UKC

As the French mecca of bouldering is grappling with overtourism, a new study aims to understand climbing's impact on Fontainebleau

Read more

Golly, that's changed since 1986

Cuvier has been overcrowded,unpleasant and overtouistised for a long time..at least 25 years....it is sadly nothing new.I have no idea why anybody bothers going to that part anymore.

This is sad to read. It's a long time since we visited Font.
Beautiful photos and great writing.

Yes its been very busy recently.  But I am not sure it quite fits with the hyperbole of the article that suggests the whole forest is completely trashed.  And the author quietly admits that if you move 5-10 minutes from Bas Cuvier its peace and tranquillity again.  Yes the climbers are trashing the place a bit, but their impact is very localised, they are not wrecking 1000 square kilometres.

Bas Cuvier isn't the best example, its one of the crags that are better suited to high volumes of traffic because the ground is comparatively flat.  There are others where the erosion really is a massive problem.  But of course every generation of climbers is subject to shifting baselines.  Some of the sacrificial anode crags were already knackered when I first started going to font 20 years ago.   

That said I am curious to hear what the potential solutions are to the impact of climbers.  I always try and use minimal chalk and take any litter I find out with me (almost none usually) but I am still part of the hordes battering the place to bits.  What more can I do? Apart from the obvious: don't go again.... But it needs to be realistic, an immaculate Fontainebleau with next to no climbers, hikers and horse riders isn't going to happen any time soon. 

A bunch of easily accessible, world famous problems across a wide range of grades maybe?

Writing an article to deplore the overcrowding of the forest, while organizing a climbing festival to draw more people to the forest...?

Creating community is exactly what allows us to organise to create awareness and collectively seek solutions. There is a tension (e.g. the need to think carefully about how to organise the event to make its impact mininal), but no contradiction at all. 

Everybody foresaw what's happening here.

I don't disagree with anything else in the article, but everyone has known this was the direction of travel for decades. This is not some sudden surprise.

Link to the survey doesn't seem to work. 

Very thought provoking article. Would introducing a tourist tax (implemented through booking sites) that goes towards funding the park authority and restoration efforts help to solve the issue? I know climbers dont like paying for things but if you are traveling there from abroad you can afford an extra £40-50 that goes towards looking after the place in the same way you would pay entry/membership to the owners of a gym. 

How about banning climbing in certain sectors on rotation to allow nature a window to recover? Locals/Volunteers could assess sites and before they get to critical, the sector could be shut for 1-3 years or so. 

Link to the survey seems to repeat the URL for some reason - try

https://www.sphinxonline.com/surveyserver/s/CABINET4V/BLEAU_LIVE/ps.htm

I think they tried this at Gorge Aux Chats and it got taken out of an edition of the guidebook.  

I find this article a bit simplistic in its view of boulders being a large (largest) part of the problems that Font is facing and using an area like Bas Cuvier proves that point. It’s super accessible, super popular and has been over used since I first came to Forest over 10 years ago. As pointed out, go to less popular and less accessible parts of the Forest and you can spend a whole day by yourself. I’ve just come back from a trip there, 4 days of climbing, 1 popular venue and three days at ‘Top Secret’ venues, literally had the crags to ourselves. However on a rest day, I ran the 25 Bosses, staggered by the amount of hikers (mostly Parisians on their weekend off work) who were on the trail and had filled up the majority of the car parks, the numbers were easily in the thousands and just on that one trail. These hikers were all in great spirits but also had a serious litter problem (I filled up both pockets with dropped food wrappers) based, I’m presuming, on a poor understanding of ‘etiquette’ about using the Forest. If that experience was symptomatic of the rest of the Forest then I think bouldering folk, by and large sympathetic to the outdoors, aren’t a major issue. 
I have two young boys who’ve been visiting Font since they were babies and we’ve tried to educate them in best practice at the crag, rubbish collection, not dragging pads l, clean shoes, etc, and ultimately this is what we, as a community need to do with the huge amount of converts to bouldering outdoors. Let’s be role models, value what we have and tread lightly.
I suppose ultimately I’m saying that perhaps because bouldering is static and ‘visible’ then it’s an obvious cause for concern. However, if you only go bouldering to Font, you’ll never understand the sheer weight of numbers that use the Forest for their own interests and hobbies.

For about 10 years, starting in 1999, I was a frequent visitor to 'La Forêt' as I was working in Paris & for much of that time was living a few minutes from the Gare de Lyon. Has the situation really changed so much from what I experienced ?

During that time climbers, although numerous in a few places, were out numbered by walkers & other visitors. It wasn't unusual, especially midweek, to have a site to yourself, even major sites such as Rocher Canon on occassion only had a few 10s of climbers spread across a large area. There was erosion & litter and I can imagine thats got worse despite the efforts of ONF & others.

Bas curvier has many used condoms from my experience... def a different kind of spot after dark.