November 07-08, 2026 - Low gravity.

Contrary to last weekend when Olaf and I had some high gravity days, yesterday and today were days with pretty low gravity. I felt lighter than last week and the motivation was high to meet Olaf and go back to Apremont Bizons to finish what we had to leave behind last time. For me it was "Malversation" and for Olaf "Malfrat".
With a thick fog yesterday morning, we feared the conditions a bit, but it turned out to be not bad at all on the boulder of "Malfrat". Having the moves still perfectly in my head, I only needed to repeat them separately to get warmed up, and once ready to go from the start, I only needed a few attempts to finish "Malversation". Way quicker than I had expected.
Olaf needed more time and some motivation, but he also managed to get away with one of his nemesis boulders, "Malfrat".

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Malversation 7B(7B+)

I still felt motivated and ready for something else, so I started trying "Ordre Primitif" again. I had briefly tried it a few weeks ago and had managed to do the first move to teh tiny very sharp crimp left hand, but hadn't been able to move again to the high sloper. Last week I had sat down in it, but after a few attempts not even doing the first move, I had given up. This time it went way better.
After I suddenly managed to get to the high sloper, I started to feel confident and work a bit on the middle part. When I managed to do the move to the good hold on the horizontal crack, I knew what do, turned on the camera and executed all moves perfectly. A quick unexpected bonus.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Ordre Primitif 7B+

After yesterday's good session, I did feel a bit soar at the start of the day, but after a short warmup at the boulder of "Les Insoumis" in Rocher Saint-Germain Centre, I felt ready to go. I had done the harder lower (or deeper under the roof) start of "Les Insoumis (direct)" a few days before Christmas last year, so it seemed obvious to me to start with the classical sitstart version of the direct version.
The conditions on the nicely textured boulder were as good as perfect. The pinches felt so much better than back in December last year and I was able to finish it quite quickly.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Centre - Les Insoumis (direct) 7B

I had very briefly tried a few of the moves of the classical version going to the right, but as it didn't seem to suite me somehow, I didn't pay further attention to it. This time I was motivated and it didn't take very long before I had worked out all the moves and had done some good short links.
I finished it on my first attempt after turning on the camera. It was a slightly sketchy topout, but I felt relieved and happy.
This weekend was great for the morale and compensated for the bad climbing of last week.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Centre - Les Insoumis 7B

October 31-November 01, 2026 - High gravity.

Even though I was motivated for climbing, I really had a so-called high gravity weekend and had a hard time trying harder problems. My body felt heavy and every move felt harder than it was supposed to be feeling. A little later than usual, I met Olaf in Rocher de Corne-Biche yesterday morning, eager to try "Papa Gaga" again.
The conditions didn't feel as good as I had hoped, and feeling heavy, I had a hard time getting back to my previous high point. I know that I can do "Papa Gaga", the sequence is there, but I will just have to come back when the conditions are much better.
I did manage to get away with a quick ascent of the actual 7A (direct) version of "32 Millièmes".

Fontainebleau - Rocher de Corne-Biche - 32 Millièmes (direct) 7A

This morning was a nice meet-up with Olaf, Markus and his wife Kathy in Apremont Bizons. Olaf wanted to try "Malfrat" and I decided to put my energy into "Malversion", which starts the same as "Malfrat", but follows the bad slopey arete to then finally finish in "Malfrat" again. Despite the description, it does feel like a logical line.
The crux of "Malversion" felt impossible at first, but as Olaf was still trying "Malfrat", I didn't mind staying with it and try to think out of the box. I still felt heavy, but I did manage to find a nice method for me, making me take out the camera for some actual real attempts. After falling off the topout of "Malfrat" at the end of the line a couple of times, I had to throw in the towel. I had too spend too much energy working out the sequence, but now that I know what to do, finishing it should work a next time.
Olaf also had a high gravity weekend, but maybe also because he was somehow quite distracted the whole weekend ...

October 24, 2026 - The pleasure hole.

After nearly a full week of rain showers, the conditions made climbing either impossible or in some rare cases, just bad. After a short walk with Olaf around Roche d'Hercule, we decided to go to Apremont Butte aux Dames where Bart (Van Raaij) had opened a few new problems on the quick drying boulder of "Les Ailes du Plaisir" on the top of the hill. The only problem that got my mild curiosity, was "Le Trou du Plaisir (assis)". Not the nicest, nor the ugliest problem, but at least it was dry. As I only needed a small handful of attempts, I have my doubts about the proposed grade. Definitely not 7B, and even 7A+ feels to be very generous. The few moves do seem to fit my style, so it's always hard to tell real difficulty.
Even though Olaf needed some more time and attempts, he also ended up topping out.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Le Trou du Plaisir (assis) 7B(7A+)

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