February 05, 2022 - Two chickens.

When Pieter sent me message yesterday evening to choose a highball for the weekend, it meant that he was coming over to the forest for the weekend. My immediate and first thought was the magnificent "Ebats" in Gorge à Véron. With about 8m high, a true highball. I remember seeing it for the first time many years ago and thinking how beautiful it is, but at the same time I also thought that I was never going to try this one. The biggest issue wasn't the height, but more how extremely exposed and dangerous the landing is with a huge sharp boulder just underneath the high overhanging face. You would reach a point of no return where you either make it, or get really badly hurt, or even die.
When he answered that he was up for it after looking at some pictures that didn't really show the real danger, I started to get excited, but also nervous and anxious.
When we arrived at the huge boulder this morning, Pieter understood my fear, but after a short warmup, we decided to give the start some tries and see if we could build up some confidence. Only a couple of tries later, we both chickened out and agreed that it would be safer and more wise to at least try this with a rope first, get familiar with the moves higher up and then maybe give it a ropeless attempt. It definitely wasn't going to be today. Chickens ...

David Evrard in the end of "Ebats" (picture taken from bleau.info).

We stayed in the beautiful area of Gorge à Véron, but moved to the nearby boulder of "Coup de Foudre" where we got slapped by a 7A+ traverse with an exhausting crux at the very end.
I had already done "Coup de Foudre" in 2017, but when Pieter started looking for a start deeper under the steep overhang, he ended up with a really nice possibility and a problem that featured some very nice moves. Being completely my style, I was attracted to it and after some time, was able to do all the moves separately, but failed at the attempt from the start.
I was running out of time, but after a short recovering break, I decided to turn on the camera to add some pressure and give it one last go. It wasn't the most beautiful attempt, certainly not the last part, but I ended up working my way to the top, barely, but I made it. It was nice to end my session this way.

Fontainebleau - Gorge à Véron - Coup de Foudre (du fond) 7B+