October 20, 2016 - No place like home.

This morning I saw on bleau.info that there were yet again a couple of new 7's published, and "Quintescence" in Canche aux Merciers Anarchodrome was the one that attracted me the most.
After bringing Anthony to his mom for a long weekend, I spent the night in Belgium and still had to drive all the way back.
Canche aux Merciers is not that far from home, so I decided to stop there first on my way.

It was a normal weekday in Belgium and the drive started with traffic jam.
Also around Paris, even though it's a school holiday in our sector, the roads are always crowded. There too I had my fair deal of jams.
I felt tired and stiff from driving, but once I go off the highway in Milly la Forêt, I always open my car windows and get a good nice taste of the fresh air.
It always feels as if the smell of the forest greets me and welcomes me back home.
Smelling and seeing such beauty all around, breathing the clean air filled with oxygen always gives me a boost of energy.
There's no place like home!

Picture from yesterday in Maunoury. If you look closely, you can the village of Larchant in the distance.

It was announced to be dry, but the state of the roads revealed that it had rained a bit anyway.
Most of the boulders in Canche aux Merciers were dry, but in Anarchodrome there is more shade and most of the boulders were quite wet and unclimbable.
The wall of "Quintescence" was dry, not in the best conditions, but possible to climb, but the jug up left was for the most part wet and the topout was very humid to say the least.
For a moment I doubted to give it a try, because on top of that, you have to jump to the left towards the jug, making sure that you will take a big swing, and with the small boulder under it you don't want to slip off uncontrollably.
I decided to try anyway.

It's a hard swing to hold, and as the middle part of the big hold (it's not really a jug) was very wet and slippery, I had to jump even more to the left to grab the part that was dry.
The topout was more than I could see from the ground and I really feared a sudden slip of the hand or the foot while mantling my way up.
I must admit that I was little bit shaky when standing on top and seeing all the wet moss on the downclimb didn't make it any better.
This will probably be more like a hard 7A when the boulder is completely dry and the conditions are good.
I will for sure go back one day to do it again when it's dry. It's a very nice climb!

Fontainebleau - Canche aux Merciers Anarchodrome - Quintescence 7A+

October 19, 2016 - The plan.

I had the day off, brought my youngest son, Noah, to school on my way to Maunoury.
My oldest son, Anthony, finished school at 12h30 and I had to pick him up to bring him to Belgium for the holiday (that weirdly starts on a Wednesday).
He goes to college in La Chapelle la Reine, so Maunoury is only 10 minutes from there.

As I have only been to Maunoury 2 or 3 times, there's still plenty to do and try.
My time was limited, but I had a plan.
Warm up in "Soupçon", work my way towards "Baloo" and on the way back to car, maybe stop at "Hibernatus" in Dame Jouanne.

Upon my arrival, the boulders still looked humid and were sometimes even still wet after the two days of rain we had.
It was nice weather though and it would dry probably soon, but I was early.
Jean-Hervé (Baudot) once told me that you have to be patient, and that's not my strongest point when it comes to climbing.

The warmup in "Soupçon" was short, because after inspecting the holds, I was able to flash it.
The conditions were better than I had feared.

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Soupçon 7A

On my way to "Baloo", I went a bit more up the hill to try "Italian Chicka's".
When I was establishing my plan yesterday evening, I watched a video of it, and it I was curious to ry it.

Soft for the grade, I was able to flash this one too.
Due to the rain, I wasn't able to climb for 2 days, so I was in a good shape.

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Italian Chicka's 7A

Off to try "Baloo" now.
I stood in front of it a couple of years ago, but I didn't bother trying it, thinking it would be too hard anyway.

It turned out to be quite doable even though the conditions on that boulder were much less good as in the other sector.
It was a nice battle.
If the conditions on the boulder would have been better, I probably would have tried "Bagheera" too, but that will be for another time.

Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Baloo 7B

The time passed by quickly, but I still had just enough to make the small detour via "Hibernatus" when going back to the car.
On my previous visit in Dame Jouanne, I had briefly tried it, but I couldn't even get my second foot off the ground without letting go of the small bidoigt for the right hand.

This went down much quicker than I thought.
Sometimes it all just goes as planned.

Fontainebleau - Dame Jouanne - Hibernatus 7B

October 16, 2016 - Risks.

It's always a big risk, going to Cuvier on a Sunday, but I left as soon as it was light to be there before the masses would arrive.
After having done the two "Carnazina" versions earlier this week, I wanted to try the sitstart.
Thursday and Friday it rained, so I wasn't able to try it after work.
That's why, today, I stood up early.
I still had the complete sequence from the standstart in my veins, so I didn't want to wait any longer.

When I arrived at the boulder, there were some lone climbers, but nobody on the "Carnage" boulder.
The conditions looked great on the boulder, but I wanted to warm up first, which I did in "Vaudou-Système" right next to it.
It was a short warmup because I did it on my first attempt, no flash as I had done it already in 2011, but it meant that the conditions were good and that I was in shape.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Vaudou-Système 7A

As I still had the moves and coordination in my head from the standstart, I only had to figure out the sitstart of "Carnazina (assis)".
I had seen several people using different methods, so it took me a while to find out what was best for me.
Once I had found out, though, it didn't feel hard and I had to impression that it doesn't add that much to the standstart, even though I still needed some tries to link the sitstart up to sticking the dynamic move to the sloper of "La Bérézina".
Then suddenly, the pieces fell together and I finished "Carnazina (assis)" (exit in "Le Carnage").
A short break later, the exit in "La Bérézina" followed too and I even didn't feel really tired.

But now comes the bad part.
I was happy that my main goal for today was achieved, a was a fun, long and fair battle, but I also felt  angry because I had no video from them.
In total, I spent about an hour at the "Carnage" boulder and as time passed, more and more people had gathered on the "Bleau Job Square". Two people were trying "L'Hélicoptère", and another had started trying "Le Carnage".
We all know how busy it can be on a Sunday. This was no exception.
The last drop was when a playing dog ran over the camera that made it fall, so I decided to put it away, I didn't want to risk any damage. Can't blame the dog though!
I will go back one day in the week, after work, when it's calmer. I do have the feeling that as long as the conditions are good, that this a problem that I could repeat quickly.

I very briefly tried "Le Carnage (assis)", but doing the dynamic move when coming from the sitstart feels way harder than "Carnazina (assis)".
Anyway, I needed a break now and I wanted to escape from the crowds.

It is a risk to do the long walk to La Reconnaissance so shortly after a rainy period, but after such a crowd, I needed to be on my own, so it was a risk I was willing to take.
In the worst case, I would have made a nice long walk and, on the other hand, there's still Cuvier Rempart on the way back.

While walking, I decided to try "Wallaby".
It's a problem that I had never taken the time for to look for it, but after having seen a video not long ago, I decided to use the time I had now.

If you end up at the "Reconnaissance" sign from Colinet, you are too far up the hill.

When I looked at the boulders in the area, they all looked humid and I feared that "Wallaby" wouldn't be possible to try.

The risk turned out to be worth having taken, because I found "Wallaby" in a condition that could be much worse.

It felt a bit damp, but not unclimbable.

Sitstart under the roof with two crimps, dyno to slopey hold that you can't see, taking the arete and go for the top.

I could all the separate moves quite quickly, but doing the whole problem with these damp conditions was more difficult than I expected.

Fontainebleau - La Reconnaissance - Wallaby 7B

On the way back, Pieter called me to say that he and Alberto were at Eléphant.
My main goals for today were done, so I was glad to drive over and join them for a while.
Eléphant is also a big risk on a Sunday, but we were going to meet in the back of the area. Besides, I had nothing special that I still wanted to try.
I felt stiff and tired after the short drive, but in the end, Pieter and I still managed to repeat "Envie d'Ange".
Not hard, but scary at the top.

Fontainebleau - Eléphant - Envie d'Ange 7A

Besides the incident with the camera, it was a good day and now I'm really tired!

October 15, 2016 - Going big.

We had a lot of rain the last couple of days, but today I was going to go big!
So, this morning, I took the kids to "France Miniature", a kind of amusement park where famous places from the whole of France are shown in small scale.
A couple of months ago I won 2 tickets for it with a local radio show, and as the tickets had to be used before November and it was only an hour drive away, it seemed like a good plan.
We were all going big!

After having seen the whole of France in only a few hours, I went to Rocher du Potala, hoping to find some dry boulders.
The forest being wet, the temperature rising, little to no wind, it makes a perfect recipe for condensation.
It turned out to be not too bad, but the boulders (or the sides of them) that didn't catch sun were still wet.
I didn't really have a plan, so it didn't matter.  I just wanted to climb a bit.

I ended up at "Les Doigts dans le Nez" and it looked to be in good condition.
The first time I did it was in 2011 and I remember that it took me a lot of tries.
Last time I was in Rocher du Potala, I wanted to repeat it for the video, but I wasn't able to.
Today it went relatively fast, this side of the boulder had dried up nicely.

7A or 7A+, the conditions decide.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Potala - Les Doigts dans le Nez 7A(7A+)

On the way back, I stopped and looked at a possibly nice lowball dyno on the boulder of what is now blue 28.
The blue circuit has been repainted and what is now blue 28, used to be blue 20.
I couldn't resist and started trying the dyno.

Sitstart (without crashpad) just left of blue 28, with both hands on a low oblique hold and dyno directly to the jug of 28 blue.

It's a game, a fun jump, hard to give it a grade, but I would guess soft 7A(6C+).

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Potala - Le Jeu du Bleu 7A(6C+)

October 11, 2016 - The other exit.

There are two ways to climb "Carnazina" but they exit differently.
There is the exit in "Le Carnage" far left, the one that I did yesterday, and there is the direct exit in "La Bérézina", which I will conveniently call "Carnazina (direct)".

Similar situation today, only now there was nobody climbing on the "Carnage" boulder.
It took me couple of tries before I found the right coordination again to do the first move, but then it went quite fast.
I had the impression that it was slightly more difficult than the other version because of the topout.

Personally, I think that we are not talking anymore about just another exit here, but these are two different lines, even different styles, and they deserve to be mentioned as such.

For me there will always be "Carnazina" and "Carnazina (direct)". Not just 'the other exit'.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Carnazina (direct) 7B+

October 10, 2016 - A seven a day keeps the doctor away.

Like many other climbers, I have a scorecard on 8a.nu to keep track of my ascents, and I secretly made it my goal to reach a total of 365 seventh grade ascents over a course of 12 months.
Which would mean that the last 12 months, I averagely climbed one seventh grade problem each day (in a normal year).
I noticed yesterday that I just had reached that goal.

The screen capture below shows my scorecard from yesterday with all my registered ascents over the last 12 months.
I feared longer periods of rain, because with nearly each day not having climbed, the number could (and sometimes was) going down. Especially when exactly a year ago, the conditions were good and I climbed a lot that day.
It was a fun goal to achieve, I'm glad that I made it but also that it's done. No more "pressure" concerning that.
Maybe I will focus on harder problems a bit more now, or go for a total of 1000, or both ... I don't know yet, I'm just going to keep on climbing and see what comes to me.

Today after work, I didn't have that much time, so I stopped at Cuvier and walked straight towards "Carnazina". 

There were a few small groups of climbers around and only climber was trying something on the "Carnage" boulder. He was trying "L'Hélicoptère" to the left of it and he seemed to take a lot of rest in between tries, so I started trying "Carnazina" while he rested.

It took me a couple of tries to stick the first high sloper, the second move is also quite hard and what follows are some really nice moves to the left into the exit of "Le Carnage".

Some people say that it's harder than "Le Carnage", but I didn't have that impression.

The moves are much different, but it didn't feel harder. 

Personally I think that "Carnazina" is a nicer climb than "Le Carnage".

Big UP and congrats by the way to Jan (de Smit) who, with "Apothéose (assis)", has finished the boulder yesterday.

He has now done all problems on all sides of that boulder, and that's a lot of hard stuff!!

Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Carnazina 7B+

October 09, 2016 - Two generations.

David (Evrard) has opened a new mini area in Rocher des Etroitures near the bivouac of Bourron-Marlotte and my plan was to check it out.
More or less knowing David's grading, it promised to be tight, but I didn't expect it to be this tight!

After walking the wrong direction for a while, due to confusion on the access description, I arrived at the area.
It was a big detour, but the walk was nice.

Going the wrong (but nice) way.

The main boulder of "Prosper" is a big one and has several lines on it.
Opened as a 6C+(7A), "Black Hills" is the easiest, so I set off trying that first, to get into it.
It turned out to become a 22 minutes struggle to the top, with some hard falls and loosing lots of skin.

It was only 13°C but sunny and the slopers were in good condition, but still this felt really hard.
Even after doing it, but just barely, I stand my case that this is much harder than the proposed grade, I would even dare to say hard 7A+!
Hard from start to end.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Etroitures - Black Hills 6C+(7A)

I briefly tried some of the other lines, but I had lost a lot of skin and energy on "Black Hills", so I started gathering my stuff to move it 20m further, to the small boulder with "Mi-Septembre".
Suddenly I heard a voice saying my name and when I looked up, I saw Jean-Pierre (Roudneff) coming from around the boulder.
He had left his bag and pads at "Mi-Septembre" and had a look around. It was a nice coincidence to meet him there and we both ended up trying "Mi-Août".
It starts and climbs as for "Mi-Septembre", but exits about one meter earlier in the slab.

Jean-Pierre managed to do it quite quickly and with a nice, steady, easy, smooth style so typical for Bleausards from his generation.
It's not my style, but there's just no other way to do it than his.
It took me a lot more tries than him though!

A bit less tight graded, but I think that 7A would be more on the spot.
The first climber in the video is Jean-Pierre.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Etroitures - Mi-Août 6C+(7A)