The Boulders of Fontainebleau

Magic.

I guess that's the only way to describe the beautiful forest of France.  With arguably the finest bouldering in the world--if not by aesthetic, surely by sheer fun factor--Font is a must-climb-at spot for the modern climbing aficionado.

Here are some videos as evidence!

Your author on a sweet sweet line:

Instinct from scott chandler on Vimeo.

and Kevin, a super cool local on a classic near the Elephant area...

Irreversible from scott chandler on Vimeo.

and one of the best problems on the planet; Justin Alarcon enjoys the Misericorde:

Misericorde from scott chandler on Vimeo.

I last visited this enchanted bouldering area 9 years ago with my close friend, Forrest King.  We had a blast, but I never returned since there were so many other areas to travel to in the world.  Additionally, I remember daily rain and inclement weather stymied our climbing ambitions.  Despite the obstacles, I managed to do some amazing climbs back then including the archetypal dyno, "Hale Bopp," and "l'aerodynamie."


This trip was a get-back-in-shape for me trip and a scope-it-out trip pour ma femme.  Siemay was 16-18 weeks pregnant during the trip and she managed to climb harder and harder throughout the trip!  We were with many good friends from the Bay, spending most our time with Scott, Monica and Justin who lived down the street from us.  Our close friend, Rich Meredick stayed with us in our gite (small rental home/apt.) in Larchant, a small town Southwest of the city of Font(ainebleau.)

We also hung/climbed with other (North) Americans during our stay: Randy and Beth, Inger and Nora, Tim Doyle and Matt Lucas...  Paul Robinson, Chris Schulte & Jackie Hueftle, Rob Guinn, Justin Wood and Pace, Walker Kearny and Lina and friends...  Also we climbed and partied with Ethan Pringle and one of my closest friends, Matt Wilder. Quite a crew of rad people!

And how could I forget our French friends...  new and old.  David Labrosse joined us in our gite until Siemay left for home, and Miki, Pierre, Ben from Lyon also got psyched to join in the fun!

I also had the opportunity to befriend an amazing family.  The two sons, Gregoire and Kevin and their legendary father, Allaine.  (I am sure I am butchering the spelling of their names.)  The Thibaults are such cool people.  Extremely motivated and friendly and crazy and hilarious, with super cute girlfriends to boot!  Kevin spots me in the first video above and he climbs a fabulous problem called "irreversible" in the next video.  Thanks to Scott Chandler for awesome videos and psyche.

I can honestly say that I had so much fun hanging out and climbing with these two brothers and their father that even when we were rained out, we were all psyched, just being together under a boulder roof in the pouring rain sharing good times.  ...Verily, life is about who we meet along the way!

Font is amazing.  The weather can suck, and the condoms and feces behind some of the blocs of Bas Cuvier are revolting.  The thing is, the climbing is unbelievable.  Imagine climbing the most perfect problems with inspiring movement and crazy holds.  Climbing the impossible happens frequently.  The holds are ergo and comfy, you probably will not bleed in Font (unlike Hueco, Buttermilks, etc.)  Also, like Horse Pens, the volume is staggering.  ...Over 20,000 problems in the forest currently spread out over 150 different areas! Every style of climbing is represented in a fairly even distribution, but the slopers, ahhh the slopers!!!  Potential as well, there will be twice as many problems some day and every year classics are discovered and opened.

Except for a really cool dyno called "Rainbow Rocket" (I said cool dyno, not cool name) I never went back to a problem more than one day, and no, I did not do the 8a dyno...

Some Notable sends/moments:

Rich Meredick - "Duroxamanie"
Matt Wilder - "Megalithe" Flash
Tim Doyle - "Vague Patatras"
Monica Andrada - "La Marie Rose"
Nora - "Le Egoiste"
Justin Alarcon - "Misericorde," "La Mandarin," "Super Prestat"
Scott Chandler - "Irreversible," "Opium," "La Gaulle," "Cent Pof" "Megawatt" "Noir Desire" etc... 
Inger - "L'Etrave" Flash
Me - "Instinct"
Siemay - Many hard climbs with Bruce on board!
Randy and Beth - Volume and bunk toe sending!  Randy was SUPER close on several 8a-8b sick hard climbs and Beth was still able to destroy despite a foot injury.  Proud.
David Labrosse - "Rataplat"
Paul Robinson - everything he touched.
Nalle - see Paul's and "Tigre et Dragon"
Jackie - "Apartenance"
Chris - "Rainbow Rocket" and sick close to the "Big Island" 8c badness
Kevin - "synapse" "Partage" (first go after weighted moves/beta)
Ughhh...  So many more

Rockland's aesthetics, but the movement and rock quality, accessibility and fun factor make for the ultimate area.

Did I mention the Bread, the wine, and the daily scrumptious pastries???

Basically, you have to go.

Seek perfection of character, respect others & Try Hard. Noah as usual