March 25, 2022 - A royal encounter.

After some stressful days at work and with some more work to be done tomorrow morning, I stopped an hour early today and used the short free time to go back to the new small nearby area of "Chemin Royal d'Oncy". This period of the year is probably the best to go there as the hunting season just finished and the area not yet being conquered by bushes, making the boulders still quite accessible. There are only a handful boulders, the one with "Oncy Colle" being the biggest.
"Oncy Colle" is registered as a traverse, but the line going through the small roof is actually quite a logical one and I must say that it doesn't really climb as a traverse at all. On the other hand, the moves under the roof felt atypical and pretty hard, nice for sure though.
As expected, I was alone, but the approaching sound of dry leaves cracking under the pressure of weight caught my attention and I expected to see a deer or maybe a boar any moment, until a face of a man appeared through the trees. He didn't look completely unknown, but I couldn't recognize who it was that was coming in my direction. When he presented himself as Stéphan Denys, I couldn't suppress feeling honored when shaking his hand. Stéphan is one of the living legends of the forest and opener of many what have become classical problems. I thought he was taller, and it was funny to hear that he thought the same about me.
Soon after our initial encounter, I did "Oncy Colle", after which we chatted and exchanged information about new and boulders still unknown to the general public. I felt a bit sorry when I had to leave, but the exchange will surely continue in the future.

Fontainebleau - Chemin Royal d'Oncy - Oncy Colle 7A+(7A)