August 31, 2024 - Old and new.

It was a fun and chill session today in Restant du Long Rocher. I met up with Matti (Faes), owner and host of the Sticky Tips podcast, available on Spotify and YouTube. Even though Matti is also Belgian, he now lives with his wife and dog in the South of France, near Tautavel. Matti is a climbing coach (www.coachmatti.be), but together with his wife, they also own and rent out a guesthouse, so if you should be in the region and looking for a nice place to stay, with nice hosts, consider supporting them and stay at their guest house (www.casa-tramuntana.com).
Also joining the session, were Brent and Quinten, both Belgians, from the younger generation. Even though the older generation didn't fail to show them how it was done (wink).
The session started with a quick ascent of "Le Papillon", featuring a beautiful shoulder move. Even though I wasn't able to do it back in 2018, I now only needed two attempts and repeated it again for the video. Matti followed soon after, on his turn followed by Brent, who unfortunately fell off the mantle on his flash attempt. Quinten tried it too, but decided to save his energy for "U751", a decision that might have turned out in his favor.

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - Le Papillon 7A

In between, after watching Quinten trying the nice 6C, "La Pirouette", and advised by Matti, I couldn't resist and went for it as well. Only needed one attempt for it, but it was nice. Quinten followed in my footsteps.

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - La Pirouette 6C

I had done "U571" six years ago, in 2018, and I completely forgot how it went. Matti had done it yesterday on his second attempt, and Quinten and Brent had worked in it for a long time then, but failed to get the send then. Both were eager to hopefully send it today. 
I fell off the mantle on my first attempt, but was able to repeat it on the second. 

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - U751 7B

Not long after, after taking some advice from Matti, I also managed to do "La Boule d'Epaule", also on my second attempt.

Fontainebleau - Restant du Long Rocher Sud - La Boule d'Epaule 7A

I saw Brent and Quinten falling off the mantle of "U751" a couple of times, but just before I left, still watched Quinten top it out, making it his first 7B. Always nice to see the happiness when someone sends a 'first of the grade'. I was happy for him and realized that I didn't even remember what my first 7B was, but imagined that I must have felt the same way like Quinten did. 

August 25, 2024 - High end grade.

My body felt somewhat soar today, but still I went for a climb in Le Calvaire, an area that I don't visit often. I had done "Morceau de Sable" there a little over a year ago, but couldn't try the sitstart due to wet holds in the back of the small cave. Now it was dry and I decided to spend a short session on it.
It took me longer than expected, but I ended up doing it after all. Maybe it was me feeling soar and maybe a bit tired, but I found this problem quite hard and high end 7A+. I would have believed it if they told me it was 7B instead. Anyhow, a nice fun climb, perfect for hot Summer days.

Fontainebleau - Le Calvaire - Morceau de Sable (assis) 7A+

August 24, 2024 - Pleasure problem.

Until two weeks ago, I had passed by "Les Dents Bleues" in Cuisinière Carnage two times. The first time, many years ago, I didn't even bother trying it, because it looked too hard. The second time, I briefly tried it, but couldn't even do the first move and the crimp under the overhang was humid anyway. Two weeks ago, though, the day after I did "Djembé", I went with the intention to dedicate some real time on it, despite that my tail bone was hurting really bad after falling on it on one of attempts on "Djembé". Just walking already hurt and somehow I knew in advance that the sitstart of "Les Dents Bleues" would really pose me a lot of trouble. Nevertheless, I went anyway, even if would mean just trying the moves. It turned that that it indeed wasn't more than that. I was able to do the moves separately, even the sitstart, with a lot of pain, but when I started a real attempt for the full problem, I slipped of a sloper and fell on my behind on the crashpad, which hurt my tail bone extremely hard. The pain being unbearable, I was forced to leave it behind, but was determined to come back for it as soon as my tail bone didn't hurt anymore.

I went back this morning, before the heat, and knowing that "Les Dents Bleues would still be nicely in the shade. Still remembering the moves and without pain on my tail bone with every move, I was able to do them quickly and started trying real attempts. Much quicker than I had anticipated, I made my way to the top of this beauty. A five star problem if you ask me, and a true pleasure to climb.

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Carnage - Les Dents Bleues 7B+(7B)

Right before it got full sun on it, I was also able to make a quick ascent of "La Virgule" on my way back.

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Carnage - La Virgule 7A+

August 18, 2024 - The real thing.

Early Spring, with no detailed information about the problem, I thought I did "Pleine Prouesse", thinking it was way easier than the proposed grade of 7B+(7C). Not long after though, I was given detailed information and the description updated on bleau.info, and it turned out to be a fairly eliminate problem, forcing you to only use a quite bad slopey crimp in the prow, followed by two more hard and sketchy moves.
I immediately went back to try the real thing and quickly discovered that the move to the crimp was very reachy and the move that followed seemed nearly impossible. After spending a long session, I hadn't even been able to do the crux move separately. The session after that, about a week later, I still hadn't been able to figure it out and even played with the thought that it might even be too hard for me, or too morpho.
It took a while before I went back for a third session, but two weeks ago, after having done "Mine de Rien (assis))", I was finally able to do the crux and even almost did the move after it. I believed in it again and wanted to go back soon.
As I was visiting family and friends in Belgium from Thursday until this morning, the first chance I had, was this afternoon, after a long four hour drive. Having driven for half a day and not having slept in my own bed, which made me feel tired. Nevertheless, I went back to "Pleine Prouesse" and, given the condition I was in, didn't set any expectation in actually doing the problem. It went surprisingly well though and despite making a bad fall, I suddenly climbed my way to the top of this eliminate, yet logical and beautiful problem.

Fontainebleau - 91.1 - Pleine Prouesse 7B+(7C)

August 10, 2024 - Loading barefoot: 50%.

Since I managed to do all the moves of "Djembé" at the beginning of my vacation a couple of weeks ago, it kept lingering in my head, but I was forced to wait for the splits in my fingers to heal. As I started work again last Monday, there was finally some time for the skin to heal and grow back and I paid special attention to and took good care of the splits. Also, there was time to think about what I could do better to get a higher succeed percentage on the crux move of "Djembé", the one where the left foot goes into a pocket and the left hand has to do a long move to a high slopey three finger pocket. Even though I did that move a few times then, it had to be more consistent. I was thinking that maybe doing that move with the left foot barefoot, I might be able to push up and at the same time use my big toe to grab the pocket and pull inwards so my body would stay closer to the boulder. It was a theory that I was going to put to the test today, so I went back this morning with high hopes.
I usually don't like being barefoot, and rather being a socks person, I normally even climb with socks. It's a habit.
Arriving at the boulder, I warmed up starting with the pocket left hand, the low crimp right hand, did a dynamic campus move to the jug far right and topped out. I could do this section every time that way. 
I took off my left shoe and sock and tried the crux move separately and was amazed by how better and more controlled it felt. It was great to notice that what I had been thinking about, actually worked really well. Now I only had to get used to doing the first move with the left foot barefoot. This was hard at first, but as soon I got used to smearing the naked big toe for the first move, it went nearly every time.
When I got to the high pocket left hand though being barefoot left, my position was slightly different for the dynamic move and surprisingly, I completely missed it and fell on the small boulders behind me. When the exact same thing happened a second time, I fell with my tailbone on one of the small boulders, which really hurt. I realized that the dynamic move was no longer for granted and knew I had to really focus more when I got there.
When I got to the point for doing the dynamic move again and thought that I wasn't going to let that happen again, I focused hard and put in some extra effort. I grabbed the jug and held on for dear life. A shout of relief couldn't be suppressed as soon as I got it.
Doing "Djembé" almost felt like a dream come true. It's one of those boulders that, when I saw it for the first time about ten years ago, I knew I wanted to do one day. One that I had tried, given up hope on, gained hope again and finally got it. Really glad with this beauty!!

Fontainebleau - Côtes de Courances - Djembé 7C(7B+)

Summer vacation 2024.

What better place to spend my Summer vacation at home ? I can't think of many.
Avoiding too many blogposts in a row, I decided to gather the climbs that I did during my vacation into one longer post, so here it goes.

Sunday, July 14th

The cave-like boulder with "Nono" near the top of Apremont Brûlis has quite some problems, but I was only there to try "Nono" this morning. Being an excellent spot to hide from the sun on hot days, I decided to keep a few of the other lines for those hot days, if they ever come this year.
"Nono" has quite an easy first part up to a not so easy shallow undercling from which you have to make a move to the left to get the lip of the roof. For me, this was the crux. Once I got past that point, I was able to top it out. Fun problem.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Brûlis - Nono 7B

Monday, July 15th

The skin, and more in particular the flappers from last week that have cracked, on my fingers need a break, but still eager to climb, I chose something less hard. I went to the nearby Châteauveau area where Fred opened a new small roof called "Deep , Dark and Dangerous". Fred is a big guy though, and at least a whole head taller than I am, so it didn't come as a big surprise that the move to the lip of the roof was extremely reachy. Normally not always a problem for me with my long arms, but with the feet being deep under the roof, the move was extremely reachy with my short legs. While trying the move separately, I even briefly though that it was just too far for me and almost gave up. I did end up finding a way making minor adjustments in foot placement that still required tip-toeing. Trying to match with the other hand still required a lot of core tension, but not to the point that it was hopeless. 
It took me longer than expected, but I did end up finishing the problem. This felt like at least 7A+ for me.

Fontainebleau - Châteauveau - Deep, Dark and Dangerous 7A

Not very far from there, at the other side of the hill, I also tried "Les Années Passent". Another boulder where longer legs legs definitely would be an advantage. Again tip-toeing, I did manage to top it out. This is a really fun problem!
The skin on my fingers suffered more than I had wanted, but at least the problems that I did were doable with tape, which greatly limited the extra damage.

Fontainebleau - Châteauveau - Les Années Passent 7A(7A+)

Thursday, July 19th

Last Monday I went back to Apremont Désert to try "La Théorie tout Court (assis)", but unfortunately that same key hold was still extremely damp. It's not the kind of hold that is susceptible to breaking, even when wet, but as you use it for a long time and have to the crux move from it, it didn't feel possible to top it out. I was able to do the crux move separately though, but there was just no way to do it again when coming from the start.
Finally the heat came and I didn't go climbing on Tuesday and Wednesday (yesterday). My skin needed some time to recover anyway and I had quite a lot of garden work to do. I just hoped that the warm weather would have enough time to dry the hold by today.
This morning I left early before the heat. With temperatures well above 30°C on the hottest moments of the day, there was no way that I would climb too late. Arriving at the boulder, I was delighted to notice that the hold was completely dry now and on top of that, being early, I didn't have the sun directly in my eyes when doing the crux move. A bunch of small flies probably took me for a giant lollypop, and feasted on my salty tasting skin when I started sweating, but I didn't let them distract me too much and a handful of tries later, with necessary rests in between, I finally topped out "La Théorie tout Court (assis)". Despite being an eliminate problem, I really enjoyed this one.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Désert - La Théorie tout Court (assis) 7B+

Monday, July 22nd

I had tried "Djembé" in Côtes de Courances a few times already and I remember that last time, which must have been maybe two years ago, I had as good as written it off because I just couldn't do the move from the slopey crimp to the high three finger slopey pocket. Regardless, I decided to go back for another session this morning.
I didn't have any expectations at all, but somehow, after a while, I was able to do that move, as if I had found the trick to it. As a cherry on the cake, I was able to do all the moves and even do the problem from one move in. The process had unfortunately destroyed the skin on the still not completely healed flappers on my left hand, so I didn't manage to the problem from the actual start. Nevertheless, I was happy with the progress and the problem got back on my priority list. Just need some time for my skin to heal properly and I might stand a chance.
Eager to at least do a complete problem, I moved over to the "Ras de Pâquerettes" not far from there. Even though I had already done it back in 2016, it also has a conventional start with both hands in the pocket under the roof which is half a grade harder. I wasn't able to do it back then, but I figured that maybe now it might go down.
It took a little while to be able to find the boulder again in the dense forest of Coquibus, but not to the point that I got close to desperate. At the boulder, I watched my own video from 2016, making sure that I would use the same beta and took my time to work out the moves. When I felt ready, I turned on the camera and sent it right away. Very cool problem and nicely isolated in a beautiful part of Coquibus.

Fontainebleau - Côtes de Courances - Ras les Pâquerettes (départ conventionel) 7B

Wednesday, July 24th

Yesterday evening I planned to go to Videlles l'Abattoir this morning to go check out a few of the boulders that I have on my list in a specific part of the wide spread area. My main goal was "Antre Potes", knowing that the dense forest there would offer some shade.
I had never went beyond the boulder of "Cadeau pour un Pote", so I didn't know what to expect, but I soon realized that the dense vegetation and especially the high ferns, made it difficult to see farther than twenty meters at times. Finding myself on top a complicated chaos of boulders, I could only hope that I would find the boulder. I knew that I was close, but with the chaos and dense vegetation, I could easily find myself at on top of the boulder that I was searching for, without even realizing it.
Strolling around a bit and wading through high ferns, I suddenly found myself in from of the boulder of "Crescendo". Way too hard to even try it being directly in the sun at that moment, I at least had found an orientation point and it didn't much longer to finally find "Antre Potes", well hidden and difficult to reach because of high ferns. I spent some time making way of some high ferns and creating a spot where I could lay the crashpads. The landing looked quite sketchy without a spotter though, so I dedicated some time looking at the topout and a potential method to reach the top.
There was no description at all of how the problem started on bleau.info, only a picture of a climber almost halfway up the boulder. I first started with what seemed like the most logical way and felt lucky to top it out on my first attempt. It didn't feel like the supposed 7B, but rather soft 7A+ at most.

Fontainebleau - Videlles l'Abattoir - Antre Potes (sans convention) 7A(7A+)

Realizing that it had felt too easy for 7B, I looked for a lower start and found an undercling under the roof. It seemed to be possible to start under the roof with both hands on the undercling and the feet all the way in the back of the roof. This added two good moves to get into the start that I did previously. I practiced those moves for a short while and did "Antre Potes" a handful of attempts later. This at least felt like a real 7B. On top of that, the additional moves made it a very nice problem and I felt that spending the time looking for it and clearing the ferns had turned out to have been all worth it.

Fontainebleau - Videlles l'Abattoir - Antre Potes 7B

Thursday, July 25th

This morning I left home with the intention to try "Le Gain du Moment" in Apremont Est, but while walking towards the boulder, I suddenly had to think of the beautiful overhang of "Albarrableau" in Apremont Vallon de la Solitude. As I was already near the boulder of "Le Gain du Moment", I decided to give it a try anyway, just like I intended. The boulder starts with small and bad crimpy underclings though, and the move from them is extremely hard and seems to make up for nearly the whole difficulty that the problem is graded for, as I could do all other moves quite easily. I usually like those so called one-move wonders, but I didn't want to hurt my fingers and couldn't really commit to it. On top of that, "Albarrableau" kept lingering in my mind. I decided to leave and walk a few hundred meters farther to it.
I can't say that it would my first session on it, because I did spend two or three very short sessions on it, however, never in good conditions and with damp holds in the overhang. Besides trying some moves and especially trying to visualize how to climb it, I had never gotten to the point where I could give it some real attempts. Now at least the overhang was perfectly dry and I started working out the moves separately. I had seen two videos in the past, one from Marc (Lehner) and another from Manuel (Marquès), each using a slightly different method. Both methods didn't really suit me, especially with the sun on the slopers of the arete, so I figured out yet another method, using toehooks, something that suits me very well. By the time I had found a working method though, the heat was starting to bother me and I had a hard time not slipping off some of the slopers. I knew that I could do it though, persisted, and ended up working my way through.
I really liked this problem and the moves, so much that I even gave it five stars.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Vallon de la Solitude - Albarrableau 7B+

Sunday, July 28th

It rained non stop all day yesterday, but the sky was clear and blue this morning. It didn't look completely dry yet though, so after some work around the house, I left to the quick drying Cul de Chien, well realizing that it could be crowded there on a Sunday. It didn't really matter to me, because I had planned to try the relatively new "Overcast Dyno" and maybe its sitstart too. It's on the boulder of red n°1 and this boulder happens to be quite isolated at some distance of the main area. Another reason why I decided to try that one, was also to preserve some skin and not interrupt the healing process of an annoying split too much.
The description on bleau.info says to start with an undercling and that's about it. I'm not sure if it's eliminate in one way or another, but I did this on my second attempt, using a small vertical sloper left hand and a tiny crimp right hand. Keeping the balance, I placed my feet high enough, jumped to the top and got it quite easily. Fun, but didn't feel harder than soft 7A in my opinion.

Fontainebleau - Cul de Chien - Overcast Dyno 7A+(7A)

The sitstart followed immediately after, on my first attempt. I don't feel this being harder than 7A+ at most. Nevertheless, it was a nice moment in that isolated spot, hearing the crowd in the distance.

Fontainebleau - Cul de Chien - Overcast Dyno (assis) 7B+(7A+)

Friday, August 2nd

It has been extremely hot and humid the last few days, but despite that, I had been climbing. Even though I had chosen boulders in the shade, like "Into the Wild" in Boissy le Goulot and "Ashtanga (droite)" in Roche aux Sabots Sud, it wasn't possible to climb longer than barely two hours. Not only because of the heat, but also because two of the three splits that I got at the start of my vacation three weeks ago, keep opening up again. Right in the spot where my middle and ring fingers bend, it doesn't take much for them to open up again. Also, the boulders that I chose weren't really split friendly.
Yesterday late afternoon and evening there was a heavy thunderstorm with a huge amount of rain that finally cooled down the temperature temporarily and could still be felt this morning. Wisely choosing a boulder that would minimize the chance of opening up the splits again, I chose something crimpy and went to the boulder of "La Mouche" in Cuisinière Crête Sud. It was still humid in most parts of the forest, but the boulder that I wanted to climb on was dry and even felt quite cool compared to the past few days.
I warmed up with a flash of "Gégé Doigts d'Acier", which I actually already did back in May of this year when I was trying the game of "Olé". Immediately after, I repeated "La Mouche" once again. It seems that I can do this problem without failing maybe nine times out of ten.

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Crête Sud - Gégé Doigts d'Acier 7A

"Olé" is a very illogical line, but I was there to have fun and hopefully finish what I started trying back in May. It's more like a game, adding another unnecessary crux to "La Mouche", a move that is actually more difficult than all other moves of "La Mouche", and one that I couldn't do every time, especially not when coming from the start. I added a close-up of that specific move to the video.
There seems to also be a version where after doing that crux, you first take the second crimp left hand, as when starting for "Gégé Doigts d'Acier", but that doesn't add any difficulty at all and makes it even more illogical. I had fun with this one.

Fontainebleau - Cuisinière Crête Sud - Olé 7C

Saturday, August 3rd

About ten years ago, I tried "Bombe X" in Rocher d'Avon Ouest, and I remember that I couldn't more than the first move. It was only this morning that I finally decided to go back.
I immediately noticed that I could move much better in it, but still needed almost an hour to find a working method. "Bombe X" is harder than it looks. 
When I finally topped out, I had a reflex to take the arete right hand, and topping out this way felt like 7A+ at most. When I got off the boulder, I decided to give it another go, but without the arete right hand. Instead, I used a small undercling. This made the last two moves substantially harder and felt more like 7B. Nevertheless, a fun boulder!
The video shows both ascents, first with the arete right hand, then without.

Fontainebleau - Rocher d'Avon Ouest - Bombe X 7B

Sunday, August 4th

The last day of my vacation. Even though being a permanent home office worker for about four years now, tomorrow I will be back at work, back to the usual routine and time to grow some skin back and heal those splits.
My first thought was to go try "Pleine Prouesse" again in 91.1, but when I stumbled upon "Mine de Rien (assis)" and watched Bart's (Van Raaij) method, I chose to try that one first instead. I had only walked by and had a brief look at "Mine de Rien (assis)" several years ago, but figuring it wasn't my favorite style, I didn't bother trying it. After watching Bart's method, I changed my mind and thought it looked quite nice. On top of that, I knew that the problem would be perfectly in the shade.
My first attempt made me think that it was going to be impossible for me to do Bart's method, but as the other methods that I had seen were even worse, I took my time and worked out move by move using Bart's method. I slowly made progress, and even though I used Bart's shoulder move method, I had to change the next move to avoid going left hand to a high slopey crimp as the chance was too high to open up the splits in my fingers again. I decided going right hand instead, but needed some time to figure out and get used to the move. I did after a short time and after repeating it a few times and having figured out how to proceed from there, I began attempting from the start. After a couple of fails, I did end up topping out after a handful of attempts. A great way to end my vacation with this beauty.

Fontainebleau - 91.1 - Mine de Rien (assis) 7C(7B+)

I did still go to "Pleine Prouesse" and was finally able to do the morpho crux move several times. Only need to be able to do the very last low percentage move and it's in the pocket. 
No cherry on the cake, but I'm happy with a strawberry.