December 30, 2016 - Back to business.

Being alone again, it felt like 'back to business' this morning.
I left early because I had to drive to Belgium to pick up my son Anthony, but first I drove to Rocher de Bouligny to try "Le Plat Pays".
On Monday I had a look at it, but everything was soaking wet and I didn't get further than just looking at it.
This morning it though, was freezing -4°C, there was dense fog, but it it didn't make everything wet. It was too cold.

The boulder with "Gecko" looked dry when I passed it on my way to "Le Plat Pays". It looked promising.
"Le Plat Pays" seemed to be in pristine conditions and despite the freezing cold, I was eager to put on my climbing shoes and start trying.
The dyno is small, weird to do, but it didn't take long before I was able to do it.
The mantle on those bad slopers was harder than I had imagined with these conditions and even though I could do it fairly easy when trying it from the ground, it was a hard struggle to do the complete problem in one go.
A true gem, this one!

Fontainebleau - Rocher de Bouligny - Le Plat Pays 7B+(7B)

On my way back to the car, I wanted to stop at "Le Presse-Purée" which was also soaking wet when I passed by last Monday.

I did it easily and only realised why when I saw a video of it later, that I started with a too high hold right hand.
The correct start is with the right hand on a much lower hold, adding an extra move to it.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de Bouligny - Le Presse-Purée 7A+ (wrong start)

Right next to it, the beautiful wall with "Obstiné" was dry and in perfect conditions too.
The sitstart, "Obstiné (assis)", had originally been graded 7A, but got rightfully downgraded to 6C+.
Even for 6C+ it felt soft, because I flashed it with ease.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de Bouligny - Obstiné (assis) 6C+

I briefly watched Jan Hojer and Juliane Wurm working in "Gecko (assis)" and walked on to the car. They seemed to be 'in business' too.

December 29, 2016 - Collegiality.

My colleague and friend, Harco (De Man) stayed over for two days. No work, just climbing.
He arrived yesterday around noon and after a coffee we went to La Ségognole to warm up and make Harco get used to the rock again.
After cruising up every orange problem he tried, it was time for some blues in Cul de Chien.

Stef (Jacobs) and Matthias were climbing in Roche aux Sabots and they gladly joined us to climb in the sun. It was cold.
We ended up spending the rest of the day there, doing mostly red ones.
I was surprised how much confidence Harco had on the sandstone and watched him top out some quite difficult reds. He has it in him and it's great to see him do it with so much motivation.

This morning we arrived early in Cuvier and by 10h we both had done "La Marie-Rose".
Hats off for Harco who did it on his fifth attempt ever, being only his first real time climbing.
The first time was a quick hour after work when he was here for a company project.
The second time was a short afternoon when he was visiting with his girlfriend.
Now was the first time he was here only for climbing.

We moved to "Cortomaltèse" that I repeated on my second attempt again and in which Harco was able to make some good moves. It's one of his projects for next time.
By that time Stef and Matthias had arrived too, and we decided to go to Cuvier Est where we wanted to try the classic "Duroxmanie".
I have been trying this a couple of times now and never found it in really good conditions.
Today the conditions seemed perfect, because while Stef and Matthias were still warming up, I climbed "Duroxmanie" on my first attempt of the day.
It felt great climbing such a beautiful and classic line!

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Est - Duroxmanie 6C

Harco made some really nice attempts, knows what he has to do, but still lacks some technique and he was already getting tired after yesterday's climbing and doing "La Marie-Rose" a second time for taking pictures.
Stef made a lot of progress and is getting very close to a send, but the many tries had started to wear him off.

Back to "La Marie-Rose".
Matthias still wanted to try it, and I convinced Harco to try and repeat it for the video.
They both weren't able to finish it anymore, but got close. The tiredness had gotten the better of them.

In the meantime, Stef and I had started working in "Super Bouze", the conditions were good.
I had done it already in 2011 but completely forgot about how I did it so it was puzzle for bot of us.
It didn't take a very long time before I figured it out again and profited from the good conditions to repeat it.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Super Bouze 7A+

Harco still climbed the not so easy bleu 43, "Le Bidule" to the right of "La Marie-Rose".

He's got some mantle skils!

We still had some fun trying to repeat "Big Crotte" but we were all tired and Harco and I decided to call it a day. He still had a five hour drive ahead of him and I really pushed him to the limit.

December 27, 2016 - Got wood ?

Yesterday was an extremely wet day.
I drove from here to there, walked around a lot, touched wet holds but didn't get to climb anything.
Last night however, the skies cleared up and the day started with sunshine and a clear blue sky.
The streets were mostly dry so must be dry rock around somewhere already.

I drove to Rocher Saint-Germain Est, knowing that the area catches sun from the morning on, even in Winter.
There are a few new 7th grade problems opened recently and besides "Magic Three (debout)", I didn't try any of them yet.

"Magic Three" has been opened by the Belgians, Jan de Smit and Wolff Braeckman, and is one of the nicest if you like compression on slopers.
I tried the standing start a couple days after it was published in mid Summer, but I couldn't do anything on those slopers in the heat. Hats off for Jan and Wolff opening it in such conditions.

This morning it was only about 5°C and it made all the difference. I made it on my second attempt, but not without a struggle.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Est - Magic Three (debout) 7A

The sitstart looks very nice, but I didn't want to spend too much energy yet. I still have 10 days of holiday and today I wanted to take it easy.

There was another new 7A nearby, "Le Casse Tête", a conventional sitstart of what is now 6 red.
I once did a sitstart on the right, but that was at most 6C.
Sitstart with a small crimp left hand and the undercling for the right, changes the whole story.
It looked really easy at first, but it took time to find my correct method. Not to be underestimated.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Est - Le Casse-Tête 7A

I had some trouble to find "L'Arête des Comiques", only to find it no good enough conditions to give it some real tries, so I packed up to join Jean-Pierre (Roudneff) in Apremont.
He was trying and testing some by then still unpublished traverses opened by Tony (Fouchereau).

I watched him climb the very long 7A(6C+) traverse "Les Thunderbirds". I could only do it with a rest halfway. I just don't have the continuity.
Jean-Pierre had to go and he left me behind with soar muscles from trying "Les Thunderbirds".

Late afternoon someone is delivering 5 cubic metres (stères) of firewood and I had to be home for it. I still had about an hour of time though.
"Happy Boulder" got we down in the 6B+ slab again. I just can't seem to figure how to move up in that slab!

Not long ago, I thought I did "Ablation du Téton", but it appeared that I did an exit further right, which is conveniently called "Ablation du Téton (droite)". I remember that it felt harder than 7A and I was curious if the original dynamic exit would be as hard.

For me, the original version I did today, was easier than the right exit. Probably because I still remembered the first moves very well.
Two very distinctive lines. Gotta try both versions while at it.

Fontainebleau - Apremont - Ablation du Téton 7A

Not even 5 minutes after I came home, the woodman arrived, left again with my money, and I could start hauling and stapling 5 stères of firewood.

I will feel that tomorrow!

December 25, 2016 - What goes up must go down.

Merry Christmas to all who cares!!

Only two small climbs today, most of the time was spent looking for dry boulders and especially walking uphill.
I started at Gros Sablons Nord where it dries quickly and walked straight to "Nymphe des Bois" on the top of the hill, opened by Bart (Van Raaij) not long ago.
It's on the arete to the left "L'Enfer des Zombies", a 7C(7C+) which is definitely on my want-to-try-list. But not today.
The boulder was mostly wet, but the holds of "Nymphe des Bois" looked quite okay.

In the conditions like today it felt like a soft 7A+, but when it's completely dry it will be more like soft 7A.

Fontainebleau - Gros Sablons Nord - Nymphe des Bois 7A+(7A)

My next stop was at Gros Sablons, which meant walking steep downhill followed by another steep uphill.
All that to find the whole sector too wet to try anything.
I had a long walk around looking for something dry, but it was no use.
Again downhill to try my chances on the neighbouring hill of 95.2, but there it was just the same. Wet.

As a last resort, I decided to have a look at "Petit Brigand" on the top of the hill of Roche au Four.
It's an even steeper and longer hill, but it was right next to the parking. A small detour, but the steep uphill exhausted me by the time I arrived at the top.
All that for just one problem, but at least it was dry and I got treated with a beautiful view over Les Trois Pignons.

Panorama from the top of Roche au Four.

On bleau.info there's only a vague picture and description, so I followed the most logical that would fit he grade.
Maybe I did something wrong, because it felt soft for a problem opened by Olivier Lebreton and David Evrard.
Nice problem. Worth the detour? I would say no, unless everything else is wet.

Fontainebleau - Roche au Four - Petit Brigand 7A

I took a long break before going back down the steep downhill towards the car.

What goes up must go down.

December 21, 2016 - Ibuprofen.

I had a day off today, but unfortunately I woke up coughing and having a fever. With Sandra and Noah at home having the flu, it had to be my turn now.
I had a cup of coffee, skipped breakfast, took some Ibuprofen to get the fever down and headed off for Canche aux Merciers and some other nearby climbing areas.

Most boulders in Canche aux Merciers were still too humid to be climbed, but I did find the crack of "La Grande Marche" dry. The top jug was damp but good enough.
The Ibuprofen still had to start working, I felt weak, had cold fingers but still I was able to do it relatively fast.
It's a really nice problem, but soft for the grade in my opinion.

Fontainebleau - Canche aux Merciers - La Grande Marche 7A+

With everything else of interest being unclimbable, I packed up and crossed the street towards Drei Zinnen.
There, everything was dry and in quite good conditions. Even "Ordalie" was dry enough, but first I wanted to finish off "Pantoum".

The key crimp was dry and didn't feel slippery unlike a couple of weeks ago when I worked out all the moves together with Pieter.
Having the moves still in my head, the body followed quickly and when I stood on the boulder, it all felt not that hard. It went like a flow.

Fontainebleau - Drei Zinnen - Pantoum 7B

As I mentioned earlier, even "Ordalie" was dry enough to finally try it.
Already a couple of times I stood looking at the problem with the holds being too wet to try.
The top jugs felt damp but they were good jugs so I didn't worry about that.

I already had seen some videos of it, so I knew the beta.
It didn't feel as hard as I expected, I did it on my second attempt.

Fontainebleau - Drei Zinnen - Ordalie 7A

The fever was as good as gone by now, thanks to the Ibuprofen, but I had short breath and needed a break.
I used the break to walk back to car and drive to Bois Rond Auberge down the road.
The boulder with "Incassable" would certainly be dry.
I wanted to try "Incassable" (French word for "unbreakable") to show that the fever and the flu can't get me down, they can't break me.
Ironically it turned out to be too hard, so I started trying "St Anger" next to it to finish off for today.

Apologies for the bad camera placement, but there were not many possibilities and I thought I had everything on it.
The sideways dyno to a good jug is not that difficult, but holding on to the swing afterwards felt really hard!
Too bad it's not in view, but I had to dyno from the left foot while my right one was already hooked behind a vertical ledge to be able to stop the swing.
This one felt hard for the grade.

Fontainebleau - Bois Rond Auberge - St Anger 7A+

I was exhausted now and wanted to go home to rest, the fever was coming up again.

But first, I stopped at the pharmacy for some more Ibuprofen.

December 18, 2016 - Wet.

Pieter sent me a message early this morning, saying that he and and Francis were just on their way to the forest.
We met up around noon on the parking of Le Vaudoué.
It was grey and foggy and everything was wet so we set our hopes on Rocher Fin, one of the quickest drying areas of Bleau.

The long walk turned out to be in vain, because the boulders were just soaking wet.
The more in the open, the wetter the boulders were. The fog was falling down and it just kept on coming.
A couple of small groups of climbers were trying to climb on anything that looked dry, and it wasn't much.
We had a small walk around the area, but headed on to Le 111, a small remote area not far from there.
There also, everything wet except for the start of "Rêve (gauche)", a high arete that requires a lot of power to stop you from "waving the flag".
It was fun working out the beautiful moves but a real pity that we couldn't climb it to the top, just because it was too wet up there.

We noticed that the boulders that were covered by the trees were sometimes almost dry. The branches were covering them from the falling fog.
The decision was quickly made to stop at Rocher du Potala on our long way back to the parking, hoping to find at least something dry there.

We were lucky to find the holds of "Samarkand" dry. Only the high sloper left had to be dried with a towel, which turned out to be good enough.
The small jug on the right was soaking wet, but the hold was good enough to use.

I tried "Samarkand" years ago and was waiting to find it in good conditions ever since.
Ironically, it looked like to be in one of the worst conditions ever, but I was able to finally finish it.
Pieter got really close, but had to give up in the end. He has no excuse.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Potala - Samarkand 7A+(7A)

December 17, 2016 - What was the season again ?

Jean-Pierre (Roudneff) wrote me yesterday evening that he had very good conditions in Apremont on Thursday.
They predicted it to be a grey and cloudy day, but the sun broke through the morning fog and soon the sky was blue and it started to warm up.
I took Jean-Pierre's word for it and headed to Apremont for a day of easy climbing.
My body felt weak at first, but the sun gave me energy. It felt warm.

The forest was wet, but the boulders out in the open in the chaos of Apremont were all dry.
I walked straight to the small sector of "Onde de Choc" where there is always something left to do, "Fosse Ailleurs" for example.
It's a little bit the "biscuit" version of "La Fosse", one that still remains on my to-do list.
Still didn't feel easy though, but it was the first problem of the day and my skin still needed to warm up.

Fontainebleau - Apremont - Fosse Ailleurs 7A

It's a nice spot there, so I stayed for a while, played around and did a combination of "Tango Triste (assis)" and "Rêve de Pierre".
I named it "Rêve de Tango" and the grade will be about 7A as I found it slightly harder than "Tango Triste (assis)".
Sitstart and climb as for "Tango Triste (assis)", take the crack of "Rêve de Pierre" on the right and exit on slopers above.
It was fun to do and it has a nice shouldermove.

Fontainebleau - Apremont - Rêve de Tango 7A

One on my wanted list for today was "Fil à Tordre", which I tried several sessions already, but never was able to do the last dynamic move to the top.
It didn't feel much different when I started trying. The last move feels possible, but it's just such a difficult one to make coming from the position you're in.
My persistence payed off and finally I can add this nice problem to my done list.

Fontainebleau - Apremont - Fil à Tordre 7A+

It was really warm by now so I walked to "Happy Boulder" where it was cooler, but unfortunately also less dry.
I made my way into the slab of it, but didn't dare and wasn't able to finish it.
Time to find the sun again.

Not far from there, the sun was shining directly on "Faux Contact" which was in perfect condition.
I never tried, but I saw a video of it in the morning so I knew what to do and was able to flash it.
Such cool campus moves, exceptional for Bleau. Really nice problem!

Fontainebleau - Apremont - Faux Contact 7A+(7B)

I didn't have any plan anymore, so I decided to climb something on my way back to the car, packed up and started walking.
I must have been about 100m away when I noticed in the topo that there was another 7A on the boulder of "Faux Contact" and I chose to walk back as I knew that this was dry. It was going to be my last climb for the day so I didn't take any risks.

I'm not completely sure that my method was correct but this felt really hard for the grade.
My body was cooled down and I felt tired so that that most probably played a role, but still.
It's a bit annoying having to climb over the small boulder, but in the end it was a really nice problem that I enjoyed to climb.
Tough one!

Fontainebleau - Apremont - Ablation du Téton 7A

It felt really warm today in the sun and between the boulders, and it was hard to believe that in only four days the Winter starts. Or does it ?

December 16, 2016 - The healing forest.

Monday morning at 4h30, I left to Hamburg (Germany) for work and I returned yesterday late in the evening. I was exhausted, felt miserable and had bad belly cramps. Most probably a belly flue that started the day before.
A good night sleep in my own bed would do me good and I had taken the next day off.

There was a blue sky this morning but I had troubles getting out of bed. I still felt miserable and had heavy cramps.
I took my time trying to eat something light and stopped at the pharmacy on my way to Canche aux Merciers.
The smell of the forest, the oxygen, the sun on my face and my crashpad on my back. It made me feel better instantly but I felt weak and walked slowly.

It didn't come as a surprise to find the boulders wet.
The big difference in air temperature between last night and now combined with cold rock made the dawn condense and keep everything wet.
There were some southernly faced problems that were in the sun and I was lucky to find a nameless 7A(7A+) dry.

It's one that I tried several times long ago, but never got far.
Finding the method didn't take me long this time but as I felt weak, I had to go deep and lost a lot of energy.

Fontainebleau - Canche aux Merciers - Nameless 7A(7A+)

As I couldn't find anything else of my interest dry, I decided to drive to 95.2 and try my chances there. I still had some problems to back to in that area.

"Le Yaniro" was wet, but "Pince-Toi" was dryer than last time I tried it.
It's a hard 7A+ that I already tried quite a few times but the method I saw in videos just didn't seem to work for me.
Today it was no different but I was able to do it using a different method with both hands on the arete as the convention, but with a fa toehook on the right.
It still felt hard, but it worked for me.

Fontainebleau - 95.2 - Pince-Toi 7A+

I then moved to "Captain Hook" which was dry but the slopers started to get dark and humid after a few tries already.
I figured out the whole sequence though and will come back for it when the conditions are better.

On my way back to the car I stopped at the "Rudeboy" boulder where I knew that "Zyno" would be dry as it's facing South.
By the time I got there, I felt exhausted.
The cramps were gone and I didn't feel miserable anymore, but my body had weakened.

I took a small break and wasn't sure if I would still have enough explosive power to make the dyno.
Some deep oxygen rich breaths helped and soon after I gave it a first try. I got nowhere, but I felt confident that after a few tries it would get better and better.
It still took me a while with small breaks every two or three tries, but then suddenly I had it. It felt great, I felt great. Tired, but great!

Fontainebleau - 95.2 - Zyno 7A+(7B)

Still now, hours later, I'm tired but the cramps haven't returned and I don't feel miserable anymore.

It truly is a healing forest.

December 07, 2016 - Bye bye.

Next week I have to fly to Hamburg a few days for work, so I took a day off today, hoping I could do a lot of climbing.
My mind was set on trying "L'Oeil de la Sybille", a 7C+ on the big roof of "Eclipse" in Cul de Chien.

While I was walking through the forest, just before noon, it quickly became obvious that it was wet.
We didn't have any rain for a while now, but the air humidity was about 100% and the mist during the night had given the rock a dark wet look.
I kept on hoping though, that what I wanted to try would be dry out there in the sun.

The part of the topout of the boulder that was catching sun was dry, but all te holds in the roof underneath were either wet or very damp.
The topout in the shade, there where "L'Oeil de la Sybille" finishes was wet too.

The only completely dry problem on the boulder was "La Noirâtre", which was fully exposed to the sun, so I started trying the crouching start of it instead.
The first move is a hard one, but as soon as I was able to stick, I climbed it to the top.
Not the nicest problem around, but at least it was dry and I was able to finish something.

Fontainebleau - Cul de Chien - La Noirâtre (accroupi) 7A+(7B)

I did still try the separate moves of "L'Oeil de la Sybille", can do all of them, linked some together, but I didn't bother trying the whole thing, because by the time I arrived at the dyno, my hands were all wet.

I'll come back for it one day.

My effort going to 95.2 turned out for nothing, because there also, it was wet.

Bye bye perfect conditions from last week.

At least I finally met Grégoire Thibault, who also tried his chances in 95.2, but in vain.

December 03, 2016 - Who did it ?

Saturday.
It was already a while ago that I saw Pieter, so I was glad that he wrote me that he was coming to the forest for the weekend.
It was expected that the bigger areas would be crowded, so we agreed to go to the relatively unknown Apremont Sanglier.
We both never went there before and it would be nice to discover another part of the forest.

The boulders are a bit spread out in a small valley with a small chaotic sector in the middle of it.
We were a bit disappointed that most boulders low in the valley were wet and those in the sun were showing a lot of signs of condensation.
Luckily, the boulder with "Soundgarden" was dry enough. Also condensed here and there, but not in the spots that were needed to climb some problems on it.

We warmed up in "Jeu d'Ombres (droite)" that sitstarts in a pit, uses jugs to climb through the roof and finishes on bad slopers and a hard mantle (if you don't place the feet right).
It felt really easy for the grade as it was the first climb of the day and I was able to flash it.
The jugs in the first part served as a good short warmup.

Pieter climbed it in two parts but wasn't able to link them together. He didn't climb for a month, got some extra kilos and just got back from Japan.
He needed some more time to warmup and get back into it.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Sanglier - Jeu d'Ombres (droite) 7A

When I was browsing on bleau.info through the problems of Apremont Sanglier, I had made a list in my head of problems that I wanted to try or at least see if they were wet.
One of them was "Soundgarden", on the same boulder.
This was also dry enough, even though the sloper for the right hand high up felt damp and uncertain.

When looking at it, it doesn't look that nice, but we both changed our mind while trying it. The moves were nicer to do than expected.
After working out the moves I did it quite quickly.
Pieter had to go deep, almost slipped off on the last easy part, but managed his way to the top too.
He was motivated!

Fontainebleau - Apremont Sanglier - Soundgarden 7A+

We then strolled around in the valley, looking at other problems, but they were condensed or sometimes simply wet.
"La Catapulte", the boulder with for instance "The Enterprise", "Mon Précieux" and "Day of Tentacle" all looked really nice, but were forced to be left untried. At least we have something to come back to.

Last on the list, and my favourite, was "Spidercochon".
I had seen a video of David Evrard opening it a long time ago and from that moment on I knew that I had to to try that one day.
It has some very unique moves on it and I was curious to see how it would be like to do them.
After watching the video you will know what I mean.

We found the boulder easily, right next to the path and were happily surprised that it was dry.
At first, after our first try, it seemed impossible to do, but try after try we got closer to finding the right sequence.
It took a long time, but I ended up doing it after all, unexpectedly.

Pieter was able to find his way into the hole, but got stuck balancing over into the undercling.

Really glad with this one!
Never climbed anything like it before.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Sanglier - Spidercochon 7B

While Pieter gave some more tries, I tried the right exit, "Spidercochon (droite)" which goes at 7C.
I was able to reach the last hold a few times, but couldn't hold on.
The sun had gone behind the valley in the meantime and it had started to be really cold.
We decided to call it a day.

Pieter gladly accepted my offer to stay over for diner and sleep in a warm bed instead of his car.
We had a fun evening playing Cluedo.

On Sunday we left around 10am and went another quiet area, Coquibus Auvergne.
Here on the South face of the hill, the boulders were dry and in relatively good condtitions.
We first went to the back of the area, to the roof with for instance "Little Crotale" that I did about a year ago.

Pieter got very close to doing it, but lacked the remaining strength in the end to mantle out.
After I finally figured out how to start in "Little Cobra", I pressed record and sent it straight away.
Really powerful first moves, even getting the second foot off the ground is hard.

Fontainebleau - Coquibus Auvergne - Little Cobra 7A+

On the way back we stopped at "À Six c'est Assez" that I was able to repeat on my second try.
Pieter cruises through the problem until the last dynamic move to the top.
He tried a lot, got very close, but threw his towel in the ring.

We moved to Drei Zinnen where we wanted to try "Pantoum".
It didn't catch much sun today and the key crimp felt greasy.
I did manage to do it in two overlapping parts and I'm quite sure that I would be able to do it, but I needed better conditions for the slopey crimps.

The low sun made us go to the boulders on the South crest of the hill where she was still shining and we ended up at "Floréal" that looked to be in very good conditions and nicely in the sun.
It's a very nice problem and I was almost disappointed that I flashed it with ease.
I wouldn't have minded trying it some more.

It seemed to be to too morpho for Pieter, but I think he was getting tired.
If he would have been fresh, I'm sure that he would have done it easily too.

It was getting close to evening and Pieter still had a long drive ahead, so we headed back to the parking, said our goodbyes and went our own ways.
My body felt tired from fighting against the cold and I was glad to come home and put on the fire.

Fontainebleau - Drei Zinnen - Floréal 7A

December 01, 2016 - Layers.

It was still freezing on the parking of Isatis when I met up with Jean-Pierre (Roudneff) at 11h30, but it didn't feel too cold as long as I wore my layers.
My coat, two sweaters, two T-shirts, two pants and long sock up to the knees. They did the trick.

Yesterday evening I arranged with JP to go try the recently opened "Je te Veux" on the same boulder as "Le Mur des Lamentations", the round arete right next to "Gnossienne".
It's quite high and actually had been opened by Philippe (Le Denmat) a while ago, but he did it with a rope and repeated it without just two weeks ago.
A second layer of crashpads and at least one spotter add to the motivation to try it.

JP knows a lot of people and soon we became a group of five and surrounded "Je te Veux" with two layers of pads.
It felt safe and was the first to try.
Unfortunately I forgot the beta, found myself stuck on the huge sloper and had to jump off.
Julien (dont know his last name) flashed it, improvising his own beta to the top.
I followed immediately after and did it on my second attempt, using the original beta.
The encouragement helped. The footholds are tiny and the top is one big bad sloper. A beautiful line!
JP needed some more tries and felt unsure at the top, but our cheering and encouragement helped him up too.
The conditions were again perfect!

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - Je te Veux 7A

Another problem that JP had proposed was the crimpsy wall "La Grande Allonge" on the backside of the boulder.
Something that I never noticed before.
We all needed max two attempts. 

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - La Grande Allonge 7A

We then went our separate ways and I joined Koen (de Schepper) at "El Poussah".
It's a classic problem, but I only got to trying it once last Summer. The holds didn't feel certain enough back then and I never dared to do the move towards the first sloper.

Now, with the good conditions and knowing that Koen was there spotting, I did the whole thing on my first attempt.
A very nice problem and now I understand why it's so popular. I might go back one day to try the extended version.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - El Poussah 7A

It felt good coming back home in the warmth and take off some layers.

My body needs a short rest now but tomorrow I have to go back to work so that won't be a problem.