I had planned to go and try "Alien" again on Wednesday evening, but when an unexpected opportunity turned up to go back this evening and try "Alien" without having to keep an eye on time, I decided to take it. As I hadn't eaten anything yet today and didn't want to climb with a full belly neither, I ate a handful of dried raisins for some quick sugar, and set off. The conditions appeared better than two days ago, so I setup the camera and immediately went for it. My warmup attempt went smooth and just when I had the last hold, I somehow came off, but I didn't let it get to me. Fully aware that the sugar level would go down pretty fast, I took a five minute break, breathed deep in and out through my nose, like my older sister advised and went for it again. It went smooth until I got into "Vandale", where I almost fell off, but I kept it together, regained my focus and topped out. I needed a few minutes to let it sink in. Really happy to have done this beauty that long ago seemed impossible to me!
Falling off the last move of "Alien" in Rocher Cailleau several times yesterday, I thought it would it be good idea to work on my endurance, so it was a good thing that I was meeting up with Olaf (Deppe) again at the "Bicarburation" roof. There were still a few lines going to the right that I still had to do, and all of them require some endurance, especially with the worst slopers being at the end. The warmup in "A l'Endroit" went fast, and gave me confidence for the few other lines taking the same exit.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Oiseau de Proie - A l'Endroit (retour) 7A+
I tried "Le Bi se Marque (droite)" a few times last time we were there, but always fell off the last move where the slopers are the worst. Now that the conditions were much better and as I knew what to do, it went down on my first attempt today.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Oiseau de Proie - Le Bi se Marque (droite) 7B
"Le Bi Yo Masse" only needed one attempt as well.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Oiseau de Proie - Le Bi Yo Masse 7B(7B+)
Finally, "Le Bi Haut (droite)" went on my third attempt, only because I missed the slopey hold that you can't see, but have to dyno to, on the first two attempts. This session definitely counted as a good endurance training.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Oiseau de Proie - Le Bi Haut (droite) 7B+
Olaf again made huge progress in "Bicarburation" and at least two times it looked like he was going to stick the crux. The second good attempt was unfortunately interrupted by a slip of the finger. If that wouldn't have happened, he would have surely finished it. He's got this.
It was a very hot day yesterday and according my weather app, it looked like the same for today, with temperature not dropping below 20°C during the night. Trying to avoid the most heat, I left early this morning to Apremont Bizon and more particularly the far end of the sector, Bout de Bizons. It was a long time ago since I was there last and after walking detours through dense fern fields with ferns up to almost 3m high, I finally found the boulder of "Silver Héraut" again. My intention was to spend some time trying to figure out the start of "Le Pan d'Or", something that I hadn't succeeded in last time. Unable to immediately figure it out again, I warmed up starting what seemed the most logical way under the roof and topped out in "Silver Héraut". For all I care, this could also be named "Le Pan d'Or (raccourci)".
Finally, after spending quite some time rebrushing the pillar of the start of "Le Pan d'Or", I ended up finding a way to start. In the meantime, I had felt some drops of rain, but it didn't look like it was going to be anything bad. A couple of attempts later, I topped "Le Pan d'Or", taking my brush stick and small ventilator with me, unwillingly.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Le Pan d'Or 7B+
Only a few minutes later, the occasional drops turned into proper rain to the point I had to take shelter under the roof. About half an hour later, it still hadn't stopped raining and I realized that waiting to try "Electrum" was no longer an option. I remained under my shelter until I thought I saw a window. Thinking I would have enough time to get back to the car, I packed up and left, only to find myself soaking wet after 30m wading back through those high wet ferns. To make things even worse, the window closed and made way for really heavy rain when I was halfway without any place to shelter nearby.
Public holiday today, so some time for climbing. I had the impression that my body was worn out, so I left to Buthiers Nord with a couple of options to try, but without any expectations. My first option was the "Matrix Revolution - La Matrice" combination, the last line on that boulder that I still had left to do. Starting as for "Matrix Revolution" and traversing to the right to exit in "La Matrice" seemed like a physical challenge, especially after the hard physical crux of "Matrix Revolution". Even though quite some ago already, I did still remember haw hard and physical the crux of "Matrix Revolution" was. Working out the second part first, proved that this was still quite physical as well until arriving in "La Matrice". I didn't have very high hopes. Another climber, Matthieu, had joined me at the boulder for trying "Matrix", which was quite welcome as it forced me to take regular breaks and preserving enough energy and power. The starting holds of the sitstart were damp and by the time I had to do the crux, my hands were already dirty and slippery, so I first focused on doing it from the standing start, just at the crux. I knew what to do at the second part very well by now, so when I stuck the crux using the friction of my forearms to limit the swing, when coming from the standing start, I decided to continue and top it out. This on itself is only a tiny bit less hard then when coming from the sit, if at all.
Fontainebleau - Buthiers Nord - Matrix Revolution - La Matrice (debout) 7C(7B+)
It did bother me not having the problem from the sitstart, so after a short break, I covered the low starting holds with a piece of cloth and gave it an attempt. The cloth helped a lot and my hands were dry and clean when I got into the standing start. I stayed focused, stuck the crux again, again while using forearm friction, climbed on to the end and topped out again, this time it was from the sit.
Fontainebleau - Buthiers Nord - Matrix Revolution - La Matrice 7C
Another fun session in the roof of "Bicarburation" today with Olaf (Deppe). This long low roof has so many lines on it that it could almost an aera on itself, featuring a hard circuit. The only problem with it is that you need to make sure to remember which problem you are trying and that you don't get lost, as this is exactly what happened today when I went for "Le Bi Haut Woman". After the crux, I seemingly forgot what I was doing and near the end of "A l'Envers", I realized that I was too far passed the part where I should have gone left and topout there. I tried to go back, but it took too long and I was out of power. It was fun, regardless. On my second attempt, I did take the correct turn and finished "Le Bi Haut Woman".
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Oiseau de Proie - Le Bi Haut Woman 7B+(7C)
The next one that I wanted to try was "Le Bi se Marque (droite)", and even though I could easily get through the first part, I fell off the one before last move a couple of times. The slopers way left weren't completely dry and the conditions on them were not good enough for me. It seemed pointless to continue trying it in those conditions, so I ended my session with a repeat of "Le Bi se Marque" itself, just because it's such a fun problem. Olaf reached a milestone as he was able to climb the "Bicarburation" crux and on to the topout, meaning that he has now "Bicarburation" in two overlapping parts. It's only a matter of time and a bit of luck now for him to climb the whole line. It's definitely within his reach now and it has been great to see him making progress over the days we climbed together in the roof.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Oiseau de Proie - Le Bi se Marque 7A+ (repeat)
It was raining when I got out of bed this morning and it didn't look like there would be any climbing today, but I was patient and worked in the garden until around noon when the rain had stopped and the sun came through. The heat of the sun made it dry quickly and I decided to go to Mare aux Joncs in the Coquibus area, hoping to try "Le Tri-Phasé", knowing that most of the boulder was facing South. It all still looked very wet and when I felt that also the pockets under the roof were wet, I realized that those would not be dry today and didn't bother waiting for it. Instead, I continued on to look "La Flèche Rouge", which, according to its description, is facing South-East. Unfortunately, the boulder was shaded by the trees and it looked still very wet, but when I noticed that the parts that did get sun were drying fast, I helped a hand with a small and silent ventilator that I had taken with me. I was patient and about half an hour later, I could start working out the first couple of moves while the top continued the drying process. The first few moves turned out to quite morpho and I couldn't do the same moves as the opener, Jarno Zwiebel, without hitting my face against the rock, so I had to come up with some intermediary moves to be able to reach the middle of the boulder. By the time I had the lower part worked out, the upper one was dry and I decided to give it a real attempt. Surprisingly, I only needed two attempts to top out. This problem is totally my style and a true beauty. My patience was rewarded generously.
Fontainebleau - Mare aux Joncs - La Flèche Rouge 7B(7B+)
Eager for a short climb after work, I went to Rocher des Potets, walked straight to the boulder of "Block Down" in a remote part of the small area and flashed it without much effort. Quite soft for the grade, but fun to have done.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Potets - Block Down 7A
"Hack Value" just right of it, on the same boulder, needed a second attempt, due to a stupid foot slip on the first. Another quick win.
Fontainebleau - Rocher des Potets - Hack Value 7A+
Two quick wins, but the one-mover of "Le Grand Vide" slammed the lid on m nose. Not sure if I will keep this on my list.
It's the last weekend of my three weeks vacation, also known as staying at home without work obligations, and I could feel my body being really tired yesterday when me and Pieter got our asses whipped by the boulders that we chose in Cassepot Roches Grises. We left the area without any topout, but fun nevertheless. This morning, I felt more rested, but to be on the safe side for the morale, we went to Gorges du Houx Parjure so I could show Pieter some really nice less hard problems and hopefully do some repetitions of problems that I had done back in 2016. We started with the very nice overhang of "Tribune", back in 2016 still graded 7B, but now 7A+. Even though I repeated it quickly, it could have stayed 7B in my opinion. Pieter needed more time to work out the moves, and when it was all done, executed every move from the start with style and topped out "Tribune" as well. The morale scale was back into 'good'.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Parjure - Tribune 7A+(7B) (repeat)
I really wanted Pieter to try "La Diagonale du Fou", and even though I slipped off the last hold after the dyno, we had to throw in the towel after more than an hour of working in it. It didn't let the morale go down though. To finish today's session, we made a small detour to find the isolated small roof of "Première Vague Caniculaire". I almost flashed it, made it on my second attempt, followed by Pieter.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Parjure - Première Vague Caniculaire 7A
The slightly extended version went down on our first attempt, and while very fun to do, it didn't feel like it added enough to give it the extra '+' in the grade. In any case, it was nice and good for our morale to end the session as such.
Fontainebleau - Gorges du Houx Parjure - Première Vague Caniculaire (rallongé) 7A+(7A)
The past few days it had been raining a lot, not just a lot, but really a lot, like a monsoon. At least it's good for the forest, even though I doubt that it still wasn't enough. After all this rain, I didn't expect a lot from climbing today, so I didn't really set any expectations besides a few problems that I wanted to try in Franchard Hautes Plaines, I know, not the most ideal area after rain. I especially wanted to try "Deux Faux Plis en Plats Réels" but warmed up on the nearby boulder of "Pulpfriction". The original way, as done by convention by the opener, turned out to be a true wake-up call for my body. A hard first move, followed by a very hard second move where you almost have to plank sideways to be able to reach toehooks on the right, and ending with a delicate finish in a small slab. Fun problem nevertheless, and definitely worth 7B if you ask me.
Even though I couldn't even get my butt off the ground when I very briefly tried "Deux Faux Plis en Plats Réels", and I expected it to be not much better this time, I did manage to do the first few moves into position for the awkward dyno. The dyno itself seems to be the real crux here and I gave up on it quite quickly. This classic problem has made it back on to my list though. To finish the session, I moved over to the boulder of "Coup d'Ignorance", only to find it with wet starting holds of the original sitstart. As it didn't look like they would be dry any time soon, I worked the last part of "Coup d'Ignorance (gauche)" and discovered that the standing start with the arete felt like a good 7A+ on itself. I'm quite sure that the original sitstart must be a hard 7B. Anyway, the standing start with the arete was definitely worth it, very fun to do on its own.
