The forest smells marvellous these days.
The scent of Spring is in the air and when the weather is nice like today, it's almost impossible not to visit the forest, even if it was only for ten minutes.
Well, ten minutes is all I needed to park the car and repeat two small problems in Rocher Guichot after work.
"La Rombière (assis)" is the sitstart of red n°6 and is supposed to be 6C+.
Getting your butt from off the ground requires a hard pull on a mediocre undercling, but after that it's easy.
I can barely make a soft 6C out of it, I flashed it with ease.
Besides that, it's a nice warmup and it was fun to move in it.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Guichot - La Rombière (assis) 6C+
On the boulder right next to "La Rombière" is the quite classic 7A, "Jour de Rêve".
I remember that when I did it in 2012, that it was hard.
Now I only needed three tries to repeat it for the video.
Fontainebleau - Rocher Guichot - Jour de Rêve 7A
Parking the car, climbing two nice problems and packing up again.
All that in a matter of minutes, and I enjoyed all ten of them!
I only had about 20 minutes to do some climbing after work today, so I stopped at Apremont Butte aux Dames to try "Les Ailes du Plaisir (raccourci)".
It's at only 100m from the parking, so I would be able to benefit the most from the small amount of time I had.
Apparently those 20 minutes were more than enough, because I flashed it easily. I wasn't even warmed up yet.
This felt really soft for the grade.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Les Ailes du Plaisir (raccourci) 7A(6C+) (right)
I had already packed up, when Marcus, a climber from Switzerland (if I remember correctly) that I once met on a short late evening session, passed by by coincidence.
While we were talking, I noticed that there seemed to be another possible exit more to the left over the belly of "Les Ailes du Plaisir (raccourci)".
To counter all the critics, I quickly climbed it again and exited on the left. Just to be sure.
The left exit felt even slightly easier than the other.
Fun little thing either way.
Fontainebleau - Apremont Butte aux Dames - Les Ailes du Plaisir (raccourci) 7A(6C+) (left)
It was about 11h30 when I parked at La Feuillardière.
I wanted to check the conditions of "Télex" and "Télex (gauche)". The boulder takes a lot of shade, so my chances were low.
While I was inspecting the boulder, I noticed two climbers trying "Coup de Tonnerre" a bit higher up the hill.
The amount of hair they carried and their accent quickly revealed that it were Adriaan (Gabriels) and Joris (Robyn).
"Télex" was in a too bad condition anyway, so I hung around with them and watched Adriaan finish "Coup de Tonnerre", soon followed by Joris with "Coup de Tonnerre (assis)".
I didn't have any further plan concerning where to go and what to try, so I decided to go with them to "Maunoury". They were there yesterday and were forced by the upcoming dark to leave "Pars Pro Toto (gauche)" unfinished.
I had never noticed that problem before and it looked quite nice, so I was up for it.
Joris explained me the beta, but there was one small pinch that I couldn't hold on to long enough to move.
Thanks to my long arms I have a big reach and I was able to reach for a sloper higher up which suited me better.
As soon as I had that move figured out, I was able to send "Pars Pro Toto (gauche)", on my second attempt coming from the start.
Joris needed some more tries and ended up finishing it using his original beta.
Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Pars Pro Toto (gauche) 7B
While Adriaan continued working in "Pars Pro Toto (gauche)", Joris showed me "Waimea (droite)" nearby.
A very high arete with some beautiful moves when starting in the center of the boulder.
Again, Joris gave me some beta, I ended up using my own, and sent it on my second attempt.
Thanks to my big reach I didn't have any problem reaching the left arete.
Top class problem that I would have never tried without a spotter. The holds up there are jugs, but still ... Thanks for the spot, Joris!
Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Waimea (droite) 7A
We watched Adriaan do some really good attempts in "Pars Pro Toto (gauche)", almost every time falling from the last move.
His skin couldn't take of it anymore and had to let it go for today. He will most likely do it upon his next visit in the area.
Another problem that I had never noticed before, was "Le Pétard du Diable", a little bit hidden between some boulders right above "Soupçon".
It looked wet and dirty at first, but the spots (not really holds) that had to be used were in good enough conditions for some tries.
We all had a long struggle with it and I turned out to be the only one finishing it thanks to my big reach.
This problem is very morpho, but it was fun trying it and ending up with a send after all.
"Le Pétard du Diable" felt hard for the grade and I already mentioned to Joris and Adriaan that it felt more like 7A+ after I did it.
Funny thing is that I noticed on 8a.nu that the opener, Théo Konstantakopoulos, gave it 7A+ on his scorecard there.
Fontainebleau - Maunoury - Le Pétard du Diable 7A
Not having such a big reach like mine, Adriaan and Joris had to let go of "Le Pétard du Diable" and I called it a day while they were deciding where to go next.
It was announced to be a beautiful and warm day and it was!
After doing some household in the morning, I left for the forest around noon.
The number of cars that were already parked at Gorge aux Châts proved that it was going to be a busy day in the forest.
But I had a plan to avoid the crowds. I was heading for Mare aux Corneilles, a small redeveloped area not far from Rocher de la Salamandre.
My chances to have some peace and quiet there were high.
It turned out to be not the best idea, because most of the boulders there are in the shade and were still humid or simply wet.
The most interesting problems were either too wet or too exposed to try alone, but I was able to finish two problems that I wanted to try too.
The conditions were far from in favour, but good enough for both.
The first one was "Angleterre à Terre". A nice warmup with a sketchy start because of the flake for the right hand moves a bit.
It almost feels like you will rip out of the rock as soon as you apply pressure to lift your but from off the ground.
Fontainebleau - Mare aux Corneilles - Angleterre à Terre 7A(6C+)
Right behind "Angleterre à Terre", the boulder of "Jet Stream" looked wet, but the holds felt okay. Not good, but just okay.
Apart from the first two moves, not too hard for the grade, but a fun thing to do.
Too bad for the dab in the swing, but I didn't even notice it at that moment.
Fontainebleau - Mare aux Corneilles - Jet Stream 7A
So far for the climbable problems in that sector, so I had to move.
I didn't feel like much driving anymore so I decided to go to Rocher de la Salamandre nearby.
The boulders are all spread out and unfortunately most of them, being on the North side of the hill, were too wet.
Even "Besoin d'Elle" which is directed South was in a state of no-go. Except of "Nouvelle Vague" right next to it.
I had done it quite quickly in the Summer of 2015 and remembered that it was quite a fun dyno.
Even though I already had a video of it, I recorded it again, but this time from a different angle.
Went on my second attempt this time.
Fontainebleau - Rocher de la Salamandre - Nouvelle Vague 7B(7B+) (repeat)
The small sector of "Menumental" was also too humid so I ended the long walk with doing only one problem.
It wasn't too bad, because I enjoyed the long walk in that beautiful part of the forest.
The air smelled like Spring and I could feel and hear the forest waking up from it's hibernation.
The animals feel it too, out of which also the spiders, the bugs, the ticks, the flies, the mosquitos, the snakes, ... Yes, I do love the forest!
On my way to the car, when I left the shady North side and entered the sunny areas again, the difference in temperature felt huge.
The sun was really warming up the forest and the smell even changed to Summer at some points.
It gave me energy again before I went home, I decided to park at the big parking of Gorges de Franchard on the way.
It was quite crowded there of course, but I didn't care at that moment. I expected that, but I wanted to climb a bit in the sun.
I remembered a quite new small steep overhanging prow in Franchard Ermitage and knew that it would be in the sun now.
There are two lines on the small boulder.
Both start with the big pocket, but the 6C, "Barre à Bâbord" follows the left arete and the 7A, "Basique" follows the right one.
I came to try "Basique" once briefly, days after it was published, but I couldn't figure out what to do.
I didn't even bother trying "Barre à Babord" back then.
Now I did and flashed it quite easily, thanks to my long arms I guess.
Fontainebleau - Franchard Ermitage - Barre à Bâbord 6C
This time I spent some more effort in "Basique", finally found the method and sent it quicker than I had expected.
The problem looks stupid at first, but in the end it's a fun thing to do. Not to be underestimated.
Bad weather and work related travel have kept me from climbing the last week, but today, when work was over, there was a small window.
The day started grey, misty and wet, but in the afternoon the sun broke through, cleared the sky made the temperature rise.
It was the kind of weather that would make you want to sit on a beach while drinking a cocktail.
Anyway, that's not really my thing, so I stopped at Cuvier Bellevue to enjoy a quick climb instead.
I wanted to try some moves of "Moby Dick", but it didn't catch enough sun yet for the holds to dry enough. They felt greasy and slippery, making it too difficult to determine if my methods were good or not.
I still had 20 minutes of time left and turned my attention to the nearby "Gin Te Nique", which I did rather quick.
There are a few lines on that boulder and I found it quite difficult to see what was going where and how. Looking at very low number of registered repeats, I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who was confused.
In the end I followed the most logical line that suited the grade the most in my eyes.
I had my cocktail, but in the forest. It was a "Gin Te Nique".
It was a long time ago since I last climbed in Roche aux Sabots but this evening after work I was drawn to it. In particular by "Sale Gosse", that I hadn't tried for a long time.
Unfortunately a group of American climbers had felt the same and occupied the boulder.
Surprisingly though, the boulder with "Smash" was untaken and I decided to try some jumps in it again.
It must have been at least 100 jumps that I tried in it spread over the last few years, but I never really got my fingers over the edge.
I never made a project out of it, but it was a nice thing to try in between climbs or when out of inspiration now and then. Just like today.
From my first try I felt that my fingertips were over the edge and I knew already at that moment that it probably would be done this time.
Two tries later, half my hand was over the edge and stuck it. It even felt like I could have jumped higher if I wanted to.
Nice to finally tick this classic jump off.
Fontainebleau - Roche aux Sabots - Smash 7B
It was only when I was back home and watched the video, that I realised that my left hand touched the tree.
I remember feeling that my hand scraped the tree but it was a reflex out of fear to hit it.
Anyway, I think I'm experienced enough and honest enough to myself to determine if a dab helped or not.
It's a very busy week at work and due to bad weather I wasn't able to channel the stress into climbing.
But finally today, a lightly clouded sky and a comfortable temperature.
Thanks to the days getting longer, I had half an hour to stop at Cuvier and be in the forest on my way home from work.
The small sector of "Moby Dick" has become an area on bleau.info and quite a few new problems have been added by mainly Tony (Fouchereau), Marc (Lehner) and Jean-Claude (Valluet).
I parked on the nearest parking, from where it's barely a five minute walk to Cuvier Bellevue. An Obvious name, as the boulders are located just left of La Route de Bellevue.
I wouldn't be surprised that the sector of "Duroxmanie" would be added to it one day.
I found as good as all the boulders very quickly and stood still for a while when standing in front of "Moby Dick". That boulder looks beautiful.
Due to the lack of time, I had to limit myself to the small compression prow "Patatovska", opened by Marc. Many could have guessed that just by looking at the name of the problem.
"Patatovska" looks ugly at first, but turned out to be a fun little problem.
Some nice compression pulling. Maybe a little bit on the soft side for the grade.
