Au revoir!

Well folks, this is it, my time here is up, for now at least. The gite is cleaned, the car is packed, and i’m ready to set off with Mr P for the longest drive of my life!

My plans for a last minute siege on my remaining projects didn’t quite go as i’d hoped.
I went out with Neil yesterday, as we were both keen to get Onde de Choc done, but when we arrived at Apremont, the bloc was just coming into the sun, and it was a hot one. Still we gave it our best shot and I achieved my highest point to date, my heel up high and just one more hard move to stick, but it was a very greasy looking sloper and I didn’t quite make it this time. I did however succeed in tearing a lovely great hole in the first joint of my right index finger so a that point I admitted defeat and we moved on.
We wandered over to Apremont Envers, where there are quite a few roof problems that would give us some shade and found a really nice block with a number of problems on it. Unfortunately we couldn’t quite make out exactly where any of the lines where, but we did climb a few really good problems, one of which took a fair bit of effort and we both agreed felt a solid 7a+ grade wise.
After a fun couple of hours we called it a day and Neil headed off on the school run, while I decided with a few hours of the day left, i’d walk out to Rocher Fin and try to polish off Chevalier Errant.
Again, it wasn’t to be and I realised that I might just have reached my limit after nearly five weeks climbing – everything was hurting from toes to fingers, elbows and knees. I was just trashed... but in a good way.

So after spending today getting ready for the mammoth journey ahead, i’m writing what will probably be my last blog in about 3 weeks. Since i’ll be camping the final week in Switzerland, and with no internet connection in our ‘Rustico’ prior to that, there doesn’t seem to be any point in taking my laptop out, so i’m leaving it here with Neil for safe keeping.
If I come across an internet cafe in the meantime and have time to spare, I might try and get something up.
Otherwise i’ll be posting when I get back, hopefully with a good haul of granite blocs to my name.... Bye for now!

Iceberg

I didn’t plan to do much, if any climbing today as it suddenly seems awfully soon that I have to be heading down to Italy and then up to Ticino for the granite blocs. So, with a lot to get sorted before I leave i’d decided to spend the day getting everything in order to allow for two full days climbing here in Bleau.
After a round of washing (marigolds compulsory), I went off in search of a new suit so as not to be the scruffy git tagging along with the Capgemini hierarchy this weekend. Steph had run me through a bit of the lingo that I might need help me achieve such a feat, and miraculously I pulled it off. I feel practically fluent now.
Next on the list was new tent and carry-mat which didn’t require quite the lingual feat I had performed at the tailors, although I did have to spend a while convincing the security guard at Decathlon that I hadn’t actually nicked anything, as I seemed to be setting off the alarms every time I tried to walk out!
A quick blast around Carrefour for some munchies and I realised I was left with a couple of hours daylight. Not wanting to waste them now they suddenly seem so precious, and knowing that the bloc would be in prime condition at this hour, I decided a quick trip to Isatis wouldn’t go amiss to have another short session on the Iceberg.
By 19:00 I was setting the mats out, and by 19:05 I was setting the camera out too, as on my first go I had made it straight through into the sit-start moves.
I could talk you through the other goes too, but I might as well let the video do the talking... check it out.



So, the three problems I have on my ‘last few days list’ have now incredibly become two, and I have yet another personal best to my name. It really shows what four weeks in the forest can do for your climbing – before I came out here my hardest tick to date was a 7a+ and my hardest tick in the forest (where it really counts), was 7a. In the space of four weeks i’ve bumped that first to 7a+, then 7b+ and now 7c (with a 7c+ in brackets, according to Bleau.info!).
I am aware however that the two big ones there are both on the same bloc, and I know that this problem is just perfectly tailored to my strengths. I am also aware that I seem to have missed the grade of 7b entirely. So my final two days here will be spent attempting to amend those stats, and with a bit of luck, my two remaining projects will be going down imminently. I’ll keep you posted.

On Friday morning after a late start, I met up with Nick and Deb at Bas Cuvier
While I proceeded to get a thorough spanking by everything that I pulled onto, Nick and Deb went over to Duroxmanie. Nick proceeded in spectacular style, to do all 3 variations (standing, direct and sit start) with Deb coming really close to linking the sit start too.
Of the problems that I was trying the first 'Picon-Bière' involved a really nice rock over move. Whilst I didn’t top it out, I’ll definitely be back to give this another go. I wasted a lot of skin on a couple of sloper problems, but for the sake of my skin I left them (unconquered) in the forest for another day ... the boars can have them.
Lance and Lou turned up, and while Lou set to work on ‘Fruits de la Passion’, Lance and I worked a really nice high-ball slab ‘Super Forge’ along with a chatty Scandinavian bloke. On his last full day in Font, Lance wasn’t messing about, so quickly and surely crimped his way to the top.
I had to leave to go and pick Steph up from the airport, which I managed slightly more successfully than last time, and also made it back to the gite in time for a couple of beers with Nick and Deb! We then headed to bed, in preparation for what was going to be a jam-packed weekend climbing with Steph.

We’d had some heavy rain overnight from the sounds of it so didn’t wake up too hopeful of finding dry rock, but surprisingly the patio was dry and the sun was shining.
Steph was eager to get back to Sa Pelle au Logis, and sure enough, after a few attempts to refresh her memory of the moves, she fired it off in style.



She had a quick look at the variant Variaspol but was eager to go and check out some new problems after her send.
I thought Steph might like one of the problems we’d done the other day at Apremont – Retablissement, so we moved on and sure enough within half-an hour she was topping it out (with the obligatory Font-style top-out!)



Next up I fancied another look at Onde de Choc. I was getting up to my highpoint with relative ease but didn’t get much further (some beta from Neil later on has given me hope so I’ll be back to this one too).
We then wandered back for a look at a problem Deb had recommended – 'Jérémiades assis' which, while looking really good, was pretty painful on the fingertips. After a few goes on this a short shower put paid to our efforts (and spared our fingers) so we decided to call it ‘beer o’clock’ and head on home.
In the meantime though we had received a text from Nick to say that, in typical last-day style Deb had nailed Magic Bus (Font 7b+) with hours to spare and that they were heading home well satisfied with a good haul from their trip out here. Props to Deb for getting this done and fighting through the pain barrier after the razor sharp undercut she was using had taken a chunk of flesh out of it the other day. Ouch!
So after saying farewell to Team Wolf, we came home, ate sausages, and Mr P got drunk and found himself a girlfriend (see his gallery).

Today, after eventually figuring out what the actual time was (disappointing to find we’d lost an hour overnight) we hiked back up to Rocher Fin as Steph was keen for another round on Memoire de Outre Tombe. It only took a couple of goes for her to realise that she can definitely do it, and a couple more before she was powering through the crux moves and into the last few moves. Unfortunately, despite coming agonisingly close to topping it out, the beans ran out and it’s going to have to wait a few more weeks. I’ve a feeling this one’ll go down pretty quick next time though.
Meanwhile, I had decided I should really have another look at the other variation on this bloc – ‘Chevalier Errant’ and after a little trial and error realised a sequence that I was sure would work. The moves out of the roof though, revolve around a finger trashing crimp, in stark contrast to the lovely slopers on Memoire, and I didn’t quite make the link before reaching my pain threshold.
So no more ticks for either of us today, but a really good session none the less.

I’m writing this now, having had a bit of a nightmare getting Steph to the airport in time. In fact, we weren’t on time, and if it wasn’t for the fact that her flight was delayed she would have missed it. Not sure how bothered either of us would’ve been about that though, to be honest!
So i’m sitting here now sharing a beer with Mr P as we plan our last few days in Bleau, before the next phase of adventures begins....

Pain, rain and round three on the Iceberg...

It had to happen at some point I guess... After two weeks of perfect weather and five consecutive climbing days sending some of my hardest problems to date, my biceps finally gave in and I lay awake on Monday night unable to sleep thanks to the constant dull aching sensation in both my elbows. With the weather due to turn sour on Wednesday the last thing I wanted to do was take a rest day while it was still dry, but it would’ve been foolish to ask any more of my body when it was crying out like this.
So on Tuesday I broke out the prescription drugs i’d been saving for such an occasion and left my boots behind as I went out on a little exploration and left the others to do the hard work.
I’d gone out early to show Nick and Deb ‘Magic Bus’ and ‘Strappal’ at Buthiers, then headed out to a small crag near 95.2 that i’d noticed in the 7+8’s guide called Chateauveau. There’s a small prow at the back of the hill called ‘EOS’ that looks good but it’s one of those problems where the line is unclear along with the correct starting holds to use, so i’m not sure i’ll be going back to try that one.
By then the others had moved on to Gorge aux Chats so I wandered over to see what they were up to. Lou was having another crack at Sa Pelle au Logis, so I showed her the starting sequence that i’d used the other day and after a few goes she’d cracked it but was too tired to piece together the finishing moves. Still, she was happy with the progress she made.
Nick had managed to send Magic Bus earlier on and was now wandering around aimlessly as Deb had a rest in the van ready for a session on Magic Bus. So I showed him an arête i’d been looking at the other day. Nick quickly got it sussed and whipped up it. It’s a good job I left my boots in the car as i’m sure I would’ve pulled on and tried to follow him up it despite the pain, had I had them with me.
Lance and Lou decided to call it a day, and I moved on to Buthiers with Nick and Deb to give Deb some moral support on Magic Bus. She came really close to it and made the crux moves look like a walk in the park, but due to her stature she has to do a particularly powerful throw for the final jug and just couldn’t latch it consistently

Wednesday came, and the pain in my elbows had started to subside, but I remained cautious and only gave myself a light session in the afternoon.
The rain had arrived as predicted, in the form of the occasional passing shower, but despite this when Team Wolf headed out to Drei Zennen they found the majority of it still climbable and had a pretty good day.
I’d gone for another recce around Dame Jouanne and Manoury, finding some good problems (eventually – the place is a maze of huge boulders on a steep hillside), but turned up at Drei Zennen just in time to see Deb crush ‘Diversion’ the problem she’d started the other day. Nick had done a couple of other problems earlier on and capped them off with a send of ‘la Fosse aux Oreilles’, another nice tick. I then joined them on ‘Torments d’Armour’, but while they both got it done I couldn’t quite get there.
I had a quick play on a sloper problem called ‘Nostalgie (assis)’ but didn’t quite top it out. I’ll be back for that one though. Likewise Nick was trying ‘Multipass’ but had to leave it for another day. I’m sure he’ll get there though.

Today I woke up feeling pretty good – no pain in the elbows, a decent amount of skin and surprisingly the patio was completely dry!
After a quick discussion about where to go we set off for Franchard Isatis.
First stop was at ‘Sur-Prises’ for Nick. After I tried unsuccessfully to remember the beta that Neil had been using the other day, the man himself turned up and sent Nick in the right direction. The pair of them gave it as good crack while I tried ‘la Vacherie’ round the corner but it wasn’t long until a passing shower put paid to our efforts and we decided to move on.
I took Nick and Deb over to the Iceberg which despite not being in perfect condition, was looking climbable. Deb had a good crack at it but decided it just didn’t fit her body shape that well and left us to it and while Nick and Lou worked the standing start I began looking at ‘Iceberg’.
The traverse along the rail isn’t at all tricky in its own right but it does take that little bit out of you by the time you move into the Iceberg raccourci problem. I was getting through it and into the first couple of moves of the sit start i’d done the other day, but the sloper that’s used to move out from under the roof was feeling pretty slimy compared to when I did it other day and just didn’t have the beans to pull through. I’m quite capable of getting this done i’m sure, I just need to get the moves wired and find it in good condition when i’m feeling fresh.
After a few goes Nick got the standing start done but couldn’t quite link the sitter, so we packed up and while Lance and Lou headed over to Haute-Plaines, we went back to Buthiers for Deb to try and finish Magic Bus and for me to try out their new beta.
Unfortuantely the beta didn’t work for me, and Deb didn’t manage to latch the final move, but she’s got it wired now and despite the nasty rip in her finger i’m sure she’ll get it done before she leaves.
I had a quick play on Strappal which feels very fingery, but might just be possible with a bit of beta. It'll take some work though for sure.

Deb working Magic Bus -



The weather's still looking a bit iffy for the next few days, but as we've come to realise there's still plenty of climbable rock about providing it's not pelting it down, so there's sure to be more to come before Team Wolf leave on Saturday.
And what's more, Steph just couldn't resist the urge after her last visit and will be heading out again tomorrow evening.

Nick and Deb arrived early on Sunday morning. They’d done the long drive overnight but still, after a quick power nap in the van they were psyched to get out and get crushing.
We headed up to Apremont to meet Lance and Lou, who are also out for the week and had arrived the previous evening.
I’d been eyeing up ‘Retablissement’ a few days earlier as it looked right up my street – good holds up to a rock-over move to a small rail and a slopey top-out.
I got up it pretty quickly, but made a right meal of the top out. Luckily when I repeated it for the camera I managed it with a bit more grace!
Nick, Deb and Lance made quick work of it too and Lou put in a good effort but couldn’t quite reach the rail, so we moved on.
After stopping at a problem Lance and Lou had been working before we arrived, ‘La Lune’ which Nick and Lance despatched quite quickly (a long move put the rest of us off, so we left that one to the lanky lads), we hunted down ‘Onde de Choc’, another problem I had spotted on my recce the other day. I turned out to be just as good a problem as it looked. We spent a while working out the crux sequence and pretty soon Nick fired it off in style. I was making pretty good progress but was tiring quickly and was wary of my thin skin, so after coming close to sticking the crux move I decided to return another day, when my skin was better and I was feeling fresher. I’m hopeful that I can get this done while i’m out here though, it’s certainly be a nice one to get ticked.

A change of scenery was called for, and Drei Zennen was the next port of call. It’s another crag i’ve wandered round in the wet, but never climbed at, and I remembered there being some good steep problems with decent holds, which we quickly found and set to work on.
I spent a while working a savage, pocketed overhang with Nick and Deb – ‘Diversion’
Nick got it done after a bit of (hard) work and Deb came really close – i’m sure she’ll be back at some point to polish it off.
I, on the other hand wasn’t enjoying greasing off the slightly damp feeling pockets and quickly threw in the towel. I wandered off and found a nice little wall climbed on small slopey crimps, but didn’t quite mange to top it out.
All feeling pretty tired by now, we surrendered to the need for food, beer and sleep and after arranging to meet up with Lance and Lou again in the morning we headed back to the gite.

On Monday morning, feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep we set off to Mont Pivot. This is a small area on a hilltop near Rocher Sabots, with one bloc in particular providing a couple of highly rated routes. We only really tried the left-hand line – ‘Belle Gueule’ which climbed on small one and two finger pockets, and after I demonstrated that yes, unfortunately, the way forward was dependent on a long move move off a mono (which I hasten to add I didn’t fancy doing), Nick and Lance got it done with Deb following up on a different sequence of even worse looking holds, to get round the long final move. Lou gave it a good go and was making it up to the mono but decided to leave it to the others, who had turned their attention to the sit-start. Again, Debbie was forced to use the poorer holds but this didn’t stop her getting it sent, along with Nick and Lance, (Lance for his first Font 7b tick – good stuff!)
By now I’d been on a wander again to check out the problems at Rocher Oiseaux across the path, a few of which looked pretty good, so we moved on to give ‘em a crack.
First up was ‘Action Directe (assis)’, and after Lance and I had worked out a rough sequence, Nick proceeded to flash it and Deb made quick work of it too. After fiddling around with his sequence a bit (for once it wasn’t helping to be tall) Lance sussed and sent it, and once i’d broken through the Font-elbow pain barrier I finally grunted my way up it. We looked around at some of the other problems, but none really grabbed us, so with a couple of hours daylight left we went for a quick session at Rocher Sabots.
Debbie and Lou wanted a look at the two different variants on ‘le Jeu du toit’ and after watching for a minute I decided to have a crack at the left-hand one. It took a few goes to get the final tenuous rock-over sussed out, but once I was sure I could do it, I sat down at the start and fired it off.
While Deb continued to work the other variant, I went for a play on ‘L’Oblique’ with Lance and Lou. The final move is a big throw out to the sloping arête and although I was getting my tips just over it, I couldn’t quite get enough on to stick it.
Beaten by the fading light we were forced to call it a day.
Here’s a few clips of what we’ve been up to so far...



Needless to say, it’s been great to have some friends over here to session the boulders with. And equally great to see them make such a strong start to their trip. Also, despite the thin skin and an aching bicep, i’m feeling stronger than ever at the moment and with the renewed psyche that comes with having a few friends around brings, i’m sure there’s more to come.
Unfortunately though, after nearly two weeks with barely a cloud in the sky, i’m currently sitting in the gite listening to the sound of rain pattering on the windows. Fingers crossed it’s not here to stay, but i’ve got a few wet-weather possibilities saved up to try so we’ll be climbing something regardless of the weather.

Iceberg raccourci (assis)

I took another rest day yesterday... sort of.
I lounged around reading Jerry Moffatt’s ‘Revelations’, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Iceberg raccourci - how quickly i’d done it, how much it suited me and how do-able the moves on the sitter had felt. So, by early evening I was heading back out to Isatis.
When I got up to Iceberg there was a Japanese lad trying the stand and after giving him a few pointers he whipped up it and joined me working the sit start.
We quickly got the hang of the starting moves and were both powering through into the stand, but just couldn’t get the heel to stick for the final move.
A few Canadian chaps came by – real nice guys – joined the siege and we ended up having a really good session. But, despite repeating the standing start a couple of times just to confirm I could still do it, I couldn’t link it all together. We were all in agreement that it was a cool problem though and that we’d be back to get it done another day.

Today I was in two minds about what to do. My skin was begging for a rest day and I couldn’t decide whether to risk another session at Isatis. I’ve come to learn the danger of ‘redpoint fever’ when a problem feels so close you keep going back session after session, getting nowhere in your eagerness to get it finished and by the time you actually send it it’s become quite stale. So part of me thought I should go and do something else.
Of course, despite knowing all this, the lure of my fattest tick to date won over, against my better judgement and I found myself beneath the Iceberg once more.
I warmed up by almost doing it first go. The heel came off at the last move again. Second go I didn’t even make it that far, so I sat down for a bit then spent a few minutes brushing it down setting up the camera. I squeaked my boots, chalked up and set off again. I felt strong through the starting moves, reached up into the slopers, stuck the heel on and started slapping upwards. I was convinced my heel was coming off and as I pulled up to see the final hold within grasp, instead up popping for it or pulling up that little bit more, I just reached out and latched it gently. A bit of a foot shuffle and I was there, standing on top of my hardest problem to date – check it out...



I honestly didn’t know what to do after that.
I could’ve had a look at some of the problems i’d found the other day. Or I could’ve had a look at the low left-hand start that traverses into Iceberg raccourci. But Nick and Deb arrive tomorrow and i’d like to get a full day in climbing with them, which right now means growing some skin as i’m desperately thin at the moment.
I might go back for the full ‘Iceberg’ tick, but if I do it’ll purely be grade chasing, as the moves are easy and don’t really add any quality to the problem, they just take that little bit out of you before the crux. Still, if I happen to be back there in the next few weeks i’ll probably give it a go.
For now the beer is tasting sweet, there’s steak for dinner and a pretty long list of problems to try at Apremont tomorrow with Nick and Deb, so i’m looking forward to that.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Mr P is fine. He’s been staying indoors out of the heat the last few days, trying to avoid becoming a Mr ‘baked’ Potato. It’s due to cool down a bit from tomorrow though, so i’m sure he’ll be out and about soon!

Tip of the iceberg...

I was feeling pretty trashed still when I woke up yesterday, but it wasn’t until I picked up my morning brew that I realised I wouldn’t be doing any climbing that day. I’d left a lot of skin up on Salathe and it was another roasting hot day, so I decided not to waste any more.
I took a stroll round Apremont in the evening though and checked out a few problems that I’ll be going back for another day.

This morning, I headed out with Neil again, this time to Franchard Isatis. It’s another area I don’t really know too well so it was good to have Neil with me to show me a few of the classics.
We warmed up on a bit of the red circuit and then while Neil began working on ‘Sur-Prises’, I was trying the wall just round to the left – ‘Rognures d’Ongles’. I didn’t get too far as the starting crimp for the right hand was a fingertip crusher and to get established you just had to take the pain and pull through on it. It didn’t take too many goes for me to decide it just wasn’t worth the agony, so I packed it in and, as Neil wasn’t managing to latch the last hold on Sur-Prises we moved on for a look at ‘l’Angle Ben’s’.
It’s a striking, square-cut arête; Very balancy and on some really poor footholds. Again, I didn’t make too much progress, but after a few goes Neil somehow managed to get his feet to stick to the blank slab on the right and topped it out.
After giving me a few pointers for ‘el Poussah’ Neil had to leave me to it and go and do the school run. I had a quick play on another wall first – again no success – and wandered round for a look at el Poussah. It looks a good problem, but there was quite a crowd already working it, which never helps on a sloper problem, when you want to keep the holds as cool and grippy as possible, so I went off to look around the rest of Isatis.
I found a cool little problem called ‘Tequila sunrise’ which went down in a couple of goes and it was nice to top something out.
I carried on the search for new projects and as I did I came across ‘Iceberg raccourci’. It’s an undercut wall that’s climbed on small but positive slopers, the kind you can really pull down on, while rocking over your right foot. By now it was cooling down and with a breeze blowing and in the shade of the trees, the small slopey holds were feeling in prime condition. Every time I pulled on I was making a little more progress, which is a really good feeling, and it was only around made fifth attempt that I found myself topping it out fairly easily.



There are a couple of other variants to the problem – a sit-start, and one that traverses along a low rail into the sitter. The moves on both feel well within reach, so watch this space – this might just be the tip of the iceberg!

I packed up as the light started to fade and had a quick recce around the other problems at the far end of Isatis.
As I was walking out, down the ‘Route de Gorges de Franchard’ I heard a rumbling to my left and suddenly a huge dark beast thundered across the path not ten yards in front of me, quickly followed by two slightly smaller shapes. Boar.
No time for photos i’m afraid, they’re pretty damn quick. But with my first confirmed sighting of the trip, and another excellent problem crushed, I walked out a happy man.