April 28, 2024 - Skin scraping.

Last night's rain cleaned the boulders really well and the strong wind that came after it, made sure that everything was nice and dry. I saw it as a good occasion to go and try some slopey boulders and even though you can hardly find me in the Cuvier areas during the weekend, I did decide to go the mostly calm area of Cuvier Bellevue. I was quite early though and was completely alone, as expected.
My main goal was to try "Goruliak (assis)", a boulder that I had seen being climbed by Denis (Titouan) on his Instagram and it got my attention.
I warmed up with the standing start, which didn't feel very obvious and I had to give it several attempts before getting to the top.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Bellevue - Goruliak 7A

The sitstart, my main goal, followed not very long after.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Bellevue - Goruliak (assis) 7C(7B+)

I had loaded the Cuvier Bellevue page on my phone before arriving at the area, so even without any reception there, I was able to look for another boulder to try and decided to go for "Gros-Lanta", not knowing what to expect.
It's a small boulder just out of the center of the area and it looked like it be a quickly done deal at first sight. That turned out to be an absolute overstatement. 
Figuring out how to start almost was a project on itself and even when I found what could be possible, it wasn't easy at all. It took me longer than the previous two problems combined, but I did end up working my way to the top, losing a tremendous amount of skin during the process. Originally opened as 7B, this felt much harder than most other 7B's that I've done, so in my humble opinion, 7B+ feels more appropriate.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Bellevue - Gros-Lanta 7B+(7B)

April 27, 2024 - Perfect timing.

It had rained during the night and even while driving towards Rocher Saint-Germain, there were still drops falling on my windshield. I took my time and stopped by the bivouac of the Hippodrome just to get some memories from many years ago and to get a glimpse of how it looked now. I was amazed to see the amount of vans parked right next to the fence of the Hippodrome and the sheer small number of tents on the bivouac terrain itself. I counted four tents and twenty-one vans. Even though those vans are officially not allowed to stand where they were, at least they were doing an effort not staying for the night on a parking illegally.
The main reason I went to Rocher Saint-Germain, was to try the new "Vous en Reprendrez Deux Doigts?" in the Eastern part of the sector. I was amazed by the looks of it when I saw it appearing on bleau.info and knew that I had to go and try it soon. I found the isolated boulder easily, but was a bit surprised about the sketchy landing. As the surface of the top of the boulder was still wet, I had to let it dry and used the time wisely by going back to the car for an extra crashpad. By the time I was back, it was dry.
I worked out the moves separately where I could and as soon as I found a way for the crux, I gave it a go from the start and sent it right immediately. A bit soft for the proposed grade, but a very boulder to climb and very nice moves to get to the top.

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Est - Vous en Reprendrez Deux Doigts? 7C

As the sky was slowly being covered by grey threatening clouds, I decided to move closer to the parking and try "La Vague Scélérate" on a small boulder at the start of the area. I had tried this sloper fest a few times before but always fell off the last move. This boulder requires good conditions. Thanks to last night's rain, the boulder was well rinsed and the slopers felt pretty good. Nevertheless, I needed quite a few attempts to finally make it to the end and on top of this funny lowball. 

Fontainebleau - Rocher Saint-Germain Est - La Vague Scélérate 7B

The clouds looked really threatening by that time and a distant thunder announced an approaching storm. I packed and went back to the car, only to arrive seconds before I could feel the first drops. A perfect timing, because barely a minute later, the clouds broke open and it was raining cats and dogs.

April 23, 2024 - Let there be light.

Even though it sometimes goes unnoticed these past few weeks, Spring has started more than a month ago, and the days are slowly getting longer with daylight. It allows for some short sessions after dinner, just like today when I decided at the very last moment to go Franchard Isatis and try "Le Lot de Boudins", a classic problem that I never really gave a chance or even tried because it looks so much my anti-style. Small crimps and depending a lot on heelhooks. Nevertheless, I took my youngest son, Noah, with me and set off. 
The beginning of the oh so popular area was quite crowded for an evening, but as I walked on we soon found ourselves alone, until we arrived at the boulder itself. Someone was trying "Le Lot de Boudins". Luckily (for me) they were about to leave, but I used the occasion to ask them for some valuable beta and what the hardest part was. After they informed me, I worked for about five minutes trying the moves of the crux, which went surprisingly well, I decided immediately to attempt from the start before splitting my fingers open on the tiny crimps.
My first attempt was quite good, but as I forgot to move my left heelhook closer, I had to step off. 
The other climbers were leaving and them packing up allowed, or forced, me to take a short break. As soon as they were gone, I started my second attempt, thought of moving my left heel closer, was able to grab the good pocket, almost came off when releasing my left foot, but was able to hang on and work my way to the end. I had never expected to send "Le Lot de Boudins" so fast, but my fingertips of which two had started to split, were happy with that. So was I, to be honest.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Isatis - Le Lot de Boudins 7C(7B+)

April 13, 2024 - Good vibes.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I got a message from Jan (Gorrebeeck) this morning, asking where I planned to go climbing. It meant that he was nearby, so I invited him for a coffee, after which we both went to the boulder of "Crabe d'Or" in Moigny-sur-Ecole. Just like me, he likes to be in quiet spots and I knew that he would enjoy that boulder.
After a short warmup, I repeated "L'Oreille Cassée" on my first attempt, showing him how to climb this nice line, which he also did, even though requiring a couple attempts more. No surprise since he hadn't built up the muscle memory for it yet and it had been a long time since he climbed in the forest.
The key holds of "Crabe d'Or" were finally dry, the main reason why I had decided to come back to this boulder. We helped each other out, sharing beta possibilities and after some tweaking my method, I was able to top this beauty out.

Fontainebleau - Moigny-sur-Ecole - Crabe d'Or 7B

While Jan was still trying "Crabe d'Or", I worked in and ended up doing the slightly harder version "Crabe d'Or (droite)". It had become quite hot in the meantime though, but the vibes were good. Jan came really close to doing "Crabe d'Or", but had to throw in the towel when he pulled a bad flapper on one of his fingers.

Fontainebleau - Moigny-sur-Ecole - Crabe d'Or (droite) 7B+

To end the session, I still did the easier "Pince d'Or (direct)" on my first attempt, almost immediately followed by Jan.

Fontainebleau - Moigny-sur-Ecole - Pince d'Or (direct) 7A

It was a great session in a great spot on a great boulder and with great company. If Pieter would have been there as well, it would have been complete.

April 07, 2024 - Muramasa.

The first time I went looking for the boulder of "Muramasa" in Noisy-sur-Ecole, the village where I live, was back in September 2016. When I had finally found it, I was slapped in the face by it and couldn't even let go of my left hand when hanging on the tiny crimp under the roof and an extremely bad left heelhook. I was only able to the part right after a series of three cruxes. That part on its own was already worth 7A or even 7A+. Over the years, I went back two times, but still was never able to the first crux move. This was really hard!
I believe it was the need to avoid crowds, that made me decide to go back to "Muramasa" today, and I left home without any expectation to send the problem, but I was only hoping to be able to progress and hopefully do the first crux.
My first attempts were no different than the other times, but I was more motivated than ever and gave it all I had, trying to ignore the pain on my right fingertips and the split that had started to form on my middle fingertip. Suddenly, I was did the first crux, only to get into trouble with the second and third ones that follow immediately after.
After a while, I suddenly had done the first two in a row and decided to focus on the last part. It's not possible to work out the second and third cruxes separately, so I was forced to repeat the first one each time, but had started to become persistent with it. If I could do the last part again, I knew that I could have a chance when I would finally stick the third, and apparently the hardest, crux.
As soon as I did the last part again, I turned on the camera and started with some real tries, hoping for that tiny bit of luck and finally sticking the third crux. If I would, then I was quite confident to top out. If only I would remain calm enough.
Many attempts later, I was forced to tape one of my fingertips, where a painful split was keeping from trying hard enough. Thinking that the tape would be in my disadvantage, I started my next attempt without any expectation, but I noticed that now that the pain was muffled, I was able to crimp harder than before, did the first crux, immediately followed by the second. Now I was at the third crux again, where letting go of the right hand always made me swing out. On the spot, I found something under the roof to keep myself from swinging immediately by stopping the swing with a small right toehook and suddenly had my hand on the slopey knob. I let go of my right foot, took a hard swing, somehow didn't swing off, and threw my feet over the lip of the roof. I knew at that moment that I could top out, and did. I couldn't stop smiling for at least ten minutes after the topout. A great problem with beautiful moves, definitely worth five stars in my humble opinion.

Fontainebleau - Noisy-sur-Ecole - Muramasa 7B+

April 06, 2024 - Too late for Christmas.

I was eager to try "Voluptueuses" in Long Boyau Ouest today, but was greatly disappointed to discover the lower slopey ledge for the first moves of the original sitstart to be wet. There was some wind and the ledge was about to get some sun, but I knew that this wouldn't dry any time soon, if at all still today. I was able to work out the moves of the upper part though and link them all from a standing start, but the lower ledge was so wet that I couldn't even try the first moves of the sitstart. I decided to publish a video of the quite logical standing start anyway, but will have to go back some day for the sit.

Fontainebleau - Long Boyau Ouest - Voluptueuses (debout) 7B+(7B)

I had to move somewhere else, but decided to stay on the ridge of the hill and try some other problems along the blue path.
"Cadeau de Noël" was one of them and was done quite quickly.

Fontainebleau - Long Boyau Ouest - Cadeau de Noël 7A+

Afterwards, I stopped at "OK Duck", a very high arete being completely my anti style. I always have a hard time keeping my balance on such aretes with as good as nothing for the feet. I saw it as a good occasion to work on my weakness, and after a lot of persistence, was glad to finish it off. A very nice problem.

Fontainebleau - Long Boyau Ouest - OK Duck (assis) 7A+

Looking for some other quite hidden boulders more down the hill, I bumped into a den of about five or six newly born boars. Cute as they were, I quickly took a picture and left as quickly as I good before their mom was back.