June 24, 2021 - Hail to the King, baby.

Yesterday while climbing, maybe due to the high stress levels, I felt in shape and I kept on thinking that maybe I should have gone back to "King" instead. This evening, when I shut down my work laptop, the stress was at a high level again, and this time I decided to go for it.

"King" felt different this time. Maybe because of the stress, but maybe also because I was there in the evening instead of spending a morning session as I usually do in the weekend.
The previous two sessions I managed to climb passed the crux numerous times, only to fall off on the last easier moves. Somehow, this evening I couldn't make it passed the crux for some reason and I kept on falling on it over and over. I had already taken my peace with probably not doing "King" this session, but I enjoyed trying it and moving through the roof. 
I was about to give a few last tries, when suddenly, I made it through the crux, kept calm, took a deep breathe and managed to climb on to last good hold and on to the top. A shout of relief and contentment escaped and just for a moment, I felt like a King when standing on top of this beautiful boulder. The first thing I told myself when I got down, was 'Hail to the King, baby', just in the way that Bruce Campbell spoke those words in Army of Darkness.
A true magnificent King line! I will miss this beautiful isolated boulder in this magical and quiet part of the forest.

Fontainebleau - Boissy aux Cailles - King 8A

June 23, 2021 - Climb or burn ... out.

I can cope with some stress at work and sometimes even find a certain joy in it, even for several days in a row, but when it doesn't stop and only seems to get worse up to the point that I can't find the joy anymore and having a hard time to even motivate myself due to it, then there are two things that I can do. Either I go to the forest for a climb, let it all out and avoid my family having to cope with my bad mood, or slowly start to burn out and let my family suffer with it. Today was one of those days and I chose for my health and my family not having to cope with the mood I was in.

It doesn't have to be for long, but just a while can already be enough to forget the stress and focus on just me, the forest and some boulders to climb on.

I didn't go far, wasn't away for long, but it was just enough to remediate myself, calm myself down and come back home a different person.

The first thing I tried, was the recently published "Conte Air Bourg", near the top of the hill of Justice de Noisy. I flashed it with relative ease.
Afterwards, I repeated "Jouant Après les Pins", which I did in September last year, quite quickly.

All in all, I was only gone for not even an hour, but it was a different me, the normal me, that arrived back home.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Conte Air Bourg 7A+

June 20, 2021 - Been a while.

It's been a while since my last post, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been climbing. True, due to some personal things going on and also because of the hot weather, the climbing was a bit less. Also, the times that I was climbing, I was either working in "King", or did some repetitions close to home.

A few weeks ago, Jean-Hervé (Baudot), showed me a video of him falling off the last move of "King" and even though it was difficult to understand, I now have quite some video footage of me falling off that same move or the one before, past the crux of the problem. The crazy thing is that I can finish it nearly every time when starting in the middle of the roof, and despite cruising through the first part when coming from the start, until the crux, it is just hard to finish after all those powerful moves. It's only a matter of time before I will tick this beauty off.
Today, I needed a break from "King" and went back to the nearby Justice de Noisy. It didn't really matter what I was going to climb, so there was no pressure at all.

Started with "Les Arkadiens (assis)", a problem that I underestimated. Finding a working method took some time and even then it still felt hard. Hard for the grade, even for 7A+.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Les Arkadiens (assis) 7A(7A+)

Finished with "Chocolat (retour)", a short and somewhat logical traverse, but it did take a good chunk out of my energy levels, enough to call it a day after I struggled my way through.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Chocolat (retour) 7B+

I hope to be back with a video of "King" next time.

June 02, 2021 - Thousand bombs and grenades.

Just a quick one after work. Wanted to go try "Pascal Brutal" in Justice de Noisy, but due to a short but heavy rain shower, this slow drying side of the boulder was still wet. Even though I hadn't planned for it, I turned to the "Capitaine Haddock (gauche)" on the boulder right next it as it was the only dry boulder in the immediate proximity.

A short traverse that doesn't feel like a traverse at all and with some nice moves.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Capitaine Haddock (gauche) 7B+(7B)

June 01, 2021 - Mantle time.

Just a quick climb after diner this evening. It was still hot, but the sun was already low enough to put the boulders of the nearby Justice de Noisy in the shade.
I had already attempted "Manon des Sources" almost a year ago, but it was mid Summer and I couldn't even do the first move. Somehow, it didn't give me much trouble today. The very hard mantle however, was still a battle.
Only a few tries, but still, a hard first move into a very hard mantle with very tiny crimps cutting into the fingertips.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Manon des Sources 7B(7B+)

"Manon des Sources (droite)" followed immediately after, but I was out of breath when I struggled myself on top. I'm sure that better foot placement would have helped when traversing to the right.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Manon des Sources (droite) 7B(7A+)