Dave and Jamie go to Fontainebleau days 1-4

Day 1: Our first day of climbing didn't exactly go as planned. We ended up spending much more time lost in the woods than actually climbing. Gargantoit is a problem that was on the top of my to do list so  we decided to head to the Gorge de Houx area along with Thomo and Cedar area to check it out.  Unfortunately we started by parking in the wrong lot and walking in the complete opposite direction. As we kept going further and further feeling lost we would show the map in our guidebook to random french hikers we passed and ask them if we were on the right track. 3 separate groups of people all said they were quite certain that yes we were on the right road and it was just a bit further.

Eventually we gave up and turned around. On the way back out we found an old man with a map who very kindly showed us the way we should have been going in the first place. A 20 minute walk in the opposite direction brought us to the area. Gargantoit was even bigger and more impressive than I thought it would be but unfortunately there was not much around it to warm up on. At this point it was getting late and we were tired and fed up so Jamie and I decided to just get straight on it. We were joined a few minutes later but a few spanish guys whose pads were very welcome as it was a lot higher than I thought.

We made progress quickly and before very long we were both pleased to have ticked a very enjoyable problem off of our list. At this point we had spent so much time lost that it was nearly dark so we packed it in and called it a day.

Day 2: It was quite misty overnight and the consensus of the climbers staying at our gite was that  the best place to be sure to find dry rock is the area 95.2, so that's where we went.

After a quick warm up we got on the very impressive prow line Retour au Sources. After many tries figuring out the beta I managed to do it in two separate halves. The top half has the crux which revolves around just hauling your leg up for a very big high step. Unfortunately neither of us were quite able to get our foot up on the hold when trying from the ground despite coming just millimetres away we eventually had to walk away from this one as we were just getting too tired. We tried a couple other 7As but before long I found that my arms were completely useless so we called it a day.

Day 3: As I had completely exhausted my arms the day before I decided I would take it easy on this day. Jamie did some internet research and found a problem he wanted to do at Petit Bois. Most of the hard problems in font involve bad slopers but Jamie found a crimpy V9 that he thought would suit him. We warmed up then Jamie flailed on La Baleine, a problem I had done on my last trip with no crash pad in warm conditions. He said the rock was damp, but he's a known complainer. Also at Petit Bois is Big Jim, a highball V5 that I wanted to do so I thought I would take it easy and just try that and leave the hard stuff to Jamie. Big Jim climbs up a big impressive face on two finger pockets. Despite getting up and slapping towards the top jug I didn't manage to top out and on my last go I had to hop down because I felt like the shallow right hand two finger pocket was hurting my fingers. Sure enough my fingers are still hurting a bit, I think I managed to tweak an old injury which should make the rest of the trip interesting. After that we went up to Jamie's V9 Mur du Son. After sorting out the beta it looked like he was going to send it quite quickly but then started to have trouble sticking the first move again. After some effort he managed to get past the start and finish it off for a very impressive tick.

Jamie warming up at Petit Bois

Day 4: With both of us feeling tired and injured we decided to head to Bas Cuvier to do some easy classics. We warmed up and then went for La Marie Rose, the worlds first V3 first climbed in 1946. We tried hard on out flash burns but both came off of the upper slopers. With refined beta we both managed to get up it second go but it was still quite a struggle. Very impressive climb for 1946.

We had planned on only doing easy things but Cortomaltese proved too tempting. This is a problem I had tried many times on two previous trips without success. Its basically one hard move where you have to hold a classic font sloper in each hand and then fire up high to another sloper. I had slapped up at the high sloper many times without sticking it. Jamie got it quickly and gave me the confidence that I could do it. Pretty soon I was very glad to be standing on top of an old nemesis.  

Fun Slopers

Going big.

With boosted confidence we moved on to L'Helicoptere, another classic problem that gets its name from the crux move where you have a sloper high up with your left hand and you have to throw out right to a good hold making your whole body swing around at which point most people go flying towards the ground. Jamie managed to send it pretty quickly but after I took the classic Helicoptere fall and bounced horizontally off the pads knocking the wind out of myself I was a little hesitant to try the move again so we moved on.

Next we went on to cuvier rempart and made quick work of Droxmanie a super classic V5 that I had flashed years ago on my first trip to font. I was pleased to do it first go again today. Then we moved on to Angle Allain. This was the worlds first V2/3 and was first climbed in 1934. Hard to imagine what kind of climbing shoes would have been worn then and using tiny feet is super important on this climb. It climbs up a sharp and blank arete and requires a jump off of bad feet to the lip. We both managed to flash it even if I barely got my finger tips over the lip on my jump. 

Looking for holds on Angle Allain

Jamie (with pedo stash) very happy to be climbing in font.

Satisfied by a long day of classic bouldering we packed it in and headed back for wine and supper. There is some poorly shot footage of some of the climbs so far which should be posted shortly after the trip ends.