Fontainebleau Holiday on the Rocks

4th-11th May 2008

Font - the bouldering capital of Europe.

A few weeks ago now I took a brief trip to go climbing in Fontainebleau for a bit of a holiday and to sum it up - it was fantastic.

 

 

The weather was perfect, the rocks were amazing (I've never really seen anything like it!) and the brie and wine were very tasty indeed.

We arrived on the saturday having done the 14 hour trip down to Font (yes we went wrong, navigated around Paris on the smallest roads possible and procrastinated on the 'no seat' toilets for a while...)

Anyway, we arrived at our Gite (which was amazing for £40 a head for the week) with beds, DVD player, new kitchen and resident cat to keep us company. We awoke on the sunday, after cooking the classic french dish 'la spaghetti bolognase' at midnight, to find that the sun was shining and the temperature was in the late 20's. Were we smug that it was drizzling in Sheffield - you bet we were!

 

 

Anyhow, off to the crag. This time it was Dame Jouanne, a 'low ball' area of climbing. We were in for a surprise. The area was basically the side of a hill scattered in boulders, trees and random people grunting on rocks. This was our destiny. The 'low ball' area suggested that the problems weren't high. Well if you call 7 metres not high off the ground, then that description would be correct... but we thought this was scary enough and immediately put ourselves on some new trousers that weren't brown.

 

 

After attempting a 6a, to which we thought would be about our level having practised for hours at Burbage South Boulders and in the Climbing Works, we gave up. To be honest, the Climbing Works grades are not up to the 'Font Standard' as we then tried a 4a+ and it was fecking hard. Not the climbing a ladder like it is at the Works.

Never mind, we persevered and got used to the lack of grit friction and managed to bag ourselves lots of Font 3's and 4's that day while getting used to the temperature for one, and also the rock itself. 

For the rest of the trip we indulged in many a 3Euro bottle of wine and ate at least 3 wheels of brie and 16 baguettes. Ah this was the life, to be honest I don't know why we came back.

 

 

I went orienteering too and met up with Duncan Archer, who now lives in Paris for the next year or so with his girlfriend Pippa Whitehouse (who is in the GB Orienteering Team competing in the European Championships as we speak). He gave me maps of Les Trois Pinion, Dame Joanne, L'Elephant and other areas. I managed to get out on Bois Rond, part of Les Trois Pignons (The Three Gables). It was so good to orienteer in the fast and runnable terrain similar to that of winter Swedish forests, with only small amounts of heather and large quantities of rock to navigate on. True the contours were large to navigate around but also intricate for tricky 'in the circle' orienteering. I stupidly orienteered at 2pm in the 30degree heat, but it was great to run past boulder problems including Le Chien and to burst through the woods onto sandy tracks. Perfect holiday training.

 

 

The climbing all came together over the last few days. We took a break into Fontainebleau itself and then did an easy circuit in the evening... All the routes are labelled with colour codes and arrows point you towards the next problem... So these easier routes were able to be completed without mats or chalk!

 

 

After that we all seemed to click and managed on the last day to break the 6's. I managed a 6a+ and a 6a on the same day, while Jon was pushing the boundaries on a 6b.

The 6a+ was at Bois Rond and is called Le Long Fleuve Tranquille meaning the Long Tranquil River... which is a bit strange as there was no water in sight - probably to do with the flowing moves that you had to do to get to the top. An excellent problem for us to all crack at the end with perfect landings and a beautiful mantle to top out with.

 

 

Overall, a nice rest from the hustle and bustle of city life and great to get out and do some running and climbing in gorgeous terrain.

I would so recommend going to Font, even if you are a beginner, as with over 265 circuits, 11291 problems and a huge forest to explore, Font is a perfect break away from the norm.