Happy Holidays – Fontainebleau

The comp season is over for 2012.  I was collected from Paris just after watching the women’s boulder final and was in sunny Fontainebleau a short time later.  This is what holidays are made of.  I could have wondered around the forest for a day or so, sat on a rock in the dappled sun taking in the forest for quite a long time… but the temptation of the climbing got the better of me and I just climbed and climbed some more until the following Friday.  It was glorious weather all week.

I thought my skin was going to give out on the second day, but I managed to slow the the pace enough to make it last.  We visited the popular Apremont Ouest and Isatis, along with some beautiful quieter areas such as Gorges de Houx and Reconnaissance. 

I came really close to Alta (7b+/7c) at Isatis, working it with some of the Japanese team that we bumped into.  They have a really good dynamic and the ‘gambas’, big pads, lots of spotters and pointing out of ripples in the slopey top out really helped.  It was the end of the day and I slipped off the slopey top and had to call it quits.  I may have to make this a project and return to it.  Y’a Pas Photo (7a+) was a goer though (see photos below), but took a bit of work as it was reachy.  I ended using a fist jam to get enough reach to come out from the roof.  I still have a hole in my hand, but it was worth it for getting a technique that I am poor at to work.

Where ever we ended up, I had a look around and in the book and chose a couple of problems in the 7’s to try.  It didn’t matter what grade, just something to work at.  The workers often ended up being the other ‘easier’ climbs, especially the 5+’s.  The standing joke of the holiday was that if it we couldn’t climb it then it must be a 5+.

There was one exception to the haphazard problem choosing, we talked about boulders at the campsite and Bleaus Art sounded good.  It was.  Here’s a video.

Bleau's Art from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

We also talked about the enormous hedgehog that woke us up trying to steal our food.  Apparently he was called Benson!

I ‘warmed up’ on Duroxmanie (6c) at Cuvier Rempart on one of the days (see photos below).  I scared myself at the top, having got a flash pump (and I just get scared on higher stuff).  I did a LHS sit start, but couldn’t work out the direct sit start.  We moved on to Reconnaissance and I found this nice little problem (Le Petit Poum, 7b, video below).  The sit start felt plausible for me, but I couldn’t connect into the top sequence.

Petit Poum from Peter Jeffery on Vimeo.

We all decided that the orange circuit was the way forward at Apremont Ouest.  It was a day when everything felt hard.  It was fun swinging around on slightly bigger holds, but there were still plenty of surprises.