October 26, 2017 - Another kind of Autumn.

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.