After the first 3 days of efforts we had a rest day as everyone was suffering.
Fri 17th
After trying an early morning hit on Fourmis Rouges, I was shut down greasing off the previous sessions high point attempting to get my right foot on somewhere near my groin greasing backwards off the left sloper/right rail. The sun was up fairly early and i didn't feel warmed up at all. Big Boss also shut me down cold, so I went down the hill and managed to tick off the right eit to Bleau's Art - Tina, Hier kommt die Sahne, which is a great compression problem.
On the recommendation of Ben Farley we visited Bois Rond and Drei Zinnen in the evening ticking off some great problems, the best of which was probably La Bombe Humaine or Pantoum.
Sat 18th
Isatis was on the menu with it being another warm and sunny day. We warmed up around the Surprises area and headed over to l'Arrache Coeur. I had watched some videos so had an idea of what was required and on the first attempt, was on the last 2 crimps walking my feet around for about 15 seconds or so until I greased off backwards! What was to come was not really expected as I failed to find the knee bar for a good few attempts and scraped a lot of skin off my leg in the process! The kneebar padding idea came only when it was a little late and I was to suffer with a seeping leg wound for the next few days.
The best attempt was fingers on the top but not curled around and I gave in as my skin got too thin trying to bone on the greasy crimps. We also saw team 5.10.wad walk past with the imp sized enzo leading the way (he later crushed an 8B in this heat!)
I ticked off a few consolation problems on the flash such as abdolobotamy (which felt hard) and Surplomb Feuillete which was very good + the esoteric crack dyno la ou finit la Raie des Fesses from a low start.
Sun 19th
We had planned a rest day but me and Mike got too keen to climb again, so we ventured out to Buthiers for a short session. We flashed through all of the essentials until all the 6's were done then walked over to Magic Bus.
With a good nights sleep under their belts it proved a short visit as Sean then Mike both walked up it in fine style. On to the Partage bloc.
The two lines were truly inspiring and I got psyched for trying attention chef D'Ouevre. After padding out a fairly bombproof landing zone, the boots were on and I made my way up through some nice Gaston finger locks/layaways. There was a brief foot pop out of a small pocket but I managed to hold on and fight through to the end. A very good problem.
The last trip of the night was a rematch on a non wet Lady Big Claques which unsurprisingly felt a lot easier this time and I got up it on the first attempt. Another classic 7a.
Mike got close but kept forgetting his sequences and it then became a bit too dark to see anything.
Mon 20th
Apremont was the not so wise choice, as the sun was high in the sky early on and beating down in what was probably the hottest day of the trip.
I lounged about in the shade with Hoppo eating as the others warmed up. It was too hot in the Ju Jitsu area so we went up to Science Friction which was still in the shade. I set up the camera and watched with much mirth as Mike, Sean and Mark all tackled this desperate piece of choss.
Sean did a controversial left hand version which is about 5b but the main event eluded him. Mike basically got set to grab the top and lost balance a couple of times and Mark nearly lost the will to live!
Sensing a need for some achieving, I took them over to Fleur de Rhum and mentioned that 'even Millso did this one', so they knew it required nothing more than some boning and pulling with minimal footwork!
It was also in the shade which helped a lot and one by one they all took it down including a random Norwegian guy built like a tank who had come with us up from the Science Friction area. You could see the fear in Mike Psyche as he spotted miles below this gargantuan man praying for him not to come hurtling down.
We moved around the block to look at Hercules. Me and Sean got absolutely spanked for quite a while until Mike psyche had the vision and using his new sequence, we just about got across for this most desperate of 7a ticks.
We had a brief look at Egoiste but it was super sweaty and nobody could hold on to the arete, so we bailed further across to have a quick go on Marginal Droite. I got to the last move on the flash psyche then greased off backwards in what were terribly humid conditions. The rock had retained the days heat and there was zero wind. With another 2 poor efforts, I finally unleashed the overcrimp and crimped every single greasy sloper into submission in an act which would surely have horrified (if not suprprised) Huthwaite from our earlier grit days out!
Tues 21st
Me and Sean took a rest day and followed the others around Cuisiniere. I pointed them at problems to try and they didn't get on too well, so I scoured the memory banks and remembered Bizarre Bizarre. After really struggling on the first 2 attempts, Mark called upon the power of Noor and campussed his way up some non holds inbetween the big ones and was on top in a flash. Mike struggled with the guppy, so had a go on Karma instead which ended at the first hold :D
We then went over to Petit Paradis to have a look at Fat Woman and after working a sequence or two, Mike managed an ascent as it went very dark. Mark struggled with the greasy lip this time and had to admit defeat.
Weds 22nd
Feeling stronger than 10 bulls, me and Hoppo decided today was the day to start achieving. We managed to get out the campsite before 9.30am and hit Cuvier hard. As we warmed up in the Marie Rose area, we came across an odd couple, one of whom looked like a body building penguin from Hull and the other a bit like a balding rings gymnast. They seemed quite friendly so we spent the morning in their company getting the lowdown.
As it was already boiling hot aka 25 degrees, it was now or never. We went to the Carnage bloc and padded it out, beat it with some towels and started the final attempts. On my first go on Berezina, I finally got matched on the slimps, had a bit of a brain freeze and went left hand again to a terrible slopey nothing and peeled off. Sean had a couple of goes on Carnage warming into the moves and I failed to match again for about 5 attempts.
Mark then pointed out that my left foot wasn't flagging to the correct place. Upon this small detail, great success was achieved as I got the match and then shook my way through the font 5 top out as directed by Lee. It was really nice to get this classic ticked in this heat after the shutdown in March and April.
Clearly inspired, Sean then dispatched Carnage in the most static fashion I have seen.
We then bailed to Milly for Lunch as the heat rose to 26.
Not finished for the day, we went to Sablons and I was made up to get Modulor done and then Jokari droite. An epic shutdown occured on the 7a+ arete uphill and we called it a day.
Thurs 23rd
The last day was spent at 95.2 in baking conditions but we sought out the shade and were once again rewarded.
After trying Ange naif righthand (7a+?!) and never getting closer than blind slaps around the lip, we decided to try the harder original version. I must say it was a surprise to flash it, and it felt about 7a! I thought the dyno looked a fair bit trickier having watched Neil on it in one of his videos, so tried this next and stuck it first try also! I've never done a 7c dyno but plenty of 7a+ to 7b's that felt harder than this. I then rounded off the stupid jumping with the superb double dyno Jafesse Connexion Airline to the left.
Mike psyche then destroyed the original Naif after doing some negative touches to the top and we moved around the corner.
I fought through the greasy heat and got Jete Michaud, then Bloc a Bertrand ticked off and we went to Rudeboy. Mike did Duel dans la lune and we worked out the direct version pieds dans la lune only for a massive thunder shower to put an end to it.
After another lunch stop in Milly, we checked out a steep cave in Elephant after Scott had recommended it as a wet weather venue. The book didn't really give us a clue about what went where so we just did laps on the brilliant tufa line to the lip and then attempted the left exit believing this to be a stout 7a+ called Equivogue (turns out it is 7b+). We aped about doing some bathangs wishing we had the core of Steve McClure and went back the campsite.
Summary
Team Rich&Mark = 82 points
Team Sean&Mike = 32 points
Schooling over till next time ;)
Isatis was on the menu with it being another warm and sunny day. We warmed up around the Surprises area and headed over to l'Arrache Coeur. I had watched some videos so had an idea of what was required and on the first attempt, was on the last 2 crimps walking my feet around for about 15 seconds or so until I greased off backwards! What was to come was not really expected as I failed to find the knee bar for a good few attempts and scraped a lot of skin off my leg in the process! The kneebar padding idea came only when it was a little late and I was to suffer with a seeping leg wound for the next few days.
The best attempt was fingers on the top but not curled around and I gave in as my skin got too thin trying to bone on the greasy crimps. We also saw team 5.10.wad walk past with the imp sized enzo leading the way (he later crushed an 8B in this heat!)
I ticked off a few consolation problems on the flash such as abdolobotamy (which felt hard) and Surplomb Feuillete which was very good + the esoteric crack dyno la ou finit la Raie des Fesses from a low start.
Sun 19th
We had planned a rest day but me and Mike got too keen to climb again, so we ventured out to Buthiers for a short session. We flashed through all of the essentials until all the 6's were done then walked over to Magic Bus.
With a good nights sleep under their belts it proved a short visit as Sean then Mike both walked up it in fine style. On to the Partage bloc.
The two lines were truly inspiring and I got psyched for trying attention chef D'Ouevre. After padding out a fairly bombproof landing zone, the boots were on and I made my way up through some nice Gaston finger locks/layaways. There was a brief foot pop out of a small pocket but I managed to hold on and fight through to the end. A very good problem.
The last trip of the night was a rematch on a non wet Lady Big Claques which unsurprisingly felt a lot easier this time and I got up it on the first attempt. Another classic 7a.
Mike got close but kept forgetting his sequences and it then became a bit too dark to see anything.
Mon 20th
Apremont was the not so wise choice, as the sun was high in the sky early on and beating down in what was probably the hottest day of the trip.
I lounged about in the shade with Hoppo eating as the others warmed up. It was too hot in the Ju Jitsu area so we went up to Science Friction which was still in the shade. I set up the camera and watched with much mirth as Mike, Sean and Mark all tackled this desperate piece of choss.
Sean did a controversial left hand version which is about 5b but the main event eluded him. Mike basically got set to grab the top and lost balance a couple of times and Mark nearly lost the will to live!
Sensing a need for some achieving, I took them over to Fleur de Rhum and mentioned that 'even Millso did this one', so they knew it required nothing more than some boning and pulling with minimal footwork!
It was also in the shade which helped a lot and one by one they all took it down including a random Norwegian guy built like a tank who had come with us up from the Science Friction area. You could see the fear in Mike Psyche as he spotted miles below this gargantuan man praying for him not to come hurtling down.
We moved around the block to look at Hercules. Me and Sean got absolutely spanked for quite a while until Mike psyche had the vision and using his new sequence, we just about got across for this most desperate of 7a ticks.
We had a brief look at Egoiste but it was super sweaty and nobody could hold on to the arete, so we bailed further across to have a quick go on Marginal Droite. I got to the last move on the flash psyche then greased off backwards in what were terribly humid conditions. The rock had retained the days heat and there was zero wind. With another 2 poor efforts, I finally unleashed the overcrimp and crimped every single greasy sloper into submission in an act which would surely have horrified (if not suprprised) Huthwaite from our earlier grit days out!
Tues 21st
Me and Sean took a rest day and followed the others around Cuisiniere. I pointed them at problems to try and they didn't get on too well, so I scoured the memory banks and remembered Bizarre Bizarre. After really struggling on the first 2 attempts, Mark called upon the power of Noor and campussed his way up some non holds inbetween the big ones and was on top in a flash. Mike struggled with the guppy, so had a go on Karma instead which ended at the first hold :D
We then went over to Petit Paradis to have a look at Fat Woman and after working a sequence or two, Mike managed an ascent as it went very dark. Mark struggled with the greasy lip this time and had to admit defeat.
Weds 22nd
Feeling stronger than 10 bulls, me and Hoppo decided today was the day to start achieving. We managed to get out the campsite before 9.30am and hit Cuvier hard. As we warmed up in the Marie Rose area, we came across an odd couple, one of whom looked like a body building penguin from Hull and the other a bit like a balding rings gymnast. They seemed quite friendly so we spent the morning in their company getting the lowdown.
As it was already boiling hot aka 25 degrees, it was now or never. We went to the Carnage bloc and padded it out, beat it with some towels and started the final attempts. On my first go on Berezina, I finally got matched on the slimps, had a bit of a brain freeze and went left hand again to a terrible slopey nothing and peeled off. Sean had a couple of goes on Carnage warming into the moves and I failed to match again for about 5 attempts.
Mark then pointed out that my left foot wasn't flagging to the correct place. Upon this small detail, great success was achieved as I got the match and then shook my way through the font 5 top out as directed by Lee. It was really nice to get this classic ticked in this heat after the shutdown in March and April.
Clearly inspired, Sean then dispatched Carnage in the most static fashion I have seen.
We then bailed to Milly for Lunch as the heat rose to 26.
Not finished for the day, we went to Sablons and I was made up to get Modulor done and then Jokari droite. An epic shutdown occured on the 7a+ arete uphill and we called it a day.
Thurs 23rd
The last day was spent at 95.2 in baking conditions but we sought out the shade and were once again rewarded.
After trying Ange naif righthand (7a+?!) and never getting closer than blind slaps around the lip, we decided to try the harder original version. I must say it was a surprise to flash it, and it felt about 7a! I thought the dyno looked a fair bit trickier having watched Neil on it in one of his videos, so tried this next and stuck it first try also! I've never done a 7c dyno but plenty of 7a+ to 7b's that felt harder than this. I then rounded off the stupid jumping with the superb double dyno Jafesse Connexion Airline to the left.
Mike psyche then destroyed the original Naif after doing some negative touches to the top and we moved around the corner.
I fought through the greasy heat and got Jete Michaud, then Bloc a Bertrand ticked off and we went to Rudeboy. Mike did Duel dans la lune and we worked out the direct version pieds dans la lune only for a massive thunder shower to put an end to it.
After another lunch stop in Milly, we checked out a steep cave in Elephant after Scott had recommended it as a wet weather venue. The book didn't really give us a clue about what went where so we just did laps on the brilliant tufa line to the lip and then attempted the left exit believing this to be a stout 7a+ called Equivogue (turns out it is 7b+). We aped about doing some bathangs wishing we had the core of Steve McClure and went back the campsite.
Summary
Team Rich&Mark = 82 points
Team Sean&Mike = 32 points
Schooling over till next time ;)
