Fontainebleau

I'm writing this sitting in the sun next to the pool at our place in Kalymnos (I'm writing this on paper first then going to an internet cafe). This place is really a climbers paradise, I haven't failed on a route yet and I onsighted 7b today! But I'll wrote more about Kalymnos later.

After a few days sightseeing in Paris, Laura and I met up with George and Tom, old friends from Stirling and caught the train down to Fontainebleau, the bouldering mecca of the world! It was the first time climbing in Font for all of us so I was a bit worried about how easy it would be to do without a car, but I needn't have have been worried.

George sending an excellent Font 6b in Roche aux Sabot

We picked up some essentials (baguettes, cheese, wine) from a supermarket in town then caught a taxi to the La Muisardierre campsite in the Trois Prinons area. It was warm and sunny so we quickly put up our tents, grabbed our mats and headed to what looked like the closest area in the guide, George aux Chats. After a quick 10 minute walk we stumbled upon some boulders. As it turned out after looking at a friends guide we actually found the Chatauveaux area, an even closer area thats not in my guide. This is a fairly esoteric venue by Font standards, but when we found it, it was like striking gold. Perfectly featured sandstone boulders in a peaceful setting all to ourselves. It turned out that every other place we went after that was even better! I soon learned how tough the Font ratings were after nearly busting a gut sending a stout roof at Chataveaux, only to find it in the guide the next day as Incognito a Font 6b! I thought it felt at least V6 (Font 7a)!

Me demonstrating how not to top out on a Font 6a in the Cul du Chien area

The next few days we spent on mostly easier stuff. We decided to try some circuts. Font circuts for those that don't know is basicly a trail of coloured numbers and arrows that are painted on to the boulders that take you over usually 30 - 50 boulder problems of a similar grade in the area. The ones we tried (yellow, blue, and red) are mostly easier stuff. Font 1c-5c (V0-v2), but they sure felt hard to us. I don't think we ever finished a whole circut. I could talk for days about grading in Fontainebleau but if i had to sum it up i would say, even if the footholds weren't all polished it would still be mostly sandbags (hard). Unless its a roof in which case its still hard but you don't need your feet as much so you can usually get by.

That brings me nicely to one of my favourite problems I did in the forest. Le Toit de Cul du Chien. On the third day we walked to the Cul du Chien area. One of the most iconic boulder problems in Fontainebleau is the big roof at Cul du Chien. It goes at Font 7a, I had seen lots of videos and photos of it before so I knew the beta, climb up to the roof get the first pocket get a high heel hook behind the flake, reach back to the second pocket cut loose and campus to the jug, easy enough right? Well I could get up to the pocket in the roof, but I couldn't get my heel to stick. Eventually in frustration I tried it without the heel just smearing on the back wall and viola I got the second pocket and did the problem! After that I didn't really feel the need to send other hard problems, actually I did try other hard stuff but didn't complete any.

Eric and Erica the Candians on Yogi a steep Font 7b

As for the social scene the campsite was good if a bit expensive (8 euros a night per person). There were only about a dozen or so climbers staying there at any time so there wasn't a big climbing scene like campgrounds at Squamish and Smith. But the climbers especially those without cars tended to congregate in the evenings. On the rainy evenings (there were only a couple of them) we gathered in the shelter and played scrabble (we brought it), or laura played the banjo. And on the nice evenings we sat out by the tents chatting and sipping our cheap (but good) french wine. Most of the climbers there were Brits, but there were others like Brendan, an Aussie travelling through Europe, who cracked us up with his stories, the one about homeless dan was priceless. And we happened to bump into an old friend of mine from the USMC, Sam, so it was nice to catch up.

Me on Le Flippeur a Font 6b in 91.1

Overall it was a great 8 days or so in Font, theres not much I would change if I could. It was a bummer not having warm food, but the baguettes and cheese from Milly (only 20 mins away if you know the shortcut) were pretty damn good. And the climbing was even better than I imagined, Font is more than just slopers and polish. I can't believe I lived so (relatively) close in Scotland for so long without visiting Fontainebleau and it took me to move across the world to visit for the first time. Well it certainly wont be my last visit.