February 24, 2024 - Craziness from the North.

Last year when the weather was not good enough to climb, I went for a walk around Apremont with Pieter and Jan (Gorrebeeck). When we passed through Apremont Mare aux Biches, we stopped at some boulders, out of which the low roof of "Un Ch'ti Délire", just below the North side of the ridge. It looked impossible to Jan and Pieter, but I remember that I kind of saw a way.
Last Sunday, I finally went to the boulder to give it a try and, to be honest, the far move to the crimp under the roof did really look impossible. Even after I tried it a few times, it still looked impossible. Nevertheless, I didn't give up and after a while I started to change my mind and a while later, I was able to stick it. After that move, your body is under a constant tension and it's still a couple of moves in that position to go to the end. Due to rain, I had to let it go, but I was determined to go back.
After a short warmup this morning, I focused on the move under the roof, and immediately after I was able to do it, I turned on the camera and started giving attempts from the start. Much faster than expected, I was able to finish it.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Un Ch'ti Délire 7C(7B+)

I didn't have much time left anymore, but still got away with a flash of "Déserteur (prolongé)".

Fontainebleau - Apremont Mare aux Biches - Déserteur (prolongé) 7A

February 17, 2024 - Pure joy.

Last weekend I was in Belgium for the bachelor weekend of one of my best friends who is getting married in April. Even though I don't drink alcohol, it was a very exhausting weekend and I had taken the day off on Monday so I could go for a climb.
I was still very tired, but nevertheless had a good session working in "Paie ton Mac DO (assis)" and even fell off after the crux of the problem on my fourth attempt. After that, it only got worse and I had to leave it behind, but I knew I could do it if I was more fresh and decided to go back today.
The weather was great, the birds were chirping and there was a nice blue sky and quite warm in the sun. It felt like Spring was there already. Even though I had a feeling that there was a big chance of sending "Paie ton Mac Do (assis)" quite quick, I didn't expect sending it immediately on my first attempt after a short warmup. I executed the moves almost perfect and stayed calm and focused when I passed the crux. Pure joy!

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Canard - Paie to Mac Do (assis) 7C(7B+)

Having arrived barely fifteen minutes ago, I felt like staying in the area and walked around to look for something else. Not having planned for it, I decided to try "L'Esprit du Knee Bar", of which I had done the standing start back in October 2019. That day, I witnessed Pieter doing the full line, but I had failed finishing it. To my big surprise, this one as well went on my first attempt of today. Pure joy!

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Canard - L'Esprit du Knee Bar 7B

I felt in shape, but couldn't try "Maison de la Presse" due to humid slopers on the shady side of the boulder. For "Astromech" and "Astrolab" I definitely prefer to have a spotter and being the shade, they were humid anyway.
After looking on bleau.info, I decided to go and try the new "Kayzen" in the Western part of the sector. After watching the video of the first ascensionist, I soon discovered that his method was way too morpho for me. There was no way for me to reach the edge of the overhang the way he did, so I had to come up with something else and tried it with a right heelhook which felt really hard. I wasn't sure I would be able to do it that way, but I stuck around because I had so much fun trying to unlock this sequence. My persistence was rewarded with an ascent a while and quite a few attempts later. Pure joy!

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Canard - Kayzen 7A+(7A)

Back at home I was in a real Spring mood and decided to prune our olive tree. Three hours later it was done and the feeling of Spring coming up felt like pure joy!