Bleau part Deux

Steve preps L’Etrave as Yannick, Stephanie, and Morgan chillax

Perfect rounded boulders clustered throughout a golden, orange and red Autumn forest. Enough established climbs to last several lifetimes with more to be discovered in the lush mossy forest. Quaint little French towns with boulangeries on every corner serving delicious pastries and breads. Free camping sites with climbers from around the globe meeting and exchanging beta and stories. In a nutshell a bouldering paradise. What can make such a wonderful place lose it’s luster? In one word….rain. Endless, unrelenting, mud conjuring rain. Or hot days and 100% humidity following that rain….

Lost in Cul de Chien on a wet day

We expected some wetness upon our return to Font, but we also thought there might be colder temps and overall better conditions. We met quite the opposite when we arrived in early October. The 3 plus weeks we spent in France’s premiere bouldering destination started off well enough. It would rain a bit, then clear and we would get in a day or half day of climbing. This quickly degraded into solid rain with a forecast for days of the same. We decided that sitting in the Goose day after day was getting on the dull side and pointed the van north to Amsterdam!

Fast forward five days and we arrived back in Font with renewed skin, high hopes and a slightly better forecast. The weather held for about a day, then rained, and when all hope was lost, it stopped! Only to be replaced by temps in the mid twenties, no wind and a dampness that hung in the air like a wet towel. Think east coast summers, just not quite as hot. I was climbing in shorts; just shorts. This in Font in October?! Give me a break.

Bleausard showing us how it is done

In a few days our friends Scott and Kaddi were planning on visiting. We told them of the endless rain and terrible summer like conditions. They were coming either way as Kaddi’s brother’s friends were having a 30th bday blowout in Bleau and climbing was second, if not third to drinking and partying.

The fiery end of the German’s birthday party

On an overcast day after another day of rain and season 4 of True Blood and reading in the van we set out in the humidity to the infamous Bas Cuvier. I had not been there yet even after a cumulative month spent in Bleau and Corinne had visited it once on a single day trip to Font with our friend Mike Silva back in ’07. Upon our arrival we ran into our friend Clement whom we had met in Rocklands. A part time videographer and creator of Sandstones Media. He was also planning on meeting Scott and Kaddi when they arrived. He showed us a few classic in Bas Cuvier, then set off to pick up his girlfriend Julie. We spent most of the day in just one sector where I managed to crank out the first 7a, 7b and 7c in the forest. Not a bad day considering the friction reminded me of a slice of pizza. Corinne also busted out a few sends despite her growing belly. She managed to finesse her way up a Font 6a which would be 6b+ anywhere else on the planet. Not too shabby for 40 and pregnant in the day’s pizza like conditions. We relearned the valuable lesson that the results of no expectations, unadulterated psyched and the only goal being to have fun, is that you actually end up sending a lot of boulder problems despite conditions.

Clement centimeters shy

The beautiful Contrôle Technique 7c+ Bas Cuvier

I left the shoe on for 3 hours

A few days before team Germany was scheduled to arrive our Swiss/French friends from Geneva Morgan, Stephanie and Yannick showed up to join us for a few days of sloppy sloper groping. We spent a few days in the humid rainforest conditions climbing classics and discovering ‘new to us’ lines. In the evenings we would all retreat to their small gite and prepared yummy warm meals.

Yannick topping out the classic La Marie Rose 6a Bas Cuvier

Morgan dyno’ing on a slab..go figure 😉

After a few days we had to go back in Paris for another ultrasound (stay tuned!) and checkup for Corinne. Upon our return the weather had finally shifted to cold October conditions and we spent our final days with Scott and Kaddi experiencing a small taste of Font friction.

Smooching the stone on Mégalithe 7c/7c+ at Rocher Gréau

As we prepared to leave, the rain clouds returned and with it our desire to move south in hopes of warmer, drier weather were solidified. While conditions could have been better, they in no way altered the fact that Fontainebleau is the best bouldering the world has to offer and we are sure to return time and again in the future; even if it might rain the entire time.

-S

PS – A shout out must go to Corinne for once again shooting some great shots that I plaster my name all over. Thanks baby!