Font 2013: Part 5

After a few days of rain, we were back out at the boulders.  Most areas were still wet and snowy, but it turned out that Éléphant (the area closest to our gite) was the driest.  Here is Michele on Le Surplomb du Lépreux.

Lander on a "down-climb" on the kids circuit.  One of the coolest things about Fontainebleau are the kids circuits.  The problems are on perfectly petite sized boulders, and of course many of them have slides for "down-climbs."

# BestSpotEver - Conrad on spotter duty for Nora.  OK, not really.  He was just chilling on the pad far, far away from the problem Nora was trying.  He was not in danger, so don't press send on that hate email!

Ingar on Duroxmanie at Cuvier Est.  For the Goodhews' last day in the forest, we showed them around Bas Cuvier, which is the spiritual home of Fontainbleau climbing.  It tends to be a bit crowded, but the sheer amount of quality climbing is astounding.  

To celebrate the end of the Goodhews' trip, we had a desert party at our gite.  Everyone came over and we stuffed ourselves with treats - including crepes made by Ingar.

Lyn attempting to hold a classic Fontainebleau sloper at Bois Rond.  The top-outs can be pretty rounded, with only the friction of the sandstone allowing you to gain the summit.

Lyn really wanted to complete an entire circuit, so here she sets off on the "debut" problem on the blue circuit at Bois Rond.  This circuit has 34 problems ranging from 4- to 5+.

Ingar on the blue circuit doing a cool funnel shaped climb that took more finesse than strength.  

  

Lyn finishing the blue circuit by headlamp.  Thomasina showed up later and joined Lyn for the end of the circuit.  Since I was taking a rest day, it was nice for Lyn to have a "partner in crime" for the final climbs as her skin and muscles were pretty sore at that point.  It was her third day on after all...

A panoramic shot of Mont Ussy.  Kevin and Ingar looking at yet another hard red circuit problem.  Most of the red circuit problems we tried here were very perplexing.

Nora on a fun highball orange circuit problem at Mont Ussy.  We were able to squeeze a bit of climbing in before the rains started again...

-Raza

Font 2013: Part 4

After two weeks of being in France, we finally decided Conrad was ready for the BIG CITY - Paris. (The actual truth: it was raining, so no climbing and Paris was the next best thing).  Here we are on one of the many bridges over the Seine.  Conrad was impressed and kept on sleeping. Grey skies and a few raindrops here and there set the scene for a classic wintry Paris day.

Here we are in front of the Palais de Justice on the  Île de la Cité.  

Across the way is Notre Dame that is currently celebrating its 850th anniversary.  We decided to go in and take a stroll since it had been over ten years since either of us had visited. It's mind blowing to imagine the work and years it took to build this beautiful cathedral.

When I took my one year of French at Smith, the class was based on a series of videos and audio tapes called "French in Action" with much of the "action" taking place in the Jardin du Luxembourg. I wanted Paul to take this photo for Becky to remind her of the fun times we had in class learning how to answer, quelle heure est-il?

On our way to dinner, we walked past the Place de la Bastille the memorial of where the Bastille stood until the French revolution.  

Paul also caught sight of the work of the famous urban artist "Space Invader" that might be familiar to anyone who saw the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop".  Seeing it was a little like spotting a celebrity.

Serendipitously, a climbing friend (Austin Holey) had recently moved to Paris and is cooking at a new restaurant, Bones, in the 11th arrondissement. We decided to head over and check it out and see Austin. It was great - a super cool spot with fantastic food and drinks.  It wouldn't have been out of place in the Bay Area, which is saying a lot for a restaurant in France.  This is the upstairs near the bathrooms where I found a quiet spot to feed Conrad with our woodland friends.  

We took the metro back to our car with friends Ingar, Nora, Michele and Lander who met us for dinner.  It was Conrad's first train ride!

Here we are in Cuisiniere - can you spot Conrad in the pile of stuff we've spread out on the forest floor?

Another classic Font top out problem, which Ingar made look really easy and everyone else flailed around on. Two bad slopers to a big pull to a crimp.  You can see one of our new French friends in red spotting Ingar.  Gregoire is one of  the Thibault clan - and as all of the Bay Area climbers who visit Font can attest, he is a really cool guy.  He's taught us all kinds of useful French words like, "mec" (dude), and has a totally infectious laugh.  It's nice to hang out with the locals.

Courtney on Mur de Cordier, a tricky problem that was a project of a couple people in our group.  On her first day back in Font in three years, Courtney sent her nemesis - after splitting a tip. What a re-introduction to tiny Font feet and techie climbing!

After a great day of climbing at Cuisiniere, the rain and snow reappeared forcing us to entertain ourselves away from the boulders.  Paul, Conrad and I decided to take a tour around the tiny town of Larchant where we are staying with the Goodhews.  

This is the Basilique that you might recognize from our 2005 blog posts.  

A cool plant growing on the side of a building in Larchant.  There are quite a few of these on the houses here.  I wonder if they have blossoms in the spring?

Evidence of the snow.  It's been really cold here and we've heard that it has been the worst winter weather-wise in years.  Not ideal for a climbing trip, but fortunately the baby has been keeping us busy on days that we aren't climbing and heck, we are so out of shape that it almost doesn't matter!  We did have a brief spell of 17 degree celsius weather a few days before this, which means there was a 20 degree swing within 48 hours or so!

- Lyn

Font 2013: Part 3

Circuiting!  We went to Canche aux Merciers and attempted the "dificil plus" Blue Circuit.  Ingar and Mike were able to send all 44 problems.  

For those who are not familiar with the concept, circuits are a series of boulder problems linked together to create a circuit.  Initially, they were created so mountaineers could gain the necessary fitness to climb in the Alps.  Each problem has a number painted on the rock to designate where to go.

Conrad spent most of the afternoon snuggled in my jacket.  Here we are at Blue 25 on his 25th day.

Lyn on Blue 26.

After circuiting at Canche aux Merciers we headed over to Boissy aux Cailles to check out the water roof.  The area was a magic forest land where you half expected a gnome to pop out of a hollow tree.

Conrad practicing his snow angels in the pine needles, got to start somewhere.

Rebecca trying Bégnots Story by headlamp.

Conrad's first night session!

 Uncle Ingar practicing his "baby whispering" after our long day out.

The Paris to Nice bike race went through Larchant so we decided to check it out. 

It was fun to see the town folk come out of the woodwork to watch the spectacle.  Larchant is a bit like a ghost town.  In our trips to the boulangerie and driving here and there, you hardly see anybody.  

A break away of three riders came by first.  The main group eventually caught them and the guy in the orange jersey was hurting by the end of the race.

A break in the cycling action gave us time to do some laundry.  Très romantique.  The basilica of Saint Mathurin can be seen in the background.

The riders coming back though town a second time.

The next day we headed to Dame Jouanne and Maunoury.  We tried one of the classics of Fontainebleau: L' Anlge Parfait.  Technical and tall, you need to have precise footwork and mental focus.  Near the end of the session, I took a couple crazy tumblers when my foot slipped.

Ingar on a random problem high up on the hill at Maunoury.  It is amazing how many good boulders are scattered about the forests of Fontainebleau.

Can you find the baby at Petit Bois?  The Petit Bois climbing area is close by our gite and while it isn't very large, it has many classic problems - and the setting is idyllic.  

Here is Mike sending L'Œuf, 7b @ Petit Bois.  This problem is classic font: rounded slopey holds, tiny feet, and a tricky rounded topout.  After climbing at Petit Bois, we headed over to Boissy aux Cailles where Rebecca sent here project at the Water Roof. 

Mike leading the way with a solid send of Big Jim, 6c+ at Petit Bois.  I was able to follow Mike's lead and send as well - after taking the fall dynoing for the lip.  Scary.

-Raza

Font 2013: Part 2

One of the nice things about staying in Larchant is the daily trips to the boulangerie.  Unfortunately, the one a block away from our gite is closed for a week, but that just means we go to the boulangerie a few towns over in Ury for our daily dose of baguette, pain au chocolate and croissant amande. Fortunately, everything is quite delicious there!

Nora has been showing us a thing or two about climbing in Font. Her extensive experience climbing on these sandstone boulders is evident as she sends most problems with authority as we all struggle to follow her to the summit.  It's most impressive.

Conrad has been spending every climbing day in his green bean atmosphere suit - (Thanks Kelly and Steve!!!) - as the temperature rarely goes above 5 degrees celsius and has hovered at 1 most of the time.    

This super fun problem is in the 95.2 area, one of the few dry areas we found after it finally stopped snowing and raining. Rebecca climbed it with style once a secret hand jam was discovered.  Woohoo! Hand jamming in Font!

French people take cereal very seriously. This means that about half the cereal in the cereal aisle contains chocolate. I appreciate this greatly. 

Check it people - Rebecca mastering the Font top out!  We all spent our third climbing day at Franchard Isatis and Cuisiniere.  We warmed up at Isatis on the many excellent blue and red circuit problems.

Okay, here's Ingar who really has the Font top outs wired.  Give him a couple bad slopers and he knows what to do.

It seems like Mike's goal on this trip is to get to the top of the most number of boulders possible.  So far he is doing an excellent job achieving that goal.

Cool slopers on this top out and lots of high stepping.

Mike and Donn were able to achieve an important Font milestone by climbing beurre-marga, one of the slickest and trickiest 6b+ problems in Font.  Don't let the "easy" grade fool you.  This one kicks most people's butt, including mine.

We ended the day in Cuisiniere on the Beetlejuice and Excalibur boulders.  Though Donn and Rebecca came close to sending, only Mike was able to complete Beetlejuice this day, but check back as there's a good chance of more sendage.

Shopping in Fontainebleau. This is the "big city" as compared to all the little towns where we climb and stay while in France.  Today, I picked up some of the amazing Fontainbleau cheese (essentially whipped cream, but better and spreadable on baguette), a few organic vegetables from the one all-organic store, Naturalia, and a loaf of Flute Gana, a bread that Paul and I remember fondly from our previous trips since it is baked fresh in the afternoon and when we pick it up after climbing it's still warm. It rarely makes it back to the gite in one piece. 

Cool living wall at the front of the Naturalia store. Paul hates this place since everything is so expensive.  Okay, not really.

-Lyn