I have been many years dreaming with this weekend: to be again climbing the boulders in Fontainebleau.
Since the first time I was there, I fell in love with the climb in Bleau, and after two consecutive years going there, I had a very long break from the French playground. I have been bouldering in Chironico and in the Palatine (Pfalz), but it has never been the same. Chironico, with granite and aggressive boulders, doesn’t let you work too long in a project without leaving half of your finger prints there. The Pfalz in the other hand, despite being sandstone, it does not resemble even remotely to the French boulder paradise.
Fontainebleau is particular and sometimes requires you to understand the grading and the Bleau technique to survive, but this is the first time I really see why everybody loves it.
My first trip there, I was the weakest climber among my friends. They all used to go at least once to Bleau and were used to climbing hard grades. At that time, it had been only few months since I started climbing (not even a year I would dare to say), yet I joined a group of people climbing in the 7s scale. Nobody actually explained me much: take a crash pad and climb, try not to break something if you fall or better yet just do not fall. No colours, guidebooks, grading explanation. I thank them for the trip, nevertheless: hey, if you take other people first time to somewhere, a little help!
Not that I care. My first year climbing in France consisted mainly in just climbing what people would tell me to climb. No grades, no names.
My second trip in Bleau was a bit more organize (learnt few names of sectors), yet I based my experience in my first experience. A bit stronger, I just dare to climb any boulder people would dare to climb or tell me to climb. Top out few of them, gave up another few. Yet, no idea about grading or how Bleau actually works. How hard did I climb? No idea… Might have just wondered about it, but I didn’t start to care about grading until 4 years ago…
Chironico was a completely different story. I learnt about grades, numbers, search for a boulder and project. I tried my first 6b, a hard V/V+, and red pointed a 6a/6a+. Pfalz was pure luck if I would find the boulder I wanted to climb, but tried, nevertheless, to climb something.
I was back now to Bleau, almost 5 years after my second trip. However, now I was the “experienced”. Oh, gosh, what is like the one who organizes with other people where to go and what to climb? I also know about projecting and getting obsessive about one little rock in the middle of a forest.
This time, however, I learnt something I did not know from before. Fontainebleau is famous because “parkours” and not only lonely problems waiting in a boulder.
What is a parkour? Why nobody told me this before?
A parkour is a set of boulder problems within a certain grade. You pretty much do not need a guidebook if you want to do a parkour; you just need to follow the enumerated boulders. The numbers are drawn on the stone, and they even tell you where to get down and find the next boulder. The number indicates the beginning of a problem and depending on the boulder (traverse or so) even arrows or dots will appear. There are several colors to indicate the difficulty of the parkour: white are for children, yellow are up to grade 3, orange between 2 and 4, with a bit more difficulty and more technique than yellow, blue between 4 and 5, red between 5 and 6, violet are 7 and 8. Some parkours have up to 40 problems. So, you can just spend your whole day in the forest from one boulder to another.
Why on earth nobody explained me that!? Common, friends who took me to climb (looking at you JB and Co)! A bit of explanation about that crap and I would have had much more fun! I meant, not that I hate it, but…
There are also lonely boulders, like the one I was stuck for two or three hours on Sunday. So, a playground for everybody!
About this weekend (because I have been talking too much by now): we had two beautiful weather days. My friends discovered for the first time the beauty of bouldering in Bleau (or bouldering outdoor at all) and enjoyed so much the trip! That made me so happy; I have had hard times with people before in the transition “gym -> outdoors”. But they are the best learners one could wish!
Nice weather, nice climbing, laugh and evening wine. I am exhausted and a bit down from my unfinished projects, but extremely happy.
I need to promise myself, I won’t let Fontainebleau stay away from me for so long like I did before. Even if I just go to finish unfinished business, like Baby Groot.
Gene goes climbing... 
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