hi!
in random order
Bleau: no problem for meeting there but my weekends are wednesdays thursdays and fridays. and i might have time on mondays and tuesdays until mid afternoon. Unfortunately other people's weekends are were i work the most as my job is in the sport leisure sector!
I see you will be equally distant from font and two other sites that might interest you and might be more traffic friendly:
-Les Andelys. Chalk sport climbing. Not nearly as bad as it sounds, actually quite fun and not choosy at all. harder routes often involve small pockets and bouldery moves, good training for places like FJ or Buoux.
-La Hottée du Diable
http://www.camptocamp.org/sites/102457/fr/la-hottee-du-diable miniBleau north east of Paris.
bouldering related traffic (i assume you'll have a car and will face this major obstacle).
sytadin.fr and infotrafic.com are your friends.
On sundays, if you want to go to
font, ahem, bleau, get up early and drive back late. Having dinner in the forest is often a very good option.
On saturday evenings stay away from the boulevard periphérique.
gyms and clubs.
I personally do not like FFME too much, for many reasons that would be too long to discuss here.
If a club is the only option, have a look at FFCAM (alpine club) clubs as well. some of them run a wall. Overall the only federation having an idea of rock climbing i can agree with.
FSGT (a leftist post-communist relic : "worker's sport and gymnastic federation") can be good as well, they run several walls in paris and have historically given a great contribution to the "democratization" of bouldering in fontainebleau (circuit painting etc)
in terms of private walls, which were my choice as a customer and are my choice as an insider to the french climbing business, your reasonable options are:
-blockout.fr 1 and 2. ok bouldering walls. the burgers, beers and the bright, colorful place (B'O 2) are what i like the most. The stereotypical commercial approach ("really sure you wouldn't be better served by a 12 month pass
sir ghisino, my best friend ghisino?") and the overly crimpy, fairly basic route setting are what i don't like at all.
-murmur.fr , pantin. sport climbing wall. I teach and route set there so i can only say positive things!
. Honestly, nice wall, good and varied setting, maybe a bit pricey. The average customers are a weird mix including clueless "banlieusards" who have never seen anything other than concrete in their lives, a few mostly old and respectable climbing fanatics, and some very bourgeois parisians -dentists, lawyers and the like- who train in the gym all year wearing the most expensive equipment and will probably climb outside 3 days a year, in chamonix, hiring a guide. All in all that's maybe the most parisian climbing venue you can find around paris.
-roc evasion, epinay sur seine. Never been there!!!
-Arkose, Montreuil. A small but very cool bouldering gym. Their biggest strength is the excellent route setting at all levels, by international/national setters Thibault LeScour and Flo Escoffier. Varied and tasteful, i always enjoy my sessions there...i get trashed, with a smile.
-Blocbuster, Courbevoie. Similar to arkose, a bit bigger and the setting style is maybe a tad less varied, but more wall profiles.BigUp too!
-Hardbloc, Alfortville. This is a weird one. Really cool wall, magnificent holds, technically good setting, but not that fun. Most of their blocs seem built to test all the climber's abilities at the same time. Plus, easy levels are not easy by any standards (ok warmups for a 7a++ climber) and hard levels are world-cup-training hard. All in all it is a bit oppressing and lacks a bit of playful element and irony, good if you want to be thoroughly tested or trained, not the best if you simply want to have fun or want both the fun and the training.
-Antrebloc, Villejuif. That's where i spent most of my spare time during my first paris years...it used to be great when i matched the user profile. it is now old, dark and dusty compared to the newer gyms but should still have its distinct vibe...a student's and unemployed's venue, where the bar is often busier than the wall itself and distinct oriental, or rather...dutch fragrances propagate from some not-so-hidden corner of the parking lot...
-Le Nautil, Pontault Combault. pricey wall but the best for serious sport training. very stamina-oriented setting, rounded finger and skin friendly holds, that's the best place in the paris area to turn your forearms into watermelons.
