October 24, 2021 - The queen's turn.

Since last week I've been having trouble with my right arm. The tendon that attaches my biceps to the inner side of my arm, at the height of my elbow, has been hurting pretty bad. Very likely I'm having an inflammation of the tendon, so I should take it more easy.
This morning, I met Pieter at Rocher de la Reine and we warmed up in "Napoléon (droite)", which I did on my second attempt, soon followed by Pieter.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Reine - Napoléon (droite) 7A(6C+)

I had already done "Napoléon (assis)" several times, but quickly repeated it as we were there anyway. Pieter also did this one pretty quick.ly.
Staying in a more or less warm up, we then moved over to "L'Isoloir" right below the crest on the North side of the hill.
"L'Isoloir" only required a handful of attempts, but didn't feel like a give-away. Using a method that suited him more, Pieter followed soon after me.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Reine - L'Isoloir 7A

"L'Isoloir (direct)" is supposed to be a bit harder, according to the grade, but both Pieter and I flashed it with relative ease. We both agreed that the direct version felt easier than the other.

Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Reine - L'Isoloir (direct) 7A+

I could feel the pain in my arm getting worse, but we decided to move to "Gengis Khan" anyway. Both Jans, Jan de Smit and Jan Gorrebeeck, were there too and we had nice moment together there in the sun.
I spotted Jan G. when he finished "Gengis Khan" in style. Despite some not so bad attempts, I couldn't go all the way anymore due to pain in my arm. My mind wanted to continue, but it was wiser to listen to my body and call it a day. "Gengis Khan" is definitely on my list again.

October 23, 2021 - Two princes.

It was a good idea from Pieter to go to Rocher des Princes. Last time I was there, must have been in 2017 when I did "Monaco", but left without trying anything in the sector of "Le Prince d'Orange". The landings were too exposed and, being alone with only one crashpad, I didn't dare to try anything, so left empty handed. Now there was both of us, each carrying a pad, so there was no excuse for not trying.
We warmed up in "Prince of Persia", which I did on my first attempt, followed soon after by its beautiful sitstart.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Princes - Prince of Persia (assis) 7A(7A+)

Pieter came very close, but didn't feel like he had enough in him to finish with the high mantle. I couldn't find a method for passing the crux of "Prince of Persia (droite assis)", so we moved to the beautiful boulder of "Le Prince d'Orange" right next to it.
"Le Prince d'Orange" was on my list ever since I visited the sector in 2017, and after trying the last move to the top, I made it on my first attempt when coming from the start. A very nice line that turned out to fit me quite well.
Pieter only needed a handful of attempts before making it to the top, but it was nice and clean.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Princes - Le Prince d'Orange 7A

Next up was "Prince Monseigneur", which I flashed with relative ease. The left shoulder move and placing the heelhook on the right didn't pose me much trouble, as opposed to Pieter, who couldn't get his heel high and far enough. He needs to work on his flexibility, something I have been hearing from him for quite some time already.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Princes - Prince Monseigneur 7A(7A+)

A few times, I came very close, falling on the last move, of "Prince Monseigneur (droite)". Working out the moves to the right had taken its toll and left me with not enough energy anymore to struggle my way up. This one will be for another time.

October 16, 2021 - Building confidence.

Like many times in Autumn, it was very foggy this morning, so I had to wait for a while before leaving to the forest. According to my weather app, it should clear up around 10h30 and I left home around that time. When driving through the fields towards Larchant though, the fog was much more dense and no sign yet of clearing up any time soon.
I had the plan to go to Mont Blanc, where I wanted to try "Mégalodon". Back in May earlier this year, I came pretty close and I was hoping that the colder temperature would help with the friction that I needed. Even though the boulder felt dry, the key sloper crimp didn't feel good. The friction that I had hoped was nowhere near. When it still wasn't much better after about half an hour of attempts, I took a break and had a look at the beautiful boulder of "Mastodon".
It must be about five or six years ago, about a year or two before the area was made public, that Neil (Hart) showed me around there and I remember standing in awe when admiring the boulder of "Mastodon". Nevertheless, it always looked too hard and scary to give it a try. Even when I did "Stegodon" last Spring, I didn't dare to start with "Mastodon" despite the two crashpads that I had with me.
This morning was different somehow. I knew that I would have preferred someone having my back, but the today I just couldn't resist, especially knowing that I wasn't going to come close in "Mégalodon" anyway. I decided to move the crashpads under "Mastodon" and slowly build up some confidence.
It didn't go very smooth at first, and the high slopers on the top seemed way out of my reach, but the with each attempt, the confidence grew stronger and I dared doing more and more. Until finally, after tweaking my method a few times, I managed to get on.
It's always a special feeling doing something that has seemed close to impossible for such a long time.
By the time I had done "Mastodon", the weather had finally started to clear up, but the friction on "Mégalodon" just didn't want to get better. Anyway, I left the Mont Blanc area with a happy feeling.

Fontainebleau - Mont Blanc Est - Mastodon 7B+

October 13, 2021 - Bridging the gap.

A new variant with yet another but logical exit on the boulder of "Stargate" in Justice de Noisy has been published earlier this week. Being already very familiar with that boulder, I took some time after work to be able to destress and try "Golden Gate".
With about 12°C, it wasn't very cold, but the air was dry and the friction felt great. Using an easier method than in my videos of "Stargate" for the first part of the problem, I was able to quite easily send it on my first attempt. 

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Golden Gate 7A+(7B)

Being done so quickly with "Golden Gate", I still had some time left before the dark, but not enough to walk to the back end of the area and try something there. That's when I came up with trying "Fanny Chipie" on the first boulder that was ever published in this area many years ago. I had noticed that there was another more direct version now, being a still higher, but straight up dyno from the undercling. Most of the time these kind of dynos seem to suit me quite well.
It's a huge gap though, at least my full body length, between the undercling and the top, so I had to use everything I had in my legs to bridge it. To my surprise, it didn't take me very long to make it.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Fanny Chipie 7B+(7B)

October 10, 2021 - Bee mental.

I left home this morning to join Pieter and Denis on the packed parking of the Croix St Jérôme and didn't have any expectations or special goals. My left heel was hurting from yesterday's fall, so I decided to just tag along and see where we would end up.
After a short warm up on the boulder of "Haute Trahison", we decided to move on to Rocher des Souris to have a look at "La Souris Verte". I stood already a quite some times before the beautiful six meter high boulder, but being alone every time, I never dared to try it. Mainly because of the big boulder just in front of it, making it quite exposed as well. Not a problem to fall out of at substantial height. Spraining an ankle or even breaking a leg is not a far fetched thought there.
Pieter had never seen the boulder and he had serious doubts about trying it when he saw it and after we inspected the holds. I was motivated though and was eager to finally try it this time, despite a slight mental struggle. We placed the crashpads as good as we thought would be the smallest chance of getting hurt, and I put on my shoes for a try and build up some confidence. I was nervous, but concentrated and when I got passed the crux move, being a dyno to a quite slopey hold, I climbed back off because it looked like I was going to make it to the top and I hadn't turned on the camera yet. It wasn't something that I wanted to do again just for the video.
I looked for a spot to place the camera, turned it on and went for my second attempt. This time I climbed on after the crux. On my way further up, I had a close encounter with a bee that apparently flew into the small two finger pocket that I had just put my fingers in. The bee argued as it couldn't get out and I felt the tickling on my fingertips. I saw it fly out as I removed my fingers from the pocket again and with a slight hesitation put them back in. With a mild vibrating breathe, I continued my way to the top. A not so hard problem, but definitely worth five stars. Simply beautiful.
Pieter kept saying that he wasn't going to try, because it looked too dangerous and sketchy, but I motivated him and talked him into at least trying the first moves until the crux. When he was able to that move also after a few tries, he also found himself at the top not long after. As I, he was relieved and happy that he did go for it. An amazingly beautiful problem.
In the meantime, Bram (Honorez) had joined us, and after he also topped it out, he confirmed its beauty by saying that it was the most beautiful line that he climbed since a long time.

La Souris Verte climbs through the overhang on the right. Picture taken from bleau.info.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Souris - La Souris Verte 7A

October 09, 2021 - Spot on spotted.

A beautiful sunny day today, and as it was forecasted to be like this the whole weekend, Pieter had made the journey to be in the forest. We agreed to meet at Coquibus Grandes Vallées. It was a pleasant surprise when he told me that Denis (Brissinck) was going to join us a bit later.
We warmed up in the small roof of "Réunion sans BG" and "Réunion sans BD" and returned the big boulder of "Haine Ordi Nerf" afterwards. There are many problems with many variants on that boulder, and I had already quite a few of them, but hadn't done "Haine Ordi Nerf" yet, so it was the version that we started with. I needed some time to find a method that suited me, but in the end I was able to work out all the moves. In the meantime, Denis had joined us, so it was time for a little break before going for the complete "Haine Ordi Nerf".
About fifteen minutes later, I felt ready to tackle it and set off. It all went like a flow, until I was doing the last move to the jug high up when my left foot slipped and I fell out unexpectedly and in a uncontrolled way. Pieter was luckily there and with a spot on spot, he prevented me from falling onto the small boulder that he was standing on. Thanks again to Pieter for the excellent and attentive spot, I felt guilty that he hurt his arm in the process of saving me from getting potentially badly injured.
It was quite a scare, but barely two minutes later, I set off for another attempt. It was comforting to notice from the corner of my eye that Denis was there to spot as well, so with all my courage I went for the last move and stuck it this time.

Fontainebleau - Coquibus Grandes Vallées - Haine Ordi Nerf 7B+

Pieter was able to do a nice ascent of "Délit de Sale Nom" after a short break before we joined Denis on the top of the hill. The view there is really stunning and I couldn't resist trying out the panorama function of my phone for the first time.

The beautiful view from the hilltop of Coquibus Grandes Vallées.

October 06, 2021 - Harder on the right.

I had a little bit of time this evening after work, so I went back to the boulder of "Dure Limite" in Justice de Noisy to try and hopefully finish the version to the right, "Dure Limite (droite)". Even though it was already evening, I had never seen so many climbers in the area, especially in that far part of it. To my pleasant surprise though, one of them was Laurent (Darlot) who was there with Christian Mérimeche and Jeff (not sure if I write this correctly though). I know Laurent already for quite some time and have bumped in to him many times in the forest, but I only knew Christian and Jeff from pictures, so it was nice to meet them in real life.
Laurent was at the end of his session, but I still witnessed him topping out "Dure Limite (gauche)", the version I had done a few days ago. Laurent being shorter with shorter arms than mine, did need to an additional move, making it come visibly closer to the proposed 7C. Before he left, he gave me some beta for the right version, the one that I failed to do last time.
I spent at least an hour last time failing, and when I first started, it didn't feel like I was going to make today neither. The motivation was high though, and I started feeling confident quickly. It was maybe twenty minutes after Laurent left, that I was able to work my way to the top, leaving aesthetics far behind while whaling up. This version definitely felt harder and more scary to me than the left one and might as well be 7C if you ask me.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Dure Limite (droite) 7B+

October 02, 2021 - Get yours now.

The website https://bleau.info is without a doubt the number one source of bouldering in and around Fontainebleau. Since 2001, the site has kept up to date nearly all problems that have been opened in the forest. With over 34500 problems, divided into 269 areas, and growing almost every day, the database has become huge. It's one of the the permanent tabs on my internet browser and I refresh it at least once every day to keep up with new problems. All this information has always been available for free, and sometimes I wonder how I would do without it.
I never realized the costs to keep this site alive until a few weeks ago, when I read on their newsletter about the T-shirts that they are now selling to support the site. I didn't have to think twice about ordering one.
I got mine yesterday and feel good about having contributed my small share. As a matter of fact, it should almost be a moral obligation for everyone who uses the site regularly, so go ahead and get yours now here: Bleau.info.

They announced bad weather for the weekend, but I was glad to see this morning that the rain was only going to start in the afternoon. It did rain yesterday afternoon and evening and everything was wet, but I headed to Justice de Noisy, knowing about at least a few boulders that dry quickly there.
I passed many wet boulders before arriving at the big one with "Dure Limite", and low and behold, it was sitting in the morning sun, and dry.
I had tried it before, but never was able to match both hands in the crack, which looks good, but has only a few very bad slopey crimps. With the lower temperature, the friction was slightly better, but still those slopey crimps felt very hard to hold long enough for the next move. Persistence paid off though and I was able to top out "Dure Limite (gauche)". The crux is definitely matching both hands in the slopey crack and making the next move.
I also tried "Dure Limite" itself, which is supposed to be slightly easier, but had to give up after more than an hour non stop trying. It didn't bother me much though. It's a great boulder to go back to anyway.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Noisy - Dure Limite (gauche) 7C