Céüse

Once we got bored of Ailefroide we took a bus a couple of hours down the road to Gap. From Gap we could see the cliff of Céüse, often called the best sport crag in the world. I could see what all the hype is about, perfect rock with pockets everywhere, its like it was made to be climbed. The big drawback of Céüse is that its a gruelling hour and a half walk in (for us) to get to the base of the cliff. The first time we walked in was the worst, maybe becasue we took the wrong way, but I seriously had my doubts if it would be worth it once we were up. But it definately was.



The climbers campsite, Les Guerins, was pretty intense. It seemed like every strong climber travelling around Europe was there. There were climbers from all over Europe, the US and Canada, even Asians and South Americans. It was easy to tell where some of them were from because they were often in teams with matching tracksuits representing their country (i'm not joking). There were a lot of very serious climbers there. It seemed like the average climber was climbing 8b and had about 2% body fat. Laura and I felt pretty out of shape in a place like this which is pretty ridiculous. There were quite a few sponsored climbers there I recognised, and some guys from a couple of the climbing dvd's I have; Underdeveloped and West Coast Gimps, so that was cool. We even ran into Aline a friend from Edinburgh who we had climbed a lot with last summer in Squamish, so it was fun especially for Laura to climb with her again.

Me fighting through the steep crux of Bibendum 7b+

At first it took us a while to get used to the climbing at Céüse, there were often quite scary runouts towards the top of routes. I did a long 6c+ called Mawoi (to the second chains) that had two bolts in the last 20m to the chains, it was vertical climbing on shallow slopey pockets with no chalk on the rock, I was very tempted to bail but I'm glad I finished it off. It seemed that often the worst run outs were on the easier routes, so Laura had a tough time committing to some, nevertheless she still sent some proud routes including a 6b+ flash, and a 6c redpoint. In the first few days I fell off a 7b and a 7b+ that I thought felt quite hard, which got me a bit worried. But then I got on some steeper stuff and seemed to do a lot better. I onsighted Lapinerrie a classic steep 7b, it didn't feel too hard, the crux was probably waiting around it the queue for the route without ruining the onsight. A couple days later I tried Bibendum an awesome looking 7b+ that I'd been told was onsightable and my style, steep and juggy. It was a real fight going through the steep bulgy roof on good (and occasionally not so good) pockets, before I managed to find a rest in a big pod where I could get a half decent knee bar and sideways arm bar that was just enough to de-pump before the pockety headwall. I was really chuffed to onsight this route, I certainly wasn't expecting to onsight a 7b+ in Ceuse. I met Dave Redpath from scottishclimbs.com up there and he kindly sent the photos of me on Bibendum, my camera had broken somewhere between Ailefroide and Céüse so these are the only photos I have from there.


After I did Bibendum I asked Robbie (from Edinburgh) and Eric (from Sweden), a couple of strong young guys who I was hanging out with, for a good 7c to get on. They had both onsighted the classic Céüse climb Vagabond d' Occident, and were always saying how easy it is. I got on it and was expecting a jug ladder to the top the way they were describing it. But I soon found out 7c in Céüse is not easy no matter how easy people make it sound. I got back on it for my 2nd go attempt a couple of days later and this time I cruised it. It made a big difference knowing what to expect and shaking out on the good holds. I was really glad to climb 7c in Céüse and to do such a classic route there makes it all the better. According to the routes database on 8a.nu Vagabond d' Occident is the 3rd most climbed route in the world!

Me on Bibendum just after the rest

I did Vagabond right at the end of our time in Céüse, if we stayed there a week or two longer I'm sure I could have climbed even harder. But I think if we stayed any longer we would have gone crazy, there is only so long we can take living out of backpacks. We're back in Scotland now, its nice to have a warm shower and a comfy bed to sleep in. We fly back to Seattle in a few days. Its been a great trip but I think we're both ready to get back to real life.

Ailefroide

From Istanbul we took a cheap easyjet flight to Switzerland, and from there a train over to France. Ailefroide is in the Ecrins National Park, the southernmost tip of the french Alps. Its not much of a town, but in the summer it gets really busy with climbers and campers. It was nice to be camping in cooler temperatures again, during the day it could get quite warm in the sun, but nice and cool in the shade, and at night we'd have to wrap up warm. We were there primarily for bouldering but we also got some routes in. The rock there is granite, similar to Squamish granite, but with more featured boulders. I had the Blocheart bouldering guide to the Alps, and I bought the local Ailefriode bouldering guide, neither of which are very good, but together we just about figured out what was what.

Laura in a fields of wild flowers

On our first day there we made the most of our fresh skin and went to the main sectors 'Surprise du Chef' and 'Cahutes'. The first problem we got on was a font 6b on a slightly overhung boulder with positive but very small crimps. I managed it in a couple of go's using big moves between the good crimps. Laura was also trying it as well since it suited her style, powerful small holds. She worked it for half and hour figuring out a different sequence, and eventually got it using a completly different but just as hard sequence, doing 7 moves where I took 3 to get to the top. Previously she had done one V4 (font 6b) in Squamish (and came very close on a few others), so this equalled it, and it wasn't to be her last one here. Later in the day, I managed a 7a+ in the Cahutes sector which i was really pleased with cause it felt quite hard. It was a sit-start on a small boulder to a couple of crimpy sidepulls then a snatch to the slopey top and mantel. I didn't manage anything harder than that in Ailefroide.

Dom on a 6b at the reception boulder

As the time went on we checked out different sectors, I was actually a little surprised how few good boulders there were, considering the popularity of the area. There are 7 or 8 different sectors spread out within walking distance of Ailefroide, but at most of the sectors there was just 1 or 2 worthwhile boulders to climb on. Maybe it was becasue the last place we bouldered at was Fontainebleau which is huge, but this seemed like quite a limited area. As for the grades I found the 7's to be really hard, even compared with font, I tried a lot and failed a lot. The 6's seemed a lot more doable than the grades in fontainebleau though. Laura managed five 6b's in total, which was an amazing effort by her. Maybe one or two of them were soft, but for the most part they seemed about right.

Dom on Rocco's Dino 6b

The routes were a fun diversion from bouldering since they didn't really hurt our skin as much. I was surprised to find everything was bolted, the gratine on the cliffs is quite compact so theres not many cracks for gear, but even where there are cracks theres bolts everywhere. Although the routes are bolted they didn't really have the feel of sport routes, bolted granite was very different from what we were used to so we stuck to mostly easier stuff. One day we hiked up this gully full of loose blocks, which was quite scary to do some routes, but all the easy stuff was already taken. I didn't want to walk all the way down without doing anything so I got on the easiest available route which was a 6c+. It started out alright, but where the route goes out of sight there were 20ft runouts between the bolts and I was breaking off footholds with every other step. In the end I got it clean, I think I was crimping to hard to fall off, but needless to say after that we just stuck to bouldering.

Laura sending Yougo Slab (font 6b)

After almost 2 weeks there we had climbed pretty much everything we wanted to, laura was pleased to have done so many hard bouler problems, and I was just happy to be back bouldering on granite again. But we were ready for more limestone sport climbing, and what better place than Ceuse, probably the best sport crag in the world just a couple of hours down the road.

Dom on a hard 6b in Ailefroide

Turkısh Delight

From Kalymnos it was a surprisingly easy to make our way to Turkey. Just a quick boat rıde to Kos, then another quıck (20 min) boat rıde to Bodrum. From Bodrum we got on a bus for the 8 hour journey to Antalya, the ticket was surprısıngly cheap consıderıng Turkey has the most expensıve petrol prıces ın the world. We went to the main clımbıng area in Turkey which is Geyıkbayiri, just 30 km outsıde of Antalya. We stayed at the very nice clımbers campground JoSiTo. The only problem was that it ıs ın the mıddle of nowhere ın the hılls, and we had no food. Luckıly for us ıt was a Sunday and the local market was on, so we hıtched to that ın the back of a pıckup truck full of trash. It was a big market, but we dıdnt know what most of the stuff was, so somehow we ended up eating potatoes, onions, cucumber, and egg plant (all mıxed together usually) twıce a day while we were there. It got pretty disgusting very quickly. As for the climbing we were a bıt dissapointed with the first place we went (Trebenna). The rock was basicly conglomerate limestone, i.e. choss. It was very different to what we were used to on Kalymnos. But as we explored different areas the quality improved. The area prides ıtself on having great tufa climbing, but ıt couldnt really hold a candle to the stuff in Kalymnos. We mostly clımbed easier stuff, it was nıce just rolling up to a crag having not don any of the routes before. I managed a 7a+ onsight, and laura a 6b+ flash here so ıt wasnt all easy stuff. The nice aspects of the area was that it was cooler that Kalymnos (at least for the first few days) there was a lot more cloud cover and more variety of when different crags were in the shade. Also the crags we literally on our doorstep, the walk ins ranged from 1 minute to 20 minutes at most, which was nice.


Laura joining in with the fun with the Hot Rock crew at the JoSiTo campsite



We shared the campsite with a few other independent climbers and a big group of Hotrockers. They are basıcly a group of mostly British clımbers who travel around the world in a huge truck and climb along the way. They were on there way from Africa, to eventually eastern Asia. If anyone readıng thıs ıs ınterested ın clımbıng ın more exotıc parts of the world, ı would hıghly recomend them to check them out, they seemed lıke a really cool bunch of people. They were a lot of fun to hang out with, and they ıncluded us in a lot of their activities, so we had a blast. They recommended to us the nearby climbing area of Olympos of the coast about 90km south of Antalya. They had been there and really liked ıt and were planning on returning in a few days as well. We were getting pretty sick of the food by this point so it was an easy decision to move on to another area.



Laura warming up on a 6a+ in the Horguc Magara Sector



In Olympos we stayed at kadirs treehouses which is the 'climbers hangout' ın Olympus, but ıt seemed like most of the climbers there also worked there taking backpackers out for a intro session. There were a lot of backpackers from all over, we seemed to meet a lot of Canadians. So it was cool to meet more normal backpacker tourısts. We didnt stay in a tree house instead we got a specıa clımbers deal campıng for 15 lira a night ın a rıverbed, including buffet style all you can eat breakfast and dinner. Maybe it was because we were starved of good food for the past week, but the food at kadirs was delicious, but I soon learned all you can eat doesnt necessarily mean all you should eat! The climbing in Olympos is less extensive, probably only a hundred or two routes to choose from ınstead of 500 or so at Geyıkbayiri, but it still had plenty. The style ıs a bit different, there is less steep stuff, but more crımpy vertical walls which I like. It was a bıt warmer than at the other place, cause ıt was a sea level, but ıf we stayed ın the shade ıt was ok wıth a breeze. Towards the end of the trıp (today) ıt got pretty hot up to 35 (mıd 90s) so we were glad to be movıng on.
Dom enjoying a steeper climb in Olympus

Overall I thınk laura and I enjoyed the clımbıng ın Olympus much better, probably becasue of the atmosphere of the town and the dıfferent style routes. The hıghlıght of my trıp here was onsıghtıng a 7b+, my second hardest onsıght after the 7c ın Kalymnos. It was a 28m vertıcal wall wıth fıngerlocks, laybacks, hıghsteps, very technıcal. I kept on expectıng to come off but ı kept on pullıng hard and got the onsıght. At the chaıns ı had a great vıew over Olympus Bay and the shıps ın the sea, ıt was a moment to remember. Laura also clımbed hard, onsıghtıng a tough 6b whıch equals her hardest onısght on the trıp so far. I thınk both of us are ın really good route clımbıng shape rıght now, our confıdence ıs hıgh and were eager to get on more hard stuff, but maybe were the clımate ıs a bıt cooler.

Dom on a rest day at the Olympus beach

I,m defınately glad we came to Turkey, ıt has been very dıfferent to what I was expectıng, but ı have grown to really enjoy ıt hear. Were takıng a bus up to Istanbul tonıght for a few days sıghtseeıng, then we,re headed back to central europe ın search of some cooler clımbıng, and were lookıng forward to fındıng some chıllıng.

A couple of Kalymnos videos

Im not in Kalymnos anymore, but I still can't stop blogging about it. I've found a good cheap internet connection here in Turkey so here are a couple of videos I took ın Kalymnos that İ wasn't able to upload there.

The first one is of the Deep Water Soloing Whitey and İ found near Dolphin Bay in Kalymnos, its just a small area, not too high, but we found some good hard climbing there. Did I fall or jump? You decide.

This is a video of the very last climb I tried in Kalymnos on my last day. Its a 7c roof climb thats only 6 bolts long or so. I managed it all except for this one crux move, I've never done a route like it before.

Turkey is a lot of fun, i'm glad we chose to come here, we,ve done a lot of routes, but mostly easy stuff, but we've stıll got a few days of clımbing left. I'll blog agaın soon...

Farewell to Kalymnos

Our time in Kalymnos is finally over, it has been an awesome 6 weeks, but its time to move on.

Me on a token onsight attempt of the Kalymnos classic Aegalis 7c, I got to the 9th bolt of 14, its hard!

The time has flown by, we were originally thinking of only staying 4 weeks in kalymnos, but i'm glad we extended it by a couple of weeks, there is so much there to do, and i feel I still have so much more i want to do there, i just have to get stronger. But I got my main objectives done, I sent my 5.13 project! The route is called Neska Polita, its a 10-bolt 7c+ in the Spartacus area, it took me 9 attempts in total, over 3 days. On my last day working it, i didn't think it would go. The beta I was using at the crux was really complicated, it involved 5 intermediate moves a foot swap and a toe hook, to get to the crux crimp. On what i thought was my last attempt, i almost snatched the crimp, but agonisingly came off, it was way hard. I didn't think i could try it again, so in an act of desperation i tried some other beta that i had seen a guy that onsighted it use. It was basicly just one big sideways lunge to the crimp, instead of my 5 intermediate moves. I changed my feet and i somehow latched the crimp. This might just work, i thought, so i got lowered back down and de-pumped for a good hour or so while Whitey tried one of his projects. When I got back on it I let out a power scream at the crux move and got it! It was the first time i had made it past the crux from the ground, I still had 6 bolts of 7b/+ climbing to go though, i puffed and panted my way through, and used the good rest above for about 10 minutes, and got to the chains. It was a milestone for me my first 7c+ (5.13a), and I felt like i really deserved it. I knew if i didn't finish this project before i left Kalymnos, it would haunt me, so i'm so glad I have closure.

Me onsighting Daphne a cool 7b at Odessy

I'm glad we spent 6 weeks here, staying here a long time has given us the opportunity to meet other climbers. We climbed a lot with Dimitris a greek climber form Athens. He showed us a secret bouldering spot by the beach, its not amazing but its worth a quick session or two. We tried his project a 15 move roof traverse, and after working it for about an hour me and Dimitris both sent it, it goes at about V5, and he is calling it Jump-A. We've also met some other locals, we took Yiannis a local DJ out climbing, he took to it very well, and i belayed him up his first lead on his third day climbing! he is adding to the number of local Kalymnians that are taking up climbing. We've also met some cool americans and other climbers from all over.

Whitey starting up Alexis Zorbas another 7b he redpointed in the sun

Its also interesting seeing how Massouri (the town here) has changed from when we first arrived in April to now. When we first arrived it was practically a ghost town, with most of the bars and restaurants closed still from the winter, the only tourists in town were climbers, and we could have the whole beach to ourselves. Now if you walk down the street, it is busting with English and German holidaymakers out here to soak in the sun. The beach ispacked with literally hundreds of sunbathers on the weekends. Its great that theres more bars and retaurants to chose from, but it defiately lost its climbers-town feel to it.

Our favourite rest day activity, Laura snorkelling in the Aegean Sea

Whitey has left for the states again now. He will go back with lots of memories, he has climbed really well over the last few weeks. He completed almost all of his projects including a 7b+ and 5 7b's I think, which is awesome, he is keen to continue his hard climbing back in the US. Laura has also exceeded her expectations, she flashed yet another 6c the other day taking her tally to 5 6c's which is awesome. Before this trip she had only done 1 and even that one was thought to be a bit soft. She has gained a lot in confidence, and has learnt to really go for it on her flash attempts.

Right now i'm on the neighbouring island of Kos waiting for our ferry to Turkey. The next stop on our european trip is Antalya, Turkey. More sport climbing in the sun, we can't wait!

Me latching the dyno (only to fall off a few seconds later) on an amazing 7c in the Illiada cave.

The view from our balcony of the sun setting over Telendos.

Kaymnos Life

My apologies to those who have been waiting on a new blog entry for a while, the computers here are really fustrating. I've got a cool Deep Water Solo video, but I guess you guys will have to wait til you see me next to see them. Anyway things are going great in Kalymnos. Andy had to go back to Seattle, he tried to extend his trip by another week, but it was too expensive to change tickets. So now its just the 3 of us, Whitey moved into our place, so now its even cheaper staying here for us. Only 6 euros a night, its probably the cheapest rate on the island.

Andy on a cool 6a+ slab

The big news here climbing-wise is that I onsighted a 7c! That is by far my hardest onsight to date. The route was Tzatziki Vikiki a classic steep route in the Spartacus cave. Its a 3 bolt bouldery extension to a 6b, it involves intense upside down climbing coming out of a cave on small fingery pockets with very bad feet. I just tried really really hard and somehow found a way through to the chains. I was so pleased, it was a wake up call for me to get on even harder routes. In other news Laura flashed a 6c here last week, she calls it her 'first real 5.11' it was a proud lead. And today she got another 6c a Kalymnos classic 'Les Amazones' no pushover for the grade. Today Whitey also fought hard and onsighted Jellyfish Pie 7a+/7b, which was really cool to watch.

Laura looking nervous as we prepare to Scooter off

Since last time I wrote we've been exploring new climbing areas. Last week we rented scooters for the day, which was a lot of fun if not a bit scary. We headed up to an area called The Ghost Kitchen on the North side of the island, which is a really cool area. It has a ton of 'tufa mushrooms' which are basicly horizontal stalagtites that are flat so you can sit (or do what ever you want) on them and get a really good rest, it was really fun. Another day we took a boat over to the neighbouring island of Telendos to check out some of the new developments there. We read a new issue of Climb Magazine (UK) in a climbers bar here which was raving about the new climbing area of Irox on Telendos. But it really wasn't all that great, the rock quality is much better on Kalymnos. It was cool to check out Telendos though, its a really nice island, much more chill than Kaly, we'll probably head back there on a rest day, but we'll avoid the nude beach this time though!

Laura climbing well on a steep route at Dolphin Bay

Whitey and I also went exploring around the side of Dolphin Bay, a low-grade crag walking distance from our studio, and found a cool Deep Water Solo area. The cliff is kinda small and up higher the rock gets a bit chossy, but down low its good quality above a great deep landing. So we messed around there and did some cool stuff. We both managed a hard V3/4 Deep Water Boulder problem there, we were a bit dissapointed not to fall in, so we just jumped in, the waters a lot warmer than we expected.

The Oly crew with our Kalymnos T's

As well as this we've also been snorkeling around the coves, which is actually a lot of fun, theres lots to see down there. Its crazy to think we've been here almost a month now, its been great fun but it doesn't feel like we've got all the time in the world anymore, so we're getting a bit more serious about sending projects. I feel like I've got so much I stilll want to do here before we go. So watch this space for news of hard sends, my draws are hanging on a 5.13 (7c+) and tomorrow might be the day!

Taking a break from our Grande Grotta climbs to watch a Spanish climber work on his project, the extension to Aegialis, a 50m 8b! He's still working on it.

Laura belaying Whitey on a 7b at Spartacus

Dom shaking out on his 5.13 project (down to 1 hang now)

Kalymnos First Impressions

We arrived in Kalymnos almost 2 weeks ago with fireworks going off. We flew into Kos its neighbouring Greek isle then took a short ferry from there, we thought maybe the fireworks were for us, but apparantely there was some local celebration that day. It was around midnight but our hostel owner was there to pick us up and take us to our studio in Massouri a short drive away. We were exausted. We decided we needed another rest day before we got on any routes so took the day to go shopping and do laundy. We did quite a big shop since we had to take the bus to the big supermarket. We bulked up on all the good cheap stuff like potatoes, rice, pasta, onions carrots etc. The shop owner was so impressed with our shopping (or maybe he felt sorry for us) that he threw in a free bottle of wine, quite nice wine I think. The place we're staying at is great, it has a little kitchen area for cooking, and a private balcony with a great view. And there is a pool to go swimming or hang out by. All for only 8 euros a night each, it'd be even cheaer if there was 3 of us sharing. And its in a great location surrounded by bars and restaurants only 15 minutes walk from the nearest climbing.

Laura heading out on the first route at Kalymnos, an easy slab

The climbing here is amazing, there is over a thousand sport routes on the island with probably three quarters of them within an hours walk of our studio. Each crag has quite a different style and feel to it. Theres lots of sharp slabby routes at the Peots sector and other areas, small fingery pockets at syblegades rocks, juggy pockets at odyssey, long vertical tufas at Panorama, and crazy steep stalagtites at the Grande Grotta. All of which are amazing to climb, the rock quality is really good and polish isn't really an issue to my surprise. The weathers been great as well, we've had one rainy day, but even then we got out climbing right afterwards. Most days we climb from 9am til 2 or 3 in the afternoon, while the crags are in the shade, but it can get quite chilly with a breeze. Then we spend the afternoons soaking up the rays and recovering by the pool or on the beach. Its a great schedule!

Laura relaxing by the pool at our studio with the Grande Grotta in the background

A couple of my pre-concieved ideas about what Kalymnos climbing would be like have been proven wrong. The grades here are not all soft, a lot of the grades are actually quite hard, especially at the lower level. Some of the 6a's (5.10a's) you really have to work for. At the base of each route is the their name and grade painted on the rock, and I've noticed a lot of the grades in the new guide have come down from what they were originally, so there aren't many soft touches any more. And the routes are bolted well, but not necessarily over-bolted, there have probably been more worrying run-outs that there have been well bolted routes, but it really depends where you go. I did a 7a in the Grande Grotta that was 40 meters long but only had 11 bolts. To be fair I was more concerned about the integrity of the stalagtites, it used to be 6c+ until a huge stalagtite fell off! I was hugging on so tight, it would have been hard for me to come off.

Me finding a rest on Themelina 7b+

I've mostly been onsighting stuff at the moment, up to 7b (i've done 2 onsight now). The hardest thing I've done is Themelina a cool 7b+ I got second go. I'm looking for harder projects, but the routes really lend themselves to onsighting since they're easy to read and usually have good rests on them. A lot of the harder stuff is super long stamina monsters. I want to find something not too long that I can work. Laura is climbing well now that she has a feel for the rock, she does well on the steeper pockety stuff, which is not what she was expecting. She's flashed 3 6b+'s so far and is looking for something her style a bit harder to project. A few days ago our friend Whitey from Olympia and his friend Andy arrived here. Its been great climbing with them and showing them all the good areas. They've fallen in love with the place, and are climbing well, they both redpointed their first 7a+ here and are keen to work harder. Hopefully next time I blog I'll have some hard redpoints to report as well.

Andy redpointing Aphrodite 7a+ (5.12a) in the Grande Grotta

Oh and check out some of my friends who have jumped on the blogging bandwagon.
Outdoor UK - George from Stirling's blog about Fontainebleau with us.
No Skin Left - Micah crushing in Leavenworth and around the PNW
Northwest Rockclimber - Nick from Olympia also climbing in the PNW

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.