Maarten and I wanted to take the teenagers outside to the forest to keep them away from laptops and so on.
We went to 91.1, where they could keep themselves busy climbing for a while, and in the meantime I used to occasion to capture "Le Flipper (assis droite)" on video.
That prow just asks to be climbed.
Fontainebleau - 91.1 - Le Flipper (assis droite) 7A(6C+)
We kept the kids occupied outside for about five hours, after which we dropped them off at home and continued on to Coquibus Longs Vaux where I wanted to spend some time in "Boumfer" again.
"Boumfer" is located in the same small isolated sector where also "Compression" can be found, so calmness is assured.
It looks easy when you stand in front of it, but those crimps are so small and sharp that it requires a lot of motivation to pull on them with full power.
I spent already two short sessions on it, but each time I had to leave empty handed because my fingertips couldn't take the pain anymore.
Finally, today, I was able to ignore the pain just enough to pull on through and make the final move.
Bouldering is masochism sometimes.
Maarten (Robays) and his nephew Milo (Robays) are visiting for a couple of days.
Milo sat in the same elementary classes as my oldest son Anthony, and it was a good occasion for both of them to meet up and share early childhood memories. And of course do what 14 year olds do at that age.
Me and Maarten went climbing and started at Mont Blanc where I wanted to finally finish off "Le Homard / Bouddha Assis" now that the wind and better conditions had returned.
The wind had blown all the holds dry now and the friction felt good.
It's a very nice line of which I'm very glad to tick this off!
Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc - Le Homard / Bouddha Assis 7B
Maarten wanted to climb something easier and making a detour via Mont Simonet, we arrived back at Éléphant where we did some fun and easy climbing in the sun.
On the way back home, I drove to Bois du Rocher to see if "Thunderbolt" would be dry.
Yesterday I had a look too, but it was still too humid to even try.
Luckily, now, it was dry and in surprisingly good condition for a problem facing North.
In fact, the conditions were so good that I came really close to flashing it, but couldn't because of bad beta and a foot slip.
After a short break, it went down, but I was out of breath when I got there.
It felt soft for the grade, but still it is a beautiful line with great moves!
It was already sunny in the morning, and after doing some household, I went to Vallée Chaude.
My muscles felt a bit sore from the days before, but I wanted to climb in this nice weather.
I also wanted to avoid the crowd which was definitely going to be present on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Autumn, so Vallée Chaude was an ideal choice.
All the boulders in Vallée Chaude are spread far apart from each other, and the small beautiful roof of "Complainte de Vallée" still seems completely isolated from the other boulders.
I had already noticed the boulder when I was doing a long walk one day before Manuel (Marquès) opened two hard lines on them.
Both start lying down on the small boulder, climb through the roof and exit left for the 7B version or with a dynamic move to a small pocket on the right, which is 7C.
Both are really physical climbing with bad footholds, so require a lot of body tension.
It took a while before I found a good method, but I was able to top out the left exit, "Complainte de Vallée (gauche)". Even though it could be worth 7B+ according to me.
I was able to do all the moves of the right exit, could even do the problem in two overlapping parts, but my body said no.
I'm sure that when I come back fresh and rested, that I will be able to send it completely.
It's a beautiful little roof in total calmness!
Fontainebleau - Vallée Chaude - Complainte de Vallée (gauche) 7B
I then still went to Roche aux Oiseaux to spot Mathias (Eykmans) who wanted to do his second 7A of the year with "Ca Tend à Droite".
I used the occasion to work in "Satan m'Habite", of which I'm now able to quite easily reach to the start of the standing version. This could go down soon.
Mathias was able to finish "Ca Tend à Droite" and even repeated it again for his camera. Even though the second time took more tries than his first repeat.
Would that make it his third 7A? In any case, well done!
The fog was less dense this morning, and by noon, the skies were clearing up above Apremont Désert.
I was looking for the boulder with "La Corne de Rhino", the last boulder of the area when coming from the parking and looking at the topo.
It's a small boulder in a maze of other smaller boulders and even though the high ferns surrounding them were already brown and dry, they still made it very difficult to wade through.
I had trouble finding the boulder, but after about almost an hour walking up and down, finding my way through the ferns and boulders, I finally found it.
I was able to work out the moves and do them all separately, but couldn't find enough energy anymore to link them all together.
At least, now I know where the boulder is, so next time I will have more energy left upon arrival at it.
On my way back to the main area, I stopped at "Burn-Out", which was dry.
It didn't give me much trouble and about fifteen minutes later, I stood on the top.
Nice problem, but felt more like a 7B at most.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Désert - Burn-Out 7B+
I still wanted to try "Dracarys" in the beginning of the area, but as that was wet, I ended up trying "Astérix (droite)" on the first boulder of the area when coming from the parking.
It's a small boulder and the problem looks easy, but in the end, it gave me quite some trouble to start.
All in all, this line on that small boulder felt quite hard for the grade. Or I must have been tired.
As good as the conditions can be in Autumn, more often they can be just as bad like the past few days.
I have taken some days off work, but climbing was as good as impossible yesterday.
Today didn't start any better than yesterday.
The sky was grey and there was a dense fog that wouldn't dissipate for long, keeping everything wet from the rain the days before.
Air humidity was almost always 100% and there was no wind to dry it out.
Finally, after 13h the sun slowly but steadily worked its way through the clouds and the fog started to disappear.
I drove to Larchant as the sky looked better there.
There are some countries that have school vacation and the area of Éléphant was crowded.
I, however, had to be behind that area, where almost nobody goes. Mont Blanc.
It was so quiet there that the gentle sound of my lone footsteps was enough to spook some small deers nearby.
The conditions of the boulders weren't good, but some things were climbable at least.
Unfortunately, the lower holds of "Le Homard / Bouddha Assis" were humid, but the I was finally able to finish off the standing start, which took me several sessions.
I'm guessing that the standstart is good for a 7A(7A+) and really worth the effort on itself.
Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc - Le Homard (debout) 7A(7A+)
Even though still a bit sandy, also the small prow of "L'Envolée Brésilienne", just recently opened by Tony (Fouchereau), was dry enough to try.
Because of the sandy holds it still required some gentle brushing and cleaning, but still after that, it turned out to be harder than it looks.
A small prow, but quite physical and felt closer to 7B than 7A+. Very nice one!
Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc - L'Envolée Brésilienne 7B(7A+)
As everything else of interest in Mont Blanc was either wet or already done before, I decided to go for a walk and make a long detour via Mont Simonet.
On my way, I was astonished again by the silent beauty of the area just behind the crowded Éléphant area.
The silent beauty just between Mont Blanc and Élephant, on my way to Mont Simonet.
By the time I arrived in Mont Simonet, the sun was heating up the air so fast and so much, that it started to condense on the colder boulders.
I had to look around for something new to climb that was dry enough and found it the somewhat hidden "L'Aréopage (gauche)". Opened by Theo (Konstantakopoulos) a few weeks ago.
One very hard move to a big jug and then there are two possible exits.
The 7A+ exits with the big pocket for the foot, the 7B without it.
Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - L'Aréopage (gauche) 7A+
I practiced and could do the direct exit, but redoing the first move gave me a cut in my right hand, which forced me to stop. It was time anyway, but I will be back for the direct version.
Last Wednesday evening, I had started trying the ultra classic "L'Étrave", opened by Patrick Edlinger, in J.A. Martin.
The weather was nice, but due to the high humidity, the conditions were terrible.
I could reach the small crimp high left, but as soon as I started pulling harder on the arete right hand, I started slipping.
I knew that when the conditions would be better, the odds would become much different.
Yesterday afternoon, after having driven almost 2000km for work and personal travel, I went back to "L'Étrave".
The sky was grey and some rain had fallen not long ago, but there was a lot of wind and the air felt much dryer than last Wednesday.
Upon arrival, I stumbled into Enzo (Nahumury), his girlfriend Sanne and some other friends whose names I honestly forgot.
Some of them were also trying "L'Étrave" and I asked if I could join them, to which they agreed.
The boulder looked to be in great conditions and already from my first try I easily reached the crimp, but couldn't find the heelhook for the right foot.
It felt like a really good try though and I felt very confident, but unfortunately it started to rain.
The rain only lasted about fifteen minutes, but was heavy at times and even though we had found shelter, the crashpads were getting soaking wet due to the wind blowing the rain on them.
As soon as the rain passed, the sun came out and the wind started drying the boulder that was dripping with rain.
I had already started packing, but stopped when we all noticed how fast the boulder was drying. We literally watched the boulder dry and barely half an hour later, it was ready to go.
The rain had cleaned the boulder and the conditions were even better.
A handful of tries later, I listened to my instinct and used only the tip of my right foot, where most others first lay a heel and switch to the tip later to do the last move.
I made it and it didn't even feel that hard.
When I got back down, I saw that camera was turned off and thought that the battery was out as I hadn't charged it since Wednesday.
It was only when I was back home that I noticed that there was still enough battery, but that it was me who had forgotten to press record.
As "L'Étrave" is such a beautiful classic, I went back to have it on video early this morning.
It had rained during the night, but there was still a lot of wind and the sun was already out from time to time.
The conditions were still great, because I was able to repeat it on my second attempt today.
Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - L'Étrave 7B+
With these good conditions, I wanted to try "Contact" again, all the way at the other side of J.A. Martin, not far from "Vandale".
I was able to stick the hard dyno to the bad sloper a couple of times, but couldn't finish it off. Or maybe I didn't dare, because of the small boulder above which you have to continue.
It was a muscle in my left shoulder that decided to let go of this one.
A couple of hours later, after doing some cleaning in the house, I went to Bois Rond Auberge to benefit from the good conditions.
I once tried "Les Dents de la Belle-Mer (gauche)" there, but I wasn't able to stick the first move.
I knew that good conditions would help for this one.
It seemed like I was right, because after figuring out the best way to start, I sent it in barely ten minutes.
Fontainebleau - Bois Rond Auberge - Les Dents de la Belle-Mer (gauche) 7B(7B+)
On my way back, I stopped at the "Didgeridoo" boulder to try the line "DJ Ridoo Joue du Didgeridoo" on it.
Sitstart left as for "Didgeridoo" low to the right and exit to the right in "DJ Ridoo".
The line doesn't look really attractive, but it turned out to be quite fun and not an easy one.
Fontainebleau - Bois Rond Auberge - DJ Ridoo Joue du Didgeridoo 7B
I didn't have a lot of time after work, but I stopped at Franchard Isatis to try "Kangaroo City".
One huge dyno, so no losing time working out many moves. Just one big one.
I had never tried it before, because it simply looked too hard.
After watching some videos, I noticed the high foot placement and it suddenly looked possible.
It was crowded for a Friday evening at Isatis, which didn't make me feel completely at ease, but after a few tries, I started to get focussed.
Soon after, barely ten minutes later, I got the edge, took the swing and topped out.
Huge dyno with a big swing, very nice, but not as hard as I thought it would be.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - Kangaroo City 7B+(7B)
Having done "Kangaroo City" much faster than I expected and as I seemingly was in a good shape for dyno's, I walked on to use the remaining time trying "Une Explosion de Bonheur".
Also a big dyno, but this time from an undercling that is mostly humid.
Only once before I had been able to grab the edge, but fell off the swing. But that was long ago.
Now, the undercling was quite dry, it took me only a handful of tries to finish it off.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - Une Explosion de Bonheur 7B
On Wednesdays, my oldest son, Anthony, has music class in Milly-la-Forêt from 17h until 19h15, and as I eat later with him on these days, I have some time for climbing before it gets dark. Even though that will not be possible anymore soon when the days are shortest.
As I had already mentioned before a couple of times, I had spent some short half hour sessions in "Rubis sur l'Ongle" and now that I had some more time, I wanted to take an easier and slower approach and rest in between tries.
It seemed that the approach had helped or I must have been in good shape, because merely twenty minutes later I was able to top it out.
My knees were a bit shaky, but hey, I made it.
Very glad to finally tick this beautiful classic off!
Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Rubis sur l'Ongle 7B+
It rained quite a lot during the night and in the morning everything was still soaking wet.
The sky looked grey and there wasn't much wind, so the expectations of drying quickly were very low.
I used the time to clean the house and by the time I was done, Pieter sent me a message that he was awake.
We met at the Hippodrome de la Solle, where he spent the night, and took some time to decide where to go given that everything still looked wet.
One of the quickest drying areas that I know is Coquibus Grandes Vallées, which I suggested to Pieter who liked the idea.
It turned out that we weren't the only ones that came up with that idea, because we ended up with a small crowd that consisted of me, Pieter, our good Suisse friend Markus (Neher) and his wife Kathy (sorry if I misspelled it), the owner of the well known gite "The House" in Tousson (I know how to pronounce his name, but have no idea how to write it, sorry) and later another friend whose name I didn't get joined too.
That quickly makes a crowd in the small area on top of the hill, but it was a nice bunch and we had some fun.
Pieter and I warmed up in "Moonira", which I did pretty fast.
Pieter did it too, but needed some more time.
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Moonira 7A
Now, there seems to be some confusion around "Moonira" and "Terrain Miné", so we did what seemed most logical for all of us.
It all felt correct for the grade in any case.
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Terrain Miné 7A
Markus still finished "L'Étroit Mousse, plus Bas que Terre", followed by me immediately after.
Just before I had also repeated "En Dessous de Tout" in which Pieter hurt his finger pretty bad.
We said goodbye to the nice bunch and lowered 10m down the hill to the boulder of "Le Boy Cote des Nains".
A lot of nice lines on that boulder, but most of them are too exposed to safely try alone, so it was nice that Pieter was there.
We started with "Jeu de Mot Laid".
It took us a while to find a good method, but the mantle into the wall felt so scary that I wanted to give up after a couple of times jumping off because of fear of falling on that small square boulder almost directly below me. (Go look at it, you will understand what I mean)
After a small break, I gathered my courage and gave it an ultimate try.
I pulled through, being scared as hell, I got the humid edge just when my left hand slipped off the small crimp.
It was one of the scariest things that I ever did in the forest. Especially the top part of the boulder being covered with green, humid, slippery moss.
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Jeu de Mot Laid 7B
After some thinking and trying, I also found the method for "Le Boy Cote des Nains", that stays left of the arete.
Some very nice climbing with again a scary moment standing up on the slopey ledge, pulling only on a bad slopey arete, trying to reach for the edge high up. Again directly above that small square boulder.
Pieter tried a lot in both, found his method too, but the energy was gone.
Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Le Boy Cote des Nains 7A+
It was a good weekend and we made the good choice going to Coquibus Grandes Vallées.
When we arrived at the car, a climber asked if it was dry where we came from, because apparently, even in Gorge aux Châts it was still mostly wet and not possible to climb.
Thanks again to Pieter for the good spotting!
After all that stress from work lately, I was really glad to finally have a complete day available for climbing again and on top that, the weather was going to be beautiful!
I knew that Pieter was around and just when I arrived at the isolated boulder of "Mickey Mousse" in Les Béorlots he sent me a message that he just woke up and would join me there soon.
While waiting, I took my time as I was on a perfect isolated spot in a beautiful part of the forest, and was able to do "Jour de Pluie", which felt more like 7B to me.
I had tried it on previous visits, but never found enough courage to really go for it as the landing is quite scary and the boulder is relatively high.
Somehow, now I felt more confident and worked my way through.
Fontainebleau - Les Béorlots - Jour de Pluie 7A+(7B)
Pieter arrived too and together we started trying "Mickey Mousse" of which the first moves are easy, but as soon a you need to pass over the big bowl it becomes really hard until the end.
It took us a while before we figured out a working method, but even when I was able to top it out, it had felt like I could have fallen off with each move.
Really glad having done "Mickey Mousse", which took me several sessions and feels really hard for the grade.
Fontainebleau - Les Béorlots - Mickey Mousse 7B
It didn't really work out well for Pieter, who hurt his foot with a bad fall while warming in "Don't take the Bonsaï", but before moving on to another boulder, we still tried "Little People" next to "Jour de Pluie".
It was a hard struggle, but in the end I made it to the top. Not an easy one!
Fontainebleau - Les Béorlots - Little People 7A+
Arriving in the main area, I wanted to try "Dunk!" while Pieter took a small break and ate some bread with ham.
"Dunk!" doesn't look that hard and the dynamic move is not very far, but the compressing position just before makes it a sketchy hard move.
I was glad to finish it on time, because that compression took a lot of energy.
Fontainebleau - Les Béorlots - Dunk! 7B
We still had some desperate tries in the 7B "Dérivation (assis)", afterwards Pieter beautifully flashed "74% de Cacao", which I was also able to repeat on my first attempt, and we ended with having some fun in "Purée de Noisettes" which I was almost able to repeat again, but had to give up due to lack of energy.
I was down and out, but felt all loosened up and there was no stress anymore.
Almost two weeks have gone by since my last post. Not that I didn't climb at all, but due to travel, a hectic and very stressful period at work, less and less daylight, I had only been able to climb a few quick but good sessions in mainly "Rubis sur l'Ongle" in Gorge aux Châts and one short session in "Global Terrorist" last Friday.
Also the weather hasn't always been very cooperative the last weeks which made the chances of climbing even more scarce.
I felt exhausted and a bit shaky due to stress when I parked at Cuvier after work today, but as soon as I started walking with crashpad on my back, smelling the forest in the last hours of sunlight, I started to disconnect from work and began to relax slowly.
It's a bit strange to see that "Global Terrorist" only has 13 registered ascents on bleau.info, given that it's located in the heart of Cuvier on the very popular boulder with "Le Biceps Mou".
It is on a very shady part of the boulder though and the line dries slowly, so that's probably one of the reasons.
It took me two short sessions to finish it even though today it didn't feel that hard. It must have been the stress that got canalised to find it's way out.
Only 15 minutes of climbing today, but I felt relaxed again.
