UKC

Hi ,

I need some advice on best place to boulder around font area
Climbing upto about 7a+
So mainly want grades 5+ upto 7a+ /b ?

In reply to Chris Aston:

or are all areas about same grade wise ?

In reply to Chris Aston:

Any of the famous areas have loads in that grade range. Trois pinoin, franchard, apremont...enough to keep you going for years! Even the puts well traveled areas will albeit certainly have enough to keep you busy for a day or two, though expect to get on circuit and unnamed problems.

In reply to remus:

Avoid le Cuvier, overcrowded, polished and very dirty, any of the other areas are fine - the biggest is the Trois Pignons which covere a dozen or so major groups.

Other tips, don't leave anything visible in your car, thieves about, and some people would appreciate it if you didn't use chalk, but not everyone agrees on that

In reply to Chris Aston:





errmm everywhere just about?!

In reply to Chris Aston:

Thanks for advice so far : ))

So do people still use chalk ?
What's the deal , with this ?

In reply to Chris Aston:

Is there loads of car thieves in the area ?
Are they known to steal bouldering mats ?
( is this just in climbing areas ? or the towns ,
villages as well etc still a problem? )

I always keep things well hidden or on my person.

In reply to Chris Aston:

Is it busy every day of week or
Just the weekends ?

In reply to Chris Aston:

Only really busy at the weekends, and even then it is easy enough to get away from the crowds if you choose a quieter area.

I think thieves will break into your car if they think there might be something there - I have seen people leaving their (empty) glove boxes open to prove there is nothing in the car. Obviously worse at the weekends when there are more cars, but I would not leave anything visible in the car unless you can't avoid it! Mostly a problem in the parking areas in the forest, as they are not overlooked by houses/shops and have lots of cars?

Chalk used lots as far as I can see - it is often pretty hot there.

Agree with avoiding Cuvier, but any of the other major areas could keep you going for a month or more.

Good luck with the trip, it is the best in the world!

In reply to Chris Aston:

One thing not mentioned so far - Bleau grades are a rule unto themselves

You might get up a 6a, only to completely fail on the next 4+
Being ok on 7a+ sport doesn't necessarily equate to 7a Bleau

In reply to Chris Aston:


Shouldn't think so! they'll be after easily disposable valuables. It's not as if it happens all the time but just best not to be naive, the forest looks pretty but it's still modern France, silly to spoil a holiday.

In reply to Chris Aston:

Thanks for all advice : )) looking forward to trip

In reply to Bruce Hooker:


This used to be a really bad problem around Font. I had two friends have their cars broken into on two separate occasions and everything cleaned out. The thieves were gangs who would descend on a car park in a van, smash the windows and sweep all the contents into bin bags, and drive off. Car alarms didn't stop them because they could sweep through a car park in less than 2 mins and be gone.

Other friends had their car targeted overnight when parked in the road parking right outside the camp site at Grez sur Loing

I had heard that due to more police pro-activeness in both marked and unmarked cars the problem had reduced.

Is it building up again?

Another target area are the car parks to British War Cemeteries on the Somme and other battlefields. With the increase in battlefield visiting over the next 4 years this is likely to be a growing problem.

All thieves are scum, but smashing into someone's car whilst they are on holiday causes inconvenience way beyond just losing the contents. Try finding replacement windows in a foreign country when you may have a ferry to catch and sods law it will start pouring with rain.....

In reply to Trangia:


Not that I know of but some Brits tend to be naive about this, I know I was. Once I was putting my boots on and someone parked their open back Land-Rover, just canvas bursting with gear at the Cemetery car park at the Trois Pignons. He was quite happily going to leave it all open with all his gear in and go off for the day.