December 17, 2015 - December Spring

It was a beautiful day today. If you wouldn't have known, one would have thought it was a regular day in the middle of Spring. Yet, we are the 17th of December, 4 days before the start of the Winter. Go figure!

I worked on my Work-Life-Balance today, so left work about half an hour early to quickly climb some rock.
Due to an elbow injury and bad weather I wasn't able to climb the last couple of days, but thanks to my lovely wife, who treated my injury, it was already much better. Pinching right hand still hurts though, but it's almost gone. Thanks a lot again for that darling!!

I was hopeful while driving and had my mind set on trying several new things in Gorge aux Châts. Seeing the amount of cars parked there however, wasn't a good sign. Especially on a regular Thursday evening.
It usually means that the forest is humid and that people are looking for some higher, open ground where boulders normally dry more quickly.
I wrote "normally", because seeing the first boulders on the way announced what I had feared for ... Condensation!! A lot of it too!
Most boulders were wet and you could see the sparkling water drops in the evening sunshine.
I made a quick walk around the area and when my eyes crossed those of the other climbers around, they all showed the same feeling of desperation. Not much to be climbed here.

I went to the other side of the blue path, the part where "Le Ressort Titan" and "Cop 21" are.
Having done all the problems on "Le Ressort Titan" I went straight to the boulder of "Cop 21" to check out the right (7C) variation of it.
The direct version was dry enough, but the right variation was too humid to try.
"Machine Head" nearby was wet too, so that left me with "Chahutor" to check out.

The holds in the overhang of "Chahutor" were dry enough to be climbed, except for the starting hold for the right hand, which was still humid.
The green mossy topout on slopers however, was completely moist. No way that I would get up there that way.
My mind was set for climbing a bit so I figured out that another exit more to the left was also possible. Also on green, mossy slopers, but the ones I needed the most, were not as humid as the other ones. So I went for it.

When I came home afterwards, I noticed that I actually did "Chat eu Juste". Opened as a 6C+, but in these conditions it felt like a hard 7A for me.
It seems that there is another exit far left on the top of the boulder, "Chatterré", 7A(6C+). Quite expo with those big stones underneath you. Maybe some other time.

Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Chat eu Juste 6C+(7A)