Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 4

It's October - nearly November - and I am still writing this up 2 months on.  Truth be told I can't really remember the details any more so will have to cross reference photos, log books and other people's blogs to see what we got up to :)

Day 6 saw us go to Cul de Chien, where we last went in 2016.  It's a beautiful place, full of wide sandy clearings and interesting boulders with good landings.  Rumour has it the clearings were created by the German Army looking for supplies dropped in the forest by the Allies for the French Resistance (if you read Part 3 you'll know more about this).

We had chosen Cul de Chien today as it dries quickly - the weather was looking a bit threatening - and no sooner had we arrived than we bumped in to Patrick out on another of his runs.  He assured us it wasn;t going to rain, and then he was off again.  Before I had really had a chance to warm up however it rained, and I must admit I found this rather frustrating as I was ready to get stuck in and didn't want to sit around waiting for the rain to pass.

According to my log book I climbed a bunch of oranges, and then some 4 / 4+ problems from the Blue and Red circyuits, but I think I had a good day all in all. Later in the day Kelly was trying Verglas Fréquent in a full on session mode.   I tried it a few times and then decided to go and look for something else, and around the back of the same boulder was the 6a Pince sans Rire which looked tempting.  I thought I got it after several attempts, but looking back at how I did it I think that I used holds which can't be in at that grade, and didn't follow the line of the problem properly.  However, as I write this I realise that bleau.info has picked up my video of me climbing the problem so maybe I can count it :D

Day 7 then was our last day. We wanted to get up and out early to maximise the climbing and give us time to pack after and headed to Rocher Guichot which has the advantage of being right next to the car park.  Turn up, walk in, climb a few things, bump into Patrick..  We'd suspect him of stalking us, but he was as surprised as we were! I apparently climbed 3 things here before the rain came in, and while we were sheltering under an overhang I found a cave to explore behind it and camped out in there.

Once the rain stopped we explored a little further, and discovered an area which makes you walk in circles; after Jim mocked me for reappearing after saying I was heading back he managed to do exactly the same thing!  Sadly the rain returned even heavier, so we decided to go back to the gite and pack.  While the sun dried up the rain I headed over to the Aire where Lolly and Jim were staying to look at her van which wouldn't start that morning, I didn't manage to solve it but the French breakdown guy had it running in 5 minutes - a good dose of brake cleaner into the intake manifold!

It soon dried out again, and we decided to head to 91.1 - another revisit, this time only from last year, also on our last day.  Andy and I had a good day touring the area and trying various things, enjoying the last day of the holiday, while Jim was sessioning Le Flipper.  At the end of the day I found a really fun problem called Pégase which was very satisfying to climb as working out the sequence was an exercise in technique.  It was som much fun I think I made everyone have a go at it, and I was really pleased for Liz when she got it.  What an end to the holiday!

With that it was back to the gite to finish up the food and wine before the long long drive back to Sheffield - I was delighted when we got to Calais to hear them say "boarding in 10 minutes" as we had managed to catch the earlier ferry, and pretty much as soon as I was on board the ramp when up and the doors started closing - don't think that could have been much closer.

One more thing of note though - driving back up the M1 and I was really hitting tired and hungry, when I get a message from Andy suggesting we stop at a pub he'd found near Newport Pagnell (The Chester Arms in Chicheley).  I pull up in the car park, and who do I see but Patrick!  No, that didn't happen.  But it was a very nice pub and the accommodated us in a mezzanine.  After our meal we got chatting about how far we had driven and how far we had to go, and the waiter said "So are you guys on tour then?" and after being momentarily stumped I realised that yes, we probably do look like a band!

Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 3: A Tale of 25 Bosses

So, day 3. A rest day.

"Rest".

You may recall that last year Kelly ran Le Circuit des 25 Bosses by himself in the pouring rain, nearly resulting in us sending out a search party.  Well Liz had mentioned the possibility of us doing it this year, but starting at the adjacent car park rather than running all the way there and back from our Gite (and we were staying much closer this year than last!)  15km is a distance I am comfortable with, and at the top end of Liz's distance plan for this year.

 I know I can do 15km in around 90 minutes, but considering the terrain I doubled that and set expectations to about 3 hours, and we decided to set off between 9 and 10 in the morning so we got most of the running out of the way before the heat of midday, and so we had the afternoon to do other things.  Andy and Kelly decided to join us on the run, which was reassuring as Kelly had run the course before and both of them had watches where they could upload the route for that extra bit of navigation just in case it came to it - the circuit is marked with regular red indicators on rocks and trees, but it helps to be prepared.

The morning broke and it was time for the pre-run rituals - coffee and a banana, pack my trail pack with nutrition, water, and a few extra layers just in case, and we head to the car park at Croix Saint Jerome. We set off in high spirits, and before too long we are running up and down rocky undulations and climbing the first proper hill, giving us a taste of what was to come.  Breaking above the treeline for the first time treated us to an amazing view, although it was very hazy with lots of moisture hanging in the humid air so we weren't afforded the spectacular views which I'm told are possible on a clearer day.  Before too long we found ourselves at Le monument de la Résistance à Noisy sur Ecole - a very large Cross of Lorraine erected in 1946 to commemorate the efforts of the French Resistance during World War 2.  A searchlight was located on this spot to direct an allied drop of supplies for the resistance which was parachuted into a sandy clearing and hidden away in the Cave of Rochebelle.

After posing for a few photos we were on our way again, climbing subsequent hills and sometimes getting sight of the monument as a great indicator of how far we had come.  At one stage I was in the lead of the group and was picking my way down a rocky track when a French gentleman stops and speaks to us.  Now I'll be the first to admit my french is not great, so just about managed to communicate that we were English and after a bit of mental effort on both sides we managed a conversation - "Are you sticking to the trails?" he asked, and I answer "oui" thinking he was making sure we didn't stray off the path.  It turns out that he wanted to know if we were running the trail and when we said yes he started talking with enthusiasm about it at it transpired that he helps to maintain the circuit, was 70 years old, and runs in the forest every day and that running must be good for you because he was still here.

We talk for a while longer about climbing (he is/was also a climber) and the history of the area, before he turns around and says come with me, I'll show you more.  We set off and he is surprisingly nimble, keeping up with him is hard work at times - not due so much to his speed, but his sure-footedness on the terrain and his ability to read it, flowing effortlessly with nature (a lesson for all of us there I feel).  As we run, walk and wait we establish that he is a part of Les Amis de la Forêt de Fontainebleau and along with his retired friends maintains the red route markers as well as performing hard work to reduce the impact of people on the terrain, particularly erosion control.

Along the way each time we crested a hill he would point out the hills and climbing areas visible from that hill, as well as stories of the history and geology of the area, and how it is quite unique in having been created from a relatively small sand bar under the sea many many years ago, which turned into stone at a very cold temperature which created the hard sandstone so typical of the region, and the reason we were there.  This area feels very special, very unique, and very beautiful, and to have a local guide who was so knowledgeable give up his time to run with us was amazing.

As we continued he showed us the many and varied bivouac of the forest - some are dangerous due to cracks in the rock above and some are safe and you can go inside and see well crafted stone fireplaces, beds, shelves, and the like.  Those that are dangerous are labelled with good reason, as along the way we also saw where a roof has very clearly fallen. Some of these bivouac, such as that at Rocher du Potala, are very well known and easy to see and others are hidden where you would only find these if you knew where to look, so we were very privileged to have been shown them, and to have had some of the rock engravings pointed out to us - some being a lot older than others.

Eventually it was time for him to leave us - he had received a phone call a while back which appeared to go something along the lines of "Hello, I found some English people to run with.  I'll be home soon" and we snuck a short break in.  My watch had been beeping every kilometre as we travelled along, and every time he had said "time for tea?" - at first I thought he was under the impression it was an alarm, but as we continued I realised this was his sense of humour playing on English stereotypes and right now a cup of tea would have been, well, spiffing! I'd already shared out my emergency fun size packs of haribo, and eaten two energy bars, and I was flagging.

Before too long my water ran out too, and I realised just how badly I had underestimated the challenge of this run.  It had definitely moved from the territory of Type 1 Fun and into Type 2 Fun, and was in danger of becoming Type 3 Fun. I was determined to finish it though, and even to run where I could.  I led a section for a bit again, and it really is a challenge following the tags to navigate your way through the forest; as soon as you catch sight of a marker you have to interpret it to understand the direction you should take and have your eyes up for the next one.  It really is a breadcrumb trail and when trying to move at speed you have to be constantly scanning and thinking and your route takes you over, around and sometimes through rocks and trees - if you go very far at all without seeing one you NEED to backtrack if you don't want to end up very lost!

The last few hills were particularly hard work, and with a mouthful of Kelly's water I had a caffeine mocha gel which gave me a brief burst of go - but the uphills were all definitely walking now as were most of the downhills due to technical terrain and some of the flats as it was just hard work.  Such was my state by this point I was getting a little bit emotional, and I am grateful to Liz's hugs and motivation for keeping me going.  At one point we had to mantle over a rock on the top of a hill, far more akin to bouldering than running, and it took me a while to psyche myself up to do it then I needed a lie down.

Eventually though we were on the sandy main path back to the car park and from somewhere my legs moved me faster, getting me to the gate in time to take a photo of the rest of the group finishing.  Utterly exhausted but so so glad to have finished we made our way back to the gite where a much needed drink of water was consumed, with the second glass going straight over my head.  What had been somewhat optimistically forecast as a 3 hour run had taken us 6 hours, albeit with diversions and a guided tour of the secrets of the forest thrown in for good measure.



Would I do it again? Absolutely!  Will I prepare better, take more food and more water next time? Definitely!  Will I think I can do it in 3 hours> No way!

That was a great rest day, even if not really a traditional definition of rest.  It was nothing that some beer, bread and cheese, a hot shower, and wine and a barbecue couldn't shift.  Coming up next: a return to climbing for the last two days.

Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 2

Day 3 of the climbing holiday, and we decided to go to Rocher du Potala - Liz, Ceri and I went here last year and really enjoyed it, I got a few blues on that trip and was keen to try and get some harder stuff this year.  I also decided to try out my new action camera, a WaspCAM ROX 9942 which I managed to pick up cheap earlier in the year (half the price of that Amazon listing) to video a few climbs.  I started out warming up on some Yellows and Oranges with Liz, Ceri, Sheila and Lolly which gave me a great opportunity to test the camera.


After one yellow and two oranges it was time to get moving on the blue circuit and get a bit of good climbing under my belt. Unfortunately although the circuit had been updated in 2017 the topos on bleau.info are not using the new numbering, and only Andy's 2018 edition of Fun Bloc had this circuit in so mapping problems got a bit tricky and there are still two I haven't managed to marry up.  After cribbing some beta off Andy and Kelly who had already done a few of these while I was warming up I got a number of problems under my belt, and after trying a traverse a few times with Andy and Kelly I decided I needed to go and climb something to keep my head in the game.

I wandered a short distance away and found a nice little bit of rock in Astérix and decided to set my camera up and give it a go. It was an interesting problem with a combination of slopey holds to palm down on and crimpy holds on a balancey concave slab. If felt very much like some of the shoulder heavy inside corner problems sometimes set at The Climbing Works which are great fun when you crack them.  The practice must have paid off as I flashed it on sight, though I wasn't sure I was going to as at the point where Andy and Kelly wandered over I was precariously balanced and quite contorted - one of those moments where you have to be careful how you breath lest you topple over backwards off the rock!  Once I'd got the foot up it was all over and I topped out before supporting Andy while he worked out how to approach it - a theme of the holiday was how differently all of us climb and where our strengths and weaknesses are.  With a niggly should this wasn't an ideal problem for Andy, but he got it done.


We carried on climbing long into the evening here as I think we were all in the zone and feeling quite psyched - Liz had an orange traverse she was projecting, Kelly was working on Acid, and other people had their own favourite bit of rock to tickle.  Andy and I found a nice big lump of rock with interesting problems on, though sadly quite a few of these don't match up with the bleau.info topo so I don't know much about them. A particular highlight for me here was La Farissure - a 5+ wall climb with some nice cracks on it which again needed shoulders:


The as yet un-named Blue 16 was not quite so straightfoward. The start was fine, but I seemingly struggled to work out how to get over the rounded top so resorted to stroking and fondling the rock until I found a way to handle it


We joined Liz looking at her Orange traverse for a bit, had a look around some other bits, before finding another fun problem - also a traverse - to play on.  This was a really nice way to end the day.


If anyone can tell me the name of this problem I would love to know, as Liz was doing really well on it - completing all the technical moves and just lacking the strength left in her arms to mantle the top out - and wants to put it on her "to do" list.

Three days of climbing done. A "rest" day to follow.  I'll let those quote marks pique your interest as to just how restful it was...

Fontainebleau Diary 2018 - Part 1

I'm conscious of the fact I haven't updated this in quite some time; I started writing about running and climbing to give myself something to focus on and at the start of this year I made the decision to run for fun not for targets. Part of that fun was letting go of obsession with statistics, training plans and whatever else which led to a more relaxed view on documenting them too. I've run a few races this year and am keeping up with it, just not pushing speed, distance and training plans. Maybe there will be a retrospective of the year at some point.

 Anyway, this is a climbing update. September always marks the annual group trip to the iconic forest of Fontainebleau, the home of bouldering, to spend a week in the forest with bread, cheese and rocks. This year it was the earliest we have been for various logistical reasons, and on Friday 31st August we converged on The Norman Guesthouse in Dover for the 3rd year in a row, where Laz remembered us (if not our names) and we found a delightful micropub in The Lanes to refresh ourselves before heading for a curry at The Virsa. Saturday morning saw Laz treat us to breakfast before it was time for the ferry and we were on our way.

After a long and rather warm drive south through France we arrived at Gîte La Rochetine on the outskirts of Noisy-sur-École - ideally located for the Trois Pignon area.  Once settled in went for a 6km run in the forest to stretch our legs after the drive before settling down to a dinner of pasta and a glass of wine.

So, Sunday and time to climb. We decided to go for an area we had not tried before in La Ségognole where we met up with two of Kelly's climbing partners of old, Jim and Lolly, who had made the trip down from Bristol a few days before us and were staying in their vans. Historically the first day has been a day of getting carried away and climbing a whole load of problems at a relatively easy grade, but this year I decided I wanted to try a little bit harder and set my eyes on problems in the Red Circuits and/or Font 5 difficulty. I ended up getting 13 Yellow and 13 Orange problems - yellows being mostly Font 2 or 3 and Oranges Font 3 or 4 - but I was also really happy to pick off Calvaire from the Red circuit, a crimpy arete climb coming in at Font 5; what a great start to the day!  I also decided that this was the perfect place to do a bit of lunchtime yoga, with a Tree in the Forest

The second day of climbing saw us return to Canche aux Merciers, a location we last went in 2015 which was my first trip to Font. That year I climbed Yellows and Oranges, and one Blue (the Blue circuit at Canche is mostly 4s and 5s). This year I got 11 yellows and then knocked out 8 blues - definitely demonstrating my climbing progress in 3 years. 3 of these were rated 5-, but enough time has passed that I can't remember any specifics.  So that's two days down, and doing really well on my target of pushing myself to climb things which stretch me a bit.  Oh, and two days of lazing in the sun eating lunch too :D

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 6

The last day of our holiday was forecast to be an utter washout, to the point we had started thinking about tourist destinations, indoor climbing walls, and other things to stop us getting cabin fever.  As mentioned yesterday the forecast climbed up towards the evening and when we woke up to blue skies we did indeed invoke our backup plan of 91.1 with my plan being warming up on the orange circuit and then pushing myself a little on the red circuit.

Things started off pretty much to plan; we warmed up on a few low level yellows and then started on a taller route which may have been called Les Fuilles Mortes on a boulder known as Casque which was a nice 6 metre climb, but at the top there was a great big hornet sat atop to the ridge I wanted to put my hand on to get to the downclimb. Instead I had to traverse a 45 degree slab while constantly watching it in case it took affront to me being on it's rock. Thankfully it never moved and I got down without incident :)

After this I felt it was time to look at harder things so Andy and I went to Flip Flop to try a couple of crimpy slabby problems on the red circuit - Le Savon and the harder La Savonette. I decided to try straight off on the harder 6a problem but I just couldn't get off the ground, and as it turned out I couldn't start the easier problem either.

From here we moved on to Ingratitude which I was struggling with as I couldn't trust the first foot.  Kelly got it sent without much fuss and then Andy managed to get it done too.  I worked this one for quite a while and eventually managed to find a starting foot which worked for me and get stood up, and then in a few more attempts I had the rest sorted and was over the top.  Totally stoked to get a 5b+ in Font, definitely the hardest thing I have climbed in the forest.

I moved on to try La Gratitude after, but this one was a 5c+ and my energy levels were waning, after a valiant effort where I got half way up and couldn't stick it I was rather shattered so went for a rest and to see what Liz and Ceri were working on for a bit, then to see how Ed was getting on with Le Flipper.

Just as I was thinking of giving it another go there was a brief rain shower so we stopped for lunch, only to have to scatter all directions for shelter when the rain got heavier, hastily stuffing half made sandwiches in any safe location we could find and then hiding under rocks until it started to dry out.  With lunch finally done I was enjoying some digesting time then gently getting my head back in to it on a traverse when the rain came back even heavier, so it was back to our caves.

When we emerged after the worst of the rain had eased off all the rocks were soaked and there was no chance of further climbing, so we packed up and headed home to finish off the last of the beer and wine and to treat ourselves to pizza from Croq Forêt before the long drive home.

In the words of Lars Ulrich, Same time next year?

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 5

After the torrential rain of our rest day we woke up to a chilly morning with very wet ground, but a mostly blue sky with warming sunshine. This meant we put in to play our plan to see if there was parking at Gorge aux Chats with a backup of 91.1 if it was busy.  As it happened there were only 2 other cars in the small layby at the side of the road (And they too were British).  We made the very short walk in and started to warm up on the new yellow circuit which isn't listed on Bleau.info yet as they have not graded them.  After a while I started to add in blue problems as this year I have been trying not to go for volume on the easy problems but instead climb withing my grade on blues and try to push myself on to reds.  The first to go was Rohald Dalle which was a classic crimpy slab Font problem; as I was figuring it out the first of what transpired to be several rain showers came in giving me time to examine the feet while it dried, and I was stoked to get it sent.

After this Andy and I decided to try Dallain from the red circuit (font 6a), we were both getting up to the good right and side pull, and bailing out.  We both decided it was a dyno to the top as although I could see a static route it wasn't going to go for me.  Andy managed to catch the top and found an awesome ledge but came down, so we popped around the corner and went up the blue to check the top out.  This gave Andy the confidence to try it again and he got it done, I climbed back up to where I had got to before but utterly bottled it, I rarely have the balls for a dyno when I'm inside so this would really have needed me to commit to it.

After this the rain came back briefly so we sheltered under some roofs while eating lunch and commenting on how similar to The Roaches this weather was (in joke reference to an ill fated trip across the Peak District last year which means I am no longer allowed to proffer an opinion on the weather forecast when we are trying to go climbing.)

After lunch all my motivation had evaporated so I tried to get my head back in to it on some yellows, before getting La Bascule done - the very problem you can see us sheltering under above. It was then back to lovely quartzy crimpy slabs with La Minou and L'Arbre à Pain which I was really pleased to get.

We then headed up to some classic steep roofy problems which Ed, Kelly and Andy were trying, Liz, Kelly and I wandered down to try some easier things and were just getting started on La Boule and the neighbouring Petanque before another and unfortunately heavier rain came in which knocked us out for longer, eventually the sun came out again and we tried Pomme and Le Terrorist but the top was too damp and I lacked balls (again) to finish it.  Instead I got another crimpy slab in La Dalle Bleue and then we finished up with La Traversée des Fougères before returning to base for beer and chilli. Tomorrows forecast has appeared to clear up, so we may yet get to 91.1 - watch this space.

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 4

Today is a rest day, so I wasn't planning on have anything much to write about as I wasn't planning on doing very much.  When I got up I found Kelly D preparing for a 32km run taking in Le Circuit des 25 bosses which cut through a number of areas we have climbed in.  Liz emerged soon after and we agreed to go on a 5km run, so plotted a route and set off after we had finished our drinks.

We started out ok, but the second crossroads appeared several hundred meters sooner than expected and rather than do the sensible thing and turn left there anyway I decided to carry on. We soon went past the point where the crossroads should have been, so decided to take a trail on our left.  Before too long this started to go up and get quite rocky, and before we knew it we were on top of a rocky ridge and stumbled across what appeared to be a folly

This was all very scenic, and apparently on a good day you can see the Eiffel Tower from up here (it wasn't that clear) but slightly more alarmingly there was a shallow pit with the scorched carcass of a wild boar in it.  A sacrifice? Someone trying to roast a boar and discovering it was much harder than expected? Who knows, but it was a little spooky.

We continued along the ridge path, knowing that on either side of us there was a good trail we could pick up and in front of us there was a path too, so we were on the look out for a way down.  Eventually it felt like we had hit the end of the outcrop and with no obvious way down we were picking our way down freshly turned earth where boar had obviously been foraging for truffles, and ducking and diving between rocks and trees before we eventually found a track we knew and headed back to the gite.  When we got home Ceri had cooked pancakes which were much appreciated.

Over breakfast I researched our journey and discovered that we had stumbled across La Tour de la Vierge à Arbonne-la-Forêt (Google Maps location) which was apparently built in 1862, but does not mention sacrifices of boar...  Further reading suggests it is a religious shrine considered to be the site of the conversion of a poet.



The rest of the day involved much relaxation, Andy and Kelly G both went for runs and came back decidedly damper than we did as the rain is really coming down now - it's a good job this is a rest day.  Really hoping it blows over and we can get another day outside tomorrow, otherwise I may have to bite the bullet and go for a long run. There was almost an interruption to the relaxation when Kelly D didn't return from his epic run when expected but just as we were convening the search party and pulling together a plan to cover his route he appeared around the corner and we could stand down, instead plying him with coffee and cake.

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 3

For our third day in Fontainebleau we split in to two groups; Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly went to Bas Cuvier to session the classic problems La Marie-Rose and Duroxmanie while I went to Rocher du Potala with Liz and Ceri.  Our aim was to get lots of the Yellow and Orange circuits plus anything else which took my fancy.

The first problems on the orange and yellow circuits were on a fairly tall slab, but the climbing was good and I got up both of them.  We meandered around the circuit trying various things along the way, in total I got 7 oranges and 9 yellows.

Depart Yellow and Orange

There were a couple of tasty blue problems which I attempted as well, Scorpion was a lovely traverse under a roof and then over the roof from a ledge, I was really pleased to flash it on sight and it felt really good.

Scorpion 

Having noted what I climbed from the book I got thoroughly confused looking at Bleau.info as nothing matched up, I think the others I managed to climb were La Parfumerie and La Douce.

It was a good day at a gentle pace, and once again the rain threatened us but then went away before it could do any damage.  Tomorrow is a rest day, and we will see what the rest of the week brings.

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 2

Day 2 saw us head to Apremont, targeting the area known to Jingo Wobbly as Apremont Chaos but in Bleau.info it is listed as Apremont Est. Chaos is an appropriate name, as we ended up parking at the wrong car park and taking a while to find the boulders we were looking for - but at least we didn't have the problem which we hit last year and again little bit last year where the circuits have been renumbered since our guide books were written.

We started out on the Green Circuit which dates back to 1952 and is an alpine circuit, designed so you can climb the problems in order and link them all together without touching the ground.  Nowadays this is a relatively unusual approach (though still found around Fontainebleau) but it has it's roots in the history of bouldering as a training exercise for mountain climbers, hence the term alpine circuit.  After the first few problems though this was not doing it for me, I suspect that it is wisest to follow such a circuit in a smaller group so there is less queuing. I took the opportunity instead to doze on a rock in the sun for a bit while the others followed it further.

Depart of the white circuit. Elsewhere painting on rocks would be frowned upon, but it's part of the history and tradition of Fontainebleau and most routes and problems are numbered.

Before long we found a small sandy clearing and began working La Bosse which took a few attempts but soon went with a bit of beta from Ed.

La Bosse

I'd already scoped out another problem from the Salmon Circuit which I wanted to try, however I was beginning to bottle it.  After a few other people tried it I got it on the second attempt and it felt really good.

By now Ed, Kelly, Kelly and Andy were trying Hyper Plomb, I didn't even bother as it appeared to be somewhat beyond me.  Instead I wandered around the nearby boulders and found Le Couteau which looked tasty, and with Liz to spot me I really surprised myself by flashing it onsight in a calm and controlled static fashion.

With that it was time for lunch, afterwards we were heading for the classic problem of La John Gill which involved a fair amount of getting lost and squeezing through boulders, at one point ending up on top of a rocky plateau at the summit which was rather stunning.

There were some concerted efforts on this problem from others in the group, I wasn't feeling it (common theme) so went to find some other things to try - there was a nice blue which I got most of the way up but the top was so dirty I couldn't finish it, so sat around watching others instead.  Then it was back to gite for wine and Jambalaya.  Tomorrow I believe the plan is to split in to two groups with one going to Bas Cuvier for classic problems like La Marie-Rose and another heading to Rocher du Potala to get a number of lower grades problems in; I am planning on being in the latter group as I haven't got the head for sessioning right now.

Ed attempting La John Gill

Fontainebleau Diary 2017 - Day 1

After a late night drive to Dover on Friday night followed by a hasty pint in the first acceptable pub we found it was to the B&B for (attempted) sleep.  Saturday morning saw an early ferry to Calais and a long drive across France through some rather damp weather before we arrived at Le Grand Gîte Franchard ion the late afternoon.  Unpacking and a quick shop done, we proceeded to drink all the wine we had bought and satiate appetites with copious quantities of pasta. Plans were made and in light of the weather we decided to have a relaxed start and head to Rocher Fin as it dries quickly after rain.

We awoke to a grey and damp sky, but no rain was falling. Slowly people surfaced, and we ate the traditional breakfast of coffee, grapefruit, and fried eggs on toast before loading up with climbing gear and a lunch of more coffee, fruit, baguettes, and various meats and cheeses before loading up the cars with mats and people and making the short drive out and rather longer walk in.

Ed and Kelly were planning on doing the full Orange Circuit, whereas I was planning on not going quite as over the top as I did last year when Andy and I climbed everything in sight.  I decided to warm up on a few yellows then try oranges as I went around and any interesting harder problems I spotted.

Touring around the problems went much to plan, occasional orange problems needed a bit of thought  and got the heart going but for the most part they were doable, and I wasn't worried about skipping ones which weren't doing it for me.  It didn't take too long before I started adding in climbs from the Blue Circuit and they were enjoyable, which bodes well for the rest of the holiday.  I was really pleased to get La Fissure Rouge as it felt like it rewarded the effort I put in.

After a break for lunch it took a while to get my energy levels up again and get my head in to climbing, there were a few things I just couldn't comprehend even on the easier circuits, but then it turned out that the Orange was a 5a- which is well out of the usual grades for Orange.  I soon found a blue crack climb which looked interesting and gave it a go, bailing out at the top out.

Later Andy and Kelly came over and both got up it in very different ways, after a rest I tried again and combined bits of both of their beta to come up with a third different approach, successfully sending it.  After this I was pretty much spent and couldn't climb yellows any more, so I resorted to ferrying kit and watching people try and finish the orange circuit - 4 problems from the end and nearing 6pm Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly were finishing up on The Cube and we decided it was time for home. 

When we got back to the Gite we went out for an evening Run, with Kelly, Kelly and Andy going for 12km while Liz and I did a gentle 5km through muddy puddles in the forest before it was time for beer and dinner.  Assuming the weather holds up tomorrow we will be heading for Apremont.

UKC Logbook for 10th September 2017
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