UKC

Ive got a trip booked to font for mid April and it's the first time me or any of the group in going with have been. Can anybody advise on which guidebook would be best in terms of detailing the area for ease of finding places.

Thanks in advance

In reply to Mostin3:
I mostly use ht...
You'll find everything you need for free : boulders, circuits, grades, rating, gps coordinates ...

Edit : It seems that the site is being rebuild ... to bad, it lacks most of the good stuff it had before. Sorry ...

In reply to Mostin3:

What has worked for me, is the old purple circuit guide (now white, I think). And for individual problems the 5+6 and 7+8 guides.

In reply to Mostin3:
I use the Baton Wicks Fontainebleau Climbs - the former Purple Book, now in a new edition as the White Book. It's short on inspiring photos and evocative descriptions, has utterly crap maps, and gives limited information, but it has a lot of circuits listed and the information it gives is pretty much exactly what you need - ie what circuits are in a given area, how they're laid out, how highball they get, whether they catch the sun and whether they catch the wind.

In reply to Mostin3:

Second the purple-as-was guide. Buy a good map too, that will help.

I find the Jingo Wobbly guide absolutely unusable, but other people seem to like it.

In reply to seankenny:


I think the IGN 1:25 000 map is almost essential, regardless of guidebook.

In reply to seankenny:
I think the main thing about Font is that if you're doing circuits you barely use the guidebook anyway once you've found the start, so having a usable guidebook doesn't matter as much as it would for, say, picking the right spot to abseil into a Cornish sea cliff or find the right buttress on a big rambling Lake District mountain crag. That said, when we've been with a group with a mix of guides, people who've got the Jingo Wobbly seem to end up asking to borrow the Baton Wicks a lot more than the other way around. Basically because it doesn't seem to have quite as many areas.

On a related Font note - in a day I'll normally do most of an orange circuit or spend a bit more time on some individual problems, normally from a blue circuit. If I'm going to do the latter, are off-piste problems at blue grades (ie approximately F4-F5 with the usual disclaimer about grades in Font) generally worth doing and less polished than the circuit problems? In other words, is it worth taking an off-piste guidebook along as well as the purple book, or would I be no better off than if I just kept picking nice looking problems off blue circuits?

In reply to Doug:

The maps in the newer Jingo Wobbly (Fun Bloc) seemed more than adequate? And I heavily referred to the boulder plans as I was going around the circuits. I got the Fun Bloc book just because as far as I know it has more problems in it than any other book by some margin. If you are looking to do a few harder climbs it is probably not so good but I have been to Font twice and each time found it fantastic. I do have a terrible sense of direction though...

In reply to Ramblin dave:


Get the 5+6 (if you can tolerate the lack of 4's), as it has both off-circuit problems and problems in circuits.

Works also really well with the circuit guides, as the block numbering are the same (ie. old purple guide).

In reply to Mostin3:

Liked the Jingo Wobbley, but it doesnt cover as many areas as some others. I does however direct you to the circuits very well and is easy to follow once you are there. It alos leaves a lot for those great days of just wandering a climbing what you like the look of rather than having nose in the guidebook.

In reply to Doug:


I like this version, it's nice and compact: http://loisirs.ign.fr/balades-en-foret-de-fontainebleau.html

I agree that a map is very useful, especially if you're going to less well-known areas (or it rains and you feel like going for a walk!)

In reply to James FR:

If anyone wants a free business idea, I think my ideal Font guide would consist of
i) a set of 1:25,000 maps of the forest with
ii) the location and direction of the circuits roughly marked on as coloured arrows and
iii) a listing of circuits down the side (or in bits of forest with no circuits) giving you the area name, colour, "grade", grid ref, a few symbols for highballness, conditions etc like in the purple book and maybe three or four keywords to describe them.

In reply to Mostin3:

Thanks for the help guys. I will definitely get hold of the mentioned map, and possibly look into some of the guidebooks mentioned.

I'd add another vote for the white (was pink) guide for all round usefulness.

the stone country essential guide is also pretty useful...