Rock and Plastic

Yesterday was JB3 in Monk, Eindhoven. The boulders were nice, the atmosphere was good and I climbed lousy. The first half hour went well I flashed 5 boulders but the remaining hour was bad. I only managed to flash one more boulder and that was it. I ended 7^th and I am disappointed with the result. I guess I am out of shape and will need to train a bit harder, maybe next time better.

I also spend a couple of days in Fontainebleau. The weather was just perfect. A bit of sun, not too hot and not too cold and for once it was not raining.

My last visit was in October so it took some time to get used to the technical climbing that is so typical for Bleau.

The first day I sampled a lot of boulders in Bas Cuvier. 

Nothing worked out though. One boulder I particularly liked is l’ Aerodynamite. After lots of jumping I managed to stick the upper hold of the lower two and was able to match the lower one. But then things get tricky. I find it really hard to get my feet up in the little starting hold. This problem will definitively need some serious working at before I will be able to figure out how to get on top.

The second day we started at Sabot and visited Zen. The boulder was moist and quite wet under the roof so not really an option. It looks really great so I hope it will be dry when I return later this year. After some warm-up boulders I had a go at Lucifer which made me come back to earth. Watch the movie below using this LINK.

Lucifer taught me I really need to work on my slab skills.

Having had a lot of jump training from Jörg I had a go at Smash. I need some more training Jörg; I came 2 cm short of sticking the grip ;). Opposite Smash is the boulder le Quark/Elucubration a fairly easy 7a that went down smoothly.

I worked in Kendo in October so we walked over to Mont Pivot but on the way I saw some really nice boulders in Oiseaux and spend the rest of the day trying hard on some problems in this area.

The next day we returned to Oiseaux. It is really nice and calm and the surrounding is beautiful. I managed to climb Action Directe assis after only a couple of attempts. I tried very hard in le Perroquet Vert but to no avail. I really like Oiseaux, the problems are nice so I will definitively return. 

Hopefully the weather will be fine during Easter so when I return to Bleau I can hit the boulders again. My sponsor NIHIL is organizing a team meeting during the Easter weekend and I am really looking forward to it.

More pictures with this LINK