August 07, 2022 - Pieter as my witness.

I has been wanting to try "Pirouette Cacaouette" since 2013 when we filmed Daniel Olausson for Neil Hart's movie 'Out of Sight', but it was way out of my league back then. Considering the height of the boulder, I never came back to try it alone, but today Pieter agreed to go and try it.
We both had miserable sweaty hands, and were struggling with the first part at first, but after some time, the slopers got slightly better, but I couldn't do the dynamic move to the vertical crimp high up. The boulder being so high, it is not possible to work out that move separately, so everything had to be from the ground up and I hadn't bothered setting up the camera yet as the move to the vertical crimp had to feel possible first. After some time, I started as usual, but when I got to the point of doing the move to the vertical crimp, I suddenly did something that I hadn't seen anybody else do in any of the videos that I had watched. Instead of going to the vertical crimp dynamically, I first switched to a low undercling left hand and was able to place a heelhook where my left hand was earlier. This allowed to me take the high vertical crimp statically. When I had the crimp good and did the next move successfully, I knew that an easier part followed and for a fraction of a second I thought of jumping off to setup the camera first, but when Pieter encouraged me to climb on,  I did so and topped out this hidden gem.
I had mixed feelings, knowing that a video repeat immediately after topping out tends to be harder due to being less motivated or climbing with too much confidence, making tiny mistakes. Unfortunately this was also the case today and on top of that, the skin was feeling worse with every repeat attempt that followed, so eventually I had to throw in the towel for doing a video repeat. At least I have Pieter as my witness of successfully topping out.

Below a short video video of a few failed attempts trying to repeat it for the video.

August 06, 2022 - Like Caesar said.

"Rêve Errance" in Roche d'Hercule is one of those boulders that I could only dream of when I saw it for the first time about fifteen years ago. It looked impossible at that time, but when I tried it for the first time a few months ago, I was able to work out all of the moves, except for one. It was only yesterday evening though that I decided to go back, take two crashpads and make it my main goal.
It was a short burden to carry both crashpads up to the top of the hill, but it turned out to be well worth it. I quickly was able to work out the moves again, and found another method using a high right heelhook instead of the left for the crux move. Thinking it would be as good as over after the crux move, I hadn't tried the topout and fell out of it on my second attempt from the start. The third attempt, I paid more attention to my foot placement at the topout and with great relief made it to the top barely half an hour after arriving at the boulder.

Fontainebleau - Roche d'Hercule - Rêve Errance 7C(7C+)

Pieter had sent me a message in the meantime, and as he was in Fontainebleau, he decided to come over to say hi. While waiting, I move the crashpads under "Fenbren le Fou", which I was able to tick off as well before Pieter arrived.
Like Caesar said very long ago: 'Veni, vidi, vici'.

Fontainebleau - Roche d'Hercule - Fenbren le Fou 7B

August 03, 2022 - Off the rhythm.

I had some good friends visiting the last few days and the main focus was not on climbing. It was fun of course, but the first thing that I wanted to do today when they left, was to go out on my own into the forest. I was craving for solitude and a short climb. It was already well over 30°C, so it couldn't last long anyway. On top of that, I was so off my regular bio rhythm that I felt exhausted.
With "La Maison du Sanglier", it was something small, nice and nearby. It was a very hot climb, but luckily done quick enough before it got too extreme.

Fontainebleau - Bois Rond Le Moine - La Maison du Sanglier 7A+(7B)

July 30, 2022 - Deceived by description.

When I saw a video of Carina (Lotta) climbing "Sac à Rose" a few weeks ago, I was amazed by how nice it looked. The boulder looked very familiar and it turned out to be on the same boulder as "EOS" in the very nearby Justice de Chambergeot. As I am expecting visitors today, my time was limited so I went to Justice de Chambergeot, knowing what to try. Even though I had done "EOS" several times already, somehow I nevered bothered trying "Sac à Rose", probably being deceived by the description mentioning that it's a traverse. Carina's video didn't look like she was doing a traverse though.
I really enjoyed the moves of "Sac à Rose" and was able to finish quite quickly.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Chambergeot - Sac à Rose 7B

Immediately after, I also bagged the easier "L'Acte Possible 1", also catalogued as a traverse, but not feeling like one. I flashed this one with relative ease.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Chambergeot - L'Acte Possible 1 7A(6C+)

I finished the session by doing "L'Acte Osé 2" on my second attempt. Going quite a way sideways, this started to feel like a traverse, but the moves are really nice and it was well worth it.

Fontainebleau - Justice de Chambergeot - L'Acte Osé 2 7B+

July 29, 2022 - Date with a Chaman.

As I wrote already a few years ago on this blog, the area of Rocher des Demoiselles was originally named Rocher des Putains because it was the area where Louis XIV used to hide and meet his mistresses for some 'fun'. To make it more attractive for tourism, they later changed the name to the less vulgar Rocher des Demoiselles. What remains a reminder of the old times, are the names of the paths nearby and around the area. Route des Filles, Route de Cupidon, Route de l'Amour, Route de Vénus, Route de la Beauté, Route de la Tendresse, ... all still refer to the purpose of the area back in the days.
Now it's especially known for walking and the bouldering area, and I was there for a date with "Chaman", not a person of any kind, but a very popular problem, if not one of the most popular of the sector, especially for its grade. The first time that I tried it, was about ten years ago and I remember coming very close to sending it. The couple of times after, I either didn't have the motivation, strength, technique, or, as the boulder needs some time dry, simply bad conditions. Moreover, I had never went to the area while it making a main goal, it was mostly after having done or tried other goals, near the end of a session. Today however, it was my main goal of the day and thanks to a long period of dry weather, I had no excuse for the holds to be in bad condition.
The first ten minutes, I could barely place the left heel and even less take the crimp under the roof left hand and I was wondering how on Earth that I got so close almost ten years ago. Thinking about what I possibly did different, I had a vague memory of using a left toehook instead of a heel and when I tried it as such, I immediately made it to the knob after which I jumped off and setup the camera. After making a mistake at the end, I needed another attempt to finally finish off this classic. The date was over.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Demoiselles - Chaman 7C(7B+)

On the way back, I realized that I hadn't done "L'Eveil du Sphinx" yet for some reason, but was able to tick it off fairly quick now.
I worked out the moves to do the sitstart as well, but had to admit to myself that I was running out of energy and will have to come back for it some other day. It will be with great pleasure.

Fontainebleau - Rocher des Demoiselles - L'Eveil du Shpinx 7A+

July 28, 2022 - Angel dance.

After doing some work in the garden and around the pool this morning, I went to Rocher du Guetteur for a short but fruitful climb.
Starting with "Les Anges Dansent (gauche)", the only remaining variant that I didn't do yet on this boulder, I had a motivation boost when I finished it in barely twenty minutes. I really liked this boulder, so it's a bit of a pity that I finished it. Of course, I can still come back for repetitions when climbing with someone who hasn't tried the boulder yet.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Guetteur - Les Anges Dansent (gauche) 7B(7B+)

Being so close to the technical "Croûte que Coûte", and with plenty of time left, I decided to give it another try. I tried this briefly only once back in 2018, but being on the North face of the boulder, the conditions were not in favor and I gave up on it quickly. I had forgotten about for a long time until Jan (Gorrebeeck) recommended it to me a few months ago.
It was quite hot in the sun, but the conditions of the slopers and crimps were pretty good. This time, after a few tries, I was able to finish this technical beauty. The moves on this one are quite technical and very subtle, especially near the end. So beautiful that I actually gave it five stars.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Guetteur - Croûte que Coûte (assis) 7A

July 26, 2022 - Calypso.

According to Greek mythology, Calypso, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, was a natural deity who lived on the island of Ogygia. She kept Odysseus on her island for seven years and tried to marry him, even promising immortality if he did, but Odysseus preferred to leave the island and go back home. She did give birth to Odysseus' son and named him Latinus. So far for the history lesson. Nowadays, Calypso can be almost anything, from an ice cream to a dance and yes, even the name of a boulder problem in the Montignotte area, a calm and isolated sector in Coquibus.
I had only been once in Montignotte and it was on a rainy day, just for walking, but this morning, I went there especially to try "Calypso", located between the Guichet and Montignotte areas, but closer to the latter. This isolated sector features several boulders, but all spread apart and quite hard to locate in the sometimes dense and chaotic forest. It took me quite a long time before I finally found "Calypso", almost stumbling upon it by accident rather than a calculated guess.
"Calypso" is a very nice slightly overhanging prow and seems to be closer to 7A+ than 7A. It was well worth spending the time and effort to look for it. I will have to go back one day to finish the very hard sitstart, but at least my next visit will be a more calculated and almost straight forward walk.

Fontainebleau - Montignotte - Calypso 7A(7A+)