July 31, 2016 - I'm back!

Yesterday morning, we left at 5h30 in the morning for an 800 km long drive back home from the South of France.
7 hours later (we had a good drive) we arrived back home, and about an hour and a half later, I was already in Rocher du Télégraphe.
The last problem I climbed before leaving on holiday was "Coup d'Epaule", and now I immediately wanted to do the sitstart.

I needed some time to adapt to the rock again and my feet even hurt in my shoes. I had to get used to them again, or was it the other way around?
Either way, I still remembered the moves from the stand and as the sit doesn't add that much to it, it was done pretty quickly.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Télégraphe - Coup d'Epaule (assis) 7A(7A+)

I also did the newly opened "Burpees", a little bit down the hill, but as I'm not sure that I did everything correctly, I will not post the video yet. I will first ask the opener, Tony (Fouchereau), his opinion.
I did take a picture of the boulder though ...

The "Burpees" boulder.

Today, around noon, I went to Jean des Vignes to check the low 'tooth' hold of "La Faim du Tigre".

When I tried it a couple of weeks ago for the first time, it was wet, despite the weather being sunny and hot since a couple of days. I guess that the rain that's trapped inside the soft sandstone is being evacuated via the lowest point of the 'tooth'.

No matter what I tried, I just couldn't hold on to that slippery humid hold long enough.

Now, however, it was dry!

It didn't take long to finish it off, but I did hurt myself a couple of times by hitting the small boulder under it with my back.

The first 2 moves and taking the swing are hard, but from then on, it becomes quite soft for the grade.

The total package however, gets 5 stars from me on bleau.info! I really enjoyed climbing this!

Fontainebleau - Jean des Vignes - La Faim du Tigre 7B

Back in 2011, I did "La Volte-Face (direct)", a problem at about 10m from "La Faim du Tigre", and as I was there and wanted to have it on video, I moved the crashpad and my stuff over there.

I remember that back then, I really had a lot of trouble with the mantle topout.
Today, however, the dyno took me some more tries, but once I made the jump and held on to the slopey hold on the top, I mantled it out with much ease.
The grade probably will be correct, but now it felt easy. The long rest on my holiday has done me good after all.

Fontainebleau - Jean des Vignes - La Volte-Face (direct) 7B

For my short after diner evening session, I set off to an isolated boulder in Roche au Four.
The steep overhang with "Nuit Debout" is visually one of the nicest boulders around, according to me.

It is strange that it took so long to be discovered as it it can be found at about 50m left of the path when walking towards the 95.2 area, right across "Symbiose".
Fact is that when seeing the boulder from the path, the overhang is not that visible.

I tried "Nuit Debout (gauche)" some weeks ago, but I gave up on it quickly, deeming it too morpho.
This evening was no different, except for my approach. I used an intermediate sloper low left and slowly worked my way up.
The undercling under the roof for the right hand however, cut deep into my skin and hurt more and more as I got my left hand higher up the arete. It becomes morpho after the second move, putting the right hand under more and more pressure as you go.

All in all, it took me about an hour to do it. This felt really hard for the grade, and deserves to my humble opinion an upgrade to 7A+. It felt much harder than "La Faim du Tigre", but I think that the morpho part makes a big difference.

I am scratched, bruised and hurt, but I'm loving it! I'm back!

Fontainebleau - Roche au Four - Nuit Debout (gauche) 7A

July 28, 2016 - No Bleau.

I'm on holiday in Le Thoronet, in the Var, South of France, between Aix-en-Provence and Nice, so unfortunately no Bleau climbing for a week.

There is, however, a small bouldering area in Vidauban, at about 20 minutes driving from here.
The area is about the size of Franchard Isatis and Cuisinière combined and is located on top of a hill next to the A8 highway, right above the Aire de Vidauban, hence the noise on the video.
The short video shows 3 red problems in the sector Face Nord, the sector closest to the parking.

It must have been about 6 years ago when I went climbing there for the first time.
There had been a forest fire the year before, so back then the boulders were easily visible and reachable.
Now that the vegetation has grown back, however, the boulders are barely visible anymore and very hard to reach sometimes.
The first time was years ago in May, so the heat was still bearable and you have to take the strong mistral wind into account too. Especially high up on the hill.
The noise of the A8 highway is something you have to cope with too.

We went for a short climb a couple of days ago, on the second day of the holiday because it was a bit clouded, but heavily hot.
My son was there too and didn't want to climb so I had to limit myself to only a few problems.
The topo is not available anymore on zebloc.com, so no 7's but some red problems.
My guess would be from 6A to 6C.

The video only shows a fraction of the available amount of climbable boulders.
There is so much more to do, but it is not recommended to go there in Summer when temperatures easily reach 35°C in the shade. Even at 21h it's still over 30°C.
I do recommend the visit. The view only is already worth it.

Vidauban - Face Nord - 3 red problems

The view from high up on the hill. (Picture by Anthony)

July 21, 2016 - Watch your step!

After work I quickly went to Rocher du Télégraphe to check out some new opened problems.
I didn't have much time but was able to climb one of them, "Coup d'Epaule", a very nice arete on quite positive holds. Not a give-away though, or maybe it was me being a bit scared from falling onto the small boulder right next of it.

My right leg is getting much better, but I can feel that I lost a lot of power in it due to the constant limping for a couple of weeks. While trying "Coup d'Epaule", I even had difficulties to stop it from shaking.

There are some more problems, all variations, on the same boulder and on a big boulder 8m to the right of it, but I had to limit myself to trying only "Coup d'Epaule" due to lack of time.
I will return soon though to try some more, now that I know where to find them.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Télégraphe - Coup d'Epaule 7A(6C+)

In the evening after eating and swimming, I went to Jean des Vignes and crossed a small viper on my way. I nearly stepped on it as it was in the middle of the big path Chemin de la Vallée Close, at about 30m from the parking.

It was a reminder to watch my steps, because, even if a bite will not kill you, a trip to the emergencies is advised to get antidote, and it will give you a high fever.

Be warned you all!!

The viper on the path.

July 19, 2016 - Oh the irony ...

Oh the irony ... this evening at 21h it was still 29°C and I went for a short climb in Roche au Four. 'Four' is the French word for 'oven'.

It did feel like an oven there in the small sector at barely 100m from the parking of the Croix Saint-Jerôme.
It was way too hot to go and find a 7th grade problem, so I did a nice 6C right next to "L'Huître Bleu".

"L'Huître Perlière" is a small, slightly overhanging pillar with marbled slopers. Not exactly ideal in this heat, where you start sweating just by breathing.
Only 6C but it felt like a 7A in these conditions. The marbled slopers were still warm and the boulder heated up the air just around it even more.

Fontainebleau - Roche au Four - L'Huître Perlière 6C

July 17, 2016 - Searching for shade.

It promised to be hot today and I made the wrong choice to go to Jean des Vignes just before noon.
All the boulders are on the South face of the hill and completely exposed to the sun.
In the end the heat became unbearable, so I went looking for some shade in some more dense vegetation.
Some problems passed on my way, but I wasn't able to finish any of them, and yes, I use the heat as an excuse. It was simply hot, too hot.

In the end, I did find a nice little roof problem that was all about shade, except for some parts of the outclimb.
Looking at the name of the problem, "70° à l'Ombre", makes me believe that it has been opened on a hot day too.
It's soft for the grade, I did it on my second attempt, and mainly because I made a misjudgement on my flash attempt.
In a way, it would have been totally OK if I would have had to work longer in it. It was nice there in the shade. The mosquitos thought the same though.

Fontainebleau - Jean des Vignes - 70° à l'Ombre 6C+

During my noon session, I briefly tried "La Tempête Divine (assis)", but the prow on bad slopers was completely in the sun and thus simply impossible to hold on to. Even the standstart which is 6C(6C+) didn't work out.
Igor (Depoorter) however sent me a message during the day, saying that he had done "Gorétatov" in this heat, and in the evening he let me know that also "Coup de Force" was in the pocket. In these conditions an extraordinary prestation!! Again, well done, animal!!

In the evening, after diner, I went back to Jean des Vignes to try "La Tempête Divine (assis)" again, but this time in the shade, even though the temperature was still 27°C.
Sorry, Igor, for not letting you know, but I felt like I had to do this on my own. This isolated boulder in the back of Jean des Vignes just asks for it to be climbed alone.

At first when I tried the standstart, I didn't get further than I did at noon, but after slightly changing my method and body position, it suddenly felt possible and a couple of tries later, the standstart was done. All I had to do now was link the moves from the sitstart to it.
At noon, I was able to do all the moves until passed the standstart, but linking it all together seemed to be still a struggle.
On my before last attempt, I had the last hold, but not good enough and fell off. That's when I saw that the skin of my right index finger had become so thin that it even started bleeding.
I knew I had only one attempt left, gave it all I had and ... made it.
Trying this in the evening shade was so much different than my short noon session in full direct sun.
When I arrived back at the car at 20h55, it was still 26°C ... in the shade ...

Fontainebleau - Jean des Vignes - La Tempête Divine (assis) 7A+

July 15, 2016 - Short short short, long long long, short short short.

I went to Rocher du Télégraphe this morning to check out the new (re)opened problems along the former blue path and near the blue circuit. Of course I also tried a couple of them.

It's not the most popular area and, to be honest, it probably never will be for some reasons.
I went straight to the top of the hill so I could work my way down.
On the top, I first tried "Pudding à l'Arsenic (debout)" which took me quite some tries before I was able to finish it.
The original, the sitstart followed soon after.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Télégraphe - Pudding à l'Arsenic 7A

I really felt tired before I started climbing, and on my way up the hill, when I passed by "Carabistouille", I stopped and looked at it and it just looked way too hard in the state I was in.
Now, however, after having done "Pudding à l'Arsenic", I was warmed up and the tone was set so I went back down to try "Carabistouille".
I was able to do the first move quicker than I had expected. The next moves followed soon, but everything had to be synch before I was able to link it all together.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Télégraphe - Carabistouille 7A

It was starting to get warmer now, but I still wanted to try "Prouepriagenoux", about 10m down the blue path from there.
It looks really easy, and I thought I might be able to flash it, but I was wrong, and I was set on the wrong method due to its name.
The method to which its name refers might have worked for Tony who is a very tall guy, but I had to use a toe- and heelhook.
Also, I'm sure that Tony would have been able to do it differently than me. I was inches away of using a static method. Inches that Tony has.
Anyway, I made it, but I must say that it looks much easier than one would expect.

Fontainebleau - Rocher du Télégraphe - Prouepriagenoux 7A

For those who don't know, "short short short, long long long, short short short" is the Morse code for SOS.

July 14, 2016 - Take off that shirt.

It's Bastille Day today, the French National Feast day, meaning it's a public holiday, so time to climb.

I went to Mont Simonet again.
Every time I'm there, I always have the impression that the area is totally underestimated. OK, it lies in the shadow of the hugely popular area of l'Eléphant, but still, the amount of climbable boulders and problems are more than enough to be able to spend all day there.
I was there for only a couple of hours, but long enough to climb some very nice problems.

I wanted to warm up in "Le Triathlète" but after a couple of tries, it started raining. Not much, but enough to force me to wrap up my stuff and go for shelter under the big boulder of "Duke Nukem".
In a way, I made a positive out of a negative by using the time needed for the sandstone to dry, to inspect the holds of "La Tortue Lutte (droite)".
As the rain shower was only short, the wind and sunshine after it, dried everything after about 10 minutes, so I didn't have to wait long before I could give it a try.

If it wouldn't have the big boulder in the back, I guess this will be about 7A. Trying to avoid touching the boulder behind you too much, though, requires some extra body tension to add up to the grade.
I had to restart a couple of due to the touching, but made it after all. I would say it's soft for the grade.

Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - La Tortue Lutte (droite) 7B

Up next was "Duke Nukem".
I enjoyed doing this a lot!
Sitstart with a crimp, far deadpoint move onto a high crimp, prepare for the next move and doing a strange dynamic move up to a jug-ish hold far left, hold onto it for dear life and hope you keep sticking both holds until the foot is on the start crimp. From then on it's quite safe to say it's done.
Two hard moves to start and then an easier part up. Four stars!!

Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - Duke Nukem 7A+

While looking for the next problem, there were a few contenders but in the end I chose "Colorado Provençal" on the backside of the boulder of "Motivé".
With only two publicly registered repeats, obviously not the most popular problem of the area, but I wonder why.
For me this was the hardest problem of the day.

It starts under the roof with a horizontal slopey rail with only footholds for the left foot, every time using them for a heelhook.
It took me while before I had figured out how to move and where to reach to be able to come out of the roof.
Once out of the roof the holds become slightly better but it's far from over yet. The mantle into the wall above proved to a small fight on itself.
When I was finally free standing in the wall, I really had to, and wanted to, take my time. I didn't want to fall off here, because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to the first part again.
Luckily resting is easy while standing there so I try regain as much strength possible to climb my way to the top.
Some balance required, foot high, some pulling on sandy slopers and ... yes. Done!

Fontainebleau - Mont Simonet - Colorado Provençal 7A+