UKC

Font: it's that time of year again

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 Adrien 23 Mar 2018

So, after a horrendously wet and stormy winter with mostly rubbish conditions, spring is apparently here (well, we did have 5-6cm of snow last weekend). Daffodils and violas are flowering, trees are budding, the boulders have put on their springtime white coating and crowds are picking up fast. I figured a few reminders would not go amiss.

-Car camping at a carpark is still not cool, and still not allowed (yes, those "no tents" signs also apply to vans). With my local group we spent two hours cleaning up Isatis, and by far the most garbage we found (citrus peels, TP, bottles) was near the carpark. Go to the aire in Milly, the bivouacs in Bourron-Marlotte or Bois-le-Roi, or to a campground.

-If you need to use tick marks on a yellow problem (that's right), you should probably consider taking up a different activity. If you need to use tick marks on harder problems, you actually don't, but at least brush them off (with a soft brush).

-Go easy on chalk in general, you'll often find you don't need it or just very little.

-Blasting music on your phone or speakers is seriously uncool. Drones are annoying.

-Keep your dog on a lead.

-Consider joining the Black Diamond Chasin' the Rubbish event.

-It's probably best for now to avoid climbing at La Ségognole due to a resurgence of vandalism: someone tagged "PRIVATE PROPERTY" in flashy colours all over boulders and trees; apparently part of the sector is still private, and the bloke even chopped down some trees to impede progress it seems? In any case DO NOT park along the one-way road next to the sector, park as for Roche aux Sabots and walk for ten minutes.

-You probably don't want to climb at Rocher de Châtillon, there's "climbing banned" signs, though no one's sure it was put up by the landowner, could be hunters; either way they may not be very polite if you meet them.

-Pro tip: if you like chocolate, try the guanaja at the boulangerie in Ury!

Post edited at 18:56
2
 SteveM 24 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Thanks. Heading to font for the week after Easter. Anybody got info on latest conditions ?

OP Adrien 24 Mar 2018
In reply to SteveM:

Forecast for next week is rather grim but there's no way to tell in advance, weather's been very fickle lately and forecasts keep changing. Check Météofrance or Météoblue a couple of days before, earlier than that is pointless.

Don't bother going to Fontainebleau town on April 8, there's some sort of marathon scheduled (Foulée impériale).

Post edited at 20:22
 TheGeneralist 24 Mar 2018
In reply to SteveM:

> Thanks. Heading to font for the week after Easter. Anybody got info on latest conditions ?

Eh, what relevance have the current conditions got to what happens after Easter?  It's not off piste skiing or snowmelt kayaking, or mountain biking on trails that have newly emerged from under ski-pistes.

Many of the boulders in bleau dry off within minutes of the rain stopping, and get wet within seconds of the rain starting.  So you might be a bit early calling on conditions.

 

Having said which, I'm guessing you're just expressing a bit of enthusiasm; in which case damn right.  We're going in 2 weeks as well and I'm looking forward to it.

 

 

4
Removed User 26 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Thanks! Both for the reminder and for efforts to look after the place.

 spidermonkey09 26 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Thank Christ for that! Going over Easter and was getting a bit pissed off sitting at my desk...fingers crossed it clears up a bit.

Post edited at 10:45
 Neil Amos 27 Mar 2018
In reply to TheGeneralist:

Errrr, from my experience the boulders do not dry quickly after the rain as...

a) they are very porous

b) there is usually very little wind to assist the drying process

......unless of course in direct sunlight and even then the cracks and pockets can stay damp. Also font can suffer from high humidity which can make most stuff wet. 

Font conditions have seem to have changed over the last 10 years. Weather was more stable and predictable back then but the last few years have been very unpredictable and changeable.

 

remember everyone, don’t climb on damp sandstone!!!

2
OP Adrien 27 Mar 2018
In reply to Neil Amos:

Yeah I'd say most boulders dry fairly slowly, unless it's sunny and windy, and/or the boulder sits on top of a hill and faces south like Big Island. And you're right to repeat that Font sandstone should not be climbed if it's wet!! If it's slopey it's hopeless, and if it's juggy you'll break a hold.

Forecast is pretty bad for Easter, so far only Sunday evening looks "doable". I'd start looking at other options if things don't improve by then (it rained nonstop today and it seems the short to mid-term forecast is more of the same).

In reply to Neil Amos:

Agreed, have spent a week in clear cold conditions with zero wind, finding dripping boulders due to condensation, very frustrating but such is life, went exploring the forest on bikes, did some randonee on the marked footpaths, the joy of being there with the family. 

 alanblyth 27 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Returning today from my first Font Trip, 6 dry days of brilliance,

 
Already thinking about planning an Autumn trip, we all remarked on how clean the crags are so please keep it this way
 TheGeneralist 27 Mar 2018
In reply to Neil Amos:

> Errrr, from my experience the boulders do not dry quickly after the rain

simply not true. In approximately 30 trips to bleau I have had only a handful of days there when it was too wet to climb at all. (and another weekend where the forecast was so awful that we just kept driving and spent the weekend skiing in tignes instead)  So perhaps 6 days out of around 120.

But leaving aside whether they dry very quickly or not, I think we can both agree that they dry in less than a week.

And indeed that they take less than a week to get wet.  And that the ground generally drains extremely well there. And that it's at low altitude and thus unlikely to hold any snow for a long period in March. And that whatever weather was there when whatsisname posted is likely to have changed by Easter anyway. 

And thus it was a pretty pointless question.

 

I am intrigued about your point on conditions over the last ten years.  We've found the exact opposite and I put it down to the factvthatvwe tend to go in late May nowadays whereas we used to go at Easter. Do you perhaps do the opposite?

 

anyway. Wipe your boots people.

9
 Neil Amos 27 Mar 2018
In reply to TheGeneralist:

Did you go in May last year? You would no doubt have found it a tad wet.

been going since mid 90’s, usually twice a year, sometimes more. Have seen it from a time when there were no pads and relatively few people to what it is now. I was there 4 weeks ago and had a great trip and am there next week. We might have had different luck (though some people above seem to agree it is slow drying of you read em) but I keep a pretty good log of trips and the last ten years have indeed been more challenging, especially the last five where unpredicable weather has stopped play for days (and the forecasters seem to be at odds to reality). It does dry slowly unless, as another poster above suggest, there is sun and wind. Wind of any strength is an unusual occurrence in font.

 

i guess we need to agree to disagree on the drying in font......but I am right????

1
 TheGeneralist 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Neil Amos:

Let's agree to disagree on the font drying front.

 Doug 28 Mar 2018
In reply to TheGeneralist:

I think Adrien summed it up well - some areas (open/few trees, on hill tops & exposed to wind & sun) do dry very quickly but many others don't.

I'm sitting in Paris at the moment & its raining very heavily and forecast to be wet until Sunday with the possible exception of tomorrow (30% chance of rain) and maybe only showers on Saturday. I find http://www.meteo-paris.com/ fairly reliable & there are links to radar based maps of rain which are good for judging the next few hours.

Does seem to have been a wetter than average winter although I haven't checked the figures

 Offwidth 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Thanks for the timely reminders. I agree with Neil Amos and witness way too many climbers pushing inappropriately on damp rock and/or with sandy shoes. This trashes problems so please try to be patient and do something else until things are properly dry.

OP Adrien 28 Mar 2018
In reply to TheGeneralist:

Obviously late May tends* to offer better conditions than March/Easter but that's also because by then days are longer, we have more properly sunny days and the weather is less fickle, whereas in late winter/early spring it's more like one overcast day/one rainy day/one overcast day/etc, which very often isn't enough for most boulders to dry (and how many times can you climb Retour aux sources before you get bored?). Then again it depends on your definition of dry... I'd rather err on the safe side.

Of course, alternativaley you can just use some sort of torch to dry your problem like this fellow https://tinyurl.com/y8ulhgo3 (seriously though, what is wrong with these people?)

*Late May 2016 was horrendous, it rained so much we had catastrophic flooding, Nemours was under two feet of water. The heatwave I experienced in Joshua Tree wasn't so bad after all!

Post edited at 13:34
 TheGeneralist 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Yes obviously. That's why I asked the question.

 spidermonkey09 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Forecast seems quite improved from earlier in the week; can only hope!

OP Adrien 28 Mar 2018
In reply to spidermonkey09:

Hard to imagine when you look out the window and see near-horizontal rain! But yes the forecast has definitely improved, it may not be so bad in the end.

 Doug 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

heavy horizontal rain stopped a few minutes ago and there's now a hint of sunlight. Think I'll leave the office early to try & get to the station before the rain comes back.

 spidermonkey09 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

I've definitely been to font with dodgier forecasts than this and had a good time! It seems to be a very hard area to accurately forecast in my experience. Very localised, which is odd considering its fundamentally pretty flat. In terms of places I've climbed, only Tasmania has been harder to predict conditions!

 fried 28 Mar 2018
In reply to spidermonkey09:

This is the worse year in my memory. I haven't managed to get out since mid-November! Sometimes condensation is the problem, not rain. Please be careful with areas in the south, i.e. Elephant as the rock is porous and fragile and will need some drying out after all the rain, even if it looks dry on the surface. Have fun, take care and use your judgement carefully.

 Ramblin dave 28 Mar 2018
In reply to spidermonkey09:

> I've definitely been to font with dodgier forecasts than this and had a good time!

To be honest, even if it rains all weekend there's always cheese and wine.

In case it does stop, though, are there any local tips for the quickest drying areas that are good for a mixed ability group?

 spidermonkey09 28 Mar 2018
In reply to fried:

Don't worry, I'm a full adherent of #respecttherock! Suspect the Black Diamond lot might have their work cut out though....

 fried 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Ramblin dave:

91.1, Rocher fin, Gorge aux chats

OP Adrien 28 Mar 2018
In reply to Ramblin dave:

The usual suspects: 95.2, Cul de chien, Rocher fin, 91.1 (though quite limited above 6B), Éléphant (rock is extra porous and fragile though). Plus I think Apremont Butte aux Dames (a new-ish area close to the carpark) dries well now that they chopped down a bunch of trees. The hilltop of JA Martin is very exposed (there was a fire in 2015 I think) and has orange/blue problems plus the classic L'étrave, not much in between but other parts of the area dry fairly well too. The eastern part of Apremont also dries well.

@spidermonkey09: to be honest when I eventually move places I'm not sure I'll come back to Font, weather does seem to be a massive concern for visiting climbers (and rightly so)! And there's not a lot to do other than the climbing (in my opinion) compared to other places with "interesting" weather, I mean the hiking and the cycling are nice but they get a bit samey.

Post edited at 17:47
 Doug 29 Mar 2018

For confirmation that it really has been wetter than normal, see http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites-meteo/pluie-et-neige-un-premier-trime...

 

OP Adrien 29 Mar 2018
In reply to Doug:

Thank you for that; if I read this correctly Bastia and Montpellier got a lot more rain than Lille?! Time to move north then?

 Callum_Johnson 29 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Is the Aire in Milly open? 

OP Adrien 29 Mar 2018
In reply to Callum_Johnson:

I haven't found any official info but it seems like it's open year-round? If it does close seasonally I doubt it does at Easter.

 TheGeneralist 29 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

PSA for anyone north of Birmingham who was planning to go to bleau this week..

Head for torridon instead. Weather forecast looks much nicer. Just packing the skis into the van just now. Nevis range here we come.

Luckily we've got bleak planned for the weekend after Easter this year. Here's hoping all this rain washes your chalk off nicely.????

 TheGeneralist 29 Mar 2018
In reply to me:

Who woulda thought it. My phone autocorrects bleau to bleak. Must be trying to tell me something

 

 Neil Amos 29 Mar 2018
In reply to TheGeneralist:

well committed now, presently overnighting in Canterbury en route. Gite, hotels and ferry already paid for. Will report on conditions or lack of them at the end of the week plus some on the spot weather forecasting for those lucky enough to be going the week after next! 

 

 Fishmate 30 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

> -If you need to use tick marks on a yellow problem (that's right), you should probably consider taking up a different activity. If you need to use tick marks on harder problems, you actually don't, but at least brush them off (with a soft brush).

Just use finger tape. Stick on, peel off. No mess on the rock..

OP Adrien 30 Mar 2018
In reply to Neil Amos:

It looks like it may not be toooo bad if you choose your problems well. If the weather's really crap you could always drive an extra 8 hours to Annot (erm). As for me I'll try my luck bolt-clipping in Burgundy.

Hadn't thought of using fingertape instead of tickmarks (well I've never used any so there's that), does it actually stick to the rock?

 Fishmate 30 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

> Hadn't thought of using fingertape instead of tickmarks (well I've never used any so there's that), does it actually stick to the rock?

 

It does in my experience. I usually give the rock a wipe before sticking tape after brushing the hold if necessary. If used carefully (i.e. kept reasonably clean) the tape can be used several times.

 fried 31 Mar 2018
In reply to Neil Amos:

Any reports for Monday would be much appreciated.

 AJM 31 Mar 2018
In reply to fried:

Showers/rain at lunchtime today, but up at 91.1 at the minute and there's a decent breeze and stuff is drying.

 JLS 31 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

I was majorly disappointed to see the graffiti up 91.1

is that a new thing?

Also, the sand on the shoe thing seem to be completely out of hand.

I'm not sure what the solution is but the message doesn't seem to be reaching as far as it needs to.

 

 

OP Adrien 31 Mar 2018
In reply to JLS:

Yes, it's absolutely awful I can't remember the exact date, but I think it was last summer. Everyone was furious as you can imagine. I seem to remember ONF (forest authorities) asked for them not to be removed, I believe either because you'd have to use eco-unfriendly chemicals or because they didn't want to encourage the authors to see newly clean boulders as a blank canvas. It really pains me to see these types of attacks on the forest. I don't know if that's a new thing, there used to be a similarly ugly graffiti on the Toit du Cul de chien, and there's a few as well in the woods near the high school in Nemours (Mont d'Olivet).

As for sand on shoes (and other things like excessive use of chalk) I may be pessimistic but I doubt the message will ever come across. People just don't really care sadly.

Did you get any climbing done? Went out this morning for a bike ride and to check if stuff was dry but got rained on shortly afterwards so gave up for the day. Couldn't be bothered going to quick-drying areas as I knew they'd be mobbed. Tomorrow and Monday look fairly good (but I'll be away).

Post edited at 17:44
 JLS 31 Mar 2018
In reply to Adrien:

Yeah thanks. Happy with my week's climbing.

Two days rained off (tue-wed), but I really needed two days off after three sunny days on.

Had finished and pack-up at 91.1 before the rain started on Friday.

All good, apart from some impossible slab footholds; perhaps my footwork has just gotten rusty and it was always that polished...

I did the Cuvier Blue circuit following the old paint and direction. I'm not sure how I feel about the repainting of the circuit, replacing some of the tired (polished) problems with new ones. In many ways I think it would be better to keep the traffic on the old lines and leave the "new" rock hidden in plain sight. It has trashed all the current guidebooks. It'll be years before the guides match the circuits again.

That said, I enjoyed the new version of 91.1 Orange (not that it had changed that much).

 

OP Adrien 01 Apr 2018
In reply to JLS:

Yeah only two days off ain't bad. I met a Texan couple in late Feb, the poor sods were here during some of the worst weather and I think they barely climbed at all during those two weeks. They should've gone to Hueco...

Nice one on the Cuvier blue circuit. The thing with circuits is, they're usually painted by club members, so people who are genuinely doing it so that others will enjoy climbing those circuits. That's especially true of someone like Jean-Jacques Naëls (AKA Pépito) who's probably painted more circuits than anyone else; he's a member of the FSGT club which was historically close to the communist party and was determined to bring sports (not just climbing) to the lower class in greater suburban Paris who didn't have access or couldn't afford taking up sport otherwise. So that's why they regularly create new circuits (if the ONF allow it), especially in the lower grades and children circuits, or add/remove problems depending on the amount of polish. But I think most circuit painters are gray-haired and I'm not sure somebody will take over when they retire.

Which is the new version of 91.1 orange? I think there's two of them now, one that starts to the right of the path leading to Cul de chien, and another one that starts down the 91.1 hill but where hardly anyone ever goes. I linked the first one and remember a fair amount of polish.

If you like linking circuits, next time you must absolutely do the orange at Maunoury. I was absolutely destroyed when I finished it (but stamina is not my forte). It's long, sustained and sometimes nerve-racking as many problems are really high.

 AJM 01 Apr 2018
In reply to JLS:

Yes I was initially very confused by the 95.2 and 91.1 circuit re-numbering, made orientating myself a little tricky...

 JLS 01 Apr 2018
In reply to Adrien:

It was the one that's mostly up at the top of the 91.1 hill...

https://bleau.info/91.1/circuit104.html

Unlike at Cuvier where there has been a complete reshuffle, the changes to the paint are mostly quite subtle, like adding an ackward final committing move to a big jug on the last problem. I'd done the circuit a few times before; it being an after rain go to place.

I was keen to look at the lower circuit as I'd not done it but figured in might still be a bit damp.

I don't think I done Maunoury Orange.

My guide book tick suggests I've done the 79 problem Dame Jouanne circuit. It was a long time ago so I can't remember just how "completist" I'd been about it.  I do remember it being very warm and doing highballs while feeling completely trashed from dehydration, so perhaps I did actually do the lot...

i'm not much of a boulderer so the "virtual" alpine day out is more my thing.

 

Post edited at 11:56
 fried 02 Apr 2018
In reply to AJM:

Thanks, managed to get my first outside session of the year done.

 AJM 02 Apr 2018
In reply to fried:

Excellent stuff


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