Last week, I had done all the moves of "La Serpe d'Or (assis)" in 91.1 and even linked the two first moves, both the crux moves. I was eager to go back for it, feeling fresh, but I immediately felt this morning when I was walking towards the boulder, that I didn't feel in the best shape and after a short warmup, didn't even bother trying it. Instead, I focused on "Falastin Hura", but it gave a much harder time than I expected. It took me a long time, and when I couldn't top it out the intended way, I made an escape to the exit of red 24. The whole line as such could be about 7A+.
Fontainebleau - 91.1 - Falastin Hura (droite) 7A+
The 91.1 started to get quite crowded by then and I decided ot leav to J.A. Martin, without setting any expectation. Looking for a quiet spot, I turned up at the boulder of "Ca Couine à Droite", where I did a variation, starting in "Ca Couine à Gauche" and exiting in "Ca Couine à Droite". I named it "Ca Couine de Gauche à Droite" and did it on my first attempt.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - Ca Couine de Gauche à Droite 7A(6C+)
Finally, I also did "Ca Couine à Gauche" on my first attempt as well. It was an off day, but at least I had been in the forest and did some (easier) climbing.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - Ca Couine à Gauche 7A(6C+)
It was raining a bit this morning and everything looked wet outside. I left home with the intention of doing a walk in and around the Rocher de la Salamandre Est area, but it had stopped raining by the time I parked the car, and the sky even had cleared up, making place for quite some sun. I decided to take my climbing gear after all, thinking I might give the bottom part of "La Revanche Hurlante" a try, thinking it would be most likely dry. And it was. I ended up figuring out a possible method for the hard bottom part, but there is one move that just felt way too hard, no matter how much I tried. When then also "Hash de Guerre" wasn't working out, I thought that I must have an off day, and I indeed didn't feel in very good shape. I did end up topping out "Diesel" quite quickly, which was kind of surprising, because I found this much too difficult back in 2016. Anyway, I was happy with the unexpected turn of events and having been able to climb despite my earlier expectations.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre Est - Diesel 7B
The weather has been beautiful the past couple of days and it will stay that way until tomorrow. With rain forecasted to start on Friday and on through the weekend, I decided to take a day off work today so I could at least profit from a very sunny day. Last weekend, when I was in Apremont Belvédère, I wanted to walk over to Apremont Mare aux Biches to try "Désertec", but for some reason, I didn't get to it. I had wanted to try "Désertec" a few times, but either the starting hold was wet, or the very bad sloper near the top was humid and didn't have enough friction to even consider trying it in that condition. After a few sunny days, I had planned to go there today, and funny enough, Bart (Van Raaij) happened to have opened a variation on the boulder of "Un Ch'ti Délire", which I did a little over a year ago. "Ch'timi" shares the same start and end, but instead of going left through the roof, continue on the prow and go left with the top slopers. I figured it was ideal to be able to try both. The boulders were still cold when I arrived quite early in the morning, but the sun was already warming up the air a lot. It felt quite warm and I enjoyed the feeling of the warming sun. The slopers of "Désertec" was dry and felt good, just as the starting hold. I could finally try this short problem. I had watched a video of Manuel (Marquès) yesterday and still remembered what he did for the top. I managed to that topout separately on my first try and then did the whole problem on basically my first attempt. That could count as a warmup.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Désertec 7B+
The spot of the boulder with "Ch'timi", which I was going to try next, was nicely in the sun and is usually a quiet spot, but the quietness got interrupted by a class of shouting kids. Their teacher decided that the small valley was a perfect for a break with the kids and they kept on shouting while playing hide and seek at not even 100m from where I was. So long for the quietness. I tried to not be bothered by it and tried the few moves around the small birch tree separately so I would know how to move around the tree. Surprisingly, it went immediately and after setting up the camera, I sent "Ch'timi" on my first attempt from the start. Barely twenty minutes after arriving in the area, I had already done both of the problems that I wanted to try.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Ch'timi 7B+(7C)
I still wanted to climb some more, and I made a quick decision to stop by the Drei Zinnen area on my way home, with the intention to try the relatively new "Digitalement Fastidieux". On this one however, I didn't feel the friction on the key sloper, so I stopped trying after not even five minutes and moved to boulder of "Jubile". I had done the standing start back in 2018, but didn't manage to do the sitstart. Somehow, I had never gone back to try the sitstart again. After a few fruitless attempts, I could understand why. The moves didn't fit me very well. Determined to not give up, I stuck with it and sent it some time later.
The boulder of "P'Tit Quinquin" is one of only two boulders in the micro area of Apremont Belvédère, right next to Apremont Mare aux Biches.In the middle of a small chaos of boulders along one of the blue paths, it's not the easiest to find, and it was during a scouting session that I briefly tried it many years ago. Back then I wasn't able to do any of the moves. I had completely forgotten about it since, but not very long ago, I saw a video on Instagram of Laurent Darlot doing this rarely repeated problem. and it gave me a sense of urge to go and try it again. I had set it as my goal for today. After arriving at the boulder, still being almost exactly where I remembered it to be, I started trying the single moves one by one and immediately understood why they all felt impossible a few years ago. Realizing that I am stronger or maybe wiser then back at the day, I stayed with it and practiced. The problem consists of three very hard moves into a quite sketchy and delicate topout, one where it is still possible to make a mistake and fall off. After some time, I had managed to do every single move, including the topout, but linking them seemed to be another crux. The first three moves allow as good as no room for error at all. They all had to be precise. I took a short break and afterwards started to give it some real attempts. There were a lot of fails at first, but with each attempt, I became more more and more consistent in the moves, and built up the so necessary muscle memory. And then all of a sudden, it flowed all together and I made my to the top, relieved that I had practiced the topout as well. A really cool problem, glad to add this to my done list.
I can cope with quite some stress, but the last weeks have been very demanding at work and I do feel the need sometimes to release some steam. I felt like I needed it today and went for a short climb after work now that the daylight starts to last longer again. I didn't mind the long walk to the Diplodocus area, it felt good to be in the forest in the evening again. A few weeks ago, I had been trying "Plaplatix" and by the time that I found a possible sequence, it had already shut me down. The countless attempts on very bad slopers had taken their toll. This time, after practicing the topout, where I always fell last time, it went pretty smooth and I only needed one attempt from the start to finish it. This one definitely felt harder than it looked at first sight.
Fontainebleau - Diplodocus - Plaplatix 7B+
After watching a video of "À Flore de Peau", a beautiful slab, I was able to do it on my second attempt. I was happy with the short session. It had completely disconnected me and it was exactly what I needed. I was even still on time for dinner at home.
My plan this morning was to go and try "Contrôle A" in Buthiers Piscine, so I had taken a third crashpad in the car, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I arrived in Buthiers. The whole place was packed with cars and campers. People running around with dogs everywhere. It turned out that there was some kind of a race for runners with dogs, and it seemed to be extremely popular. There was no way for me to find a free parking spot anywhere near where I had to be, so I unexpectedly had to change my plans and come up with an alternative. For some reason, thinking quickly and completely out of the blue, I chose to drive on to Larchant, thinking to instead go and try some of the quite new problems in La Fontaine Saint-Bernard. Arriving at the parking there, I had a feeling that Easter fell early today. The parking of the auberge at Dame Jouanne was very crowded, but luckily I did manage to find a free spot. It didn't seem like the big amount of cars and vans that arrived just after me would be able to, but they all drove on the parking, with many having to reverse back, creating a small chaos. Apparently, all those folks went to Dame Jouanne or Maunoury, because I was all alone in La Fontaine Saint-Bernard, and besides an occasional walker, I didn't see anyone else the whole time I was there. As a warmup, I chose "Tria Brachium", and with small crimps to start, it definitely warmed up my fingers. I was able to do the low, harder start on my second attempt. Hard start and an easy second part.
Fontainebleau - La Fontaine Saint-Bernard - Tria Brachium 7A+(6C+)
"Le Bicepsceptique" didn't look very attractive and maybe a bot easy, but it was right next to a sunny spot, so I decided to give it a shot anyway. This turned out to be much harder than I expected, but also much nicer than it looks. It took a short while, but I had fun with it and ended up finishing it, albeit with painful fingers.
Fontainebleau - La Fontaine Saint-Bernard - Le Bicepsceptique 7A+(7B)
Finally, "Le Platiste (assis)", 7A or 7B depending on how high you start with the right hand, seemed to have a broken hold for the left hand. I only did the high right hand start, but had to use a painful two finger crimp for the left hand due the other broken hold. Even though I did it on my second attempt, I did have the impression that it was hard enough for 7A+. Maybe I will come back one day for the low right hand start. My fingers felt too painful by then. I had a good time, nevertheless.
Fontainebleau - La Fontaine Saint-Bernard - Le Platiste (assis) 7A(7B)
About five months ago, I started doing the so-called Wim Hof Method, which in my personal case, consists of taking either an ice cold shower or an ice bath every day, and I haven't missed a single day since I started. I only take a warm shower on days that I took a five minute ice bath. I let my body warm up itself when coming out of the ice bath, and on those I days, I take a warm shower about half an hour after. On rainy days, or on days where I have less time, I take a five minute ice cold shower and don't even switch to warm before or after, just cold. Even though I'm absolutely not into meditating, I also do some breathing exercises and I'm enjoying those a lot. I have noticed that since I've been following this method, I am and feel more relaxed and approach negative situations in a different way. A more relaxed way, just dealing with them, without letting them get to me. It's something that I have also noticed during my climbing sessions. In case of any failures, I don't let negativity take over, but just go with it, go with the flow, without any pressure. In that way, even bad sessions end with a positive feeling somehow.
I also take a different approach in the way I work out boulder problems. I take more my time looking at a line, imagining the moves and wherever possible, work out moves separately. Again, also without a sense of pressure at all. That's also how approached the "Le Crunch Stat'" boulder today in Coquibus Auvergne. Given the high exposure factor and a bad landing, this one always scared me. Enough to not having tried any problem on it in the past. Now it looks different though, despite the boulder, exposure factor and landing not having changed. I changed.
I carried two crashpads to the boulder early this morning, the sun was out but a wind coming from the North made it feel very cold. After strategically placing the crashpads, I looked at the holds of "Le Crunch Stat'", imagined the moves and didn't have any sense of fear. Not even nervous. I was actually feeling very relaxed, followed the moves like I had imagined them and somewhat unexpectedly flashed "Le Crunch Stat'".
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Auvergne - Le Crunch Stat' 7A+
Now I felt ready for "Autonomie", the problem that I had set as my main goal for today. The first couple of moves almost felt impossible and very morpho, but I took my time to work them out and ended up after a while getting where I wanted to be. I turned on the camera, executed every move perfectly and topped it out.
I hadn't planned on trying it, but it seemed logical to also try the sitstart, "Autonomie (assis)". I felt quite confident that if I would get into the standing start, that I would top out this one too. The few moves from the sitstart into the standing start are beautiful, and even better than I had imagined, but also harder. They require quite some power and tension, but soon I had it all figured out. Due to freezing toes though, it had become difficult to feel the best foot placement, which made me fall off the problem a couple of times. But then suddenly, it all clicked, I kept it all together and also finished the sitstart. Thanks to those few additional beautiful moves of the sitstart, I feel that it deserves the five stars that I gave it on bleau.info.
