It took a couple of days longer than only a few hundred kilometers up North, but Winter has finally arrived here too three days ago. A layer of almost 10 cm of snow, depending on how you measure, covered the whole region. With temperatures that didn't go higher than -1°C in the days that followed, the snow didn't melt yet up to today, a day that took off work. A nice wind from the ENE, kept the humidity in the air low. The ideal recipe for great conditions.
There are so many boulders that I can choose from, but due to logistical reasons, I didn't want to go too far. My attention was drawn to the boulder of "Vandale" recently, and I realized that there are still quite a few other problems on that boulder that I had on my radar.
Besides the exit of "Vandale", the boulder was still covered with snow, but luckily came off quite easily, leaving a perfectly dry boulder behind. The conditions felt perfect.
It was still well below freezing point, but I had filled my metal swiss bottle with hot water just before leaving home, so I was able to warm up my hands every now and then. A luxury that I had never tried before, but there, with still -3°C, a cold breeze and almost no sun, it was more than welcome.
I started with "Le Bon Sens", but I had sprained my right pinky finger badly two weeks ago, and it hurt a lot after doing the far move to the left and hanging in compression with a good hold right hand, but one that pulled way too much on that small finger. The decision was quickly made to go for the direct exit instead, "Le Bon Sens (direct)". Same start, but exiting directly with a hard mantle on very bad slopers. One that never came in my mind to try with warmer weather, but with these perfect conditions, I knew I had a fair chance.
I took my time, rested between attempts while keeping my hands and toes warm with the hot water bottle and piece by piece, worked out the moves until I found a good method to reach the higher sloper left hand, thinking the hardest part would be over. As is the case oh so many times, this wasn't entirely correct. Doing the mantle afterwards was still a very tricky move and I'm not sure that I would have made if the conditions wouldn't have been that good.
I was quickly able to work my way through the first part and link it up to the second, but I could feel that I was getting tired. I took a longer rest, warmed up my fingers and toes and went for a last attempt. The first part went like a charm, the linkup into the second couldn't have been better, I prepared for the last part, took a wrong hold left hand, got confused and messed up the very last move. Still not today, but it was a good session.
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