September 12, 2022 - Un-shockingly.

I have taken the day off today and tomorrow and I had planned to go to the otherwise weekend-crowded Apremont Est area to try "Onde de Choc (accroupi)", the crouching of start of "Onde de Choc". Having done the regular standing start already six years ago, I couldn't remember the details of the beta, so I started practicing the first few moves of the standing start first. As I had no reception, I couldn't even watch the video of my own beta, but it all came back pretty quickly. It didn't come as a shock when barely half an hour after arriving at the boulder, I already topped "Onde de Choc" from the crouching start. It only adds a small 'plus' to the grade, but it is there.

Fontainebleau - Apremont Est - Onde de Choc (accroupi) 7B+

September 11, 2022 - Flash party.

After a week with a lot of rain, the conditions didn't look very good when I was walking with Pieter towards Franchard Sablons Carriers, but on the top of the hill, it was dry enough to climb and I warmed up with a flash repeat of the 6C+(7A) "Le Toit de l'Abri-Bivouac", a nice little roof that I flashed back in 2018 as well. Pieter did it soon after a couple of attempts more.
Unfortunately, not much later, it started raining long and hard enough to make everything soaking wet. We kept busy doing moves in a few overhangs that had stayed dry, but knowing that nothing could be topped didn't quite boost the motivation; on the contrary.

Looking at the pictures of "La Roche qui Tremble" in Vallée Casse-Pot, it seemed like a quick drying boulder, and as it contains quite some problems, we decided to go there today.
We warmed up with "Bisteak (direct)", which we both flashed with relative ease.

Fontainebleau - Vallée Casse-Pot - Bisteak (direct) 7A+(7A)

Immediately after, we both also flashed "Bisteak".

Fontainebleau - Vallée Casse-Pot - Bisteak 7A+

We couldn't work ourselves through "Le Dos du Requin (direct)", but I did get away with a quick ascent of "Le Dos du Requin (assis)".

Fontainebleau - Vallée Casse-Pot - Le Dos du Requin (assis) 6C+

Moving to the other side boulder, Pieter flashed "La Roche qui Tremble (droite)", immediately followed by me, also with a flash.

Fontainebleau - Vallée Casse-Pot - La Roche qui Tremble (droite) 7A+

After a short break, we had some discussion about how the line of "La Bouche du Requin" went, and we quickly agreed to stay low going to the left, to then finish on the prow. I checked out the first move and then finished it on my first attempt.

Fontainebleau - Vallée Casse-Pot - La Bouche du Requin 7A+

Pieter had some difficulties with "La Bouche du Requin" and while he was taking a break after a few attempts, I took the occasion to try the traverse "Utinam Remora" and got away with the flash there too.

Fontainebleau - Vallée Casse-Pot - Utinam Remora 7B+

I ended with showing Pieter the moves again and repeating "La Bouche du Requin", after which he climbed up to the prow, was lying on it with his belly, but still came out after having given it his last bits of energy. That was close, but no cigar.

September 04, 2022 - Roudor.

I hadn't planned to go back again to Videlles 'lAbattoir today, but as I trimmed a lot in the garden yesterday afternoon, I had to take the bags with trimmings to the green waste disposal in Moigny-sur-Ecole. Videlles being next to it and desiring a solitary climb, I figured it was an obvious choice. I hadn't been to the boulder with "Roudor" yet, but decided to spend some time looking for it and hopefully do some attempts.
The forest in Videlles is beautiful and peaceful and while enjoying the walk uphill, I noticed the boulder suddenly at about ten meters from the path. Expecting it closer to the top of the hill, it was a pleasant coincidence that I happened to look in the boulder's direction.
Carefully inspecting the holds, I noticed that the starting hold for the left hand broke some time ago. I didn't know how it looked like before the break, but it definitely looked like a substantial piece had broken off and I was wondering that maybe that was the reason why all of the three registered repeaters rated it 7B+ instead of the originally proposed 7B. Looking at the other hard looking holds, I reasoned that the best approach would be to work out the moves separately, which turned out to be a good decision. It took some time before I was able to lift my butt off the ground, let alone doing the first move to a far small crimp. Even when I was finally able to it, it wasn't a move that I could every time, it had to be dead on and there was no margin for correction.
For the other moves, it took a while before I even could find a possible working method, and I came to realize that every move from beginning to end was hard. Only after I was finally able to do the problem in two overlapping parts, I started making real attempts from the start.

It was a big fight and a hard battle and I came close to giving up when my skin started to burn and felt more painful after each attempt, but then suddenly, it all came together. I was glad that I had also practiced the topout of "Roudor", because it isn't over until it's completely over with this one.
Taking a needed and deserved break after topping out, I thought about it and I have to agree with the previous repeaters for 100%. This is definitely harder than 7B, possibly even hard edge 7B+!

Fontainebleau - Videlles l'Abattoir - Roudor 7B+(7B)

September 03, 2022 - Back to the slaughter house.

Last weekend it didn't feel good to leave "Cadeau pour un Pote" in Videlles l'Abattoir undone despite being able to do all the moves. I was determined to back soon, convinced that I would be able to finish it when being fresh instead of near the end of a session. This morning, it was a bit of risk to go back to that shady spot after yesterday's and last night's rain, but I took my chances and went anyway. With some joy, I found the boulder dry and walked back to the car to get a second crashpad.
I still remembered the moves and on my first warmup attempt, made it passed the morpho crux, the far move to the small two finger pocket left hand, took the bad pinch, was able to place  my right foot, went for the good hold on the left, crossing over with the right hand, and ... missed it. I didn't feel too bad about it, because for a first attempt it was definitely good and I figured it would probably go down soon. The latter turned out to be an overstatement.
For the next hour and a half or so, I kept on failing on the crux move. The pocket suddenly seemed out of reach again, just like last week. It started to become frustrating, and I was forced to take longer breaks in between attempts to keep the friction and spare my right arm. Then suddenly, it clicked, I passed the crux again and stuck the final move to the good hold. It was a great relief!
This definitely felt harder than most of the other 297 7B's that I did by now. Maybe it's due to the morpho aspect of it, but "Cadeau pour un Pote" could very well be 7B+ if you ask me.

Fontainebleau - Videlles l'Abattoir - Cadeau pour un Pote 7B

September 01, 2022 - A Sacred half an hour.

Yesterday evening when I was doing some work in the garden, I was moving some logwood and was very spooked when I almost grabbed quite a big snake. At first, I thought it was a poisonous viper, but after doing some research, I'm quite sure that it was a harmless 'Couleuvre à Collier', apparently easily and quite commonly mistaken with a viper. Some minor details make me believe however that it wasn't a viper, but rather the 'Couleuvre à Collier'. If someone with more knowledge could confirm that, it will be appreciated.
I left it where it was, but it was suddenly gone not much later.

Gave me a good scare!

This evening, while doing yet some more work in the garden, I suddenly felt the urge to go for a climb after dinner, and that's exactly what I did.
I went to Châteauveau with the intention of trying "Le Sacre du Printemps (gauche)". Along with its longer version, the only lines that I still had to do on this isolated beautiful boulder.
I quickly worked out the crux but still needed three attempts from the start to actually finish it off. All in all, it was only half an hour of actual climbing, but it felt Sacred.
I deliberately left the slightly longer version for another time. It will be a good excuse to go back there on another evening, probably quite soon.

Fontainebleau - Châteauveau - Le Sacre du Printemps (gauche) 7B

August 28, 2022 - The devil's playground.

It doesn't happen a lot, but today Pieter came with a counter proposal to go Roche au Diable. Having never climbed there before, it was a proposal that I happily accepted. It turned out to be a fruitful session for both of us.
We warmed up with "Township".

Fontainebleau - Roche au Diable - Township 7A

Followed by "Nuage de Pluie", that I flashed with relative ease. 

Fontainebleau - Roche au Diable - Nuage de Pluie 7A

After many years of climbing together, Pieter has finally learned to use toehooks and seems to start being comfortable with it, to his advantage.

Pieter using his toes in "Nuage de Pluie".

There was some confusion about how "Bushman" was going through the roof, and after we finally figured it out, I topped it out on my second attempt, soon followed by Pieter, again using toehooks to his advantage.

Fontainebleau - Roche au Diable - Bushman 7B

I had some fun starting in "Bushman" and traversing over to finish in "Capetown". Beautiful moves through that big roof.

Fontainebleau - Roche au Diable - Capetown (départ gauche) 6C(6C+)

The huge boulder really is a bouldering playground and I ended the session doing "Township" again, but this time starting more to the left, adding a couple of moves to tighten the difficulty a bit.

Fontainebleau - Roche au Diable - Township (départ gauche) 7A(7A+)

August 27, 2022 - Not so tip top but still a hit.

Even though I already went to Videlles les Roches several times, I had never visited the area of Videlles l'Abattoir right next to it. Pieter is in the forest again this weekend and looking forward to climbing in the shade of the dense trees, he was keen to join.
As usual when visiting a new area, I had lots of boulders that I wanted to see and try, which makes it difficult to focus on something specific. We tried several boulders, but I only got away with "Tip Top Hit", which I did on my second attempt while warming up.
I wanted to also get away with the beautiful "Cadeau pour un Pote", of which I did all the moves separately but as it was after several hours of climbing, couldn't find the energy anymore to link it all together. It's a boulder that I will go back for soon though, making it my main goal for the day.

Fontainebleau - Videlles l'Abattoir - Tip Top Hit 7A

Pieter doing one of the beautiful moves of "Tip Top Hit".