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Beautiful scenery as we were getting lost! (JR) |
During October half-term, I travelled to
Fontainebleau with some friends for 9 days of bouldering. It was my first time
going to Font, and my first trip abroad specifically or rock climbing! After a
long journey we arrived at our place, almost opposite the lovely palace of
Fontainebleau.
On our first day we headed to Bas Cuvier
where the aim was to have a nice intro to Font style climbing – only 6's, no 7's. That lasted about half an hour; Aidan and Luke quickly dispatched
L’Aerodynamite, a 7c classic. So the day changed to trying as much as we could in Bas
Cuvier. I was amazed at the rock; not only was it beautiful to look at, it was
so nice to pull on!! I really
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Will holding my favourite hold in Font (right hand)! (CW) |
enjoyed Bas Cuvier, and found it the best area
for me out of all the places we visited over the course of the week.
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Spotting Kitty on Holy Moly (JR) |
The first of my 2 favourite problems was Carnage – a
name I’d heard before I visited Font. It was my style and I really enjoyed it's moves. One of my favourite things about this bloc is that at the beginning it had felt above my limit and I didn't think I'd be able to work out the right feet placement for me. But after working it for a while I managed to find a way. For the second move of the stand, I couldn’t lock it like the boys with a low foot, and couldn’t
lock it with a high foot. After quite some time, I gave up trying to find some
foot that would work for me and just flicked the move, catching it to my
surprise. After a few more attempts trying to link the problem I managed to do
it. The rest of the group had started working on L’hellicopter, another bloc
I’d heard about before. I thought why not and joined them on it, but and falling
off the last move, and watching everyone else take some interesting falls I decided that my one go was enough for me that day ha!
My other favourite boulder, and the one I was most pleased with doing was Holy Moly, again at Bas Cuvier. It was something that took me quite a while to get, a problem that I knew I could do but just wasn’t doing! I have a short temper and short patience so I don’t really work things very often. It was good for me to practice this skill as I’ve learnt it’s something very important in outdoor climbing! It was a great problem and I eventually managed it with everyone's support and encouragement for me to keep at it!
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Watching Aidan send Big Boss (CW) |
The rest of the week I watched the boys
send a lot of hard stuff, ate some baguettes and pulled on a few boulders. As
much as I wanted to climb lots of hard stuff, I knew Font would be hard,
especially the first time I was there and it would take some time for me to get
used to climbing there. As well as this, I needed Font as a psychological break
from competitions and training. The months previous to Font had been pretty
heavy, hard and tiring and I was pretty done with the competition season. It was nice to be away with no
pressures or stress and just enjoy climbing with friends!
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Crew (CW) |