January 27, 2024 - Better than a honeymoon.

I had planned to try several problems in Cuvier Sorcières and Cuvier Est, but my initial goal was to work in "Le Proueptologue (assis)". 
After some stretching, I warmed up with the easy "Presse-toi", about 20m above "Le Proueptologue". The sitstart of "Presse-toi" followed immediately after the standing start. A hard first move, but everything after, didn't real feel hard enough for the proposed 7B. Nevertheless, it was good as a warmup.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Sorcières - Presse-toi (assis) 7B

Working in "Le Proueptologue (assis)" went quite well, and even though I can do the problem in two overlapping parts, stitching it all together requires more consistency in the moves and I sort of quickly lost motivation for it. Somehow, I had the feeling that it would be more fun with someone else trying it too, allowing me to rest and enjoy the process more than being alone.
I decided to stop and try "Lune de Miel" on my way back, a problem that has been on my list since I tried it a few years ago. Today, for my second session, I had to rethink about how I did the first part. The only thing that I really remembered was that I used a toehook left to be able to grab the tiny pinch statically left hand. I soon realized that even though the moves are beautiful, they are very delicate and there is absolutely no room for error on each of them. It was good thing that another climber, Fabien, gave me a couple of tips for the last part.
After many tries, even though I didn't expect it all, I was able to top out this beauty, just on that one time that Fabien decided to film it too.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Est - Lune de Miel 7B

January 21, 2024 - L'Homme en Feu (assis).

I went for a walk with my youngest son, Noah, and decided to have a quick climb while being in J.A. Martin. We put our Minecraft sword and pickaxe aside for a moment, allowing me focus for a moment on "L'Homme en Feu (assis)", a problem I was sure about doing it quickly now that the top was in good conditions and not like an other time when I tried it and chickened out at the slippery top.
The big slopey undercling has a tendency to be wet a lot and it seems like it's contantly dripping water, but at least the slopey parts for the hands were dry. I only had to watch out to use them at the right spot, if not, my hands would be soaked, making the rest of the problem nearly impossible. Being there with Noah, I didn't want to let him wait for too long, so with some added pressure, I was able to make quick work of it.

Fontainebleau - J.A. Martin - L'Homme en Feu (assis) 7B

January 20, 2024 - The suggestion.

Theo (Konstantakopoulos) suggested me try a couple problems that he has opened, and "Banzaï (assis)" in Cassepot Roches Grises definitely took my attention.
It was -7°C when I got out of bed this morning, but the sun was shining, so I expected enjoyable weather with good conditions today. As I had drive my youngest son, Noah, to one of his friends, it was already around noon when I arrived at the boulder, but it was still below 0°C and the boulder itself felt freezing cold. I took my time to warm up and stretch a bit and could feel the warmth of the sun peaking through the trees. The difference with last week, when it was also freezing but cloudy, was amazing and I really enjoyed the warmth of the sun. It's amazing how even a low Winter sun can make the freezing cold so much more bearable.
For some reason, I felt tired and already after a few attempts in "Banzaï (assis)", my arms felt slightly pumped. Even putting power in the left toehook was a struggle at times. I didn't give my arms the chance to get too pumped by taking a longer break, during which I watched my own video of when I did the low start of "Banzaï", which reminded of small details that I was doing wrong. Thanks to those details, I was able to finish "Banzaï (assis)" immediately after my break.
I really enjoyed the fight on this problem of which the sitstart adds some really nice moves. Thanks to Theo for the vision and the suggestion.

Fontainebleau - Cassepot Roches Grises - Banzaï (assis) 7B+

Even though, I had been able to warm up my toes in the sun from time to time, the sun was getting lower, which made it cool down again substantially. I knew that going to try another harder problem wouldn't be feasible anymore, so I finished the session by doing the easier and nearby "Crampe in the Ghetto (assis droite)" on my first attempt.

Fontainebleau - Cassepot Roches Grises - Crampe in the Ghetto (assis droite) 7A

January 14, 2024 - Deep freeze.

It's a well known fact that cold temperatures enhance the friction of the sandstone boulders a lot, and therefor, I always embrace them. When they stay below freezing during the day however, I like it a bit less. I am not very good in coping with freezing temperatures because despite clothing myself accordingly, my toes quickly feel numb from the cold and once that happens, there's no way I can get them warm again. This was one of those weekends.
As I had to work again, I seem to have missed out on the most ideal conditions, cold and dry with a shining sun. It was quite frustrating looking through the window from my desk, but the weekend looked quite promising, so I was patient. Yesterday and today, the temperatures remained below freezing though and I had a hard time keeping my toes warm. I didn't top out anything yesterday and even though I got really close to sending "Rudiments (direct)", fell of the mantle at least ten times, I had to give up due to totally numb toes and unable to feel anything anymore.
This morning, it was even colder than yesterday, but I went back to Apremont Portes du Désert anyway, not with the intention to try "Rudiments (direct)" again, but rather to try the very slopey "Le Combat de Trop", a problem that requires sticky conditions, the main reason why I had never tried it before.
It didn't take me extremely long, but long enough for my toes to feel numb, making the the topout feel quite sketchy as I couldn't feel anything beneath my toes.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Portes du Désert - Le Combat de Trop 7B

My skin felt better than yesterday and with that perception, I decided to make another stop at "Rudiments (direct)". Just before leaving yesterday, I had noticed a small shallow mono pocket to use at the mantle, but as my feet were completely numb, I couldn't even get there anymore. Using the mono, I was able to finish it on my first attempt of today.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Portes du Désert - Rudiments (direct) 7B

January 04, 2024 - Serval.

As I will leave for Belgium tomorrow morning to visit family for the weekend, I only had today left for climbing before starting work again on Monday. There was still a lot of wind after yesterday's rain, so I was pretty confident that "Serval" would be dry. I had worked out all but of the moves yesterday and with them still being fresh in my head and body, I wanted to finish it off.
Apart from first two moves, "Serval" is very friction dependent and amazingly the slopers were in excellent condition. The friction was exactly what it had to be. I must have been quite tired already when I worked in it yesterday, because this morning I had the missing immediately figured out and I was ready for attempts from the start. Barely fifteen minutes later, I was able to work my way to the top. It felt a bit soft for the grade, but I realize that this was mainly thanks to the excellent friction.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Serval 7B+

January 03, 2024 - Waiting for windows.

The weather has been so unstable during the past weeks that it has been an almost constant search and wait for weather windows that allow climbing. Luckily, despite many and sometimes heavy rainshowers, a hard wind is helping a lot with drying the boulders. Unfortunately, another rain shower is always nearby, hence the search and wait for windows of opportunity. This morning was a good opportunity. It rained a lot yesterday, but there has been a lot of wind during the night, and the next period of rain was forecasted only shortly after noon. To take the most chance of the opportunity, I left earlier than usual to Apremont Bizons, back to "Border Lyme".
There were only a handful of cars parked near the buvette and the sight of the low boulders it didn't look good, but the further and higher I walked up the hill, the more promising it started to look. The boulder of "Border Lyme" was completely dry and in near perfect conditions, much better even than two days ago when I had worked out the moves.
Despite the better conditions, and even though I could do the last move separately, I couldn't get through it when coming from the start and the problem started sucking out my energy, until I suddenly felt drops, much sooner than expected, and I had to shortly stack my stuff under the roof. It luckily only lasted a few minutes and I had to wait for the boulder to dry out again. It luckily didn't become very wet, so the hard wind made it dry very quick again. In the meantime, I rethinked the last move and came up with a more secure way to do the last move. It was a bit harder pulling on the right crimp behind the tree, but it had a much higher percentage of success. Thanks to that change in beta, I was able to finish "Border Lyme" immediately after. Quite a hard problem, but very nice moves.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Border Lyme 7B+(7B)

On my way to the boulder of "Serval", I stopped at "Corne de Bisonneau (direct)" and was able to flash it with relative ease. Not sure why I had never tried this nice line before.
Later, I was able to work out the method for the crux of "Serval", but was forced to stop by the rain. It was about the time it was forecasted. At least, this window had been worth the wait.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Corne de Bisonneau (direct) 7A

January 01, 2024 - Just a new year.

Of course, I used to love celebrating new year's eve. As a child it was an opportunity so see and play with my cousins and staying up until very late. Then, as a teenager, it was another to party with friends. Later, since many years ago, I started to no longer see the sense of celebrating that what is just and only a change of number in the way we write down the date. I started to think of it as a completely pointless reason to celebrate and stay up until after midnight, only to wake up the day after feeling tired and having not much of the day.
I don't celebrate new year's eve anymore since a long time and often find myself alone at home while my wife and kids are off to celebrate at friends' houses. I do wish for them to have fun and enjoy, bus as far as myself concerned, I prefer to stay home and stay within my normal routine of going to bed between 22h and 22h30. It allows me to be in good shape the next day and actually do something without feeling tired and wanting to waste my time yawning on the couch. 
As expected, I was up as usual this morning and with the sun being out, I was more than ready to go for a climb. I went to Apremont Bizons and warmed up on the relatively new "La Longue Jeunesse", which I did on my second attempt. 

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - La Longue Jeunesse 7A

The conditions were very good and the rock was quite sticky, which was a big advantage on the slopey "Deep Grip", on the same boulder and starting the same as "La Longue Jeunesse", but exiting directly on slopers. It only took me five minutes to work out the top part and sent it on my second go from the start. A nice problem, but didn't feel harder than soft 7B in my opinion. Likely, the good conditions had something to do with it.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Bizons - Deep Grip 7B+

Finally, I had a good session on "Border Lyme", being able to work out a method, which was quite complicated. Unfortunately, the process had worn me out and I fell off the last move a few times when coming from the start. A short, but heavy rain shower then put an end to the session.