January 01, 2017 - It starts again.

Happy new year to all!!!

In 2016, according to my 8a.nu scorecard, I have done:

- 201 x 7A
- 99 x 7A+
- 50 x 7B
- 17 x 7B+
- 4 x 7C

Not bad, if I may say so myself !!

Maarten (Robays) celebrated new years eve at our place and will stay over for a week.
We didn't make it late last night and this morning we were up on time, rising and shining to go to the forest.
Climbing is not that important for Maarten, but he's always happy to be in the forest and enjoy the surroundings.

On our way to Rocher du Général, it was only -3°C and a dense freezing fog had made the whole forest white. It was beautiful and the air tasted healthy.
The ground was frozen and it was nice to hear and feel the crispy leaves crack with every step.
Despite the dense fog, it was too cold to be wet and the conditions seemed perfect.

I had only two goals. "Un Ouvreur Peut en Cacher un Autre" and "Boule et Bill".
Two friction dependent problems and today was perfect to try them.
Even though I had already been to "Un Ouvreur Peut en Cacher un Autre" twice, with everything being white and looking the same, we walked around in circles a few times before we found the boulder again.

Pete (Collins) had given me some new beta, but in the end I didn't use it. The perfect conditions made the rock sticky and coming out of the roof went easier than the times when I tried it in Summer.
It only took me three tries to send it and it all went smooth.
It's a beautiful problem!

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Général - Un Ouvreur Peut en Cacher un Autre 7A(7A+)

Maarten didn't feel like climbing, but gladly joined me to try "Boule et Bill" now.
The topout on only slopers requires a good friction and other than last time when I tried it it was sticky.
It didn't take long before I had worked out the moves and I started believing that today it will be ticked off.

I admit, the topout is far from stylish, but I didn't care. I made it. The second 7th grade problem of 2017 was done.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Général - Boule et Bill 7A+

My main goals for today were done, and we decided to head to Boissy-aux-Cailles for a nice walk in a magnificent part of the forest.

We got treated with some nice views and ended up at the area Boissy Le Goulot.

I took the chance and Maarten agreed to have a look for the roof of "Into the Wild". A 7B+(7B) roof in a remote part of the area that I hadn't found before despite having looked for it twice.

Thanks to Maarten's kind help I finally had the chance to see the problem in real life and went back to the car to get the crashpad.

It's a really hard fingery problem and even though I thought at first that it was going to be too hard, I was able to work out my own sequence and execute all the moves separately, but wasn't strong enough to link them all together.

At least I know where it is now. It truly is into the wild and you can literally stand on the top of the boulder without knowing it.

Tomorrow there is a chance of rain and snow, so doing (a part of) the "25 bosses" is on the schedule.

One of the beautiful panorama views in Boissy-aux-Cailles.