October 18, 2026 - Re-united.

After almost a year of non-stop working in his home country, Germany, Olaf finally arrived back in the forest on last Sunday evening. Due to work we hadn't had the chance to meet up during the week, but Saturday we finally re-united. On top of that, Lars and Simy were also there, so it was all more about enjoying climbing with good company and less focused on trying hard. Nevertheless, yesterday, in Rocher du Corne-Biche, I made some good attempts trying "Papa Gaga", after four years and a half not having touched it. The high pinch felt not too good condition-wise, but I did manage to get back to the point, preparing for the last dynamic move to the right. I was happy with that 'retro progress'. This is definitely high up on my list again!

This morning we met up in Apremont Ouest where Olaf wanted to try something on the "Piece of Mind" boulder. While he climbed the right version, I made very quick work of "Piece of Mind (sans convention)", the only variant that I hadn't done yet on that beautiful boulder. Olaf needed a few attempts more, but also he managed to do both the right version and the "sans convention" version.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Ouest - Piece of Mind (sans convention) 7A+(7B)

With over 600 registered repetitions, "Powerslave" is apparently one of the most popular 7A's of the forest, but somehow, I had never even noticed it. It was Olaf whol told me about it, and as Lars was eager to try too, I decided to give it a go. Having flashed it ease, I can understand its popularity now. It's very soft for the grade, and giving it a personal grade of 6C+ still seems a bit generous.
With his neck injury, it became quite a battle for Lars, but he did manage to top it out as well.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Ouest - Powerslave 7A(6C+)

October 10-11, 2026 - Caught a black sheep.

After a whole week in Germany for a work project, I was exhausted, but felt motivated and physically strong enough to go climbing yesterday morning. Without a real goal, I went to Mont Simonet where I was able to make a quick ascent of "Duke & Kitty", which didn't feel very hard for the grade, but has some quite nice moves.
The rest of the time, I spent my session trying the nearby "Coïncident", which features only two moves, but very hard ones, for me. Starting with a bad high undercling it immediately puts the body under full tension, making getting the second off the ground the first hard move. From there, the second hard move is letting go of the right hand and making a big dynamic move to a good but sharp hold high up. Last time I tried this, I did make it to the sharp hold, but pulled a big flapper on it, catching the swing, forcing me to stop. This time I couldn't remember how I had positioned my body good enough for the dynamic move and didn't even make it to the sharp hold. Definitely not a priority project, but it hasn't seen the last of me yet.

Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - Duke & Kitty 7B

This morning, I went to Rocher du Mont Morillon with the intention to spend some time on the beautiful "Karma Gai". I had tried it two or three times, spread over the years, but only briefly as I could barely move in it. I was never even able to hold the high shallow sidepull left hand, let alone fixate it enough to reposition the feet. Therefor, I didn't have any expectations at all when I was walking towards the boulder. Arriving at the boulder, my first thought was that I would probably leave the boulder again empty handed, without any progress and probably thinking that I would not come back for it. This boulder was truly one of my black sheep.
After a short warmup, I still wasn't able to fixate the sidepull, but it somehow felt less desperate. Giving it another chance, I worked on the other moves, but it didn't go quite well at first. My body still had to wake up. Not wanting to go somewhere else, I decided to push on, taking short breaks now and then, until I ended up having done all the separate moves, even the one with the sidepull. The game was on and I decided to give it some real send attempts.
The first one was promising. I was surprised that I made it up to the right hand sloper, but just barely, and I fell off on the next move, to the sloper left hand. It was only then that I really believed that I could do it and decided to make it a priority project if I wouldn't finish it today.
The next few attempts went a bit downhill at first, slipping off the left sidepull a few times. After a few bad attempts, I did make it again to the right hand sloper, but it was so sketchy that I knew beforehand that I would fall off the next move again, which I did.
After another longer break, it suddenly all flowed and already after only two moves, it felt like it good be the send go, which it ended up being, even though just barely at the end. I was very excited and pleased with having taken down "Karma Gai", one of my black sheep.
Definitely worth the full five stars!

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Mont Morillon - Karma Gai 7B+

October 04, 2026 - Moved by the Earth.

I didn't have a real hard set goal to do this morning. I just wanted to try a few problems in a small isolated sector of Franchard Raymond, the small sector with "Tectonique des Plaques". Of course it would be nice to top something, but my main goal was to enjoy the forest and try some problems as a form of training.
It had rained a bit last night and the conditions were far from good, just like the skin on my hands. After trying a few problems, I took a little break and decided to dedicate the remaining time on "Le Soulèvement Tectonique". Knowing that I definitely wasn't going to flash it, I first tried from the start to determine where the crux is. It was quickly obvious and I focused mainly on that section, trying different methods until I found one that worked for me. I turned on the camera and sent it immediately, even though I had slippery fingers at the end and came very close to slipping off while committing to the last move to the jug. It was with a bit of luck that I stayed on and topped out.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Raymond - Le Soulèvement Tectonique 7B(7A+)

October 03, 2026 - Three out of three.

As I was travelling for work from Monday to Thursday, I felt quite exhausted in my head, but my body felt ready to go. As there was a new seemingly interesting problem opened and published last week, it was an easy choice to go to Mont Blanc Est and check out the new "Défense en Ivoire". Besides the new problem, I had also put "La Gogotte" and "L'Autre Droite" on my list.
"Défense en Ivoire" indeed looked interesting in real life as well and still has this nice fresh cleaned sandstone friction to it. I took my time warming up trying the separate moves and find a method for the topout. It's the kind of problem that isn't over until it's over and I didn't want to get unexpected surprises at the topout.
I was the only person in the area at that time and enjoyed the process of working it out. After I had the second and first worked out, I turned on the camera for some real attempts. On my first one, I got too excited and fell off at the top. As I wrote, this one isn't over until it's over. My second attempt was more focused and controlled, and therefor also successful. One out of three.

Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc Est - Défense en Ivoire 7B+

Even though I had already done the slightly harder "La Gogotte (gauche)" back in 2019, for some reason I had never tried the original easier version of "La Gogotte". This one went very quickly, just as I expected. Two out of three.

Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc Est - La Gogotte 7A(7A+)

"L'Autre Droite" I had already tried once before, but I could barely make any moves. Bad slopers and tiny slopey crimps for going left made it feel impossible and I had quickly given up on it, without keeping it as a project, but today I wanted to give a real chance and dedicate some time on it. The skin on my fingertips had already suffered a bit and had become sweaty. Absolutely not ideal for those bad slopers and tiny crimps, especially on a problem that has no registered repetitions yet, so it felt quite dirty as well at first. As I promised myself, I did stick with and ended up finding a method for the short traverse to the left. I hadn't done the topout yet, but did try the mantle and it did feel like I could make it with the right motivation, in this being having come from the start.
After a short break, letting my skin and the slopers dry out a bit, I turned on the camera and only needed two attempts to finish it. Three out of three. I was happy with the productive session.

Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc Est - L'Autre Droite 7B

September, 26-27, 2026 - Back to Earth.

After having been ill it felt like I had been living in the body of another person. As if I walking next to myself, looking at me doing things on auto pilot, like I wasn't present on Earth. Since a few days ago, that feeling finally went away and I am back on Earth, again being aware of my surroundings and enjoying daily things again.
Yesterday I went to Rocher de la Reine Nord with a few things on my list to try, starting with "Allô la Terre, ça Baigne". I thought it would be a relatively simple warmup, but I spent much more time on it than expected. I had troubles at first feeling my body move and I couldn't find the correct body positions until after I took a short break. After that, it suddenly went quite well.
I had high hopes for the other problems on my list, but I was already quite worn out, and a light drizzle wasn't making it any better, so I decided to call it a session.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Reine Nord - Allô la Terre, ça Baigne 7A

This morning, I didn't want to go too far, but as most of the areas around my house are closed due to the aftermath of the wildfires, my choices were limited. I chose to go to Châteauveau to try "Le Sacre du Printemps (gauche rallongé)", the last problem on this beautiful boulder that I hadn't done yet. So I thought.
I had terrible skin though and sweaty fingertips, but my motivation was high. I had already taken peace with probably only ending up with a training session, but after I got more and more confidence in the moves with sweaty fingertips, I took a short break and unexpectedly sent it immediately after.
Turns out that I haven't done "Le Sacre du Printemps (droite du fond)" yet neither, but I decided to leave it for another visit.

Fontainebleau - Châteauveau - Le Sacre du Printemps (gauche rallongé) 7B+

September 19, 2026 - Getting back slowly.

I'm still not a 100% after being sick, but I'm starting to raise in percentage slowly. 
In the mornings I usually feel fine, but it doesn't take a lot to start winding down again, mainly because of being too active and not allowing my body to properly have a rest. I realize that being busy all the time slows down the healing process, but I'm not someone who can sit still and do nothing. There's just too much to do and so little free time. My heel is getting much better and even though I still have to walk slow, I at least managed to walk all the way to Apremont Bizons without feeling pain. 
When I sat down in "La Couille Lisse", the first move seemed impossible at first, but after some tweaks in body position and foot placement, I started getting closer and closer to sticking it. It wasn't a very quick process, but when I felt really close and turned on the camera, I suddenly stuck the move and topped out. This one is all about that first move and in my humble opinion rather felt like 7B at most.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - La Couille Lisse 7B+

I had tried "Malfrat" only once, and that was more than fourteen years ago, because I hadn't moved to Noisy-sur-Ecole yet. I can't remember why I wasn't able to do it back then, but now it went quite okay. I could have done it sooner if I wouldn't have dabbed the crashpad on a few attempts, but I liked the process,  changing small things to avoid the dab.
It was only on my way back that my heel started bothering me again, so I turned down the pace. I'll get there slowly, but steadily.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Malfrat 7A+

September 12, 2026 - Finger licking good.

Besides a few mild colds, I hadn't been sick for at least ten good years, but on Wednesday evening, I suddenly felt feverish. After an almost sleepless night, I got up on Thursday morning with a high fever. Working full-time from home, I didn't skip work, but continued as usual, suffering from the fever. It wore me down completely. It started getting better on Friday, but I felt extremely weak. This morning, no more fever, but still very weak. Despite feeling exhausted, I did go for a climb anyway. Still suffering from my left heel injury and not looking forward to a long walk, I chose "Finger Food" in Apremont Buvette, opened by Nataleigh and Jan (de Smit). 
Being in not so good shape due to beforementioned circumstances, I didn't set myself any expectations. My main goal was to be in the forest and have some fresh air. I therefor wasn't disappointed about the thought that I would not be able to do "Finger Food" when I touched the small crimps. However, the fact that it only has three hard moves, motivated me to push on. Surprisingly, it didn't take much time before I was able to stick the first move, and the second followed soon after. Knowing that the dynamic move to the lip of the overhang wasn't going to give any trouble, I turned on the camera and was able to finish "Finger Food" soon after.
I'm not a so called board climber and don't even really know what it exactly entails, but for for some reason I was thinking that this felt like a perfect short board climb, or maybe it was because I didn't expect to be able to do it that I found this short with only three moves, just beautiful. I liked it that much that I wanted to repeat it over and over, but I refrained myself from doing so, realizing I needed to preserve some energy for the much gardenwork I had waiting for me.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Buvette - Finger Food 7B

Just want to add that today, Jan (de Smit) was able to do "Elephunk" (8B!!). Being in his early 50's, this is extremely impressive!
Congrats and big up to Jan!!