I missed two weeks on here. I panicked about being out of shape for my first trip to Font (The catalyst for the trip was to meet up with a visiting American friend who climbs
way harder than me and I didn't want to look like I'd got worse at climbing since I saw him last), trained too hard too quickly and got an horrific chest infection that laid me up for a full week and was still lingering when I went away.
I got quite depressed and unmotivated for the trip and felt almost like I was just going so as not to let the mate I was travelling with down, particularly after it turned out the guy I'd intended to meet was moving on on the day we'd be arriving and, having not climbed for two weeks, I was feeling neither physically nor mentally prepared.
Anyway, here's a full-on trip report, starting on March 14th. I imagine my first-timer's observations about somewhere everyone else on this forum has been to loads will be entertaining!
S- Drive down. It's nice and sunny and by the time we get there I'm starting to feel like I'm on my holidays. The forest is surprisingly flat and there are a fuck ton of boulders visible just from the car.
We're the only people staying at the huge peaceful campsite we randomly picked. There's still daylight so it's straight to Elephant, which turns out to be a beach with fences and bigger boulders than I'd expected. I immediately get on a 4A crack thing. Three strenuous goes later I'm at the top which is high and way slopier than I expected. A French guy and his family advise me not to fall and throw a pad on top of ours. I then completely fail on two 3Bs
. I am such a punter here and it feels great. We both manage to scratch our way up a cool 6A overhang before dark.
S- Haute Pleins. A lovely place with no other climbers. The forecast was for rain but it's actually turned out to be lovely cool conditions. Plan is to quickly do the orange circuit to acclimatise. It takes all day and feels like a proper day out- this is not helped by having to do it all in newish Dragons after leaving a Mocc in the tent
The circuit has nothing harder than 4A but I find myself feeling proud that I didn't need more than 3 goes to do any of them. My cough is way better
but it's obvious that my baby-soft skin is going to need some serious management if I'm to climb all week.
M- Apremont. Fucking hell what a place. There are lizards and it feels like the medditeranean in the sun. We step it up a notch with the "Baltic Blue" circuit which goes up to the heady grade of 5A and includes highballs. We only get through half of them before nightfall and are basically broken men by the end. Climbing circuits is, it turns out, really, really fun- a bit like playing crazy golf. Doing them all in sequence is also quite stretching as you do them all rather than skipping over ones you don't fancy- great for technique and confidence.
T- Rest day. It's 20 degrees! Check out Bas Cuvier, where people are braving the sex litter to throw themselves at polished problems in the full sun, Cuvier Rempart, where we get lost without finding a single problem, Diplodocus and a huge supermarket.
W- Petit Bois. This place feels like the southern Peak- shady, mossy and semi-urban- but with
even better bouldering! Time to start throwing ourselves at 6s- 6As seem OK, but we only get one 6A+, despite working quite a few that are harder. My problem of using all my energy in working a problem out then needing to come back another time to have a chance is showing itself and I realise that prioritising climbing hard would be daft for this trip.
T- Cuvier. Really cool perfect temps. Lots of British people. Do plenty of 6s including the first 6B of the trip and La Marie Rose 2nd go
. This crag is simultaneously the best bouldering venue in the world and the worst! It must have been awesome 20 years ago. At the end of the day I have an "experience" with the most rounded thing I've ever topped-out.
F- Isatis. More 6s, including 3 6Bs, one of which is a slab I'm very proud of as it feel utterly nails- my (lanky) mate does it with four foot moves while I need more like 10! By lunchtime we decide that we should wind down on an easy circuit- for some reason we choose the red at Sablons. The problems are steep and brutal and destroy us.
went to Franchard sablons, but nothing happening, try Prise de tete again, but I can't figure out a sequence. My fingers are too sore and everything feels hard.
What felt like the trick to me was to get my left hand turned round on the flattest bit of the arete so I was kind of mantling up on it to get my right foot in the awkwardly-placed seam on the right. On my best go I then got my left foot on the left arete but couldn't move- foot and hand too close. My mate pointed out that if I'd put it on the highest poor foothold on the face instead that would have been the trick to then get my right on the big hold on the right (it's surely over then) but I couldn't get there again. I hope this helps!
S- 13 hour journey home.
S- Wrecked.
It's safe to say that my first trip to Font made a big impression on me! I feel like I've learnt so much about climbing in one week- the technique required for competency down there is just incredible. I've always said that you can't expect to improve at climbing if you don't boulder but I somehow never took my advice seriously enough to properly dedicate myself to it, even for a week. It was also great to be in France- I did French at A-level but hadn't used it since 1999 and I was unexpectedly confident with the language. With recovering from illness and the freakishly good weather we had (dry every day!) it really was a great experience
And I didn't tweak my fingers.
Here's the film I made in case anyone missed it in the other thread.
