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
Bleau.info Profile

Froggatt Edge - Hairpin and Pinnacle Boulders

Two days in a row climbing in the peaks? It must be summer!  Amazingly we had a bank holiday weekend with fine weather every day so despite the cocktails last night we decided to go climbing again - Andy and Ceri couldn't make it yesterday so wanted to get out and it didn't take Liz and Kelly much convincing to join us.  QWe were looking for somewhere for Ceri to get back in to climbing after injury, so it was a toss up between Stanage Plantation and Pinnacle Boulders at Froggatt and Pinnacle won - mainly because of the fear of Stanage midges.

Once parked up we started the walk in, and decided to warm up on Hairpin Boulder as it is so close to the parking.  As usually happens when we get to this block I mange to climb the easy problems - Hairpin Scoop, Hairpin Arete and Flake Problem - before trying and failing on something harder.  This time it was Crash Test, not much harder but a sit start and I just could not make it work. Still, I wasn't going to beat myself up over it as there was plenty more to climb, and we walked on to the Pinnacle Boulders proper.

Plenty of fun here - some nice warm up material on Pooh Bear and Teddy, then the significantly harder Teddy with a sit start which took me a while as sit starts really are not my thing (I know, I need to work on them) and then a nicer climb on Pick Pocket.  I tried and failed to start on (Ahem) Starter Motor so went on to try Areet - I got to the top and then bailed, realising when I got down that for the easier grade I should have broken left to finish, but also I had missed the sit start. I couldn't face trying it again...

I went back to join Liz round the back for some light relief on Bear Pooh, Rupert Bear and Bare Rupert, then news came back that Andy and Kelly had cracked Starter Motor so I went to steal beta and watch them trying Areet.  While they tried I practised my sit starts on Baby Bear which is a great little problem for precisely this purpose, and Liz successfully topped it too. Back on to Starter Motor and it all clicked, I was up.  Andy and Kelly were trying Northerner now and I spent a while working it with them, I got as close as any of us did - reaching a ledge we think you need to mantle, but on my best attempt I bailed right and finished on Teddy, so I'm calling this climb "Northern Bear". None of us finished it, but on a cooler day it might go.

From here we moved up a few boulders, Flatulence refusing to go for me (!!!) and Air Bear was it's typical inelegant self.  I did the not particularly tricky Mini Mantel before stopping for a rest and really failing to get going again, I looked at some of the other problems on Air Bear but couldn't bring myself to try them so napped in the sun with Liz and Ceri while Andy and Kelly finished up some more climbs.  Soon it was time to head to the pub for a couple of pints and then home after another successful day out.  The next time we climb outdoors may well be in France, it's not long now!

Today's Logbook

Robin Hood's Stride

It was a bank holiday weekend, there were no plans, and the weather was fine.  We'd been talking idly for a while about trying some crags away from our usual stomping ground, and Cratcliffe was one we'd highlighted as it is a bit of a different setting, with jumbles of boulders in amongst trees - almost reminiscent of Fontainebleau.  With others in our group having things on it ended up being Liz, Kelly and I making the 1hr journey down past Bakewell, and parking up for a short walk in.

We followed the Limestone Way until we could see Dorsal Fin, and walked over to Green Boulder before dropping down to The Lower Boulders. Joy of Ledge and Joy of Noledge went quickly, but Flake Slab and Flake Slab Arete seemingly had no joy in them and as we were warming up still we moved on and tackled The Arch, T Slab and T Slab Arete - a few non commital attempts at Arch Direct and we decided that the description of "A desperate static move" was not very enticing, so wandered back up to Green Boulder and paused for a bit of lunch.

Kelly and I decided to take on Short Arete, and after a bit of cleaning and a bit of effort Kelly got up it, but I just could not get comfortable enough on my feet to enjoy it.  I am currently climbing in either a pair of Evolv Shaman II which need resoling but it'll have to wait until after Font now, or an utterly destroyed pair of Five Ten Anasazi's - the Shamans are miles better where I need good feet but I am saving them for Font in a few weeks at the moment - currently on the lookout for another pair of Anasazis to tide me over as I'm all too aware I could destroy the Shamens if I am not careful.

From here we moved on to Dorsal Fin which was a really nice bit of rock, we soon sent Dorsal Arete, JT and JT Crack and then Vandals went soon after - so named I assumed after some fairly terrible behaviour several years ago. Potty Time really wasn't worth the effort required to send it (but we did anyway) and Flipper / Flipper arete were frankly terrifying.  I'd have tried harder on Flipper Arete were it not for the fact the landing was terrible - a huge lump of rock behind you just where you would fall.

After this we headed to the Main Edge and Muscle Slab.  Kelly got up it with it's interesting mix of slab and overhang, but I again suffered a lack of foot confidence and bottled it despite having cracked the first big move eventually.  From here we headed to The Square Block and some nice slab/mantle practice, finishing up on Angle Arete before it was time to head home for a barbecue.  We will be back to Cratcliffe, plenty to explore on the main crag which we never even got near. For now though it's time to wash the sunscreen off and fins some meat to grill :)

Logbook for the day