February 01, 2025 - Target located.

Earlier this week, something shot in my back and I have been suffering of severe back pain since then. My lower back has always been a big problem, but throughout the week, I even had difficulties just standing straight or walking.
Even though the weather was forecasted to be beautiful, I didn't make myself any illusions for trying anything too hard. Instead, I left home yesterday morning with my main goal just finding a boulder. I had been searching for "L'Introuvable" in Cuvier Ouest a couple of times almost ten years ago, scouting through the dens vegetation at the far end of the area. Each time, I hadn't been able to find, doing much justice to the boulder's name. This time, I wasn't going to give up.
Again, I found myself walking through dense vegetation, sometimes in circles, but suddenly, after an epiphany moment looking elsewhere than was indicated by the description on bleau.info, I found myself in front of the boulder. It was wet, as I had expected, but at least now I know where it is, so I will go back for it soon after a longer dry period.
On my way back, I stopped at "Halte aux Feux" and decided to give it a few tries. It didn't require a lot of body tension, so it went fine with my bad back and made it to the top after a few attempts.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Ouest - Halte aux Feux 7A+

This morning, I could my feel that my back felt less painful, but I still didn't want to risk trying anything hard, especially when it requires a lot of body tension, or far reachy moves. It was still -4°C when I left for Marion des Roches, where I wanted to try "Bi-Steak" and "Franck" at the far end of area. I had tried "Bi-Steak" ten years ago, but couldn't do much in it for some reason and hadn't gone back for it since.
This time, I was able to work out the moves separately quickly, besides the second one, involving a bad right heelhook, but I decided to give it some attempts from the start anyway, and somehow managed to hang on and work my way to the end.

Fontainebleau - Marion des Roches - Bi-Steak 7A

The moves of "Franck" were worked out even quicker and on my second attempt from the start, I managed to top it also. I didn't find this much harder than "Bi-Steak".

Fontainebleau - Marion des Roches - Franck 7B

With my two main goals done already, I briefly tried "Big Mak", but the backwards dyno was hurting my back too much, so I stopped with it quickly.
"Natacha", however, I was able to flash.

Fontainebleau - Marion des Roches - Natacha 7A

January 26, 2025 - Magical session.

Yesterday when I was walking back to the car from "Abracadabaffe", in the rain, I didn't want to make myself any illusions and assumed that the earliest I would be able to go back to try the other lines, was going to be next week. It still rained a lot yesterday, but there was quite some wind during the night, and low and behold, it looked pretty dry outside this morning, with new rain forecasted in the afternoon. I took the chance and went back to the boulder of "Abracadabaffe".
This time, even the holds of the sitstart were dry, and the conditions felt good. I warmed up practicing the moves of "Abracadaréta", and mainly the mantle for the topout. Once I got it figured out, I immediately sent it after turning on the camera.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Abracadaréta 7A+

After that, my focus went to the sitstart of "Abracadabaffe", only to find out that it is really hard, much harder than it looks, especially with the feet so far in the back. I couldn't even lift my butt from off the ground. I almost concluded it would be too hard, but with no other problems around in the immediate surroundings, I made the decision to stay and just see if somehow I would be able to make slight progress. At that moment, lifting my butt off the ground already was a goal on itself.
After a short while, I magically reached that goal, but doing a next move seemed like the next impossibility. Again, I stuck with it and again started making slow, but steady progress. When I finally stuck the next move, I decided it was time for some real attempts. Only a handful of attempts later, I made my way to the top and almost couldn't believe it. Great problem!

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Abracadabaffe (assis) 7C

As I knew that I could do the first part, it seemed logical to also try "Abracadaréta (assis)". I knew that if I would be able to do the first few moves again, that I would be able to send the whole thing. Which is what happened quite soon after.
The slight foot stroke near the end didn't help me in any way, form or fashion, so I'm taking it. I'm sure the 'dab police' will have a blast again, but I don't care. To me it felt and will always feel like a magical session.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Abracadaréta (assis) 7B+(7B)

January 25, 2025 - Magical timing.

The forecast for the weekend looked terrible. A lot of rain to be expected, but warmer temperatures. When I looked out my window this morning, the sky looked threatening with a thick grey deck of clouds. No blue sky in sight. It wasn't raining yet though and everything outside still looked pretty dry. I took the risk and drove to Apremont, worried on my way by some rain drops falling here and there. By the time I got to Barbizon, it wasn't raining anymore and I was hoping for it last like this long enough to at least give me the chance to try some moves of "Abracadabaffe", a new boulder opened by Guillaume (Joubert).  
I went to have a look at the boulder on a rainy day a few weeks ago, and I remembered that it had an exposed factor to it. Expecting rain at any moment, I didn't bother to take a second crashpad, but was pleasantly surprised by two things when I arrived at the boulder. Firstly, it was dry, except for the first two holds of the sitstart, and secondly, it wasn't as exposed as I remembered and figured that what I had with me would be good enough to protect for any potential fall.
Without warming up, I immediately started trying the standing start. Careful and withholding myself the first few attempts, giving myself confidence about always landing perfectly where I had placed the crashpad when falling off. The conditions were surprisingly good and when I had the moves somewhat in me, I turned on the camera. I sent it on my second attempt after.
Just in time, because not even a minute later, it started raining. I don't even think that it would have been possible to do another attempt if that one wouldn't have been the successful one.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Abracadabaffe 7B+

January 19, 2025 - Omote... What?

There was a very dense fog on Friday, and it lasted the whole day. At no point in time of the day, it was possible to see more than 100m far, if at all. At least it was so from my house. That fog apparently fell down during the night, so yesterday, Saturday, everything was soaking wet and with the grey sky and a lack of wind, it didn't make sense to try to look for some dry boulders.
This morning looked quite different and with high hopes, I left for Apremont Butte aux Dames, eager to try the quite new "Omotenashi". Obviously, the boulder low down the hill looked humid, but the ones higher up the hill and quite in the open were perfectly dry and the conditions even felt very good. Looking back at it now, I think the conditions on "Omotenashi" could hardly be any better.
After checking it the moves, it was quite clear that the hardest part is in the first couple of moves. I warmed up doing the topout and felt confident about doing the topout again if I would get there from the start.
The description of the problem mentions that it starts with the right hand on the small undercling, and the left hand just above on an oblique crimp. Just imagining that start looked like it was going to be a very awkward position for doing the far move to the sloper on the left. Keeping it more logical, I first worked out the moves with a more logical and more obvious unonventional start, being with the left hand on the undercling and the right on the crimp. As soon as I got that start worked out, I immediately sent it when turning on the camera.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Omotenashi (sans convention) 7B+

With respect to the first ascensionist, I then started working on the original conventional start. It took me a bit longer get the awkward movement in my body, but slowly and steadily, I got the hang of it and started sticking the move. A couple of failures later, I managed to also do the conventional way of "Omotenashi".

Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Omotenashi 7B+(7C)

To finish the session, I moved up towards the problem of blue n°36, of which a sitstart was opened recently as well.
Just by looking at it, I immediately seemed to know what to do, but executing it all, wasn't so immediate. 
All in all, I needed a handful of attempts to add "Point d'Exclamation (assis)" to the done list. Quite nice moves, definitely worth the effort.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Point d'Exclamation (assis) 7A+(7A)

January 12, 2025 - Stick to the (right side) story.

As I agreed with Olaf yesterday, we met quite early this morning at Rocher de Bouligny Est. I was pleased and psyched to visit a sector that was new to me. Something that had been a very long time ago. It was still quite early and freezing cold, but unfortunately, grey cloud covered the sky and we even felt some rain drops on our faces while walking towards the boulders. With most of the boulders on the North face of the hill, it turned out that it wasn't the best choice to go there, but I was in good company and I enjoyed the time.
The boulder that spoke to me the most when browsing bleau.info, was the one with "Left Side Story", "Right Side Story" and "Front Side Story". A visually stunning boulder, and one that would keep us busy for some time. As we already expected by the time we got to the boulder, the boulder surely wasn't in the best conditions, but at least it was dry.
I have to admit that I underestimated the difficulty of the problems, or I might as well say that I maybe overestimated the conditions. It was hard to find good friction on the slopers and the session started with a lot of slipping off "Right Side Story" for the both of us. It did get slightly better the more we tried, but it was really cold and we had to take a lot of short breaks to warm up our toes again. Nevertheless, we both made slow, but steady progress changing beta a lot of times during the process. Very strange and unstable body positions on this line that looked easier from the ground than when actually trying it. After some time though, I finally managed to top out from the standing start, knowing that I had to do it again, because the problem starts with a sitstart. Knowing what to do now, I thought that the two easy additional moves from the sitstart wouldn't make a lot of difference and another topout would be a quick deal. I was wrong.
The two additional moves from the sitstart are indeed easy, actually the easiest moves of the whole problem, but sensation of the friction on the slopers was remarkable. It took me at least another half an hour to finally make my way to the top again, this time from the sitstart. I had almost given up on it for the day, so I was really glad to get away with in the end.
Olaf made slightly slower, but still steady progress and came at one move from the end before he needed another longer break and the time came for me to have to leave.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de Bouligny Est - Right Side Story 7A+

January 11, 2025 - Moving on.

Those who read my previous post, know that I had started working on the ultra classic "Fourmis Rouges" during my Christmas vacation, but even after three sessions still hadn't gotten away with it. Then I had to go to Belgium for a few days to visit family and friends, after which I had to start working again last Monday. It had given me more than a week to rest and the weather forecast for today looked promising.
This morning, I met Olaf (Deppe) at "Fourmis Rouges", and the conditions looked very good. I tried to not make myself any illusions and just see how it would go, and had already decided that if it didn't go down today, I would give it a long break. I am not very keen on long projecting and mentally it was starting to weigh on me. Especially as the boulder is in an area that isn't my favorite due to its popularity and more than often being quite crowded. Also, I was starting to miss exploring other parts of the forest and trying different problems.
I started climbing today without pressure and needed a few attempts to get the muscle memory really going again. With Olaf being there and also giving it attempts, it allowed me to take it easy and take short breaks in between, enjoying the company.
It was very cold, barely above 0°C, but it was quite sunny and dry. The conditions seemed to get better with every attempt. When I then finally got the high sloper again, but fell off after a second or so, I felt that the game was on again and turned on the camera. Unwillingly, the feeling of 'sending stress' tried to get a hold of me, but Olaf succeeded well in his way, to keep me relaxed. On my second attempt after turning on the camera, I suddenly made my way to the top. The sense of relief was amazing. Not especially because I had just done "Fourmis Rouges", even though it played a big part of it, but mostly because I could let go of it, knowing that I don't have to come back to Cuvier Rempart any time soon. I had seen enough of the area and its crowds during my vacation.
Interestingly though, it was very crowded when the conditions were very bad during the vacation, today the conditions were great, but there was no-one around. And this on a Saturday.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Fourmis Rouges 7C

Olaf had another few attempts in "Fourmis Rouges", making very good progress with minor details and reached a new highpoint. He decided to end his "Fourmis Rouges" session on that positive note, and proposed to go up to "Immodium".
I had done the standing start of "Immodium" back in 2011, and the sitstart in 2017, but I gladly went with him, just to see if I'm still able to dyno after all these years. Surprisingly, I repeated it on my second attempt, and then again immediately after just to have another video.
Olaf only started trying a few dynos since not very long, but despite that, I saw him making very good progress on a very short time, being only at a few centimeters from the good hold. My time was up though and I wished him luck for the rest of his session, knowing that I will hear how it went on, when we will meet again to go to the far end of "Rocher de Bouligny Est". I'm so glad to visit another area than Cuvier Rempart tomorrow. It's time to move on.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Immodium 7A (repeat)

Christmas vacation.

As I had a two week vacation, I decided to just publish one post for the whole period, just like my previous vacation.
As it turned though, the vacation has been quite disappointing climbing and weather wise. I had set myself the goal to do "Fourmis Rouges", but the besides two good sessions, the other were overrules by bad and frustrating conditions.
Lot of fog, drizzle, rain, and humidity.

Sunday, 22nd of December, 2024

Yesterday, everything was soaking wet due to rain and even more due to condensation. In the late afternoon up to this morning, there was even more rain, but also a hard wind. I decided to look for dry boulders on higher ground, and found a good one on the top of the hill of Rocher de la Cathédrale.
Even though I tried it before, I had never been able to the first big move of "Le Gnou" or "Coup de Phil (assis)", but somehow, today it worked out pretty well and I was able to make a rather quick ascent of "Coup de Phil (assis)". "Le Gnou" on the other hand, didn't work out. Seems that the short traverse to the right seems to be the crux and I couldn't get passed it. Anyway, given the bad weather forecast for today, I was happy to have been able to climb at all.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Cathédrale - Coup de Phil (assis) 7A+

Monday, 23 of December, 2024

For some time, thinking years, I kind of secretly had this small dream of climbing one of the famous Big 5 in Cuvier Rempart. It always looked intimidating and scary at some point, but for some reason, I had been playing with the idea to try "Fourmis Rouges". Today, I asked my oldest son to join me to help me carry an extra crashpad and be there for a spot, so that thought finally became a reality.
I didn't finish "Fourmis Rouges" today after almost two hours of trying, but I was able to build up a great amount of confidence, and especially motivation to come back for it soon. I made some quite good attempts, and even though it very much sounds like an excuse, the conditions didn't feel exactly right. I made good progress though and feel like I'm close to a send, so I'm eager to return as soon as I have grown back some skin and conditions are favorable.
Below, a video of a handful of my best attempts today.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Fourmis Rouges 7C (attempts)

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Friday, December 27th, 2024

After another couple of really bad weather with no climbing possible, it was finally sunny yesterday, but unfortunately, the crack of "Fourmis Rouges" was still wet, making the problem impossible.
Slightly disappointed, I did have some fun with Olaf (Deppe) and Markus (Neher).
I was going to join them today at Mont Blanc, but when I saw how good the weather was, I couldn't resist and decided to go have a look "Fourmis Rouges". I was very pleasantly surprised that the crack was now dry and the conditions even felt really good. Instead of joining Olaf, Markus and their girlfriend/wife, I spent three another three hours trying "Fourmis Rouges". Still didn't send it,but was quite happy with the session as I had made good progress, making it two moves further several times. Three hours of trying had taken its toll though and I couldn't get to the top. 

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Fourmis Rouges 7C (attempts, making progress)

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Saturday, December 28th, 2024

It was extremely cold with a lot of humidity in the air and even some light drizzle now and then.
Had a good time though, with the good company of Olaf (Deppe), Markus (Neher) and wife Kathy, and Lars (Haasis) and wife Simi.
Not very much possible due to the humidity, but "Hot Spring" just went, even though it didn't feel as hot as it would make one think in this weather.

Fontainebleau - 91.1 - Hot Spring (assis) 7A

Wednesday, January 1st, 2025

The forecasted wind for today was promising, but rising temperatures were concerning. When I left home in the morning, it all looked great, but the closer I got to Cuvier Rempart, the more foggy and I let go of most of the hope for topping "Fourmis Rouges" today.
Olaf (Deppe) had other important priorities today, but Lars (Haasis) and Simi were there. It was fun trying "Fourmis Rouges", but the conditions on the boulder were not good enough and the session was worse than the last good one I had a week before, in the sun.
I did, however, get a consolidation prize with a fairly quick ascent of "Ridicule", preceded by Lars doing this small but fun problem.
Tomorrow I'm leaving to Belgium for some family visits until Sunday, so I guess today was the last session of the horrible (weather-wise) Christmas vacation.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Ridicule 7B(7A+)