September 24, 2017 - Lady of the Lake.

I had planned to do some work at home, but also to profit from the cooler temperature in the morning to try "Lady of the Lake" in Cuisinière Crête Sud again.
It was the last problem that I had tried yesterday afternoon, but the big undercling to start with under the roof was very humid and each time I arrived right hand on a very bad sloper with humid fingertips, making it greasy after some time until it became impossible to pull on it for the far move left hand.

This morning, the boulder still felt cold from the night before and the friction on the key sloper was nearly perfect.
I had been able to do all the moves yesterday, and being fresh and ready for it, I felt confident.
Besides, as the undercling under the roof was big enough, I decided to use my towel between my hands and the still wet hold. Bummer that I didn't think of that yesterday.
At least now I could arrive with dry fingers on the crux sloper.
My only concern was camera placement.

En route to Cuisinière in the morning.

Due to the still quite low sun and the tight spot, I couldn't find a decent place to put the camera where it could capture the whole boulder without being blinded by the low sunlight.
I don't like to use my phone as a second camera, because it's always a fuss getting it onto my computer and the quality is different, but here I had no other option.
It's not the kind of problem that I would be able to do twice in a row. It felt too physical for that.
But hey, that was a problem for later, which is now actually already done, and it wasn't that bad after all.

"Lady of the Lake" was originally opened as a 7C, but has been downgraded to 7B in the meantime.
I do agree that it's not 7C, but it definitely felt like 7B+.
I'm surprised though that it only has 10 registered repeats, including mine.
It lies at only 3m from the oh so popular "Excalibur" and "Beatle Juice", that have 203 and 309 repeats respectively.
Maybe it's because of the starting hold being mostly wet? I don't know.
It definitely deserves more than the mere two stars it received on bleau.info. I really liked doing "Lady of the Lake"!

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Crête Sud - Lady of the Lake 7B

September 23, 2017 - Out of focus.

I felt a little tired after yesterday and I didn't feel like trying a particular project, so I went for a stroll in Cuisinière Crête Sud.
There was no pressure, but I definitely wanted to see "Hale Bopp".
When I was still living in Belgium, a big poster of someone doing "Hale Bopp", hung in the entrance of my regular bouldering gym 'Bleau' in Gent.
Every time that I looked at it, I just stood in awe.
What was once such a mythical dyno has now almost been forgotten, being in the shadow of the more popular and not so far away "Rainbow Rocket".

I was too tired to jump too much, so quickly I turned my attention to "Orion", on the arete just right of "Hale Bopp".
It barely seemed possible at first, but soon I figured it out and sent it.
Always nice to climb such an unknown barely repeated beauty!

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Crête Sud - Orion 7B

On my way to "Lady of the Lake", I still was able to send "La Récréation" and "La Débonnaire" on my second and first attempt respectively.
I have no idea what happened with the focus, but for some reason, the camera decided to go out of it.

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Crête Sud - La Récréation 7A

No 'out of focus' when flashing "La Débonnaire".

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Crête Sud - La Débonnaire 7A(7A+)

I still had some really good attempts in "Lady of the Lake", next to "Excalibur" at the start of the area, but the sweating fingertips said 'no'.
I will go back for that one soon!

September 22, 2017 - Who's dick ?

It was around the start of Spring this year that I wanted to try "Moby Dick" for the first time, but besides doing the first move, I couldn't do anything because it was too wet.
I was, however, able to take a good look at it and I definitely wanted to come back for it one day.
Finally, today when driving home from work, I stopped at Cuvier Bellevue to try "Moby Dick" for real.

Apart from the starting hold that felt damp, the boulder was completely dry.
Somehow, I felt quite confident, but got stuck at the far move to the left. As long as my right foot was stuck in the starting pocket, I just couldn't reach that far big crimp.
The only option was to let go of my right foothook while doing the dynamic move to the left.

I only had to stick the dynamic move once to be able to finish it off. Barely twenty minutes after my first try.
"Moby Dick" felt quite soft for the grade, but on the other hand, it fits quite my style.
Beautiful line!

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Bellevue - Moby Dick 7C(7B+)

September 20, 2017 - In between.

Yesterday and the day before, I spent some good short evening sessions trying "Rubis sur l'Ongle" in Gorge aux Châts, but a couple of times I fell off the last move.
The many tries had made my arms and fingers tired, but I had some time for climbing this evening and went to Franchard Isatis to stroll around and try something easier in between.

I spent most of the time trying "Panzer", which I can do now in two overlapping parts, but the power lacked to do it completely from the start.
It feels really hard for its grade since a hold broke off one day.

My attention turned to "L'Entre-Toit (direct)" on the backside of the boulder of "El Poussah".
It wasn't until recently that I learned about it, even though having passed that boulder so many times already.
The slow drying roof looked and felt a bit damp, but dry enough and "L'Entre-Toit (direct)" looked so nice and tempting that I couldn't resist.
Not that, but a very nice climb! Quite special.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - L'Entre-Toit (direct) 7A

September 15, 2017 - Join the Dark Side.

It was together with Igor (Depoorter) and Klaas (Willems) back in April 2013 that I tried "Dark Side" for the first time.
Back then, the boulder was surrounded by trees and dense vegetation that did make it a darker spot of J.A. Martin.
It was the kind of boulder that dried very slowly due to its surroundings and orientation, and maybe that's why up to yesterday, it only had eleven registered ascents on bleau.info, out of which only three publicly and the last one being Ivan (Moreels) way back in 2009.

Ever since the big fire in the Summer of 2013, the boulder now lies mostly in the open on the of the hill, catching a lot of wind and thus drying quickly.
Despite that, it still barely had any known repetitions, most likely for it being so unknown.
But I'm guessing that that is about to change, because I'm quite sure that with a new video of "Dark Side" being published, it will draw some attention to it.

I can only recommend "Dark Side".
It does have a bad landing and I must admit that I was a little bit shaky when doing the last move, but it's simply a beautiful line. One waiting to be climbed.
Everybody come to the Dark Side!

Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - Dark Side 7B(7A+)

September 12, 2017 - Proof of concept.

I had a short but nice evening session in Apremont Ouest.
The temperature's dropping, the wind made the air dry and I was all alone in the area.
It was a good moment to try "Sitting Bull". The one other time that I wanted to try it, I couldn't even get my ass off the ground.

Somehow, this time I didn't have much problems with it, but I soon realised that the actual crux for the original direct exit, is the mantle up.
I had seen more videos, however, of climbers topping out more to the right, and apparently on bleau.info the description mentions that the topout on the right is 7B, so I decided to go for that one instead. I didn't want to loose too much time figuring out the direct mantle up.

I haven't registered my ascent on bleau.info yet, but I have asked to create a separate page for the right exit version.
Registering my ascent on the original page and grading it 7B would do injustice to the direct 7C(7B+) version and grading it 7B+(7C) would do injustice to myself, so I think a separate page would be more logical.
Anyway, the exit on the right feels more like a 7B to me.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Ouest - Sitting Bull 7C(7B+)

With the time I had left, I wanted to try "Concept" again lower down the hill.
I had tried "Concept" quite a few times already, but always gave up fast because I couldn't find a way to move in it.
Also this time I really had some trouble finding the good body position and only made it just barely at the end.

The video can be played by the way. Youtube did something wrong when processing the thumbnail selection.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Ouest - Concept 7A

September 10, 2017 - An unexpected finish.

Due to other priorities in the morning, it was already 13h when I parked at Franchard Isatis, and the conditions still looked pretty bad.
The weather wasn't as good as predicted and the skies stayed grey almost all day long, with some occasional drops of rain here and there.
Despite that, it was quite crowded, so I walked straight to the back of the area where I was all alone.

I tried some problems here and there, mostly had to give up due to too awful conditions, but ended up flashing "La Grisaille (direct)", which I can't give more than 6C(6C+). It went way too easy for 7A in my opionion.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - La Grisaille (direct) 7A

Being fed up with the bad conditions up there, I decided to make my way back to Franchard Hautes Plaines to check out the state of "Jambe de Bois", in which I have already spent at least three good sessions.
On my way, a Belgian from Liège who lives in Paris, asked me the way to "Cannonball".
As I was going to pass by that boulder anyway, I offered to bring him there.
Zachariah (I hope I spell this correctly) is his name, but "Zac" is easier.

We both started trying the original version, "Cannonball", at first, but when I noticed that I wasn't coming close enough, I switched to its easier version "Cannonball (droite)".
I had done it already several times, but this is just a fun dyno and always nice to try.
Still, it took me quite some tries before an attempt was successful again.
I still watched Zac for a while, saw him coming really close to sticking the dyno, but greeted him friendly again and continued my way to "Jambe de Bois".

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - Cannonball (droite) 7A+(7A) (repeat)

To my pleasant surprise, the conditions on "Jambe de Bois" were not bad at all and when I gave it a first try, the surprise was even more pleasant when I noticed that the far dynamic move to the right was going much better than ever, and I started to hope for success.
From all the sessions that I already worked in it, I had never been able to stick that move yet and I knew that if I would do that one, my chances were high for finishing it.

After a few tries, I suddenly stuck the move and I got nervous.
I tried to focus, but when I was preparing for the last move, I had to think of a video from Ivan (Moreels), in which he fell off the last move and I hoped it wasn't going to happen to me.
My focus was so far gone though, that it did.

Luckily, after a short break, I was able to do the move again and work my way to the top, even though just barely.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Hautes Plaines - Jambe de Bois 7B+(7B)

On my way back I passed by "Cannonball" again, but Zac had already left.

I truly hope that he was able to finish it!

September 09, 2017 - Weird grading.

Very unstable weather today.
My day was fully planned and I was glad that one of the things I had to do was cancelled.
At least it gave me a chance to profit from a dry period early afternoon to go for a vey quick climb in Gorge aux Châts.
I chose that area, because with the chance of rain any moment, I didn't want to go far.
In the area itself I didn't even bother going up the hill, but stayed at the bottom of it for a quick win and walked straight to number 9 of the blue circuit. I had read that the sitstart of it was graded 6C+(7A) and it had drawn my curiosity.

I wonder where they get the grade from, because this felt at most like a 6C(6C+).
Went down easily on my second attempt.

Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - n°9 bleu (assis) 6C+(7A)

Right next to it, in the same nice overhang is red n°7, named "Multichnopps", and the sitstart of that one was supposed to be 6C+(6C). Even though the only registered repeater gave it 7A+.
It does indeed look much harder than the official proposed grade and I definitely wanted to try it.

This only took me three tries, but it felt much harder than the previous one and comes, to my opinion, closer to 7A.
Very cool problem despite its apparent unpopularity.
Deserves an upgrade to 7A, and if it does, it will get more attention for sure.

***EDIT*** In the meantime, "Multichopps (assis) has been correctly upgraded to 6C+(7A) ***EDIT***

Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Multichopps (assis) 6C+(7A)

September 08, 2017 - Horse on speed.

I had to be home at 18h this evening after work and as they announce rain for this evening and tomorrow, I definitely wanted to climb something on the way and thought of something that was on my trajectory. Close to the parking and most likely doable in a short amount of time.

Even though I had done "Crazy Horse" in Apremont Ouest already in 2011, it was one of the first boulders that came into my mind that fulfilled the above listed criteria and I didn't have it on video yet.
I felt quite convinced that I would be able to repeat it relatively fast, as long as it didn't start to rain.
The sky looked grey and I had seen some wet streets here and there on my way.
Luckily there was quite some wind too.

Like a horse on speed, I walked as fast as I could up the hill, didn't take the time to catch my breath and immediately started trying "Crazy Horse".
I didn't take any breaks in between the few tries I needed to repeat the problem, which is not one of the harder 7B's in the forest.
Straight away, I packed and again like a horse on speed I walked as fast as I could back to the car.
All in all, I had spent exactly nine minutes at the boulder.
If someone would have been watching me that whole time, he or she must have thought that I'm crazy.
But after all, a horse on speed must be a crazy horse!

Fontainebleau - Apremont Ouest - Crazy Horse 7B

September 07, 2017 - The last line.

This evening I decided to try the last line that I still had to do on the boulder of "Misfits" in Roche au Four.
I had deliberately only tried one line per visit at the boulder so I would have plenty of reasons to come back to it.
After all, it's a beautiful and perfectly isolated boulder in a not much frequented part of Les Trois Pignons and at barely ten minutes walking from the parking of Le Croix Saint Jérôme.

The last line left for me to do was "Pleine Mesure". I wrote 'was', because it didn't take me very long to finish. Half an hour at most.
Not that it's soft or anything, but "Pleine Mesure" is basically a combination of "Misfits (direct)" and "Demi-Mesure", which I had already done in the past. The first one even very recently, so I still had the moves in me.
It was eventually the move into the slab of "Demi-Mesure" that took the most of the time, but not that it worried me.
I wouldn't have mind to come back for it on this beautiful spot.

A very nice (last) line!

Fontainebleau - Roche au Four - Pleine Mesure 7A+(7B)

September 06, 2017 - B-movie.

My oldest son Anthony was hit by a car when driving his bike in Le Vaudoué yesterday evening.
He apparently flew over the hood onto the ground, but luckily, besides some bruises and scratches and a hurting knee, he was fine.
Of course, he and his friend Sascha who was driving behind him, were shocked at first and despite the lady driver offering all kinds of help and giving our home phone number to her, he didn't note down the license plate, nor the contact details from the driver who promised to call the number he gave her later in the evening.
As nobody called yet by this morning, we had to go the Gendarmerie to file a complaint.
As it turned out at the Gendarmerie, the lady driver had reported to them already about what happened, because due to a miscommunication, she hadn't been able to reach me and had done everything possible to try to get news about Anthony.
I had a long and nice phone call with her and all things are settled out.
Of course, the most important thing is that everybody is alright. Anthony is walking around almost as normal.

Luckily I did find some little time for a quick climb, which I did in Franchard Hautes Plaines.
"Les Araignées de Mars" (The Spiders from Mars) sounds like it could be the title of some old Science Fiction Horror B-movie, but it's a much nicer line than I expected.
I wonder why I never tried it before.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Hautes Plaines - Les Araignées de Mars 7A+

September 04, 2017 - A round of applause.

Due to having to spend the weekend in Belgium, I wasn't able to climb, but it was a good opportunity to let my back recover a bit.

One of my sisters, Manon, and her boyfriend, Elias, are visiting on their way back from vacation, and I took them to "Bloc.fr" after dinner.
I had tried "Bloc.fr" once about a year and a half ago, but couldn't even do the first move on it and had somewhat forgotten about it.
Recently though, I saw a video of Thierry (Hardy) climbing it and it had drawn my interest again.

Manon and Elias don't climb (yet), but they wanted to see me climbing.
I warned them that probably I won't even top out anything during this mere half an hour of climbing and that chances even are that I won't even be able to do the first move.
Big was my surprise though when I suddenly stood on top of the boulder on my third or fourth try.

Great line! Quite physical moves at the start.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Hautes Plaines - Bloc.fr 7B