Feeling Cold and Short
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Hamish bears his mid-drift on Le Tout du Loup, l’ Elephant.
What better way to kick off a new year and decade than with a bouldering trip to Fontainebleau. It had been 6 years or so since my last visit and over a decade since I visited in cool conditions. Thanks to some swift planning from Stu Brown we had everything organised from 1st-11th January. Despite the freezing weather we seemed to grab the best weather window allowing us to climb every day in the forest. I had planned to try some hard routes but as the trip progressed this was looking more unlikely for various reasons. It was fantastic to climb somewhere new at l’Elephant and explore new problems - the theme of the trip. On day two battle was fought but lost on Sale Gosse and Eclipse, classic 7c’s. Reach and technique still seemed to be the failing factors. I managed to search out a couple of popular 8’s Verdict and Fata Morgana. I had a couple of days on Verdict doing all but one move but it felt possible. I morning trying Fata got me nowhere as the pocket felt out of reach. Saying that I didn’t try the heel hook method without a spotter.
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Trip send Atomic Playboy RH Font 7c+ (F8b?), Buthiers.
Despite a dumping of snow mid week and daytime temps falling to -4 things improved when I tried the steep traverse of Atomic Playboy RH 7c+. All the moves came together unhindered by reachy and technical fagotry. It might have done it that day if it wasn’t for my poor footless sequence after the crux. After two close attempts my energy was wasted. It went down second go the next visit with some double toe hook beta from Stu. The freezing weather started to wear down my psyche. Loads of effort clearing snow and dodging verglas was too much for me. The roofs offered some temptation though and I had a good afternoon unraveling L’Planfond 7b. If only there was a harder version out there with the same cool moves.
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El Poussah snowed up, Isatis.
I spent a rest day exploring and found the Gecko boulder which had a cool 8a le Beaux Quarters that I need to return to try. After some searching I found Amok but the moves and landing didn’t look as good as the pics. On our last day I returned to Cuvier Rempart to try Verdict to find it snowed under. Too much for a tooth brush to tackle or maybe I just didn’t want it enough. All good fun and I’m psyched to return for projects. Maybe next time some hard sends will go down.