February 20, 2026 - Five stars worth fighting for.

A lot of rain the past weeks, but last Saturday was a good day for climbing in the afternoon. I had talked myself into finally going for "Fight Block" in J.A. Martin, a boulder that I stood in front of and watched in awe many times, but the exposed side of it always scared me away and I hadn't tried a single move on it yet.
I hauled two crashpads to the boulder, and slowly started built up confidence trying the first couple of moves, which didn't go too bad to my pleasant surprise. I quickly realized that this was my new priority project. I worked out the moves separately, where I could, taking some good but quite safe falls, which boosted my confidence. After about two hours I was out of energy, but I had been able to do all the moves separately and even do the boulder in two overlapping parts, except for the final topout. I was quite sure though that if I would get there, I would be able to pull myself through and get on the boulder even though it's definitely still possible to fall there. I was very pleased with the progress I made that session and was determined to come back as soon as I could.
"Fight Block" lingered in my mind the whole work week and when I saw that today was going to be dry, I decided to go back for it today already, after work, taking advantage of the steadily longer growing daylight. This time, I was able to get to the left arete from my first go, but fell off afterwards. That's where the crux starts, for me at least. Being positive about the first part, I decided to focus on the crux alone. Even though I had been able to the crux moves a few times last session, it wasn't even half of the times that I tried that I could do them. I knew I had to make this more consistent and decided to work on the minor details, trying to find the small things that would help me there.
For me, it turned out to be the right heelhook placement. I slightly adjusted its placement and immediately made the moves in a much more controlled fashion. I knew that this was the key and decided to turn on the camera for the full line. 
I immediately reached a new highpoint, but fell off after, being surprised about how well I got there. After a short break, I started climbing, feeling confident. I cruised through the first part, arrived at the crux remembering the heelhook adjustment and stuck the crux moves perfectly. Somehow, I kept my focus for the full 100%, stayed calm and got around the arete with the feeling that I had everything under control. I have to admit that I was slightly nervous for the final topout, but it all went like I had imagined it and topped out.
Definitely a five star problem, in my humble personal opinion, absolutely worth fighting for!

Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - Fight Block 7C

February 08, 2026 - Revisited.

We have had quite bit rain and bad conditions the last few weeks, but last weekend I was with my family in Napels (Italy) for a city trip and we had our first taste of Spring-like weather there.
Throughout this rainy week, the weather didn't look promising again for the weekend, but it turned out to be very different. Yesterday morning started grey and cloudy, but it didn't take long for the sun to break through and make for a beautiful sunny day. I still felt tired from the weekend before and somehow couldn't find enough motivation to try hard. Slightly disappointed, I made plans for today to stick with less hard climbs and revisit the small and not popular area of Bois'd'Hyver, focusing on some lower grade sevens.
It must be about ten years ago that I visited this small area and back then there were only a handful of problems in the seventh grade. Unfortunately, I didn't climb any of them. I would have loved to climb the beautiful "Lame Fatale", but the high roof is very exposed and I didn't even dare to even try it. Now, the area has been developed a bit more and there's a bit more choice and all new climbs for me to try.
I started at a new low roof where I made quick work of the two most logical lines. I flashed "Boulder in Roof" with a bit of ease at first, and then a small struggle for the last move, but made it.

Fontainebleau - Bois d'Hyver - Boulder in Roof 7A

A hold seems to have broken off of "You, You my Roof", but after briefly searching for and working out an alternative sequence, I made it on my first attempt from the start.
The remaining lines on this small roof are all traverses and didn't attract me, so I moved on.

Fontainebleau - Bois d'Hyver - You, You my Roof 7A+

Some boulders on my way either didn't attract me or weren't dry enough and suddenly I found myself standing underneath "Lame Fatale". It's by far the nicest boulder of the whole area, but scary. I gave it one brief attempt, but chickened out again. I would definitely prefer an extra crashpad and a spotter here.
Not far from there, I did "Swan Dive (départ statique)" on my second attempt after falling off due to a stupid footslip on my first.

Fontainebleau - Bois d'Hyver - Swan Dive (départ statique) 7A

The sitstart of "Swan Dive" would have been probable to do it on my first attempt, but the big hold was filled with pine needles and was too sandy and dirty to be able to hold on to it. It took me a few attempts more after cleaning the hold in between.

Fontainebleau - Bois d'Hyver - Swan Dive (assis) 7A(7A+)

January 25, 2026 - Sandbag.

With rain forecasted to start around noon today, I knew that the climbing session today was going to be short so I went to Buthiers for an easy and quick access to many boulders. To my surprise, the boulders at Buthiers Piscine were wet and I had to let go of the idea to try "Back in the Game". After a walk around and a scroll on bleau.info, I moved to Buthiers Tennis where it was dryer, but not in very good conditions. Not wasting any time, I stopped at the first boulder that got my interest, right next to the road. "Le Petit Oeuf de Pâques" is quite new and something I hadn't tried before. It looked like a fun problem, especially if you like slopers.
Personally, I like climbing with slopers a lot, but when they are sandy, it can become quite frustrating, especially when the conditions make the sand a bit sticky, making it very hard to clean it off the boulder. It was the case today. Even though I was able to make quick progress, there were a few times that I thought that I wasn't going to make it due to these sandy conditions. Not having anything else in mind in such a short time frame made me persist though, and I'm glad I did, as I was able to finish it just before noon.
On the way back home, it started raining. Just in time.

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Tennis - Le Petit Oeuf de Pâques 7B

January 24, 2026 - Out of Sight.

I went to Cuvier Sorcières this morning with the intention to try "Le Proueptologue (assis)". I still remember when I was helping out Neil Hart with his film "Out of Sight" early 2013, featuring relatively unknown boulders at that time, away from everything else. "Le Proueptologue (assis)" was one of them, and I stood in awe, watching someone climb the whole problem over and over again, each time for a different shot for the video. It's hard to imagine it being an unknown boulder at the time. Nothing else was opened yet, the area of Cuvier Sorcières wasn't even a climbing area yet and nor was the nearby area of Cuvier Bellevue, a pretty popular area nowadays.
I had a quite good session trying "Le Proueptologue (assis)" but remained empty handed. Definitely a project, but not a priority one.
To not go back home empty handed, I climbed the nearby "Le Gymnécologue (assis)", which only needed two attempts.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Sorcières - Le Gymnécologue (assis) 7A+

While packing up, I thought about passing by the isolated big boulder of "L'Âpre Houx". I had looked at the sitstart a few times, but it was either wet, or the huge move from the start always looked impossible and I never was motivated enough to try it. Now I decided to give a chance even though it still looked quite impossible at first sight, but at least it was dry.
I kind of surprised myself with how fast I was making progress on it, making a big swing and just launching to the sloper as if something exploded beneath me. The only way for me to reach the sloper after launching myself is by letting go of the barely existing footholds, otherwise it was simply impossible for me to reach. 
When I finally stuck it a first time, I realized that the next move was quite hard as well when not standing on anything. After quickly trying that part separately, I made it on my attempt right after it. I liked it more that I thought I would and at least didn't go home empty handed.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Sorcières - L'Âpre Houx (assis) 7B

January 11, 2026 - Fear the end.

I tried "La Maison de la Presse" the first time for only a short session. It was mid Summer, two years ago I think, and the right side of the boulder was full in the morning sun, making it nearly impossible to do more than two moves in a row. It did give me however, a sense of most of the moves, but more than two years later, I had already forgotten about them. I had hoped to try it again during my Christmas vacation, but other priorities had received my attention. Yesterday was the first time that I went back for it.
The conditions were dry, but less than good. The friction definitely wasn't like last week and two weeks ago. I did manage to figure out all of the moves and even climb up to the last hard move, but slipped off with my right hand at a crucial moment. From there, the hard part is over, but it's where the scary part starts. I don't know if I had to feel disappointed for slipping off there, or to be relieved not having to that scary part with nearly frozen toes. You surely don't want to fall off at the topout, because breaking bones would almost certainly be the result, if not worse. My attempts after that highpoint were getting worse, so I knew I had to give it a break, but was determined to come back soon. It had become my new priority project.
This morning, even though not forecasted as such, it looked like a beautiful day. It was cold and the sun was out. I drove back to "La Maison de la Presse" after breakfast and tried to not make myself too nervous. With the progress that I had made yesterday, I knew that it was only a matter of time and hoped for time to be early in the session, before my toes would be frozen again.
My first attempt of the day was good. The conditions still far from perfect, but slightly better than yesterday. On my second attempt, I cruised through the hard part and suddenly found myself standing in the slab. I had never done the topout before, and even though you can kind of make up what's up there when looking from the bottom, I didn't really know what to expect. For sure, it's not very hard, but I had to take a deep breath to motivate myself to commit and climb on. I was scared, but didn't let it take over. It was a huge relief when I finally stood on the top. I was happy and relieved to have finished "La Maison de la Presse", but more importantly, I was still alive and hadn't broken any bones.

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Canard - La Maison de la Presse 7C

January 01, 2026 - First of the year.

I don't really celebrate New Year's Eve as I don't really see the point in forcing myself to stay up late and just feel tired the day after. As usual, I was in bed early, and was ready to go climbing this morning.
I went to Gorges du Houx Petit Paradis with the intention to try "Au Petit Paradis", but my skin isn't in the best shape anymore after so many good climbing days, and I didn't feel totally secure with the big boulder in the back. I gave up on it after a short while, but stopped at the quite new "CSCSCS" on my way back to the car.
I thought, and it looked like, that it was only going to be one very hard move, but then came the mantle. It took me quite some time and attempts before I finally stuck the very hard far move to a very bad sloper, but was surprised by how hard the mantle still was and fell off.
I stuck the hard a couple of times again, but again fell off the mantle twice, one time even when I was as good as standing on top of the boulder. My toes were absolutely freezing and I didn't expect to be able to finish it anymore, but then I stuck the dynamic move again, and without any feeling in my toes trusted the small pebble I had to stand up on. I imagined myself falling off again, but somehow made it all the way through to the end. A great start of the new year.

Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Petit Paradis - CSCSCS 7C+

December 31, 2025 - Being in control.

With the ongoing good conditions, I had planned for and hoped to climb another project on the last day of 2025. The project I chose was "Contrôle A" in Buthiers Piscine. Last year in Summer, I had briefly held the top sloper, but missed the friction to pull on it just a bit more to get it good enough, allowing me to match with the right hand and finally top it out. The good conditions would for sure be very welcome if only I would get to the same point again.
Steven (Demets) decided to stop in Bleau on his way back to Belgium and I was glad that he agreed to join me in Buthiers Piscine. He was even kind enough to carry one of the three crashpads that I had taken with me.
My first couple of attempts were only mediocre, but with the good friction, I was able to place the right foot slightly higher and reach higher up on the top sloper. Still though, it didn't feel far enough and I couldn't put enough controlled pressure on my right foot to make the far move static. Instead, it felt like I was just launching at it, making it feel nearly impossible to hold the high sloper. 
I had a couple of breaks while spotting Steven in some other nearby problems, and started to loose motivation, thinking that the "Contrôle A" might be too morpho for me. Steven's encouragement helped motivate me and I decided to give a last attempt, thinking that I probably won't again and just see where I would get. Maybe it was the feeling of letting go that made me suddenly climb very controlled. It all felt perfect. As soon as I placed the right foot at the same higher spot, I immediately felt that it was going to stay were it was this time and I was able to really push on it this time. It got me high enough to statically reach for the top sloper left hand, where it stuck. It almost felt easy, I had everything under control. Without hesitation, I matched with the right hand and knew that it was over. I topped out in slight disbelief. Another project done, and a perfect one to end 2025 with. 
Thanks again to Steven for the motivation, spotting and carrying an additional crashpad.

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Piscine - Contrôle A 7C