I came back from font about 1 week ago and it was a great trip with just me and Laura representing the scouse contingent in the wonderful forest of bleau.
I went without a ticklist for the first time in a long time and it panned out rather nicely visiting some new areas as well as places I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.
Laura struggled on some of the reachy and steep 7's but made short work of Science Friction and la Nescafe when we did another double venue day (which was meant to be a day of rest but I got drawn in to trying Noir Desir and Big Golden with a bit of progress on the former but no send due to weakness/thin skin/sweaty rock).
The penultimate day was quite successful as I banged out a load of volume at Manoury with a fast ascent of Rababoum and a flash of Oasis and a nice high grease off, off of Irreversible. I went and tried Angle Parfait and got shut down hard. Psyche was a bit lacking with the rude Frenchman trying it being less than welcoming. I returned to Manoury and got up a few more quality 7's including the brilliant Movement Activated. Our time in the small 2 person chalet/upmarket shed had come to an end but Roo let us stay over at the House for a night which was really kind of him and certainly more comfortable than a cold night in white beauty.
We all walked down and past the classic pathside arete of tranche de l'art. I managed to fall off like a true footwork punter then snaked up it 2nd try. Laura managed to get to the good holds, rock over her foot and then amazingly fall off the 3+ top out! It was a bit devastating to watch but can be put down to sheer fatigue/lack of basic brain function! ;)
UK
We warmed up in a ridiculously busy cave and me and Laura felt terrible on Pilgrim and RWT-Bust Lip respectively, so we moved next door to a peaceful Shit Infinity. I decided to finally pull my finger out and try Bellpig for more than 10 minutes and after dropping the end once, I fought my way with wet hands all the way to glory and the end of a 5 year battle! laura floated elegantly up both The Argument and Pillar Finish but somehow failed to do the v3 traverse.
Moving back around the corner and it was still heaving, so we sacked it off and went up the hill to Breck Road. I had done the problems on the right a few years ago with Mills and Huthwaite but hadn't tried the trickier lines to the left.
We rewarmed up going from right to left and it was nice to flash Texas Karaoke and The Breck Road. The first go on Swing of Fire went as expected flying on to the pads but I switched hand positions for attempt 2 and with a bit of a scream held it and campussed up left to what I assumed was a jug only to get it badly... and unable to match, I dropped off. Attempt 3 felt a lot easier to hold and this time I campussed up to the rh crimp, got my toe on and got the good bit of the finishing hold before a bomber heel allowed the match. A nice way to finish the day.
I later presented Hoppo with his no1 chest trophy for achievement earlier in the day before we bailed back to Liverpool, tired and in need of a decent sleep after 4 days on!
FONT
I went without a ticklist for the first time in a long time and it panned out rather nicely visiting some new areas as well as places I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.
The trip highlights included a couple of days at J.A. Martin ticking off some classic 6's and 7's such as l'Etrave, Oeil de cymbale and Vandale and a long day early in the trip where we met up with Steve, Roger and Pete at Rocher Fin, crushed a load of good 7's and then went to Potala to carry on the spree with a last go ascent of Etrange Etrave, a burly little roof into a wild slap and nice techy finish.
Laura struggled on some of the reachy and steep 7's but made short work of Science Friction and la Nescafe when we did another double venue day (which was meant to be a day of rest but I got drawn in to trying Noir Desir and Big Golden with a bit of progress on the former but no send due to weakness/thin skin/sweaty rock).
The penultimate day was quite successful as I banged out a load of volume at Manoury with a fast ascent of Rababoum and a flash of Oasis and a nice high grease off, off of Irreversible. I went and tried Angle Parfait and got shut down hard. Psyche was a bit lacking with the rude Frenchman trying it being less than welcoming. I returned to Manoury and got up a few more quality 7's including the brilliant Movement Activated. Our time in the small 2 person chalet/upmarket shed had come to an end but Roo let us stay over at the House for a night which was really kind of him and certainly more comfortable than a cold night in white beauty.
The last day of the trip was spent at a surprisingly damp Franchard Cuisiniere (as it hadn't rained for 2 days). We found the warmups a bit taxing but I soon snapped awake with a satisfying flash of le Magnifique. We moved down the hill and got stuck into the techy slab arete of Retrofriction. I recalled Jennings getting up it a few years ago and I managed it 2nd try using a lanky flexible persons method. Laura made good progress trying several methods before getting slightly irate and we wandered back over the hill so I could have a go of Pensees Caches. With the rare experience of having no beta I had several goes with whack sequences involving non existent holds and poor foothold spotting. I eventually twigged to jump my right foot up high and into the pocket and it went down that go! Roo then appeared and told me what I had just taken 20 minutes to work out :(
We all walked down and past the classic pathside arete of tranche de l'art. I managed to fall off like a true footwork punter then snaked up it 2nd try. Laura managed to get to the good holds, rock over her foot and then amazingly fall off the 3+ top out! It was a bit devastating to watch but can be put down to sheer fatigue/lack of basic brain function! ;)
I walked past Beatlejuce and found some scandinavians had already padded it out. I offered an additional pad and recalled trying the crux about 4+ years ago with Millso. Several years of climbing in the crypt and Parisellas had finally paid off and I felt overly strong as I cruised along for the amnesia retro flash ;)
UK
After getting back from font I just pottered indoors last week getting a bit of crypt time in before popping to the Orme with Laura and Hoppo yesterday.
We warmed up in a ridiculously busy cave and me and Laura felt terrible on Pilgrim and RWT-Bust Lip respectively, so we moved next door to a peaceful Shit Infinity. I decided to finally pull my finger out and try Bellpig for more than 10 minutes and after dropping the end once, I fought my way with wet hands all the way to glory and the end of a 5 year battle! laura floated elegantly up both The Argument and Pillar Finish but somehow failed to do the v3 traverse.
Hoppo came running around from next door, covered in mud (as he had just taken a show stopping slide across the wet grass) to announce he had crushed Broken Heart, a fine effort!
Moving back around the corner and it was still heaving, so we sacked it off and went up the hill to Breck Road. I had done the problems on the right a few years ago with Mills and Huthwaite but hadn't tried the trickier lines to the left.
We rewarmed up going from right to left and it was nice to flash Texas Karaoke and The Breck Road. The first go on Swing of Fire went as expected flying on to the pads but I switched hand positions for attempt 2 and with a bit of a scream held it and campussed up left to what I assumed was a jug only to get it badly... and unable to match, I dropped off. Attempt 3 felt a lot easier to hold and this time I campussed up to the rh crimp, got my toe on and got the good bit of the finishing hold before a bomber heel allowed the match. A nice way to finish the day.
I later presented Hoppo with his no1 chest trophy for achievement earlier in the day before we bailed back to Liverpool, tired and in need of a decent sleep after 4 days on!
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