January 11, 2026 - Fear the end.

I tried "La Maison de la Presse" the first time for only a short session. It was mid Summer, two years ago I think, and the right side of the boulder was full in the morning sun, making it nearly impossible to do more than two moves in a row. It did give me however, a sense of most of the moves, but more than two years later, I had already forgotten about them. I had hoped to try it again during my Christmas vacation, but other priorities had received my attention. Yesterday was the first time that I went back for it.
The conditions were dry, but less than good. The friction definitely wasn't like last week and two weeks ago. I did manage to figure out all of the moves and even climb up to the last hard move, but slipped off with my right hand at a crucial moment. From there, the hard part is over, but it's where the scary part starts. I don't know if I had to feel disappointed for slipping off there, or to be relieved not having to that scary part with nearly frozen toes. You surely don't want to fall off at the topout, because breaking bones would almost certainly be the result, if not worse. My attempts after that highpoint were getting worse, so I knew I had to give it a break, but was determined to come back soon. It had become my new priority project.
This morning, even though not forecasted as such, it looked like a beautiful day. It was cold and the sun was out. I drove back to "La Maison de la Presse" after breakfast and tried to not make myself too nervous. With the progress that I had made yesterday, I knew that it was only a matter of time and hoped for time to be early in the session, before my toes would be frozen again.
My first attempt of the day was good. The conditions still far from perfect, but slightly better than yesterday. On my second attempt, I cruised through the hard part and suddenly found myself standing in the slab. I had never done the topout before, and even though you can kind of make up what's up there when looking from the bottom, I didn't really know what to expect. For sure, it's not very hard, but I had to take a deep breath to motivate myself to commit and climb on. I was scared, but didn't let it take over. It was a huge relief when I finally stood on the top. I was happy and relieved to have finished "La Maison de la Presse", but more importantly, I was still alive and hadn't broken any bones.

Fontainebleau - Buthiers Canard - La Maison de la Presse 7C