November 22, 2016 - No camping.

I was working from home this morning and had to travel for work in the afternoon, but first I took a small lunch break. It came in the form of a short stop at Gorge aux Châts.

Last Sunday I bumped into Peter 'Pete' Collins and he told me was around until Wednesday.
He said that he definitely wanted to try "Spanish Caravan" in Gorge aux Châts during his trip, so somehow I expected to find him there.
It didn't come as a surprise to see his van parked at the area.
When I found him in the main area, he said that he just was able to finally finish "Spanish Caravan".
It was great news. I was happy for him and it only strengthened my desire to try the problem myself.

Last time I saw Pete was when I did "La Caravane" and it was he who told me about "Spanish Caravan".
A quite logical line to the left that I had never really noticed before. I didn't really try it then, but I was psyched to come back for it.
Now that Pete did it, he could give me some very helpful beta. The moves are beautiful but very powerful, especially in the first part of the problem.

At first, the first move to the small crimp seemed almost impossible for me, but after a while I found a method that worked.
Now that I could do that move, I could do all of them separately. It was simply a matter of linking it all together now.

I got close but when I told Pete that I was going to give it one more try, I sent it.
It felt great standing on the top, totally unexpected.

If it wouldn't have been for Pete, I maybe would have never even noticed the problem and thus never climbed it.
Thanks to Pete also for the beta and the encouragement. I'm not sure if I would have been able to climb it today without it.

Fontainebleau - Gorge aux Châts - Spanish Caravan 7B+

Now I'm traveling for work until Thursday, and no, I'm not sleeping in a caravan.

November 19, 2016 - Conditions: The Return of the Good.

After days, almost weeks, of nagging about humid conditions, today was finally the return of the good. Even very close to perfect!

It was still early, there were only 2 other cars on the parking of Cuvier and I was only climber in the area.
I went straight to Rempart to try "Noir Désir (gauche)". The previous times I tried it, the conditions were not good enough and the slopers felt greasy, but now the conditions felt perfect.
The slopers still felt sketchy but I sticky enough for me to be able to hang on long enough.
It always felt so hard, but now it didn't take me long. Beautiful problem!

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Noir Désir (gauche) 7B

At only about 30m from there I wanted to try "La Boule à Pierrot", another friction dependent problem.
The few other times that I sat in it, it always felt too hard, but yet again, now it was sticky.
After a while, I did check the beta on bleau.info and as soon as I was able to execute all the moves, it went quite smooth.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - La Boule à Pierrot 7B

I will never forget the weekend in 2011 that I first did "Immodium".
It was the day that Ivan (Moreels) climbed "Fourmis Rouges" and Steven (Demets) "Immodium (assis)".
It took me many tries that day before I was able to stick the jug, but still fell off the easy topout because of my nerves. I can still hear Ivan saying to keep calm until the end.
I wasn't able to to it again that day, but the day after, I was and topped out correctly.

Today I wanted to repeat it for the video and made it on my second attempt.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Rempart - Immodium 7A

I got close to doing "Immodium (assis)", but my body needed a short break.
The break came in the form of walking to a relatively unknown sector of Cuvier Sorcières. The sector with "Le Proueptologue".
It's more like a micro area on its own, completely isolated.

Beautiful Autumn colors on the way to "Le Proueptologue".

I got to know the sector thanks to Neil (Hart) when we were filming Simon 'Kook' Newstead for Neil's film "Out of Sight".
It was amazing to see 'Kook' climbing "Le Proueptologue" (8A) several times for the camera, each time another angle.
I didn't get further than getting my feet off the ground in the standstart.

I could feel that I am stronger now, because apart from finding the correct foot position at the start, it didn't give me much trouble. The conditions were in favor.
Great compression problem and completely out of sight!

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Sorcières - Le Proueptologue (debout) 7B

November 18, 2016 - Catching up.

The weather was announced to be finally good today, so I took a couple of hours off work to enjoy the forest and hopefully catch up with some climbing.
They published again a lot of new 7's the last couple of days, out of which 2 of them in Gros Sablons Nord.
The 'Nord' in the name doesn't sound good after days of rain, but the small area is actually spread out on the South ridge of the neighbouring hill to the North of Gros Sablons. Still following ?
It still rained a lot last night, but the sun, the strong wind and the quite dry air dried up most of the boulders facing South.
I had to walk around a bit to find the new problems but it didn't take that long.
The boulder was dry and in seemingly good conditions, so I could start.

The warmup in "Y But Profane" was short. After trying the far move, I made it on my second attempt.
Felt very soft for the grade, but I did have a long rest after all.

Fontainebleau - Gros Sablons Nord - Y But Profane 7A

The other one , "Le Butapapa", is a variation on "Y But Profane".
The start is more to the right, traverses slightly to the left into "Y But Profane" and exits the same.

I really enjoyed trying this. It has great moves on really bad slopers.
Not 7B and also not very hard for 7A+, but oh so nice!

Fontainebleau - Gros Sablons Nord - Le Butapapa 7A+(7B)

On my way back I decided to stop in 95.2 for the time I had left.
Coming from the other side than usual, my first stop was at "Le Bloc à Bertrand", a wall with very friction dependent slopers. I was hoping that the friction would be the same as "Le Butapapa".

I had tried "Le Bloc à Bertrand" a couple of short sessions years ago and either forgot about it, or found the problem occupied by others when I didn't. Now the area was deserted and the boulder was dry.
I remember that on my previous sessions, I had difficulties holding on to the first sloper and could barely move my feet before letting go.
Now from first attempt on, I could easily move my feet and even prepare for the next far move left hand.
Sooner than I expected, I topped out. Truly glad with this one, a beauty.

Fontainebleau - 95.2 - Le Bloc à Bertrand 7A+

The problem just right of it, is a dyno of which I couldn't remember ever having tried it before.
It turned out to be not that hard for me, because I made it on my second attempt.
Cool dynamic first move. I wonder why I had never noticed this before.

Fontainebleau - 95.2 - Le Jeté Michaud / Jump 7A+

Another problem that I had never noticed before, but stumbled upon recently when I was browsing bleau.info, is "Tim Tim".
It's easy to find near the top of the hill in the middle of the main area, and a nice looking compression problem.
It turned out to be quite easy to climb too.
My heel slipped on my first attempt, but didn't on my second and I finished it off.

Fontainebleau - 95.2 - Tim Tim 7A(6C+)

Not too bad for a short afternoon, I had some catching up to do.

November 17, 2016 - Take what you can get.

It's been six days since my last post.
This usually means that those were dominated by rain, and now is no exception.
The Autumn is doing what Autumn does and it's doing it good. Rain, rain, rain, but also a beautiful colourful forest!

Today was finally a dry day and we even got to see some sun.
I took advantage of it and stopped at Cuvier on the way home from work, a quick climb would do me good after some really stressed out days without being able to vent through climbing.

Apart from a handful of cars, the parking was deserted. It wasn't a very good sign.
Bruno (Lazzerini), who was just leaving, confirmed what I feared. Condensation had kept almost everything soaking wet.
I didn't have time to go somewhere else, so I walked around and look for something just dry enough to climb, to take what I could get.

At least, for once, the infamous "Bleau Job Square" was totally empty and the only dry enough problems were "Charcuterie", "L'Araignée" and "Cortomaltèse".
I did "Charcuterie" already in 2009, but never tried "L'Araignée" that start to the right of it and exits in "Charcuterie".
The whole boulder was wet on the top and the holds were humid, but I had to take what I could get, so I decided to try it.
The feet were slippery and the holds felt uncertain, but soon I made it to the top. It felt great to climb again!

Fontainebleau - Cuvier - L'Araignée 7A

There was still about 15 minutes of daylight left, and even though I have done "Cortomaltèse" so many times already, I moved over to it so I could finally have it on camera.
After all, it is an über-classic-must-have-done problem, so it draws a lot of climbers, making it difficult to position the camera.
As the place was deserted, I took my chance. I had to take what I could get.

I missed the better sloper on my first try, but had it on my second and topped out.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier - Cortomaltèse 6C+(6C)

By the time I arrived back at the car, it had started to get dark and on the parking there already were some "lonely men" scattered, looking at each other and probably waiting for who would make the first move.

They were also there to take what they could get. Or should I say "to take WHO they could get" ?

I started the car, hoping that the radio wasn't playing "It's raining men".

November 11, 2016 - Démoniaque.

It had rained the whole week, but today was finally announced to be dry.
The rain fell until deep in the night, but there was some wind and even though everything was still wet in the morning, I was pretty confident to find some dry boulders high up in Cuvier Ouest.
On the parking I ran into Simon (De Meester) who decided to join me.
Upon arrival up the hill, I was slightly disappointed to see that most boulders were still too wet to be called climbable, so I showed Simon around.

We all have our demons, and so has Cuvier Ouest, but it's a nice one.
The steep overhang with "Démoniaque" and "Les Cavaliers de l'Apocalypse" was dry enough to be climbed.
Simon warmed up in "Les Cavaliers de l'Apocalypse" while I started immediately with "Démoniaque".

"Démoniaque" starts with the right hand in a crimpy crack on which you have to completely carry almost your whole body while trying to reach the edge with the left hand.
It's a scary move at first, but once you get used to it, it quickly becomes a routine move.
Then, however, you have to try to hold an inevitable swing which turned out to be the crux move.

It took a while before we both more or less at the same time noticed that if you take the crack two centimeters higher, it is actually easier to pull on to and that you can use the index finger to stop the swing.
The new beta turned out to be the key for the whole problem, because we both made it to the top on our first try afterward.
Really nice problem of which I'm glad I wasn't alone to try it.

Fontainebleau - Cuvier Ouest - Démoniaque 7A+

November 06, 2016 - Do the padwalk.

Most of my time in the forest today was spent looking for dry boulders.
The sun was out most of the time, but nearly everything stayed wet.
I admit, my decision to go to Franchard Sablons Ouest and Franchard Basses Plaines was stupid, but I enjoyed the walk and found some interesting problems for a future visit.
I was able to imagine doing the moves in the problems, but couldn't try any of them because everything was wet.

One small problem seemed climbable though. The one behind "Rainbow Rocket".
Apart from the starting hold, the arete was wet, but I figured I could go straight to the top sloper, that unfortunately was humid.
I didn't know then that the topout was actually more wet than I thought.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Sablons Ouest - Les Pantins Sociaux 7A

I realised that the conditions weren't going to get better here today, so I was forced to look for dryer grounds.
It's always a risk going to 95.2 on a Sunday, but that's what it was going to be.

On my way back I strolled around in Franchard Hautes Plaines where "Light Woman (gauche)" felt dry enough for a try.
Maybe it were the conditions, but this felt hard enough for 7A to me.

Fontainebleau - Franchard Hautes Plaines - Light Woman (gauche) 6C+(7A)

I ended up at the roof of "Lapin ou Canard", hoping I could try the 7B variation, "Tom et Géry".
Unfortunately it started raining before I could give it a try, so I left.

It was only a local shower, because the 95.2 area was quite dry ... and crowded of course.
Most of the problems I wanted to try or repeat were either wet or being tried already.
To my pleasant surprise I found the boulder with "L'Ange Naïf" dry and completely for myself. That was until an Irish couple arrived.
I doubted to leave but we ended up climbing the boulder together and they turned a really friendly couple. We will probably meet again one day.

It was only a short while, because I watched Ricky (the male part of the Irish couple) nearly catching the top on his flash attempt of "L'Ange Naïf". He did it on his second.
I went for "L'Ange Naïf (droite)" which went down fast too. I think it was on my third try.
Beautiful moves!!

Fontainebleau - 95.2 - L'Ange Naïf (droite) 7A+

Not much climbing today, but a lot of walking the crashpad.

November 05, 2016 - Stretch.

It rained a lot from yesterday afternoon until deep in the night, and the forecast was showing a grey sky the whole morning after which it should clear up a bit, but the air humidity was expected to be 100% all day.

A new 7A dyno called "Vostok 1" in Les Mammouths had been published today and because it was wet and I never went to that area behind Nemours, I drove there once it had cleared up.
The closer I got to Nemours however, the greyer the sky became again. Luckily I could see in the distance that it was clearing up too, it just needed a while longer.

After a long walk (I started walking in the wrong direction at first), I found the boulder and as I expected, the starting hold was dry and the top was luckily only humid. It appeared to be a slightly slopey flat hold, unable to trap the water onto it.
It does have a small sharp edge to it that soon started cutting through the skin of my hand, depending on where I was able to grab.

It's certainly not the easiest dyno for the grade. The distance is not that far, but you have to grab the top with palm of your hand outward and then take a very big swing.

Very nice all points off dyno! Jump, stretch, hold and swing ...
I'm not sure if I would have been able to do it faster when dry.

Fontainebleau - Les Mammouths - Vostok 1 7A

By now it had really cleared up, but due to the air humidity, the forest stayed wet.
Against all odds, I drove to Franchard to check if "Jambe de Bois" in Franchard Hautes Plaines would be not too wet, so maybe I could dry the holds and give it some tries.
As I expected, it was too wet.

Before I went back home, I decided to make a last stop at Roche au Four, hoping that the 60° overhang with "Nuit Debout" would have stayed dry.
Besides some spots with condensation drops, the holds in the overhang were dry enough to try the moves of "Nuit Debout (direct)".
I have done the left variation not very long ago, but found the direct version too morpho.
It was my third short session in it, and changing the position of my feet a couple of times, I finally was able to do and stick the first move. At that moment I knew that it was possible. Hard, but possible.

To be able to stick the first move, I had to block everything on my left arm, using a left heelhook to pull myself towards the rock, completely stretch my right arm to take a small sharp two finger crimp. Then I moved my left heelhook higher, pulled a hard as I could and took another small sharp two-and-a-half finger crimp left hand. I wasn't able to peek enough over the edge to see the hold where I had to jump, so I wanted to change the left heel to my toes but I knew that if I did that, that I wouldn't be able to hang on to those crimps and decided to jump blindly. I set off, grabbed the hold in the wrong place and fell off in the swing.
A couple of tries later, same story, only this time I was able to hold the swing and climb on to the top.

It was opened by Tony (Fouchereau) as a 7B, and for me it could have stayed this way.
Being completely stretched out during and after the first move makes it really hard!

The start of the video is a bit unfortunate. I couldn't film from the other side, because the sun was shining directly into it.
Anyway, now that I can do the first move, I can go back soon to try "Nuit Debout (direct gauche)", opened by Bart (Van Raaij) not long ago, but the left side of the boulder was still wet.

Fontainebleau - Roche au Four - Nuit Debout (direct) 7A+(7B)