The Forest. Third part.

The Forest at Elephant, Fontainebleau. Photo Giulia Paoletti

After 40 days, the last part of my stay has been characterized by twisted emotions and contradictory feelings. On one hand, I reckoned how many days I had left, thinking about home, projects, resting and resetting my mind from the hard stuff. On the other side, the climate of the environment was continuing to make me feel good and I didn't want to leave the paradisiacal setting which surrounded me. I felt melancholic and bored at the same time.

I anyway had some goals I wanted to reach during the last period, despite my two main "projects" (The Realist and Illusion du Choix) were accomplished. Max came up for one-week visit in the forest and I was really glad to share some moments with him, climbing in some of the hidden areas. I climbed few days with Neil Hart as well. He filmed me in one of the best example of "Font in a nutshell" boulder, "Paddy" 7C+ and also in  "Magic circus" 8A, a double jump in the southern part of Bleau. Both these problems present a really heinous mantle, where you have to smear your body and try to rock over without thinking about the consequences of the fall. A true crap. On Magic circus, after the first fall on the mantle, I got the upper part with a positive feeling I found myself almost over the lip. I unfortunately got into the shocking situation where you are too high to come down, but also too low to be save. I was locked. My hands started to touch rock in every angles, with the results to get mossy and find no useful slopers. I couldn't jump down and I couldn't go up. I prayed Neil to give me a help with the hands, he was stood at the top while filming. He didn't understand at first; he went on filming. On the second call he gave me the saving hand and he pulled me out of the terrible situation. The little fear vanished into copious laughs from every of us. A bit smarter I brushed the rock around that zone and I found some slopers where I put some chalk on. The third go I said to Max to be focused on the spotting. I trusted him a lot. Neil stayed upon the stone, to film what we hoped to be the good go. I stuck the dyno for the third time and I fortunately rock over without Neil's hand. Great.

When Max Left I went for the first time to Opium boulders, where in two different days I was able to climb "Narcotic Direct" 8A+/B and "Jour de chasse" 8B/+. After this, only 5 days were left. I opted to leave all the projects away. It didn't matter to climb them at this point. I just wanted to climb as much as I could, go out and climb with relaxed mind in some areas where I had never been to. I climbed easy stuff from 5+ till 8A, and they were probably some of the best days of my trip. I was enjoying a lot. I also asked to myself why I would have not done more days like these and I took note for the next trip. The last day was also ending. At half past six I drove to Boissy Aux Calais ( I am a fun of this area) and I went alone to climb "Les Nobrilistes" 7A+, one of the most aesthetic Font's slab. It required me some goes until the sunset, when I reached the edge and I said goodbye to Font.

Here is the list of the line I climbed in the last part (beauty order)

Hotline 7C

Le chainon manquant 7C

Magic circus 8A

L'aplat du Gain 8A

Paddy 7C+

Rencontre du troisieme type assis 7C+

La theorie du chaos assis 7B+

Le Tailleur de Mansonges 7C/+

Chasseru de prises assisi 7C

Return d'Ariane 7C

L'art de la Fugue 8A

La Baleine 7C+

La Chose 7C+

Rencard 7C

Full Metal Jacket assis 7C

Jour de Chasse 8B+

Prise d'Otage 7C+

Narcotic Direct 8B

Millenium 7C+

Apotheose assis 8A

Infidele assis 7C+

Opium 8A

Paddy 7C+, Fontainebleau. Video still by Neil Hart

Narcotic Direct 8B, Fontainebleau. Photo Neil Hart

Appartenance 7C, Fontainebleau. Photo Stefan Kuerzi

Elephunk 8B, Fontainebleau. Photo Stefan Kuerzi

Illusion du Choix 8B, Fontainebleau. Photo Stefan Kuerzi

Living in Font for 2 months has been  an excellent deal; I probably wrote and said these words countless times, but the area is actually one of the best ring where the bouldering should take place. It is flat, it counts tons of hidden rocks, the holds are awesome and, moreover, it is one of the scarce place where you actually learn to climb and not only pull damn like a rude. In Font, you can see how the climbing should be understood and enjoyed beyond the simple action to grab holds and pull them. This is why my trip had to be special and, in the end, these are the main reasons for which I got a lovely stay. It has been a simply wonderful school of climbing in a kind of paradise forest. I hope to have make the idea clear enough. 

Some people also said that my trip has been gorgeous for the problems I climbed and the bunch of “hard” stuff I sent. Basically I am pretty disappointed on this side and what I managed to do; the bummer is not actually related to the fact that I wanted to climb more, but in a deeper analysis, to the reasons that gave me troubles in trying hard and doing what I desired more.

At the base of everything I have my skin statement which is giving me serious problems because they are excessively sweating. The story is pretty long, but I try to make a summery. Since before 2014 I have always had an ideal and fitting skin for bouldering. I went to the gym, to granite, to sandstone, to woody fingerboards and it was always hard, solid, compact and suitable with what I was going to grab. I could crush the pen’s tip into my upper fingers and they kept its mold for quite a bit; that was what happened during winter days at school. I knew I could have no issues from this part, and the fact let me serene.

Since I came back from US (March 2014), I started to sweat more and more and the good feelings began to change into a kind of obsession. In June I had to stop for injury, I came back climbing last September. The first days were pathetic and annoying. My tips pulled out water from every part, after a couple of moves they were literally wet. I tried to understand the issue; I mean, it was warm and it was months that I didn’t climb, so the problem was understandable. My shapes was going higher again, but the problems persisted. I started to use a mix of Alcohol and pine resin, before the good goes on my projects. It helped me a little bit for 3 attempts or so, since the sweat didn't come out for a while; without it, everything would have been thousand  times harder. I tried to accept the situation and not complaining too much. Then I got into the training mode from December until mid Feb. I knew the alcohol wasn’t the best solution; I knew that an abuse or an excessive using wouldn’t have been so good; I hence opted to stop for a period since I wanted to train only. During Christmas Holiday I went out climbing in Ticino; It was the same story once again: with alcohol it wasn’t good but even not  terrible; without the lotion it was almost impossible to attempt something hard. The stiff skin tissue of years ago was only a memory  and this made me disappointed. The issues didn’t get better.

I went to Font, being quite relieved because sandstone requires usually soft tissue. I probably got into a good shape and the physical benefits could compensate the bad skin. In fact, this was what happened. The temperatures after Feb started to increase a little bit (they were always good but my conditions perceived this changing a lot). Now, analyzing the whole trip, I could honestly say that most part of the ascents I did and all the failures I got, were only accorded to my skin statements. My physical shape was good, my mental approach got a little step ahead, the friction was most of the times perfect, the mood was positive and many things seemed to roll in the best ways like rarely happens. This is sad and frustrating, since almost everything was depending on the skin and this made me sliding many times.

At some point, the issue also started to attach my mental approach and my motivation as well. I started to be more nervous under the boulders and the patience was always less and less. The motivation and the desire are starting to turn off, especially in the last part of my stay. Now that I came back home, I need time to rest and to recover them in order to try some products which can dry it a little bit. This can help the issue, but on the other side I would not understand the drastic change and the true causes. I think I will also make analysis and see if it can be linked to metabolism or alimentation. Meanwhile, if someone has some advice I would be glad to hear.

Since I was telling about the dark side of my Font’s trip, I also reckoned the boulders I tried which have eluded me. This is not too bad since it can be source of motivation to come back in the Forest more prepared and with a good skin that I hope to get soon. Below it, some pictures I made.

Amok

Surplomb de la mee direct

Toute peines confondues

Perseverance

Kheops

Merveille

Delire Onirique

La toupie carnivore assis

Giuly on "Le voie michaud" 6C, Fontainebleau.

Max trying "Pancras", Fontainebleau.

Mont Pivot, Fontainebleau

Giuly on "Heir Hencore" 6B/+, Fontainebleau.

Trying la Baleine, Fontainebleau.

The Forest. Second part.

Spring is coming out, the sun is burning more and more and the winter is giving the last beats with its tail. I usually don’t like spring so much and this year it won't be  an exception. I am sure about this. Winter temps are missing, but it seems they are not going to grow up in the next coming days. I am writing this blog-spot to make a point about the central part of my trip to Font, since I am getting  into the last three weeks of climbing where I actually hope to not meet really warm days and to enjoy the forest as much as possible in terms of friction and pleasant temperatures. Many days have been spent, but it is hard getting satisfied with all this wonderful nature around me.  For this, the desire is still burning.

 I would like to make a kind of report about how the things have rolled from the beginning of the trip until now; about the achievements I had, the little “dreams” I realized and the good days spent out in the wood. First of all the thing that I am noting is that I am feeling more and more at ease  in the full contest of the of the forest. Breathing the air just out of home, smelling the scents in the first steps into the forest and catching all the features and the various shapes of nature is great. Every day I get more aware how quiet some areas are and how beautiful is the setting where we climb. Everything is getting more familiar and it was what I wished.  Beyond the setting, even the rock is now less a mystery and I am improving in feeling the slopy foot holds and squeeze the weird slopers. Feeling like home here was one of the biggest goal for the trip and also one of the thing I have desired most in my climbing career.

Secondly, the other target I set for the 2015, was to find some hard lines to repeat and falling into the working-obsession, keeping trying them for more than my usual 2/3 days after which I started to get bored and I usually give them up. The reason is because I would like to improve my  patience, my constancy and my mental statements. I would like to get mad in mini-details and work hard to climb gorgeous line. Working a line for many days in a short period is something tough where I personally reply some issues: I get frustrated and I am not able to understand the process and how it should have been followed.  Overcome this trouble would mean to get a step ahead for my personality and for my climbing vision. The reason is because there are some wonderful  lines that are too hard to be completed in just a couple of days and since I would really like to climb them one day, I have to start to think upon this side.

For the second time this year, this approach has been reached and  I have been able to stick a couple of lines that in the past I would have let away before. This first happened in “Big kat” (last Jan) and then in “the big island” last week.

This boulder is good; many videos and images represent it quite well, probably much better than my poor descriptions. It climbs really well and the shape is quite emotional. It has anyway a couple of pities. The stone below makes the line smaller than what it is; it should be huge and really pure; while the stone makes in one side the attempts comfortable, on the other a little lack in terms of purity. There are  also few controversies regarding the starting position. Here I try to explain them, making the read as short as I can. Dave Graham was the first to climb the roof, in 2008. He started sit on the stone, LH in the low rails, RH on the first polished crimps and right toe hook in the right rail. This is “the island”, rated 8B+. Later, some repetitions had been made; some of them climbed the original way, other ones adopted a new way to begin: RH on the slopy rail instead of using the crimp. This is obviously much more logical, even personally much easier than the original Dave’s line. Then, in 2009, a new version came out. Vincent  Pochon started lower. He Stood on the ground with LH on the polished crimp and RH on a lower hold. He added two easy moves into “the island”, putting up “the big island” rated 8C.

Beside these little things, I guess it can be considerate like an awesome line and I always like it since the first day when Marco lead me to the spot (spring 2011). I was anyway conscious that for climbing it I would have had need  a good dose of toughness  to attempt it for more days, one of the biggest lack in my baggage as I previously said.  I have been tried it three times before this trip, when I was able to do all the moves except the first one of “The island”. On the third session (oct 2012), being tired by incessant  fails, I attempted the first two moves of Poschon’s version and they quickly came together. For this trip it was not the main project, but definitively it was the first of the secondary ones.

Coming up the first day I was pretty positive and I really wanted to get into the working mentality. I tried several times the starting move again, but nothing changed;  it went on to miss and I felt far from executing it. I had two possibilities to chose: making the deal pretty easy and opted for the “new” starting  version, which is way easier for my style, or getting into the whole line of Poschon.  I thought a lot about the first plan, even the seasons before; it sounded sweet and more logical after all. But it basically didn’t convince me; it would have been a kind of cheating beta, since it basically skips what is the hardest move for me and I could have not climbed the original way.

I opted for the second one. This meant a bad and a good thing. I had to do 2 more moves that  require body tension, adjustments of hands/feet positions and more time on the line in the overall. I hence knew to get at the end  and with less chalk in my hands, which in fact turned into an important point. The positive side was that in this way, I could start with the heel hook directly and my hand was a bit closer to gain the hard move of the Island. In terms of strength it is definitely easier (the two first move are pretty simple), in terms of endurance and mental approach is harder. The second day I was again falling in the middle, going to the central crimp in the roof. The third day was pretty warm but it was also the turning point of the experience and the moment where I understood the importance of the chalk at the end. I fall 3 times after grabbing the crimp and my hands could not squeeze anymore. I was slipping to much.

The fourth day was even warmer but I felt positive feelings in my mind. I opted to go. The path was the same like usual; I knew every part of it. I knew where all the bushes would brush my legs, I knew the colors and the atmosphere of the hill and I knew that my thoughts were always focused about sending. I knew the perfect position where the pads had to stay, I knew the tickmarks I had to make and I knew that we were in march and the temperature could have not been much different than those ones. I had nothing to complain about. There was anyway something that I didn’t know. I found a slightly different position for the slopy rail in the last part, where I fall the previous day. That could have made a little difference. I repeated the sequence a couple of times from 4 move into the start, meanwhile the Slovenian climbing team came up to try it. I rested and they began to work the moves. The kindly let the boulder dry a little bit before my go. I appreciated their spirit and I thank them for this. I tried to focus and not think about the heat. I got into the central part pretty well, I changed my feet and I got to the crimp without efforts. Then I got into the last part, where I missed 3 times. I slowly moved the right foot on the far hold and I focused into the new slopy structure I felt few minutes before. I squeezed the rock as strong as I could realizing that it could have been the right moment. I grabbed the good edge and I almost thought about victory. I swung my body off and this part was much harder than what I supposed. For nothing, for luck or for I don’t know what I was still on and not laid on the ground. It was done. I made the mantle and I screamed out all the efforts; not for only having climbed it, but mostly for have worked the line for many days according to my standards.

Climbing the big island has been a quite intensive and challenging effort. It took me several days to finish it, despite its style suits me pretty well. It has been a good satisfaction, but not as I actually desired. The day I sent it I was pretty happy for the first minutes after the top out, than the happiness started to vanish and I felt I was more happy to have removed an hard problem and never think more about it, more than the ascent itself. This let me a little bitter taste; and I didn’t catch the source and the reason at all.

The big Island 8C, Fontainebleau. Photo Eirik Thorsrud

The big Island 8C, Fontainebleau. Photo Eirik Thorsrud

The trip anyway continued. The weather seemed to have reached a good positive and stable trend and all the moist boulders would have been drier. This is what I supposed. The forest has many areas and you can find boulders which dries up really quickly, while other ones take many days or even weeks to get totally climbable.  There were two problems that I really cared about, more than all the other ones. They deal of “illusion du choix” located in Puiselet and “the realist”, which is situated in a bad hole  into a humid wood;  they both need time to dry up completely, especially the second one.  

During the good period of sunny days I was more positive and relaxed about the issue, since I knew that I finally could have seen them in prime condition. It is a bit frustrating to wait for such a long period for the main things that you come up for, but fortunately the nature helped me. The timing was also on my side, since for the best conditions week Giulia showed up and I had an excellent spotter for “Illusion du Choix”.  We went there and I was really excited to try it. I couldn’t wait. I have been in Puiselet 5 times before that day; 2 of them I got lost, while in other occasions I forgot the rope to clean it or it started raining or I found it wet.  So I waited that day pretty long, impatiently.

It was fortunately dry. The area has for me the best rock quality in all the forest, at least for the sectors where I have been so far. It is quite sandy few times, but the grain is perfect. I remained dazzled on this side. Basically nobody usually go in this place, since it gets mossy in a really short time. “illusion du choix” was already dirty, despite the fact that Nalle cleaned it last year. I quickly put the rope and I give to it a touch of life back. Whit chalk it was a wonder. After two little sessions on the moves I gained the top. I remained speechless by astonishment I had. I knew it could have been one of my favorite, but the reality has been still much better than what I though. World class problem.

The second one was Realist but it seemed harder to find it dry. The slopy rail was always wet while the other holds slightly humid and almost dry.  At the end of Giulia’s stay, we had not enough  time to go there and I was without spotter;  but this is definitely safer than what it would have been on “illusion du Choix”. I figured out a good way, using a higher pinch-hole than the normal beta does. This hold allowed me to skip the rail in the damp section and the vain attempts became a kind of success. In a couple of hours, with some breaks and another one go to bring the pads, I finished this beautiful line.

Now I still have three weeks left here in the forest; I am working on some other lines and I would also like to brush something new that I looked at. Definitely the 2 biggest desires has been fulfilled and the fact that I have not to take about wetness anymore makes me light and happy.

Here is the list of the ascent of the central part of my trip (beauty order)

Illusion du Choix 8B

Appartenance 7C
Partage assis 8B

The realist 8A/+

Gecko assis 8B/+

The big island 8C

Bleau Sacrè 8A+/B

Coup de feel 7C

Le Tajine 8B

Pancras 7C

La Toupie carnivore 8A

Sacrebleau 8A

Irreversible 7C

Kendo 7C 

Shoot 7C+

L'apparemant bas 8B, Fontainebleau. Video still

Gecko assis 8B/+, Fontainebleau. Video still.

Partage assis 8B, Fontainebleau. Video still

The Forest. First part.

Time has gone quickly since the last time I travelled to Font, the suggestive forest in the south of Paris. It was autumn 2012, when I sent my last problem here, the historical “Karma”, located in the centre of Cusinere sector. If I have not lost the count, that deal of the 7th time in the Forest. It is a lot, I have to admit. Sometimes I try to get conscious about how lucky I am to live not so far from this place, which can be reached by car from my home (7.30 h more or less). Every time I came up, it was the same story year after year: I came here, the motivation was high, I climbed, I tried to get confidence, I had lot of fun and then it was already time to leave. One week in a place with tons of good rock is everywhere too little. The longer period I have ever been is for 8 days and considering how the area is large and how many stones it counts, 7th short times don’t seem too much after all. That last time, back in 2012 fall, I was almost sure that it could be the last short visit and I promised to myself that soon or later I would have set a larger period in the forest; The reasons are simple to realize. I wanted to get used with the rock, the style and enjoy as much as I could this place where I have always been with rush and few time on tap. I had to wait for 2 years and half, before the desire fulfilled, but now the moment has come.

I left on the 12th and the first 2 weeks of the trip are now passed by. It is good. Being here in the forest and enjoy it as deep as ever is sweet and exciting. I can now set a longer list of goals, investing time and energies working on the lines I have always dreamt to attempt, enjoying the wood and the sandstone boulders in all their shapes, difficult, heights and styles. During these two years I fortunately visit other several places around Europe and the globe. Compared to the other trips I had up here, I have got now a different vision and I have more experience to match the quality of this place with other great areas where I have been from 2012 till now. Font is always good and the first days of climbing confirmed to myself this thing. There are a couple of factors that make this place special for me. The sandstone quality comes first. The climbing it requires is not something harder than Granite or than other kind of Sandstone, but it is simply a totally different thing; a different kind of approach. The approach is in fact totally singular, the body positions are tough to find as well as the holds are something we are not used to grab; you have to learn new moves every day and feel what you have up on the tiny footholds. The typical package of holds is a perfect mix of “sweet” grey sandstone which presents wonderful ultra-gripped pinches, edges and mostly slopers or “tortoise” slopers features to squeeze in many directions with your open hands. This is great. Nothing is foregone, both for the easiest boulders but even for the hardest, both in the positive expectations and even for the negative ones. Secondly, the forest makes this place sweet and great. The moss which cover woods was something I missed in these year and I finally have the pleasure to see and admire it again.

During my previous trips here I only knew this world class area, beyond Ticino which for me is certainly a lower point below Font. Now that I have been in other couple of world class places , I can almost put in the same level with this area other spots like Rocklands, Red Rocks and Albarracin. Everyone of these amazing destinations had some special points higher than the respective ones and for a reason or another I love them at the same point.

The weather is probably one of the few negative side of Font, here is typical to go up and down quickly. It is continental climate, so it is less foreseeable and pretty weird in many cases. The good thing is that the rock dries up quickly. Unfortunately for this factor I have been able to climb 8 days in a total of 17. Almost 50% of the time, which is not obviously as I wanted but I haven’t to complain about, since the weather will do its own loop. I fortunately got profit by the good sunny days, where the friction wasn’t so bad. Here is a list of the problems I managed to tick and below it you could find my Insta upload with all the news about my trip. Enjoy.

Ticks (in order of beauty)

- Partage 8a+
- Elephunk 8b
- Eden Rock 7b+
- L’apparemment bas 8b
- Controle A 7c
- Bagheera 7b+/c
- Coup de kick 8b
- Formis rouge 7c
- Hip Hop assis 8b
- Ubik assis 8b
- Deux faux plis en plats reels 7c
- Atomic playboy raccourci 7c+
- L’aeredynamite assis 8a
- Conviction 8a
- Gibouleè assis 7c
- Tristesse 7c
- Respire 7c+
- Le Zebulon 7c
- Sale gosse assis 8a
- De vitae beata 8a
- Plates tonique 7c
- Atresie 8a
- Big golden 7c+
- Big boss 7c

Partage (8a+), Buthiers. So happy to had the chance to climb this thing today. The quality of this one is pretty hard to describe. Unique. @salewa @lasportivagram #fontainebleau #bouldering #rockclimbing #france

Una foto pubblicata da Niccolò Ceria (@nk_ceria) in data: 27 Feb 2015 alle ore 11:14 PST

Finally a sunny day in the #forest. Managed to flash this cool problem "Ubik assis" (8b) in the peculiar sector of les mammouths, just behind the museum. Great problems of underclings, pinches and body-tension. @salewa @lasportivagram #fontainebleau #bouldering #rockclimbing #france

Una foto pubblicata da Niccolò Ceria (@nk_ceria) in data: 22 Feb 2015 alle ore 10:49 PST

The first week of the trip is over. It has been quite humid and rainy in these days and the next week seems to be even worse. Fortunately today we had the first day of really good condition and the forest is able to surprise me time after time with the weirdness of the climbing. Here in the screenshot is the ascent of today, "hip hop assis" (8b), in the wild wood of Boissy aux Cailles. Brilliant problem with brilliant moves. @lasportivagram @salewa #fontainebleau #bouldering #rockclimbing #france

Una foto pubblicata da Niccolò Ceria (@nk_ceria) in data: 19 Feb 2015 alle ore 11:41 PST

Every day out in the forest is a learning day for me. The kind of holds made by this sandstone are basically unique and specific. Nothing is easy and every move need a high dose of tecnique, where just a little balancing can make different between falling hundred times or sending. The line between success or fail is sometime really thin. This is "Plates Tonique", a hidden cool wall in the centre of bas cuvier. @salewa @lasportivagram #fontainebleau #bouldering #rockclimbing #france

Una foto pubblicata da Niccolò Ceria (@nk_ceria) in data: 18 Feb 2015 alle ore 13:09 PST

Completed all the big five boulders this afternoon in #cuvier Rempart. They are beautiful to climb. I remember I set this little goal in the spring of 2009, the first time I have been in that sector. It was warm, just after the easter. During the years I often looked at these huge #sandstone balls and I always postponed the attempts to wait for good temperatures and for the realistic possibilities to send them in a single session. Fortunately the day came and the waiting made this afternoon sweet. #fontainebleau #bouldering #rockclimbing #france

Una foto pubblicata da Niccolò Ceria (@nk_ceria) in data: 13 Feb 2015 alle ore 11:53 PST

A poor trip to Font, but always a great sandstone!

Hi there.

It’s finally ready a little video reportage about my week in Valais at the end of september. It is 7 mins long,it includes the historical radja and other ones. 

 Seven minutes of Valais from niky_ceria on Vimeo.

This blogspot is dedicated to my week in Fontainebleau, although there isn’t a lot of stuff to tell since it was a really empty trip for me. We were in 4, me, Marco, Max and Aly and we left Biella on sunday the 21^st. I thought that I could take profit by my good shape after the ascent of Entlinge, but it wasn’t. The first symptoms of the shape’s drop appeared two day before the starting when I did a training session in Silea. I did three hours of training, I suspected that it was too much for that day because my skin was still hurted by entlinge and maybe the good shape was leaving me. The first day in bas cuvier was basically a rest day, the lines was still a bit wet by the long rain and I felt already tired at the beginning of the trip. The second one we went to apremont, together with Anita and Stefano, two really nice peolple who climbed with us in Biella some years ago. I climbed one of the best 7Bs of the forest advised by the guide, “onde de choc”. For sure it is a really great line, but I don’t think that it can be one of the nicest of Bleau. Unfortunately, Alice took an ancle twist and she wasn’t ready for the day after.

On wednesday we went to fata morgana block where I had to try satan I helvete whereas last season I almost grabbed the crimp on the left. This fall it went worst. I wasn’t solid enough to set up the dynamic move,I felt really out of shape with bad skin and a drop of power so I quitted. Then me and Max went to “elephunk”, a marvelous 8B which is often humid and wet. After a fast checking, it wasn’t at the top of conditions but dry enough to try it. I set the pads and after a session I understood that it is hard but possible. The rock is perfect there, maybe one of the best boulder of the forest. The second single move looked the hardest one for me and I wasn’t capable of taking the intermedium to do the jump. After some tries on that single move we moved under “hip hop” but after few goes I prepared the pads again to come back home. Hard beating again. 

Marco on "double axel" 7A+ Cassepot

I decided that I had to take a rest day. On thursday we went to cuvier rampart where Max went close to climb “noir desir” 7C and in the afternoon we moved to bas cuvier where I did a bit of stretching to recuperate faster my tiredness. Meanwhile Marco climbed a really good one near biseps mou, called “vent claire” an awesome 7B+ with great and lovely pinches. The morning later I rested again and we went to Cassepot, maybe my favorite sector, then we reached Rocher Saint German where I started to warm up since in the late afternoon I wanted to try “the island”. I did some easy and cool boulders then I went to “megalight”, a little arete with a really nice dyno at the end. I climbed it two times because that move was so great to do.

"megalight" 7B roche Saint German

We left the sector and we went to “the island”, the famous compression roof opened by Dave Graham four years ago. Last spring I was able to do every single hand moves and just one footwork was left. This time I took a session to remember the right beta which I used and I was still confused for the higher part of the line. I did the footwork which missed last season, then I tried the last part after the crimp but I couldn’t do it rightly. The day after we went to cusiniere and the plans for the afternoon were to come back to “the island”, in this way, I would have tried it again to understand every new possbile thing for the next year, since I knew that it was impossible to climb it on this trip. My right hand hadn’t skin enoguh and I was a bit signed by the session of the day before. In the late morning I warmed up then  I crushed “Karma”, the famous and historical line climbed by Fred Nicole seventeen years ago. I tried it in 2010 but just for few attempts since it was too hot to try it in fact I left it quickly. This time the conditions were really better and I did it on the 5^th go of that day. Karma was graded 8A and I think that it could be considered like one of the most important boulders about that grade in the world. Some years ago, I think in 2001, A mad person chipped and broke the slopery crimp of Karma and from that time, it is also considered like an 8A+. He also broke “carnage” and “fatman”. After Karma, Max and Marco climbed another 7B called “pensees cachèes” a wonderful prow just belew the square of Karma. 

"Karma" 8A Cusiniere

"Karma" 8A Cusiniere

 At 4 o’clock Max and I went to the island and when we arrived the light was perfect, from that hill the view was fantastic and he took the occasion to make some photos. The session was important for me, because although I didn’t the island, I understood other things about it, trying new changes of beta and I was capable of doing it in two sequences. I was anyway happy of that, in fact I would like to thank max to have carried me there. When I will return there probably it would be at the top of the list together with “elephunk” and “atomic playboy” since this time we never went to Buthiers. On sunday we took the way home with few lines climbed and no projects done. Probably I missed the plans for this trip, I had to know that the both conditions, the physical and the climatic ones, weren’t so good to dedicate the whole week to project on my limits. I should have dedicate the climbing to many moderates since there is a paradise to climb on a medium grade, probably it would have been better and more satisfactory.