through to the top, and couldn't even feel happy. Instead, being out of breath made me want to breathe deeply, which I couldn't due to the pain. The joy came later. Still now it's hurting a lot when I breathe, I'm surely in for a rough night.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Centre - Les Fossoyeurs Insoumis (gauche) 7C+(7C)
The fog this morning was much more dense than yesterday and the air humidity was higher than ever. I realized it wouldn't make sense today to go try "Tempête Solaire" as there was no point in trying something hard again today. Instead, I chose for a safer option and went to Bois Rond Le Moine for something easier, less condition dependent. Quite easily flashing both problems (on the same small boulder), the session was short, but I enjoyed the time in the forest nonetheless. The first one that I flashed was "Rester de Marbre".
Fontainebleau - Bois Rond Le Moine - Rester de Marbre 7A(6C+)
Immediately followed by "Regard Froid". Both problems not hard for the grade, but I took what I could.
Fontainebleau - Bois Rond Le Moine - Regard Froid 7A
The weather and climbing conditions have been very bad for at least a month, and the only few days that were climbable, happened to e during weekdays when I had to work. Even though it's part of the game, especially in this season, it had started to weigh down on my morale. I even went climbing indoors, something that I hadn't done for about five years, not counting the times when I climbed on my 35 degree home boulder wall in my barn. To keep busy and prepare myself for the first day where it would be possible to go try "Bleau's Heart (direct)" again, I had set the low crux of it as best as I could remember, on my home wall and had come to quite consistently doing the move. This morning when I woke up, there was a dense fog, but my sandstone terrace was dry, and it looked like there might be a possibility to climb. Not expecting much, except for bad conditions, I decide to go to "Bleau's Heart", hoping to at least practice parts of the problem. I only took one crashpad as it didn't seem to make sense to carry a second one without knowing how the rock would feel. To my pleasant surprise, the boulder was dry and the fog was much less dense near the bottom of the hill, where the boulder is. I figured that doing some moves would at least be possible. I warmed up a bit and was able to repeat the second part of "Bleau's Heart" quickly. Strangely enough, the friction even felt very good. Looking at the crux move I realized that the 'copy' that I had set in my barn was much less hard than the real thing, but after only a few attempts, I was able to stick it after all. The whole problem suddenly was a real possibility and I decided to take a short rest while walking back to the car to get a second crashpad. I wanted to be able to climb without distractions or worrying about falling when I wanted to start doing real attempts again. Having the experience from a few months ago, I knew that missing the low crux move had a high potential of falling straight on the back, and even the last part, when the friction is less still has chance to fall off. Back at the boulder with the second crashpad, I felt quite relaxed, I didn't have any so-called 'sending stress'. To make to keep as much friction as possible for the last part, I put on a base layer of liquid chalk from Chalk Rebels. I didn't want to fall off the very last move like last time. Still relaxed, without any real expectations for my first attempt of the day, I started climbing, stuck the crux move perfectly and kept calm while I executed the next moves, I knew that I could this part as long as I didn't loose the friction. I was flowing through the problem, had a minor fear of slipping off the last move, but it stuck and I was able to top out "Bleau's Heart (direct)". A true morale boost!
Fontainebleau - Petit Rempart - Bleau's Heart (direct) 7C
The temperature dropped significantly the past week, and we even had the first bit of snow but it melted quickly, making everything wet. Yesterday morning it was very foggy, but it looked dry and I met with Olaf to go for a climb. It was freezing cold, but the air was humid and without any sun, the cold just felt harsh. We had agreed to go the boulder of "Ecaille de Lune" in Gorges du Houx, but it was so cold that the rubber of our climbing shoes felt hard and didn't stick at all and our toes going numb in no time certainly didn't help, despite the conditions of the rock being quite okay. We quickly gave up on "Ecaille de Lune" and turned our attention to "La Boîte Cachée" on the same boulder. We both had never tried it before and even though it doesn't look very attractive at first, it turned out to be a fun problem with some nice moves. The first part seemed quite difficult at first, trying to avoid touching the boulder in the back, but I quite quickly found a good working method, requiring constant body tension during the whole first half of the problem. I was glad to finish it, albeit with completely numbed out fingers by the time I got to the second, but easier part. Olaf was able to do all the moves, but will have to come back for it.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx - La Boîte Cachée 7A+
It was extremely foggy this morning, but somehow there were some small sections without fog at all when I driving towards Nemours to meet Olaf for hopefully some climbing in Les Mammouths. The forest was wet, but the conditions of the boulders were very good. It's strange sometimes how good the conditions can be when you would think that it's a day without any potential for climbing. We apparently made a good choice for today. Olaf had decided to not climb a lot because he wanted to keep his skin and energy for the next two upcoming days. Monday and Tuesday look like days with good weather, cold and a high potential for very good conditions. He has been waiting for good conditions to go try his current big project, "Le Dolmen du Divin" in Rocher de Milly. After almost cutting through my skin while trying "Gloire", we decided to move to the other side of the area to try a new very nice looking boulder, "La Prouhistoire", close to the Museum of the Prehistoric Time. The conditions on that side of the area were a bit less good, but still very climbable. The standing start gave some trouble for Olaf, mostly because of his mindset being fixed on the next days, but I got away with it on my second attempt. It could have been my first attempt, but I bumped into Olaf while taking the swing after the dynamic move.
Fontainebleau - Les Mammouths - La Prouhistoire 7A
The sitstart felt way harder than I thought it would, going off by the grade, but after slightly changing my method, I could move better and felt quite comfortable. Not long after, I also managed to top out from the sitstart. All nice moves that seemed to fit me quite well. Olaf unfortunately didn't finish neither, but I appreciate how he was mainly there to keep me company. Much appreciated, as always.
Fontainebleau - Les Mammouths - La Prouhistoire (assis) 7A+
